#because it can become meaningful if put in a certain context

[ink-the-artist]

I saw some of your tags on your recent reblogs, and it made me wonder what you tink of the recent outcry against "AI art" tools? With your tags, it sounds like you'd have different thoughts compared to what digital artists posting about it right now, and it got me kind of curious. No pressure to answer publically if you think you'll get flak for it - I'm just curious to hear your perspective because of those pieces you resurfaced.

I typed out a bit long thing about my own thoughts, but then realised that dumping that in your inbox would be a little unhinged. TL;DR - I'm neither here nor there. Selling the results is wrong, at present at least, but the tools themselves... ehhh? are they really??

That's the jist of it. If you'd like me to, I can elaborate with some of the play in 5 acts that I edited out. For context, I do art but I don't want to pursue a career in art in the current digital age, and I've worked on """AI""" (text to speech vocalisation) in the past but I'm not a staunch defender or anything, I just know some stuff about what "AI" is.

the outcry against ai art is because people are worried it'll take the place of actual artists and more recently because there have been a lot of artists whos art has been used in these ai programs databases without their permission or against their will (I think there's even a few instances where they used art from dead artists.) And I definitely agree with the outcry against that. I don't think ai generated art can meaningfully replace actual human art because art isn't just about creating images, ai cant replicate the self expression and communication and, well, humanity of human art, but I do think in the future it may take some jobs away from artists if an employer/company can get the same thing they want for free or cheap from an AI as they could with a human artist. there is also a real concern that ai images (not art this time but photographs) will become convincing enough in the future that it can lead to misinformation being created and spread incredibly easily.

I use Artbreeder mostly and sometimes Wombo and I use it to generate photos rather than art, I like using the shittier programs bc the stuff they generate is very uncanny which works great for horror art lol. I also don't just post the thing I generate on artbreeder, all my ai posts are heavily edited and I'm basically doing photomanipulation and collage somewhat, they genuinely take a lot of work and time. Ive been inspired by uncanny ai images for my own horror art for a good while (back when that "this image is meant to simulate a stroke" post/hoax was going around, which is how I learned about artbreeder, then called ganbreeder) before I started seeing ai "art" become a thing or neuralblender get popular. Im rly into the idea of horror that comes from something that looks familiar but not quite right and you cant quite figure out what you're looking at. I think you can see the ai influence in some of these,

I think ai is a great tool for artists that should be explored, and I personally haven't seen people object to that use of it, there's artists that use it to visualize their ideas before making the art themselves or use it to help come up with ideas for their art. but i don't think just generating an image and posting that is really art, there has to be some element of transformation from you.

#long post #sorry about that lol #it has felt weird and kinda bad that the kind of ai art I do has been more and more associated with bad things #like nfts #the 'what is and isnt art' debate has been happening since humans started making art lol #and ive seen arguments that ai 'art' can be real art #without transformation or anything #because it can become meaningful if put in a certain context #which sure i think in theory thats true like we consider Duchamps stuff to be art #but ive really not seen anyone do this with ai 'art'

[sharpth1ng]

If someday they will make last part of scream, like definitely the end who do you want as ghostfaces? I saw different opinion, probably Sam and Sidney being the most popular (in this duo or in one of them + Billy ghost duo). I personally would like to see Stu + Billy ghost as like final Buckle but that’s maybe because I love that kind of plot twist.

Let’s say that we are in different universe where scream don’t have problems with production, no one was fired and everyone are willing to come back to play their roles

I can't really see Sidney going ghostface in the context of the movie franchise as it's played out so far. Sid has successfully moved on, she retaliates unflinchingly when attacked but she doesn't attack first because she doesn't want a life of violence and vengeance. I think bringing her back in and making her a ghostface at this point would be a regression for her character and I would need that to be justified pretty well for it to work for me.

In terms of making Sam a ghostface, I think that would be a bad call in terms of her character arc. Part of what works for Sam (and I think the movies could have done a much better job of this) is that she experiences insane amounts of victim blaming but for the most part the movie sides with her.

Unfortunately we live in a world where the violent actions of victims against their aggressors are heavily scrutinized, and victimhood gets questioned if the victim is angry, imperfect, or if they fight back. Sam FIGHTS BACK though, and she isn't bad for that. I also wouldn't want to see her turned into a villain because I already feel that the representation of her mental health/hallucination situation isn't great. I don't experience psychosis so other people are better positioned to speak on this, but from what I've heard from friends the way the movie deals with this part of her character makes them uncomfy too.

SO thats why I wouldn't want Sam and Sid ghostfaces at this point. I can see them putting on the mask to fight back but I cant see them being the killers themselves.

Now on to who think should be the final ghosties:

Gale

I've been thinking she would make a good ghostface for a while but where we are in terms of her character arc in the series I think she's extra well set up for it. We've always known Gale to be cutthroat and career focused. We've also known Dewey to be someone who anchors and softens her but Dewey has passed so she doesn't have that anchor anymore. Even with the boyfriend she has in scream 6 she barely reacts when he dies; she's struggling to form real attachments. We also know she's struggling with her career. Her main subject is ghostface, that's her claim to fame and her writing doesn't sell as well without it.

