FINAL CHAPTER 1-3

The Benefits of Fear

A Research Paper Presented to

The English Resource Center

School of Multimedia Arts

Asia Pacific College

Magallanes, Makati

In Partial Fulfilment

of the Requirements for the Course

ERESWRT – Research Writing

Kyle Andrew M. Marquez

April 2014

 Chapter 1 
Introduction

A. Background of the Study

People always have a lot of things to say about fear, because mainly people all have different types of fear. Fear is something that is meant to scare people away and by that people usually avoid them because that is their true nature. Fear is always associated with  presence of the unknown because one of the main instincts of people is to avoid anything that they don't know.

Julia Layton wrote an article entitled "How Fear Works".In that article she explained on the first part is how to people feel fear and what could be the reason  that people feel it. Also in the article Layton explained where and what triggers fear, Layton also quoted that "Fear is a chain reaction in the brain that starts with a stressful stimulus and ends with the release of chemicals that cause a racing heart, fast breathing and energized muscles, among other things, also known as the fight-or-flight response. " (http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/fear.htm).

Fear is not only in the real world but also in the world of technology. For example there is one site called Creepyasta where people usually makes a lot of scary stories and somehow makes them look like legit stories.

 There is an article written by Will Wiles that is called "Creepypasta" and in that article Wiles explained how the creepy stories are made, from real life urban legends up to game conspiracies, in there Wiles also stated that  "it is a widely distributed and leaderless effort to make and share scary stories." It is a phenomenon powered by the internet — the word itself derives from the neologism "copypasta," short pieces of writing or images posted multiple times across the internet". This really say that fear is really everywhere and even if you are in the internet you are still vulnerable to fear. (http://aeon.co/magazine/altered-states/creepypasta-is-how-the-internet-learns-our-fears/).

Fear could also be in the form of entertainment. Like Chucky , Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm street and some other the horror movies proved again that fear is everywhere and fear is limitless and has no boundaries and that is why there are lots of people fear more because sometimes in the horror movies that people watch is connected to real life.

Norman Holland wrote an article called "Why are there Horror Movies" and in the article that Holland wrote, he explained his experience and thoughts on why are there horror movies when he saw the movie "Repulsion" and he said that it is one of the most scariest movie that he saw. Also in this article Holland is trying to say that the reason why horror movies was made because people learn from the ugly and painful things, and we enjoy learning.
 
He also quoted that  "Evolution suggests a different answer. Driving past a particularly gruesome accident on the highway, we crane our necks around to see the blood and guts. Fear and disgust signal dangers, and we do well, evolutionarily, to pay attention to them in order to maximize our chances for survival and reproduction. " (www.psychologytoday.com/blog/is-your.../why-are-there-horror-movies).

According to the articles it implies that horror movies are made for people to learn from it and somewhat entertain them by the use of something that we fear for example is death.

Fear inducing things should be avoided by people, however they do the exact opposite. People should avoid places that looks dangerous,also people ignore scary things they don't like to see and sometimes and for some when they are very scared they cover their eyes, that are some examples of people avoiding fear, in addition , people avoid things because it is in their instinct that helped them to survive until now.

According to another article entitled "How Fear Works" by Julia Layton is that people fear because they have instincs and being afraid helped them to survive for countless of years so people stick to that belief. Julia also quoted that "If we couldn't be afraid, we wouldn't survive for long. We'd be walking into oncoming traffic, stepping off of rooftops and carelessly handling poisonous snakes. We'd be hanging out with people who have tuberculosis." (http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/fear3.htm).

The researcher observes that fear should be avoided, but they do the exact opposite, however, studies suggests that there are benefits to fear even though it's origin was to repel people  it has a lot of benefits that we can use as advantages.

Knowing the benefits of fear could help the reader understand the benefits of fear or what are they and by that  the readers could even have less fears and the readers could also have the chance to face their fears for it to be beneficial for them by using it as their advantage.

The focus of this paper is to let the readers know that even fear is avoided there are still benefits of fear and it will also enlighten the reader that fear isn't all that bad.

B.   Statement of the Problem

This study aims to answer this question:

1.    What kinds of benefits could we get from fear?

C.   Significance of Study

Students. This research would be able to help student mostly in game development and film and animation that is pretty much interested in making a horror game and they could make an interesting game or film if they know its benefits.

Horror Movie Directors. Horror movie directors will be able to benefit from these information because they could acquire new information and knowledge on fear can benefit people. They might also get some new ideas on how to make their horror movies a hit.

Thrill Seekers. Knowledge of this study would help thrill seekers make their horror experience more terrifying  and if they still don’t know why they got hooked into horror then they probably might get the idea and if possible it could change the way they think.

Future Researchers. This study is essential for future researchers to make similar studies because the genre of horror maybe low for now, but it is limitless. Fear is limitless too because fear is the presence of the unknown and this could also make the horror genre more popular.


