To Rise From Our Fall: Our Triumphs, Tragedies, And How We Reflect On Them.

It's been a while since I posted. I had been planning on getting a lot of stuff up online here for everyone by early Springtime, but a lot of good and bad drastic changes have come into my life so suddenly within the past few months which have been making things seem 'bittersweet' in a sense, for me and the world around me alike. Personally, I without getting caught up into taking circles around what I need to say, I have lost my grandmother within the last week of May, and it hit me pretty hard as the whole situation technically started at the end of March, to be exact.. So, I can honestly say, as close as I was to her, she was like a mother to me, and losing her really made me question a lot of my thoughts on life, but also maturing me in a lot of ways as well. I felt as deeply touched by all of this as Peter Parker has felt for the loss of Uncle Ben. Someone so inspiring to you every step of the way through life, who shared so much wisdom, all of a sudden not able to be that voice of reason, that call every day, it really shakes you, shocks you, and stops you.. into a suspended state of disbelief, while slowly washing in like a tidal wave spilling through the cracks of a door. She was like The Godfather of our family, the Marlon Brando role, she led 5 families together, a circle, a bond. She was our Professor X, and I just wanted to be a young Scott Summers, to make her proud while everyone sees me in a bold light. My brother, more-so, is the Wolverine. We all have been hit in a slightly unique way, yet all in the same vein.

However, in every darkness, we find our light. My light, besides emotionally holding onto each other in my big crazy loveable Italian-American family, was in the form of love. I received comfort in my wonderful new girlfriend who has really guided me through all of this by hand, every step of the way.. so, while I don't wheel my grandma into bingo every week, feeling that classic sense of a good true family pride, I still feel like I am beginning to share a whole new world of adventures every week, and starting a whole new chapter in life with someone, with a new love whom I connect with so well, and has been here to really show me and accompany me in really taking initiative in truly embracing a more mature yet clear feeling in my life. My other light is my father, for staying strong, and his 4 siblings, too.. my aunts and uncles. Me and Dad have a bond like friends, almost like Michael Caine's Alfred is with Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne. The same goes for my brother with us, although between our brotherly thing it's more of a Charles Xavier (me) /Eric Lensherr (my bro) at times, or it's a Logan/Victor Creed thing.

The day everything started, I honestly let out the loudest howling cry into the wounded sky that March morning, it wasn't quite Spring yet, but it still had that Winter late, light snow, and frost everywhere. The expressions of those around me, the words that would haunt me. No one should feel that, but unfortunately we do, and it truly shocks me how well some of our superhero films express that.. I keep thinking of Hugh Jackman's emotional responses, when they lost Professor X in X3, when Silver Fox "died" the first time in 'Origins', things like that. I think one of the biggest things we get behind the heroes (or villains), is because we feel an emotional bond there. We find things in people that we really connect with, and who could blame us? My grandma was in a wheelchair for the last 15 years here, she fought so many things and beat them, from Tuberculosis, to breast cancer, to a near fatal internal infection that began to slowly deteriorate her spine, to even end stage chronic lung disease, these are some of the many threats that hit her, and she still led so many of us, younger and older, even when she as sick with multiple things, she made sure we all felt safe, secure, and accepted, and she showed that wisdom over all of us, all the time. She was my family's superhero if I ever knew one. Also, my girlfriend/love, she has just as big of a heart and style as I do, we are very parallel, realistic, and she makes me think of that classic awesome Spider-Man line, "Face it, tiger, you just hit the jackpot!" So true! (My fellow gents, there's always a special lady in our lives that does it for us, that truly makes us better men, am I right?) She really has brought out the best in me, especially in times like this moment in time for me. In addition, The fact that me and my brother remind each other of Wolverine and Sabretooth, every time we sit and watch 'Origins' I immediately notice it, (Yes, I am a fan of that movie, through and through.) He is the hot head of the household, EXACTLY like Logan, but I will always stick by his side in the long run, (despite the difference in ideaologies and viewpoints of the world) and I'm the laid back thinker like Victor, I tend to not give a damn.. Maybe I'm the good guy who actually likes to sympathize with the bad guys, who knows?

So with that, I ask you the following..

How have your favorite Heroes and Villains helped you through everything you have felt in life, the deepest of moments, both good and bad for you? Who do you relate to deeper than any one or any thing in life?

Also, I have made a new digital painting I would like to share with you all, I call it, "Battling The Black And White" and I hope you all enjoy it. It is made and inspired by a mix of TDKR recent trailer, and also from listening to Peter Gabriel's cover of the Arcade Fire song, 'My Body Is A Cage'. I have hidden three DC Comics characters in this piece of artwork, let's see if everyone can figure out all three of them!