So we have a Gale struggling with meaningful social connections, struggling with her career, and her entire adult life has been defined by ghostface. She's been dragged through movie after movie getting chased around and having people killed off around her, and this is where it gets meta (like a good scream movie should).

Because at this point in the franchise what can we be commenting on? We've commented on sequels, requels/reboots, trilogies to a certain extent. And to be honest I think scream 6 totally failed with the meta-commentary part here but that's a rant for another day. So I think what we need to comment on is something like genre fatigue.

We have this final girl (Gale absolutely is, even though we don't always call her that) who's been forced through movie after movie after movie, and what does that do to a character in the context of a franchise? They become flanderized. They become a hollow and superficially characterized version of themselves, occasionally they become someone you can't even recognize as the original version of the character. Of course this doesn't always happen, careful writing and attention to character progression can keep that from happening, but to be honest Gale hasn't had much of that (not none, just not enough imo).

So to bring Gale in, socially isolated, unwilling to keep forming connections because they all fucking die, and desperate for some more recognition and a paycheck, and have her put on the mask and robe to revive the series? That feels like meta-commentary, baby.

Can you even imagine the reveal of that? Especially if Sidney comes back? That would be a legitimately tragic betrayal the likes of which we haven't seen in this franchise in a second. It's always a significant other, a family member, or a friend. But we've never had a former survivor as ghostface, and certainly never the other final girl, so this would be a legitimate plot twist if done well (scream 6 plot twist fell flat on it's face for me ngl).

There's also something good about the way this comments on different reactions to trauma as well. Not everyone is like Sid. Some victims internalize the abuse and repeat the cycle, especially when they've had to re-live it over and over to the point that they're numb to it.

In terms of Gale's partner we could go a few different directions. I could see her hiring a few randoms to ghostface for her, maybe like 4 or 5 so several can die through the course of the movie and still we know it can't be over.

That said, Gale's partner could also be a freshly released Stu. While I don't think they would be super in-sync with each other, I can totally see Gale seeking him out because ultimately she's doing this all for a good story, and what could be a better story than one of the original killers coming back?

I also think that this would provide some good final act drama because Gale would clearly be trying to frame Stu as the only killer to position herself as a victim, and Stu would absolutely double-cross her. Beyond that I would love to see Stu interacting with Billy's daughter, especially because I think he would disobey Gale if she told him to kill Sam.

So yeah lmao wrote another novel but these are my thoughts. Fuck Spyglass pictures though.

#scream movie #final ghostface casting #sharp thoughts #ask

[dappydaffer]

This rant I'm about to go on will probably not even get noticed, but, I genuinely do not care.

I just want to take a solid few minutes to really praise Will Wood and how...intellectual and meaningful his lyrics are. I know that's probably obvious to a lot of other WW fans already, but his music has been causing me actual brainrot and I can't stop putting his albums on repeat, ESPECIALLY The Normal Album, and I can't and won't shut up about it.

(Heads up, this is simply a take of mine on The Normal Album that I've been really wanting to talk about. I am by no means disclosing that what I am about to say is objective and/or true. You may politely correct me or respectfully counter it with your own opinions/thoughts, but kindly remember, this is just me mindlessly blabbering about how much the album means to me, how the little details make up my theory for the album's theme/point, and just me fangirling over the thought he put into his music.)

Alright I'm gonna go out on a limb here and essentially just explain my Normal Album theory I compiled by making the most logical connections and assumptions based off the album's lyrics and certain song's context(s) from the album.

To me, The Normal Album is an ironic, satirical juxtaposition testing "normal" people's reactions to "hush hush" topics of conversation, or things we don't typically think/talk about that aren't considered "normal" at all. Not only that, but also how the little bits and pieces from different songs and lyrics from the album make up said theme, is just so astounding to me. It truly shows that he put a lot of thought into his work and you can tell some of the songs are hitting just as close to home for him as it does with a lot of fans who look really into it.

To further emphasize, notice how the first song of The Normal Album, "Suburbia Overture / Greetings from Mary Bell Township! / (Vampire) Culture / Love Me, Normally," the first name and part(?) of the song is literally starting with "Suburbia?" Suburbia is often known as a neighborhood that appeals as a peaceful, cookie cutter place to live or the collective standard people envision as to what "normal" people should act like or how if you really are "normal," this is how you should live your life; a shiny, happy family, white pickett fences, perfectly cut grass, etc. Suburbia also (stereotypically) expresses resentment anyone that does not fit their standard of "normal," and I think that's Will's entire point, not only expressed in this song in particular, but the entire album. He is testing the waters by presenting this as an exaggeratedly normal album on the surface, but the further you get into it and/or dive into the lyrics, it becomes evident this is not normal at all. Just like how modern, suburbian culture (that he very explicitly expresses that he despises (e.g, "fuck your culture," "culture is not your friend")) presents itself as normal, even though behind closed doors, we know there is most likely something that is not okay, or something going on that contradicts the suburbia's own self-established standard of normal.