D.   Scope and Delimitation

This study focuses on the nature of fear and how it could benefit people and what are the kinds of benefits we could get from fear.

Because of time constraints, This study will no longer discuss the broader definition of fear , such as the myth of fear and culture. It will focus more on how fear can help people by the use of its benefits.

E.    Materials and Methods

The researcher will follow a method to find some links and connections between that is connected to the origin of fear. It will focus on the history of fear and the reason on how it became popular even though it has a gruesome origin. There will be lots of information through this research to make the readers learn more about the different benefits of fear.

The materials that the researcher will be using in gathering information are from online articles, sites and sources on the internet to broaden the knowledge of the readers about the research.

F.   Definition of Terms

1. Benefit - An advantage gained from something.
(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/benefit?s=t)

2. Fear - An unpleasant emotion that cause by a belief that something is dangerous.
(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fear?s=t) 

3. Gruesome - Extremely horrific and can cause repulsion
(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/gruesome?s=t) 

4. Origin - A point where something begins
(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/origin?s=t) 

Chapter 2
Discussions

What kinds of benefits could we get from fear?

I.)Definition of Fear
In our everyday life we always encounter fear because fear will never leave  because it is everywhere and if once you've thought that fear is gone, you are just hiding from it because in reality the only thing that could help you beat your fear is when you face it.

Fear, according to the Merriam – Webster Dictionary is (a) “an unpleasant often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger”; (b) “a feeling of respect and wonder for something very powerful”. Fear isn't just an emotion or a feeling, it is also a horrible entity that could manipulate anyone who is inflicted by it and fear also is the existence of the unknown and as long as there is something that people doesn't know fear is always present. 

We all know that all our fears are different from each other, may it be from clowns, spiders, monsters, ghost or any other. Fear can always be experience when you over think because the more things you know, the more possibilities that is going to arise and sometime we always think

There is an article written by Caty Medrano which was entitled “Top 10 Strong Human Fears”. In this article the author wrote down a list of the strongest human fears which is literally about emotions and feelings. In this article Medrano  explained that why do people fear this kind of stuff and how could someone be afraid of one specific fear.

"Fear is an emotion that protects us from the threats in our surroundings, and which has evolved to become more complex" Caty Medrano quoted. An emotion that helped us to survive through out the ages and evolved because the humans evolved too. The humans evolved to be more intelligent and the fear the they helped them survive evolved to something more complex that the human mind can't handle and result into phobias.(http://listverse.com/2011/09/30/top-10-strong-human-fears/)

These are the reasons why fear seems to be like a very bad thing because it could affect a human’s brain terribly, however, the researchers observes that there are benefits of fear even though you think it’s bad for you.

II.) Benefits we could get from fear

A.) Fear helps you to do the right things

Sometimes if you do something bad your conscience get to you. The human conscience is somehow connected to fear because sometimes people fear that something might get back them and they often think that they shouldn't do something bad. 

In an article entitled “Benefits of fear: Fear Optimistically” written by the author with the name “Abhi Shek”. In this article it is  explained that we could use fear in an optimistic way where even if we are afraid there are still some benefits we could get. The author also explained how fear works and how it is associated to stress in terms of the fear being an “All Absorbing Form” that causes stress of a very high degree but it could still help us and we should use it as an advantage.

In this article the author quoted at the beginning that " Fear of punishment and embarrassment helps you align yourself to the good, the virtuous . You will refrain from choosing a path which is short sighted because that will not be appreciated en masse" .The fear of punishment which is typically a form of fear could help us be in the right track and do the right things. Sometimes people become so scared that they always do the right thing because they don’t take the risk of doing something wrong because that could possibly hurt them.
(http://health.wikinut.com/Benefits-of-fear/2ea493s4/)

B.) Fear exercises your body’s fight or flight response

Everytime you get scared your body has this kind of adrenaline rush which is naturally good for men because it helps your body react to the stresses of everyday life. Everytime you get scared it raises your tolerance to that fear until you get tired of being scared and never be scared of the same thing again.

In an article created by the people of “Lantern Ghost Tours” which was entitled “ The Benefits of Fear”. The authors explained here on how fear could help your body as for example, the raise of adrenaline the others think that is always mistakenly bad just means that your bodies sympathetic nervous system is working as it should be.

“Fear can be positive in that it exercises your body's natural 'fight or flight' response. In an instant, you can determine whether an event or situation is threatening and how you can deal with it” the authors quoted. Fear helps you in improving on the things that you do and common exposure to something you fear helps you to build up a lot of tolerance from it and by that it could help you get rid of your fear as you benefit from it. It’s a win/win situation.
(http://ghostnews.lanternghosttours.com/generic/the-benefits-of-fear/)


The benefits of fear are surprisingly good in so many ways. It can help the people to go on the right track and do the right things and also it could help to build up tolerance for the fear that they feel. After knowing what benefits could fear give to a person, the people should know how to benefit from this fear .


