Underrated Treasures Blogfest! Beware the Awesome....

An opportunity to share some underrated TV, films, books or music that just aren't getting enough love! Share your favorite lesser-known gems with everyone in this BLOGFEST, created by the all-knowing, all-powerful Captain Ninja Alex Cavanaugh.

For this Blogfest, which is brand new, as far as I know, I love having the opportunity to share obscure gems with other people who are not aware of some amazing things out there that I know about. I'm going to separate things into categories: 

TV 

This TV show hails from Japan and it's quite popular over there, but here in the U.S., it's only hugely popular with the anime-loving crowd. Needless to say, that's not a very large segment of the population. *sad face :(* I'm a very big anime and manga (Japanese comic books) fan, so if I'm recommending an anime TV series to people who never watch anime, it's because this one is so different from the norm. 

Shingeki no Kyojin, a.k.a. "Attack on Titan" is like Japan's

version of "The Walking Dead" American TV series. But, these zombies are HUGE. Imagine having to battle zombies as large as skyscrapers! Yeah, it's a very harrowing, terrifying series, but so satisfying. The characters are genuinely freaked-out about their circumstances and not too prepared for what they have to deal with. Many twists and turns abound, so be sure to give this one a few episodes to really show its true nature. Don't expect this show to go easy on you--many characters die. DIE very horrible deaths, even the ones you come to care about. 

When the man-eating giants called Titans first appeared, humans retreated behind massive walls. After a hundred years of safety, a colossal-sized Titan smashes through the defenses, unleashing a flood of giants and carnage in the streets. Eren Jaeger watches helplessly as one of the creatures devours his mother.
He vows to kill every Titan walking the earth.

Eren and his surviving friends enlist to fight against the insatiable monsters. The future looks bleak, but there's more to Eren than meets the eye: he may be humanity's last hope against extinction. From the director of "Death Note" and "High School of the Dead" comes the series Anime News Network calls an intense, visceral, and graphic thrill ride. The Titans have come to feast. Anything can happen. No one is safe.

Available to watch on Netflix streaming in its original Japanese audio, or on Cartoon Network's Toonami block on Saturdays at 11:30pm in English dubbed voice over. 

MUSIC 

I'm going to be schizoid and jump from this very intense, terrifying TV show to my favorite music composers of beautiful, ethereal music. Try and keep up.... 

Adrian von Ziegler, an independent composer from Switzerland, has had my ear for the past year now with all his gorgeous high fantasy and dark gothic music. This guy is seriously a genius and needs to be hired for film and video games of every kind. He bases himself on Youtube and has quite a good following, making a living for himself from the sales of his audio tracks. Take a listen below!

Brunuhville is a contemporary of Adrain's and a good friend.

Bruno hails from Portugal and composes very similiar-sounding music to Adrian's, but in a very different style. If you end up liking Adrain's music, you're almost sure to like Brunuhville, as well. He, too, is based on Youtube and has a very nice-sized following, so far. He has a fantastic ear for extremely emotional music. Watch out or you may end up balling your eyes out! 

I'm just so happy to have found these masters of music! They are very young and have full careers ahead of them. I can't wait to hear what they dream up next. 

STAND-UP COMEDY 

Now, I'm going to keep up my unpredictability with a plug for a fantastic, but lesser-known stand-up comedian that I have recently discovered. Brian Regan is an American comic who has been doing stand-up since the 1990's, although I've never even heard of him. Maybe you have, since he's been around for so long. He's absolutely hilarious and a very clean family man. You can enjoy his comedy with your teenagers, since the younger ones might not get his jokes. Then again, maybe they will!

And, there you have it! Have any of you ever heard of these lesser-known gems? I'd love to hear from others who like any of this stuff, too.