Hell, even the album cover is Will wearing "normal" suburbia-esque attire, waving out a window with a smile on his face, presenting as the normal he very much opposes with this album's music. This enhances the theme because of how much its trying to look normal on the cover; only ironically portraying Suburbia as too good to be true even more. And this is only the first of many symbolic details found within the album. With the ironic title, plus this sense of imagery, who wouldn't think it wasn't normal? (but if you know Will Wood and/or look at the titles, then you know damn well this album is far from it.)

By showing us something normal on the cover and starting off the album with a song who's title's first word is "Suburbia," it unveils itself to be ironic yet symbolic, reflecting suburbian attitude and showing how these kinds, and plenty of other people, treat what should be considered important topics (identity, death, morality, mental health, etc.) as things to be swept under the rug because it was not integrated into their "normal" ideals, through its music and words.

For example, to help even further prove my point, just look at some of the lyrics/song titles:

·"It's only culture, and its more afraid of you than you are of it." - That right there, that right there is his entire thesis that sums up his point of the album, along with my theory. Anything different opposing "normal" culture, the same culture grows a fear of it, often times trying to silence it out of fear of losing control of or entirely losing the "normal" haven/standard that has been created and set. Will bringing up the topics he does within the album does this very thing, destroying the "normal" feeling that had been set at the beginning, along with revealing the album's lack of hesitancy to discuss tough topics, the undertones of its true nature, and shining a light on how the album is ironically not normal at all.

·"I/Me/Myself" - A song that plays into the themes of not only identity, but the same themes of normality and conformity by discussing how both cis and trans people have their idea of normal towards labels and how one should act according to theirs and are both capable of projecting it in a toxic manner that tries to push down anything that defies it. Will Wood LITERALLY wrote and explained how this song is talking about his experiences as someone who used to be a genderqueer person, how both people on each side of the gender spectrum tried telling him that he can't do xyz because he's a cis man/genderqueer person (or in general), his frustrations with said standards, and that he only wore his gender identity as something to serve a purpose. Just because your behavior, interests, or whatever, contradicts your birth gender, it does not mean you have to conform to labels on either side, even if its not "normal" to everyone telling you otherwise. This very thing also exemplifies how this aforementioned culture is "not your friend" and that it can and will very much push down its standard of normality down your throat, no matter how good it seems or what side its on.

·"Marsha, Thankk You for the Dialectics, but I Need You to Leave" - Like "I/Me/Myself," this song also presents two (most likely extremist) sides that have their own standard of "normal," but this time, it discusses mental wellness instead. Regarding the fact this song revolves around themes of mental health and the balance of how it should be treated, we are given two (or possibly several more) perspectives on the subject matter that could each be considered normal, depending on the evironment/generation. (E.g., we hear a side throughout the song that seems to oppose professional/medical help in this regard or leans away from heavy reliance on such things (e.g., "Back in my day we didn't need no feel good pills and no psychiatrists, we just drank ourselves to death/bled out in our bath," "A little identity never hurt nobody, but lately you've been focusing too much on yourself," etc). And then, we also hear a side that is also consistent throughout the song, seemingly the polar opposite (e.g., "Better safe than sorry, and we both know the danger," "And a little conformity never hurt nobody, but lately I've been worried that you're losing yourself," etc.) (This one is kinda loosely tied, but I still thought it played into themes similar to I/Me/Myself in terms of normality, sorry if it doesnt make too much sense)

·"Well this disease is defined by its treatment, you people make me sick!" - This bit from Outliars and Hypocrates helps emphasize the album's theme further due to the song itself (theoretically) being about human behavior and this lyric also showing how these "normal" people may treat anything different negatively, creating issues within the person who appears as different and making them think something is wrong with them, potentially forcing the person to conform in order to avoid being ostracized (further creating and pushing the established "normal" expectations). Thus, creating a "disease" that is not at all a disease, and merely just behavior that is only treated as such because it does not fit the metaphorical and literal suburbia's standard or ideals of "normal."

I could go on and on, but I have been typing for way too long at this point (my hands and brain are actually hurting, help- VHKDFJ). There are plenty of other lyrics and songs I want(ed) to integrate in this post, but as I just said, I'm very tired from writing all this, and besides, I think I've made my point/theory clear. Whether I'm correct (partially or fully) or not, this was still fun to talk about, and trust me I have so much more praise for this man and his work and I got plenty of more speculations as to what some of his other songs could mean. Maybe I'll make more posts on it sometime in the future, but who knows?

And again, I cannot stress this enough, please do not harrass me for this and if you do believe otherwise, please reply respectfully. I know some, if not most people are nonchalant at the least about this kinda stuff, but I do NOT wanna deal with any comments or replies I know I could possibly get that'll be going "Erm, Actually-" or getting pissed at me for having an opinion. I am in no way claiming my postulation is definitivelty correct, these are just MY theories and MY thoughts. If you have anything different to say or your own theories about The Normal Album, or just any of WW's music in general, I would love to hear them in a respectful manner and/or your reasons for why you think xyz about the album(s).