III.) How could we benefit from fear?

A.) Know what your fear is and recognize it

People shouldn't avoid their fear like everyone else because that is the worst thing that you could possibly do. To know what could be used on your advantage you need to take risks because sometimes it may not go according to plan but if it goes then it will be alright.

There is an article by Alyssa Gregory entitled “How to Use Fear to your Advantage”. In this article Alyssa explained things that fear could actually do to you and the advantages that you could get from the things that they do. For instances being stopped by fear from doing something when you could just let fear slow you down to make some reflections about life.

The author quoted in the article that "One of the worst things you can do is try to ignore what you’re afraid of. Denying fear exists doesn't help you conquer it and can cause you to make poor decisions because you feel ill-prepared when faced with the problem head-on.Instead, acknowledge that the fear exists, explore where it’s coming from and outline what needs to happen for you to overcome it. " . People should not ignore or avoid fear because if they do that then there is possibly no chance of you getting rid of that fear because the only things that you've done is ignore and not face it. If you have faced your fear you have a very high percent of overcoming it and you could simply take advantage of the fear and benefit from it. A lot of people now have been making the wrong decisions of hiding from their fear and they must end that right now because it is really wrong. (http://www.sitepoint.com/how-to-use-your-fear/)

B.) Embrace your fear and face it head on

The best thing to get rid of fear is to live with fear without avoiding it, hiding from it and not ignoring it. People could always use anything as their advantage, the only question is how. In fear people could also take advantage from it by the means of embracing their fears and becoming close to it because if the person is not close to fear then how could he expect to benefit from it.

There is an article by Larry Jacobson entitled “Using your fear as an advantage in leadership” and in this article, Larry Jacobson discussed how to take on fear and make it work for you. He also said that you could benefit from fear everytime you get to face it and that is why you should never hide from fear.

Jacobson also quoted that “is nature’s way of making you focus on the task at hand. It sharpens your senses and makes you more alert. And it makes you aware of what could happen next.” It means that if you embrace fear then it could give you the benefits of making you focus on the task at hand and make you more alert because you know what to do when your fear strikes and by embracing our fears we could have the chance of possibly exploring through it even though it is wrong it is worth the risk. Fear isn’t the enemy because the true enemy is yourself.
(http://www.dealermarketing.com/bizdev/sales-training-solutions/2878-using-fear-to-your-advantage-in-leadership)


Chapter  3
Summary Conclusions and Recommendations

Summary
This paper is intended to know the benefits the fear can give to us and how can it benefit us.
The Research design used in this study is the descriptive research method wherein the data from all the articles and documents that gathered were used to answer the questions that posted. The research finding are the following:

1.  Fear is being avoided by people because people have some misconceptions that they know that fear is bad even if it isn't.

2.  Fear could help you in everything you do because of its advantages.

3. Ignoring and hiding from fear is the worst thing you could do because by that you will not be able to take advantage of your fear.

Conclusions
Based on the findings of the study. The following conclusions are drawn:
1. Fear isn't all that bad because there are lots of benefits that it can offer to everyone even though its origin was to repel people.
2. Fear should not be avoided despite its gruesome origin because everything has it’s two sides the good and the bad.
3. If you benefit from fear and use it as your advantage you could gain tolerance and never be afraid of your fear again.

Recommendations
 After drawing the conclusions of the study, the researchers hereby make the following suggestions/recommendations :

1. People in general shouldn’t judge everything according to what people say around them because you will never know something until you’ve figured it out yourself.
2. Parents should never scare children of what they fear because you will never know how will the impact be on them.
3. Even though fear has its bad side never forget that everything has a good side and bad side.

References
A . Electronic media


“How Fear Works” by Julia Layton (http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/fear.htm)

“Creepypasta” by Will Wiles (http://aeon.co/magazine/altered-states/creepypasta-is-how-the-internet-learns-our-fears/)

“Why are there horror stories” by Norman Holland (http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/is-your-brain-culture/201001/why-are-there-horror-movies)

“Top 10 Strongest fears” by Caty Medrano (http://listverse.com/2011/09/30/top-10-strong-human-fears/)

“Benefits of Fear: Fear Optimistically” (http://health.wikinut.com/Benefits-of-fear/2ea493s4/)

“The Benefits of fear” (http://ghostnews.lanternghosttours.com/generic/the-benefits-of-fear/)

“How to Use Fear as Your Advantage” by Alyssa Gregory (http://www.sitepoint.com/how-to-use-your-fear/)

“Using your fear as an Advantage in Leadership” by Larry Jacobson (http://www.dealermarketing.com/bizdev/sales-training-solutions/2878-using-fear-to-your-advantage-in-leadership)

 

Blogpost 9 : Thalassophobia

Have you ever think of being stranded in the ocean and you can't do anything? Its pretty scary right .. even I can't take a dip in the sea without thinking what could I possibly touching under my feet because I dont even know if I'm going to step into something dangerous. Another thing that bothers me when I'm swimming is those monster movies of creatures in the water because the ocean has a wide space and we just can't know if something is lurking on the dark shallow parts of the water.