I just had to rant about how truly incredible Wood's choice of words and music were for the album. The theme is truly very astounding, but just the pieces in the words and titles that make up the puzzle, is what it makes it even better. It is just so well thought out and amazing to me. Will Wood is one of the most lyrically intlligent, and seemingly passionate artist's that I've ever seen. If you dont like his music or have never even heard of him, at least read more analytical posts like this just so you can get a taste, and/or at the least, appreciate how absolutely profound Will is with his lyrics. My compliments and explainations for his work do not do it justice. It is just something you have to listen to for yourself. His content just cannot be put into a box by words.

#rant post #rant #will wood and the tapeworms #will wood #holy shit im not typing anything for the next month 💀 #that took way too long (ADHD be damed) and my hands are now in agony (it was worth it tho) #just a theory #just a thought i had #im proud of this one #just my thoughts #i am so ill for ww and his music 😭 #please read (only if you want to)

[radio-free-beth-sarim]

I love it when fighting games put cool little character extras in the games like pre-fight sequences where they trade moves and clash or a little piece of dialogue where they're taunting each other, or declaring their undying hatred (or sometimes deep love and friendship) with unexpected banter. A lot of fighting games try to recreate that now with every character having a pre-fight line that it open ended to lead to a generic response that kind of works in context. The times when it's tailor made for these two specific characters, and is a meaningful interaction between them just makes it so good.

Or a really fantastic thing I like is character specific taunts. This is probably also one of my favorite things about Guilty Gear Strive, and one of the ways I feel it is a very good game. I could go on about the Guilty Gear Series, and often do. One day I'll write in depth about my feelings on Strive. But anyway, I digress. Strive has character specific taunts and I love that so much. ESPECIALLY when it's not a thing you'll ever discover in a real match. Nobody is going to let you get away with taunting for 5-10 seconds while Elphelt gushes to Ramlethal about starting a band. You have to play around in training mode to even notice that. But fighting games have such strong characterization that they can make you do something like that just to see it. This isn't a character specific taunt example but Nagoryuki's monologue about onigiri is a prime example of the least practical thing you could ever put as a thing you can do in a fighting game, but it makes the game itself so much better. You come to care enough about the characters in the game that you'll go into the training mode just to see more about them. And maybe while you're there you'll lab a few combos.

At a certain point you'll think "That pre-fight clash between Slayer and Holy Order Sol was fucking cool. I want to see that again" or "The Jin vs. Ragna theme is great, I'll work on my execution and use that matchup to hear that song." Then you go into training mode and do that shit, and you get better at the game.

I love it when fighting games do that. At a certain point character design and writing become a gameplay element. The thing that makes you want to invest time. They make characters you want to root for. You want to see them succeed. They get you invested in the fight and they make you want to win because you love them too much to see them do that.

I love it when fighting games.

#fighting games #fgc #guilty gear #blazblue jin and ragna song #nagoryuki x onigiri otp

[pocketgalaxies]

okay i have a confession...i never liked ashton...i tried, especially when we found out he has chronic pain and a legitimate reason for being an asshole...but i just can't get on board with him and often roll my eyes at his scenes. and that last convo with laudna made me so frustrated bc it seemed like he was totally emotionally dismissive and wanted to play the "i had it worse" olympics. i've never disliked a cr character before and i don't know what to do about it. any advice? or anything that you particularly like about ashton that could help me get on board a little?

hi anon thanks for asking! unfortunately i can't help you a huge amount because i also! have never liked ashton and have historically had trouble finding reasons to like them. but i will try my best to help

well the first thing i'd say is i don't think you need to find reasons to get on board with ashton. interrogating your feelings about a character is always good to take in the full depth of their behavior, but if you go through that whole process and you STILL don't like them then maybe they just aren't your cup of tea. which is totally valid and acceptable!!! and i know it's not easy to dislike something about a show you love so much, but i'd say just try and sit with that and tell yourself that you're allowed. there are so so many fish in the cr sea and you're far from expected to love each one

that being said if you still want to hear my thoughts here they are! (it got very very long)

i've seen a few people mentioning that ashton might've intentionally started that conversation with laudna because he knew she specifically would be in the position to shoot them down. a sort of self-inflicted scolding, i think. watching the ep, i also got the sense that he was intentionally trying to upset her by bluntly phrasing things to dig into her trauma and i think it makes sense based on what we know about them. maybe he wanted someone to yell at him and tell him he's being weak (in a lot of ways similar to early-c2 caleb's pervasive self-hatred driving him to intentionally seek out places/people with which he is made to feel like shit). or maybe he needed someone else to look him in the eye and tell him "stop hiding and let the people around you help you." maybe they needed a reason to say out loud that they're only with the hells bc they're using them, because that's the only way they can hear themself and how ridiculous and false that sounds. who knows! regardless, i think it's uninformed to say that tal wasn't doing this on purpose. it means something, and it opened up something that will most certainly have some growth and ultimately resolution later

this is kinda separate but we could also get into the details of his word choice, like what did he mean by "i know a loneliness that you don't" was he just talking about a certain kind of loneliness that he perceives to be distinct from the loneliness that many other of the party members have experienced? (worth pointing out that bells hells is a party full of people defined by their loneliness in many ways. food for unrelated thought) is it true that ashton's loneliness is unique to them and no one else in the party? is it even meaningful to put people's loneliness into different boxes? how has loneliness affected the way they distance themself from some people vs. the way they latch protectively onto other people? maybe those questions are of interest to you!