Thalassophobia is the term for fear of the sea and for most people who have this type of phobia is afraid of what is lurking beneath them and what lies under them. Not all fishes are beautiful because there are a lot more creepy looking ones other than those plain simple fishes because the ocean isn't fully explored yet and just by thinking of those dark parts of the ocean that are unexplored bothers my mind because you may never know what lies there.

Now searching for some articles.. I ask myself, why are people afraid of the ocean in some instances so I looked for an article that can answer my question and amazingly I saw an article by The Gimcracker on the site TheGimcrackMiscellany and the article was entitled Why We are All Afraid of Deep Water.

In this article the author explains why we are afraid of the deep bodies of water and the first thing he  explained was the fear of the dark. The fear of the dark occurs when you are at the bottom of the body of water we can't see anything because its pitch black and something just might pop out all of a sudden .Next is the fear of suffocating because it is literally scary .. you can die from suffocation and almost everyone is afraid to die. After than is the fear of the unknown where you don't know what to see because there are  a lot of creepy looking creatures that are not yet seen and there are a million species in the ocean and whats worst as the author said is that your mind imagines things that you could see down there in the dark deep parts of the ocean.Next is the fear of flying insects because when you are swimming you are somewhat flying or the feeling is the same so all the other species in the ocean feels like flying too. Last is the fear of being caught  because at the ocean you feel that everything could catch up to you in mere seconds like sharks, octopuses or even mermaids so that is why a lot of people are afraid of the ocean.

As I was reading through that article The Gimcracker stated that "The true fear presented here is actually going down beneath the surface into the depths, either in an ocean or a lake (lakes are almost scarier), and the jet skiing example is what happens as a result of that fear. Though filled with horror, I was able to be on top of the deep water and could probably do it again. It would be absolutely out of the question for me to actually dive into the depths and be “down there” by myself. But why is this so? As you will see, it is not due to any one fear, but a combination of all of our most common fears."

The fear of the ocean is most likely one of the most feared things by people because as what the author said is it is a combination of our common fears that is put together and become one and that result is the fear of the ocean, where things are dark ,mysterious and creepy.

In search of another article I was starting to get curious in what the unknown looks like so I start to search for an article that could somehow show us what kind of creatures are in the deep dark shallow parts of the ocean so I saw this article entitled "Monsters of the deep: Tiny sea creatures that never see sunlight look like they're from another planet" by Tom Gardner on the site Dailymail.

Tom said here in this article is that these kind of creatures doesn't look like they are from our planet but yeah... they are. Scale worms are the subject here because they live in the deepest part of the ocean where the sun never shines.They also have mouth that can turn inside out to eat their prey.Scale worms lives somewhere that realease superheated water or mixed chemicals to provide a home for them. Lastly they crawl in the seafloor preparing for any small organisms to pass by and eat them when their guard is down so if you are down on the seafloor... BE CAREFUL OF SCALE WORMS

As reading through the article of Tom Gardner he said that "They look like monsters from another planet. But far from inhabiting some alien world light-years from ours, these frightening looking creatures exist at the bottom of Earth's deepest oceans. 

I agree with Tom because I saw a lot of deep sea creatures that looks more terrifying than the scale worms and there are a lot of unexplained and undiscovered creatures in the deep shallows of water and we don't know where will it come out of its hiding place and give us a visit.

Even if you are afraid of something you could also still conquer your fear. Take it from me that sometimes you could still be afraid at something and be inspired at what you fear at the same time and if you somehow get used to it you will feel that you are not afraid of it anymore.

Blogpost # 8 : Misfortune Madness

When I was little I called myself the harbinger of bad luck because  I've been always unlucky in life, love, games.. well mostly anything and the weird thing is that the things that is bad luck to other people is good luck on my side, example is that I like black kittens and when a Friday the 13th approaches I become lucky and a lot of good things happen to me. But all of that is just a placebo I think because there are times that I always wait for the bad things to come  and that's why it makes an impact to me but the real deal is the good and bad things are just balanced but it gets pretty tough because we somehow put more weight in those bad stuff that's happening and not on the good stuff so that's why we feel unlucky at times.

To know more about bad luck we must find its real meaning. As I browse the dictonary  I found the meaning of bad luck and its meaning is that It's an unnecessary and unforeseen trouble resulting from an unfortunate event. Well I think bad luck can easily be determined by a chain of unfortunate events and not just one because if it is just one unfortunate event well it might as well be just a coincidence and not purely bad luck itself.

Moving on.. I was searching for an article when I remembered that I saw two black cats crossed my path on my way home and suddenly I remembered a saying that It's unlucky when a black cat does that to you so I somehow got scared but due to my thinking that I'm a harbinger if bad luck  I became awfully lucky that night so my article now is Why are Black Cats Considered Bad Luck from the site MentalFloss and it is written by Kate Erbland.

To summarize it all up Kate stated here some information on why the black cat was so called bad luck. black cats were said to be associated with the black plague in which caused the death of a lot of black cats cause they were killed which pretty much made the plague worst because the black plague was spread by rodents.

One thing to consider also is that in Europe black cats were said to be the familiars of witches so that's why they have this bad reputation of being unlucky. Well not all black cats are bad luck because in Great Britain black cats are given as gifts because they believe they have strong powers and in Japan and Russia Cats are considered and had been a symbol of good luck. Lastly the cats in ancient Egypt are considered gods and it is a capital crime to kill one so don't think all things are unlucky because of their bad reputation because maybe for you they can be lucky too.

While I finished reading the article Kate quoted that "Black cats pop up frighteningly frequently in all sorts of culturally based bits of folklore, and though much of their mythos is actually of the positive variety, Western tradition has so maligned the critters that black cats as bad luck have become something of a given in various circles "

So this really sums it all up that black cats aren't unlucky but people say they are unlucky because some people doesn't even know the positive reputations of black cats and according to what I've said earlier that bad things somewhat retains in our minds and bad things most likely spread instead of good things so thats why the black cats bad reputation just spreads easily unlike its good reputation that others only know about.

Then now in search of another article I picked the one related to the unluckiest day for most people.. Friday the 13th and the article that I picked was Why are we so scared of Friday the 13th? from the site Express by Leo Ruickbie.

On this article Leo talked about the reputation of Friday the 13th and some coincidences on why Friday the 13th was considered unlucky. Well first Leo explained that in the Last Supper there were 13 guests the 13th being Judas and Jesus was crucified on a Friday so thats why Friday the 13th was formed. Next was the Hanging day or the execution of the criminals and there were 13 steps up the scaffold, 13 turns in a hangman's noose and 13 pence paid to the hangman and oops i forgot to tell you every hanging day was Friday. It was also said here in the article that more murderers kill on Friday the 13th. Well if Friday the 13th is unlucky well it might be lucky for some like me and the Friday the 13th horror franchise which have grossed more than 465 million dollars at the box office for the film itself.

At the last sentence of the article Ruickbie quoted that "Friday the 13th really is unlucky for some. After looking at the evidence, researchers for the Mid Downs Health Authority, West Sussex, concluded that “it might be safer to stay at home”.".

Well if you really believe in all that Friday the 13th yes you are advised to stay at home but Friday the 13th is not a valid excuse at being absent anywhere (trust me it's not) and even if they say Friday the 13th is a day with bad luck well it doesn't hurt to don't follow these superstitions but for my own opinion its better that you don't believe in luck because when it happens you cant undo it anymore unless you have a time machine.

Bad luck or good luck its all in our heads because if we feel we are having a bad luck well.. we will somehow focus on the bad things that happens in your life but as tempting as defying the supperstitions it is still better to be safe than sorry so next time a black cat crossed your path or you broke a mirror better prepare for the worst and wish for the best

Blogpost # 7: Did you see that !?

Your eyes can deceive you and make you believe that everything that we see is real but have you ever think that everything we see, touch, smell, feel, taste or know is just a one big lie? How sure are you that as of now you are not dreaming? So what I'm telling is that even if we think that this is the reality there is a possible change that we are being deceived by something and everything we know is just a one big fat lie.

Based on my experience as a guy with a vast and creative imagination I get deceived so easily without my glasses and because of that blurry vision I could see a lot things that my brains tells me to see. To further explain that I looked up for the meaning of deception and what I got was it's meaning was the word deception means that a major relational transgression that often leads to feelings of betrayal and distrust between relational partners. Deception violates relational rules and is considered to be a negative violation of expectations. Most people expect friends, relational partners, and even strangers to be truthful most of the time. If people expected most conversations to be untruthful, talking and communicating with others would require distraction and misdirection to acquire reliable information..

As I was watching discovery channel I saw things that were really unexplained and they are just really creepy and the scary thing is that the only proof they had was just blurred pics and they somehow relied on their own sight then because of lack of proof they'll just settle by telling them that their eyes deceived them. Now I'm searching for fresh new articles I saw and an article on the site LiveScience entitled Mermaids & Mermen: Facts & Legends by Benjamin Radford . By reading this article I also learned some new things that are surprising and I recalled some interesting information that I forgot.