i think ashton is a very meaty character with a lot of complicated stuff going on and tal loves to create characters like this, characters defined by arrogance or a self-aggrandizing belief in their own suffering, or characters who are intentionally and unrelentingly abrasive. they become likable and compelling because of the underlying context and past and often conflicting and changing behavior over time.

it's just that those types of characters will always be a little polarizing, and i personally have a LOT of trouble enjoying tal's characters, because that's just my personal preference. they are complicated and juicy but they historically just do not do it for me. i was very incensed by that conversation with laudna because i am a laudna stan above all else and i thought ashton was being Awful to her, even if i can understand that they knew they were being awful and had reasons to be that way. the important thing is that i recognize it's a double-standard in my own mind and i know that about myself, and i'm not being a willingly narrow-minded jerk to the fans who like ashton and were thrilled by the convo. but i don't have to feel forced to like them and read/reblog meta about how sad they actually are etc etc. you know what i mean?

anyway at the risk of going on a tangent where i complain about that convo for no real reason related to your question, i will stop talking now. hope this helps in some way or another! your feelings are valid and you definitely are not alone in struggling with this character, if the posts and tags i've seen the past few days are any indication. just be nice to people and it will be all good. cr characters are fictional but cr fans are not <3

#anonymous #ask #answered #critical role #cr3 #cr spoilers #cr meta #cr negativity #nova shh #yes i Did write two paragraphs about how much i hated that convo before realizing it wasn't needed or productive #so i deleted them #but. if you really want me to complain. and just be mean. i guess you can send me another message idk. i just don't want to be murdered

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

That was such a good analysis. And do you think a "balancing" is possible?

Re: this ask!

I think that depends entirely on what is meant by balancing!

If you’re specifically referring to the “you were meant to be my balance” line, in the context which it is said shdhdd I do not think he remotely meant it. When he’s like “you might make me a better man :)” etc, I think he’s fully bullshitting her. He isn’t saying it with the intention of becoming a better person, or even with genuine acknowledgment that that is something that might require doing! He’s just trying to get her to hook up with him. If at that very point Alina took him up on his offer, there is zero chance imo that he would at all change his ways. He’s fully decided that he is right, and she is wrong, and she only needs to see things his way. That if she doesn’t, the fault lies with her.

That being said, I think he’s a character that’s remarkably easy to rehabilitate in one way or another. I find online discussions of redemptions often really simplistic and only from the perspective of a single type of story. Fictional/narrative morality is so fluid, all it takes to side a character like the Darkling with protagonists is to simply put him in a position where his goals align with theirs. And I find that pretty easy because he has such clear cut things he cares about, ie the political situation in Ravka. So it’s a pretty easy fix to just introduce an outside threat and force him to work with Alina/any protagonist of choice.

Or like for fanfic reasons, I’ve thought a lot about scenarios where either the stag isn’t found, or he doesn’t go immediately batshit villain mode the moment Alina runs away, and the status quo established in SaB stretches on for longer. Or scenarios that are just set earlier. Like he seems to not have been committing many war crimes, that we know of, in that pre canon time? So that’s one metric, but that doesn’t actually sand down any of his edges lol. And it’s only placing a brief interstice on his more egregious terrible behavior— I fully anticipate the manipulation and interpersonal cruelty would also still be present.

If we’re talking about balancing him out from a legit moral perspective, that becomes harder, chiefly because he is really goddamn old, and him being unadaptable, and set in his ways is literally a plot point (his hatred for technological advancement).

His age is super unclear, but canonically *at least* upwards of five hundred years old, and honestly I can understand why, past a certain point, he’d be like “WHY do I have to care what these children think, when they’re going to die in five minutes anyway?” I don’t think he can really think of people as people anymore, because he’s seen repetitions of similar things play out so many times, for so long. And being so powerful for so long means that he can afford to act pretty carelessly because there aren’t that many permanent consequences. Most typical worst case scenario (beyond the canon ending lol) is that he can literally just fake his death and come back as his own son or grandson with zero consequences. So a key factor in making him change in any way imo is stripping him of power so that he doesn’t have the luxury of not giving a damn about other people. I mean that more institutionally, but losing his magic could also be useful.

Once again, for its flaws and my baseline disagreement with the concept of bringing him back from the dead after TGT, I think RoW had the right idea wrt forcing him to pretend to be a random monk. He was, however, even trying to claw to power then lmao. I think it would just take way longer than the span of stuff we saw in RoW to make any meaningful change in him. He’s just been an evil wizard king in his little evil wizard tower for too long. And on top of that, imo, his insistence to Alina that, when herself faced with immortality, she will turn out exactly the same as him, stems from a sort of sunk cost fallacy. He honestly seems desperately unhappy as a character! He seems so jaded and fully emotionally removed from everyone and everything, where the only thing that matters to him is power, and he needs her to discover that that is the only outcome possible bc if not… well he’s just wasted centuries being fucking miserable for nothing. He doesn’t want there to be another option! So he’s just very, very reticent to having any other perspective or changing in any way, and if he ever does it will inevitably be done while kicking and screaming the entire way. (I might honestly just be averse to the idea personally because redemptions are boring to me! He’s much more fun if he sucks!)

Personally, my favorite method of domesticating the Darkling is just Alina using one of the Morozova amplifiers (possibly any amplifier if it just works like that?) on him and keeping him as her pet war criminal tbh. I think that has the most entertainment value, and the most safeguards against him finding his way to power again and committing more war crimes, or being in a place to do much manipulating. Will it fix him? Ehhhh maybe over time, since it might force him out of his usual habits? Probably not. But at least it functionally tempers most of his worse tendencies lol.

TLDR: Do I think the Darkling can be balanced? I don’t know! Sounds like a tall order! I do think he can be put on a leash though.

#also thank you! #grishaverse #shadow and bone #rule of wolves #the darkling #aleksander morozova #sorry not editing this just stream of conscious typed it out and I’m too busy to look over it again in depth #all the bendy punctuations #a mysterious stranger has appeared #i ramble sometimes #*writer’s cap* #meta

[reachingforthevoid]

Addendum to Doctor Who: Big Blue Yonder

Liking something is subjective, which is part of the reason why I rarely take a story to task in my mini-reviews. This story left me bored, aside from a few moments of visually exciting material. Yet, just about everyone I know loved it and were buzzing about how good it was hours after first watching it.

They were talking about stuff I didn’t notice. Loads of stuff.

And that made me stop and think. 

And then I realised that for most of it I couldn’t hear the dialogue. Or, to be precise, my brain wasn’t processing the sounds I could hear into meaningful speech. Just about the entire story to me was “blah blah blah” with the occasional clear word. It was incomprehensible gibberish, literally, to me.

One of the many things I learned when I went through the process of discovering that I’m autistic involved sensory processing differences. I’ve a few, but one of the main ones is auditory, and it’s complicated by the fact that I’m going deaf. My hearing was damaged when I was a young teenager and had several grommets put in to drain build up behind my eardrums. The specialist told me what to expect back then, and it’s happening a little later than anticipated. 

Over my 55 years I’ve learned how to compensate for both these facts. I rely a lot on lipreading, and body language. It’s one reason why I don’t like phone calls unless I already know I can process a person’s voice or not. It’s also why video calls exhaust me, because so much of the non-verbal cues are obscured.

Sometimes the sound mix on TV or film makes it really hard for me to follow a story. Subtitles have become a necessity for quite a few things, but not everything. Bad subtitles are exhausting, too, and most subtitles aren’t great.

I realised late last night that I cannot process David Tennant’s voice when he plays the Doctor (I can when he talks “normally”; it’s not an accent thing, incidentally, but a role dependent thing), and I cannot process Catherine Tate’s voice when she plays Donna Noble. I struggle with some of her other characters, too.

How do I know it’s them doing those roles in particular? The pre-credit sequence in Wild Blue Yonder involved other actors playing other parts, and I had no trouble with them. I did with Tennant and Tate in that scene. (Although I gather what I heard of the “joke” made more sense than what was actually said. Not all bad, then.) The same happened at the end with a certain other actor who I could understand clearly.

How have I not noticed it before? Because there have always been other actors and characters I could understand and the context meant that missing what they said didn’t matter so much. An hour’s story in which the vast majority of the talk — and there was so much talk! — was between two actors playing characters that I can’t process what they say… Yeah… it became impossible for me to ignore.

Solution? I’ll have to use subtitles and hope they can do the job.

Oh, it’s not purely a Tennant Doctor and Tate Donna problem. There are other actors/characters, radio announcers, and people I know in-person, who I struggle with. It’s literally a “me thing”.

#doctor who #wild blue yonder #auditory processing differences

[euphoricfilter]

any tips on how to write for beginners? also where do you get the inspiration?

i guess just go for it. when i started writing on here i had minimal writing experience, especially story writing, and then over the course of the last year and a bit, naturally i’ve improved (i hope)

i think it’s easy to read other people’s work and want to copy their style, or want what they have. which is just part of human nature, so i say when you start out— write to find your style, even if it is a subconscious effort to do so. by either using other people as a guideline or fully winging it until you’ve formed a way that’s uniquely yours which is a lot easier than it sounds i promise. you kinda just naturally progress the more you write

don’t expect to have a whole novel length piece of work written. it’s hard, writing takes time and a lot of brain power. write small tidbits, little poems, things you like, things you see. find a prompt and write a couple hundred words about that. i think my favorite part of writing is the little excepts that have no context whatsoever in my notes, but just sound pretty and paint the image enough for you to imagine the story further or create a whole new world

uhhh what else…

write for yourself!!!!!. i struggle with this a lot and have to constantly remind myself that what i write should be as much for me as it is for other people. i tend to put pressure on myself and then that makes what should be a fun process entirely unenjoyable and then it starts to feel more like a job than a hobby

depending on what you write, research is always fun and a good place to start. which can sometimes lead to further development of plot ideas.