As stated in the article, the author said that there are many sightings of mermaids back then one example was a mermaid that entered Holland through a dike and by then the mermaid was injured so she was taken to a nearby lake to restore her health back. It is also said that she eventually turned into a productive citizen and learned to speak Dutch and she can do some household chores and the surprising thing is she even became a roman catholic. I think that based on what I've read is when the mermaid was nursed back to health she became grateful with the people of Holland and decided to give the help back.. well it was just my guess but most likely I think that happend. But the tail .. err I mean tale of mermaids didn't stop from this.. there are a lot of strange stories of mermaid sightings from all over the world but the craziest thing is we dont have a lot of proof to back it up. On a recent TV movie called "Mermaids: The Body Found" showed a somewhat legit proof of real mermaids in the deep blue depths of the ocean and because of that video recording a lot of people renewed their curiosity on mermaids and if they were real.

As I was reading through Radford's work he wrote something that retained on my mind and really made an impact to me, and that quote was "Though legends of half-human, half-fish seem archaic, mermaids are not merely dusty relics of bygone days. They are still a vibrant part of our culture and in their images can be found all around us in films, books, Disney movies, and even on Starbucks coffee cups. ".

Well yeah it seems like mermaids and some other mythical stuff are old now but even if mermaid tales are old it still come to trend because of curiosity and even if they are not in the news or being spotted it somehow stirs up our curiosity and bring the phrase "we are not alone". Maybe they are extinct or Maybe they are hiding ... Well we'll never know until we find out. About that quote that made an impact to me.. It is the fact that the logo of starbucks is really a mermaid I Dont Really Know That.

On my next article I focused on the idea of ghost and why some people can't see them. The site TheShadowlands had and article entitled Why Can't Everyone See Ghosts? by Dave Juliano.

On this article Dave Juliano explained here on how to see a ghost by the means of signals. He said that even if we are tuned into one station  we are able to get three different results and one of these results may get the spirit's signal string and by that they will see the spirit or ghost. Another factor is that people should have a great sense and psychic abilities to see ghost easily but if you dont have those qualities then you will have a hard time spotting one.

On this article also, Dave said that "Each person is actually a receiver of the signals or energy that a spirit gives off. Sometimes the signal can be tuned in and other times in cannot.".

So this literally means that you can't really see ghosts if they don't want to be seen and even if you have no experiences seeing ghost this just really means that you could still see them whether you like it or not and if the signal string of the ghost is recieved them probably you will see it.

Sometimes we see unexpected things and sometimes we don't believe what we see because we always thought that our mind is playing tricks on us. Our eyes can deceive us more than anything so we better watch out because sometimes we will not like what we see.

Blogpost  # 6 : Aaaah Monsters !

Sometimes we think that monsters hides in our closets, hides under the beds of an innocent little child and some hides inside our head. Kids may ask you "What is a monster" well for me when I was a kid I've always been told that monsters aren't real but because of my wild imagination I have a tendency to see monstrous visions of shadows that scares me and sometimes I can't even sleep at night because of the dark and because of that darkness my imagination starts to play tricks on me and puts images of human bodies without anatomy or scary faces of monsters that I saw on tv. Now I am not afraid of monsters anymore and I even use my vast monster imagination as references for my artworks when drawing.

We all have different opinions or knowledge of monster but do we really know what is a true monster? As i search its true definition a monster is just a figment of our imagination that is typically huge, scary and ugly and the second definition is a monster is a creature that is usually found in legends that produces fear in its physcial appearance and its action. Examples of monsters are the Minotaur of the Labyrnth , The Leviathan , The Krakken, Cyclops (not the X-men character) and many other creatures from the myth.

I have been fascinated by monsters all these years but there are still questions that bothers me "Why are there monsters?" and  "Why did I imagine such a thing", well what i saw in this this article entitle "Why We Invented  Monsters" by Paul A. Trout from the site Salon. I somehow managed to get the idea on why our mind creates such monstrosities without even seeing something like them

I have been quite interested in this article that Paul Trout worked on because I've learned a lot of things. First I learned here in this article that even if monsters have different traits, characteristics , features and abilities they all have one thing in common and that is "They all eat or kill humans". Next is I also learned that monsters are an exaggerated combination of human, anymals and objects that is mixed up together in the mind and they produce a horrifying image that result in a monster. After that I've learned that Monsters too can be a symbol of an emotion for example a fat monster is often times associated with greed and a nude body is associated with lust so thats how emotions create new monsters and syncing it with our minds. Lastly I learned that we are not actually born killers we just mimic the actions of the predators we've seen through past experiences like for weapons we use sharp objects as sharp as talon,claws,teeth of the predators who tried to opppose us and that results into the weapons machete,scythes,knives or stones and this is called mimesis.

After reading that interesting article Paul Trout wrote something in the article that I haven't forget easily and that quote is "One answer is to say that the “monster” was always in us, as part of our primate inheritance — the “killer ape” view. Faced with so many environmental threats, early humans had to band together in collective group defense rather than kill and eat each other, a task already performed so well by predators. No doubt within the group there was jostling for status and goods, but intra-group and inter-group homicide was probably very rare, or we would not be here to speculate about it. It took a very long time for humans to be transformed — indeed to transform themselves — into the alpha predator of the planet. ".