don’t be scared of stereotypes. i think there’s a negative connotation between writing and stereotypes but sometimes they’re the best stories!! sometimes it’s nice to know what to expect, or read something that can evoke something like nostalgia because the story follows the lines of something you’ve seen before (no plagiarism though!!! that’s stinky)

i get inspiration from a lot of things!! a lot of my fics are based on scenarios i come up with while trying to sleep. i think i’ve talked about this before, but usually before i sleep, i’ll come up with film ideas or drama ideas and essentially script out movies in my head which i turn into fic ideas as i’m not exactly able to produce an entire millions of dollars budget film. which is why i feel like my writing, at least to myself feels more visual, because it’s a visual piece in my head

fics like ‘standing next to you’ was inspired by the part in the MV where he’s on stage performing in-front of the actress on the car.

some of my writing is inspired by words i like, simple as that

or certain themes. a common theme in my writing is stars and destiny, something i really really love writing about hence why i probably bring it up so often

“stardust” was inspired by an article i’d read. movies i like. that one tae idea surrounding howls moving castle. “helping hands” was inspired by a tiktok i saw. stuff like “the feminine pact” was derived from my own ideals surrounding femininity, and my own sort of weird relationship with the term “feminine”

of course i get inspo from requests as well

really if you think about it there’s a story in every little detail of your life. and finding inspiration becomes hard when you’re actively seeking for it so let it just naturally come. i have a over active brain so i’m constantly thinking which on the occasion is incredibly useful when it comes to pulling ideas from every little detail of my life and the things that surround me

i think the assumption is that inspiration has to be something big, or meaningful to a large group of people when really it can be smaller things that other people deem insignificant, that you love

i hope that sort of helps?? this is purely from my own experience over the last year and a bit ☝️😔

[sc4llywag]

I sent you the ask about track recs the other day, thank you so much for your response!! Are there any tracks/soundtracks that you think I should know the context of before listening? Basically, what I'm saying is, I know being aware of what scene is happening in a certain storyline can make the music even more meaningful in a lot of cases. I'm totally down to try and find any corresponding clips of the game on YouTube to certain tracks so I can be all like "ohhh that's what 'Ezio Confronts Lucrezia' (AC Brotherhood) is about" 😂

(Or is that not what the soundtrack is like? I first started listening to video game soundtracks with Detroit: Become Human's, and those tracks play during the actual game itself. But idk if it's the same case with the AC games, or if it's just a separate song album to go with the vibe of the games, y'know)

Also, while I'm here, why not just say this (even though I don't know what you're gonna do w this info 😂): I was googling what "Tarantella" means since there's Florence & Venice Tarantella (AC 2 & AC Nexus), and (the first thing on) Google was saying it's like an Italian folk dance. I keep imagining what was going on in the game was like that Kingdom Dance scene in Tangled, and I think that's what really made me think about what was happening during all of the other tracks, and what made me come back here :)

I can't even believe I didn't see this when you asked! My greatest of apologies<3

For the soundtracks, certain contexts are good! With your example, in ACB when Ezio confronts Lucrezia happens I believe happens when either speaking to her after Cesare's betrayal, or the dlc which I unfortunately am not familiar with yet </3

For Ac3, context is important to me, for the track Connors life I believe is so so important to know his backstory and his emotions throughout the game, it's also his theme so in general you'll hear it within a lot of tracks(bonus as well!) as a motif because it represents him as a whole and I love Lorne Balfe for that whegahah

Certain OSTs like unity, don't need too much context imo. The songs are enjoyable and constantly you hear the same motif for the main theme in a lot of the tracks! But the track Put your mind at Elise is played at a time with Elise, Arno's lover, who is very key to the game and Arno's story. So it's a bit mixed for unity if I think about it hard enough

All of these OSTS have tracks that play throughout their respective games and that's what gives the games life imo, some tracks aren't included in the official OSTs, so I recommend going to YouTube and looking for unofficial ones that people have posted! There are some really good ones :)

Kingdom dance from tangled is SO perfect for the label of tarantella you're so right asker

I'm so glad you came back to ask<3 again sorry for my late posting!!🩵🩵

#assassin's creed #assassins creed #assassin's creed soundtrack #osts #music #ost #video games #video game ost #assassin's creed brotherhood #assassin's Creed 3 #assassin's creed unity #connor kenway #ratonhnhaké:ton #scallywagac #ask

[deathlessathanasia]