And in that quote he explained a new type of monster, a monster in our heads and I think he is stating the fact that we have our own monsters waiting to go out and unleash every bit of power we have. He also stated that we havent unleashed our true monsters within ourselves because we are helping each other to fight a better foe and not each other and this trait helped us to survive centuries and now we don't have better foes to fight, mankind started killing each other to fight for the top and if this helped us to survive I think this will also be the result of extinction and this is what made us MONSTERS.

 After that Im at it again browsing for more articles to write in the blog then I read this article on the site and I remembered as a kid I was afraid of monsters thats why I searched for an article that states why do kids fear monsters and how to get rid of that fear and I saw that article on Hubpages.com entitled Bed Time: When Young Children are Afraid of Monsters by TPSicotte.

As TPSicotte said in this article children has a wide imagination thats why they are afraid sometimes because they are seeing things that are somewhat unusual for the others to see. As kids they still cannot really distinguish reality and fantasy and they tend to mix those things up so thats w



hy they are really afraid of monsters because they think they were real. Next is that as grownups or teens we could easily help children to not be afraid of monsters by telling them that monsters aren't real or not scaring them all the time but eventually they will get over it when they grow up. Lastly he also said that we could use our everyday items to get rid of monster problems for kids like opening the nightlight on for them to not feel alone due to the darkness , turning on the radio playing soft music to make them feel comfortable and sometimes sleeping besides them to make them feel secure and all that.

The author also quoted that "It is typical for young children to have a good imagination and to believe in magical creatures and monsters. Between the ages of three and six many kids have a difficult time separating the fantasy world from the real world."

Because kids are really imaginative and their thoughts in their minds are not yet in sync with the real world so thats why some of them always imagine monsters because they are always scared with things they dont know. They will grow out of it eventually but to avoid trauma in children we should avoid scaring them and start caring children or on my part we should show them the positive side of monsters for them to truly accept and never be scared of monsters ever again.

There are monsters everywhere you look they arent just hiding under your bed or peeping inside your closet sometimes they all around you, wherever you look there are monsters but the thing is inside yourself is also a monster just waiting for the one trigger to be free but its alright dont be afraid we are going to meet someone whose monsters are compatible with ours. "We all go a little mad sometimes".

Blogpost # 5 : Big Screen Screamers

Ever wondered at some point why we spend a lot just to scare the crap out of us? Is it because we like to feel adrenaline rushing through our veins? Is it because we like to act tough in front of the ladies? Or plainly just because we find peace in those creepy Friday night flicks that makes us hooked into them. Well no matter what the reason is,we can't deny the fact that even if we don't like horror movies we peek at the screen out of curiosity and regret it when we get scared. As for me I watch horror movies because it is my only bonding time with my friends and family and I like scaring them while they are watching horror movies and tend to laugh at their faces full of fear and anger.

To further enhance our knowledge in horror movies let us first define what really makes a horror movie well.... horrific? Well as the definition states in the dictionary a horror movie is a film genre seeking to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's primal fears. So that means it is 

somewhat a form of entertainment that its primary role is to scare us and use our fears to scare us. Common horror films are always associated with supernatural creatures and stuff that is odd and somehow makes our brain think and say "What was that?".

Sometimes I wonder why horror movies are made because as I said a while ago "Who spends a lot of money just to scare yourself?". So now I bump into an article entitled "Why Are There Horror Movies" which is made by Norman Holland in the site PsychologyToday gave me a pretty neat answer on my question.

In the article that Norman Holland wrote, he explained his experience and thoughts on why are there horror movies when he saw the movie "Repulsion" and he quoted that it is one of the most scariest movie that he saw. Also in this article I learned that the reason why horror movies was made because we learn from the ugly and painful things, and we enjoy learning.

Norman Holland quoted that "Evolution suggests a different answer. Driving past a particularly gruesome accident on the highway, we crane our necks around to see the blood and guts. Fear and disgust signal dangers, and we do well, evolutionarily, to pay attention to them in order to maximize our chances for survival and reproduction. " 

For me it is a fact that we often avoid something that we dont know. Maybe it is just a form of self defence based on our instinct, but that instinct kept us alive for a lots and lots of years and that instinct is the fear of death or the fear of dying because sometimes that is the only thing that keeps us alive and if we pay attention to them as what Norman said therefore our chances of survival and reproduction boosts up.

Now off to a new article to read. I saw an article made by Margarita Tartakovsky which was entitled "Why Some People Loves Horror Movies While Others Hate Them" on the site Psychcentral.

Tartakovsky first explained here in the article is the Excitation transfer process that means that this is what you feel after finishing a horror movie and she also stated that when people watch horror movies their heart rate and respiration increases because of the stress that is caused by the movie. Next is the Novelty where Tartakovsky said that when danger appears curiosity comes to do what ever to survive and she also stated that someone said that negative emotions can triumph over novelty and ruin the entertainment value of a horror movie. Then lastly she said that parents should be careful in letting kids watch horror movies because they still cant distinguish whether the things they watch are reality or fantasy.

Tartakovsky also quoted that  "In one males liked a horror movie more when they saw it with a female who was scared, and females liked the movie more when they saw it with a male who wasn’t scared."  

It means that gender could also trigger the opinions of people who watch horror movies because on my opinion men watches scary movies is just because they want to see the reaction of women to see if they're scared or not and female likes the movie if they saw it with a male because it kinda makes them feel more secured if they are not scared in horror movies.

Even though we might get scared and shocked because of this movies we all still enjoy them because of the thrill factor they give us and as we get older we gain more courage and because of that we are not afraid anymore.So my advice to you guys keep on watching horror movies until you get scared because someday you want to feel that adrenaline rush and thrill on your spine when watching horror movies.

 

Blogpost # 4 :  Illustrating Your Pleasant Nightmares

Art is expressing your emotions and ideas and making them visible for the others can see and sometimes feel what you are feeling inside. For some people no matter how much they try to make their artworks cute,happy and cheerful they always end up being grotesque, scary and creepy so thats what gave birth to this kind of nightmares. This type of nightmares is what i call "Pleasant Nightmares" because everytime i see something like this i am always amazed on how they pictured their nightmares and made them into awesome artworks.

As they say "Art is limitless" everyone has their own ideas that is waiting to come out of the brain of yours and their own style in expressing the things they want us to see.On my own preference I became interested in the artworks with the grotesque and abnormal because I have an intense imagination and I always had been curious on the dark sides of everything and unlike those typical stereotypes of people I like things that other people fear and horror and creepy things inspires me more than cute and cuddly beings.

When i am searching for art inspiration, I saw Zdzisław Beksiński's artworks and they just blew my mind away because of its awesomeness and it inspired me and now while i was searching for articles about him I saw an article on the site io9.com that was entitled The Haunting Nightmarescapes of Zdzisław Beksiński that was made by Ed Grabianowski and on this article they talked about the life of Beksiński and his artworks.

It is said that Beksiński was first an architect and worked as a construction supervisor but he was not happy on the things that he do and got interested in sculpting then photography and lastly painting. If you saw Beksiński's paintings they are like a reali0stic photography of hell and the way that he puts details on his painting is really quite remarkable. None of his paintings are titled and there was a rumor spreading that Beksiński hated his works because it was a paintings of the nightmares he had but for me those paintings that he did is just a physical representation on what he feels.

Unfortunately his wife also died due to an illness and his son commited suicide in the late 1990s. Sadly, Beksiński died in 2005. He was murdered by the son of his caretaker because he didnt lend him $100.

On this article the author Ed said that "Despite the artist's claims to the contrary, it's difficult to view these paintings and not experience a chill of horror, or a pervasive sense of loss, abandonment and sadness."

I somewhat agree on what Ed said because his artworks truly has lots and lots of mixed emotions and even if I feel some horror on the masterpieces that he created, it still gives me inspirations and i still see the beauty hidden in darkness that Beksiński did. As i said earlier his artworks are his adventures on hell and because of that unknown feeling that is where fear popped up and gives us chills in our spine and you can clearly feel his emotions that is instilled in his works.

The next article i chose is just a short one and it is from the site Trendhunter.com and the article was Dreamy Demonic Drawings by Gil Haddi and in this article Gil explained here the artworks of Lucian Stanculescu and what is his style.

Lucian Stanculescu is self proclaimed antagonist meaning that he dont like those typical "good" characters and focuses on the nightmarish character types that most likely be the bad guys. His artsyle is creatively amazing because he uses his imagination and combines it in the disfigured anatomy of the body and he doesn't have a background to distract the characters and on my opinion his style is like the style of the shin megami tensei game series "Persona" and some of his artworks looks like the horde of monsters that is seen on the game and even if his art style is considered nightmarish it still looks awesomely beautiful for me.



Gil Haddi also said that "Using these two different styles, the Lucian Stanculescu Illustrations explore different aspects of dreams; some are strange yet pleasant and some can be nightmarish."

Because of that "dream" style, reality and fantasy gets mixed up and it turns out to be a perfect combination when doing it with art and this is one of my draw styles too but I have a difficulty of drawing realistic stuff but overall Lucian has a pretty extreme style that is appealing to the crowds.




Even if only a few people likes this brand of art on the past years I think on this timeline we are starting to appreciate artworks like this and even if some of it looks disturbing, gruesome or somewhat scary it is still interesting to see this kinds of arts because it is most likely the brand of art that you can feel the emotion of the artist and by that you could connect your hearts so that you could somewhat understand the masterpiece that the artist made.