“The adventures of Mintha, or Mint, can immediately be seen to have a connection with the myth of Adonis by virtue of the role Persephone plays in both stories. We have seen Persephone, seduced by Adonis, become his passionate mistress. In the story of Mintha, by contrast, Demeter’s daughter appears as a legitimate wife thwarting the ambitions of a concubine. According to the myth[1] the nymph Mintha used to live in the underworld kingdom of Hades who was her lover. When the king of the underworld brought home Persephone, to make her his lawful wife, his abandoned mistress uttered terrible cries and threats which provoked the anger either of Demeter or of Persephone herself. Mint declared that she was more beautiful than her rival and that she would win back her lover and chase Persephone from the palace of Hades.[2] Mintha had no time to put her threats into action. According to one version. Persephone tore her limb from limb (diespdraxen), while Hades granted that she should become a fragrant plant called minthé or héduiosmos, ‘the sweet-smelling’, that is should be transformed into ‘garden mint’.[3] In another version it is an enraged Demeter who tramples her underfoot, reducing her to dust. And Mintha rises again from the earth in the guise of ‘the insignificant grass’ which henceforth bears her name.[4] There seems to be yet a third version of the misfortunes of Mint: one day a mourning Demeter noticed the wild mint plant and was filled with hatred for it. She condemned it to sterility, no longer to bear any fruit.[5]

The evidence for this mythical relationships between Mintha, Hades and Demeter is incomplete and fragmentary but it is corroborated by certain religious links suggested by topographical features of South Eastern Elis: in Triphylia there is a Mount Mintha, named after mint, on which is situated one of the extremely rare ‘émenos to Hades, and this is flanked by a wood consecrated to Demeter. [6] ...

Just as Adonis’ seductive powers refer back to his vegetable status as the fruit of the myrrh tree, Mintha’s story only becomes meaningful when it is placed in the ethnographical context of the plant whose name she bears. Mintha, the concubine and mistress of Hades, lets it be known that she has the means to win her former lover back and separate him from his new wife. And in doing so she is, no doubt, alluding to the procedures of love magic covered by the Greek idea of the iunx (whose connection with Mintha we shall later be demonstrating).[7] But the seductive powers of mint lie first and foremost in the pleasant smell of the plant which ‘sweetens the breath’. Peppermint, which is an aromatic species of the Labies family[8], has an ambiguous status in ancient botany. Because it is a highly appreciated condiment which brings out the flavour of many foods[9], mint is considered as one of the spices. Dioscorides[10] notes that, being of a ‘heating’ and exciting nature, it incites men to the pleasures of love. But this aphrodisiac also serves to procure abortions. Mint is believed to make women sterile; if applied before sexual intercourse it prevents women from conceiving, discouraging generation by preventing the sperm from coagulating.[11] While it excites sexual desire, mint prevents that desire from being productive. When taken in larger quantities it is believed to melt the sperm and cause such serious losses of semen that an erection is made impossible and the body is weakened.[12]

These different properties of mint suffice to explain why this aromatic plant is sometimes seen as a chthonic species, a plant of the underworld, connected with death. ‘Do not eat mint’ is one of the prohibitions in the Treatise on the sacred disease just as is that against wearing a black cloak.[13] Similarly, when the author of the Aristotelian Problemata comes across the proverb, ‘Neither eat nor grow mint during wartime’[14] he suggests that this plant has a destructive effect on seminal secretion and that it is opposed to courage and virility. Mint cools the body; it is simply one more raw herb amongst the other ‘cold and wet’ plants. It seems likely that it is in this semantic context that we should understand the links established by Greek lexicographers between the name of the plant mintha and the word minthos which is its synonym[15] but which also denotes goat’s dung[16], human excrement[17] and other equally foul-smelling substances. [18]

Since it oscillates between the spices and the cold, wet grasses, the botanical status of mint corresponds to the double status of Mintha who is now transformed by metamorphosis into a fragrant plant[19] and now changed into an ‘insignificant grass’ .[20] These botanical details are echoed in the third version of the myth of Mint whose theme is a double opposition: between with and without fruit, and fertile and sterile. Demeter’s hatred is vented this time not upon the aromatic species of mint but upon calamint[21], a species of wild mint which gives off a strong, unpleasant smell[22] reputed to put snakes to flight[23] and which, when replanted the wrong way up, with its head down, loses its wild character and becomes cultivatable.[24] As mint really is a sterile plant or one that bears only atrophied fruit[25], the ‘sterility’ inflicted upon it by Demeter might well appear to be simply a reflection of the botanical facts. However, on the mythical level on which the episode is set, the Greek concept of dkarpos, ‘sterile’, combines two meanings the second of which is expressed in a line of Orphic poetry on the subject of wild mint: ‘In former times it used to be a large tree, laden with fruit, pherékarpos’.[26] Once a fruit-bearing tree but now transformed into a small chthonic plant, the ‘fruitless’ calamint is, equally, a vegetable species afflicted with sterility or akarpia.”

 - The Gardens of Adonis: Spices in Greek Mythology by Marcel Detienne

#plants #mint #minthe #mintha #demeter #persephone #hades #quotes #excerpts

[enneamage]

Youtube, counterculture and What The People Want. These are massive topics that really get the noggin joggin’. Tommy delivered a motivational speech (still peppered with a bit of a lack of awareness that the people he looks back on fondly were once criticized for creating low effort trend following content) about how the people are craving a change because of how hollow certain video formats are becoming.

I’ve touched a little bit on Mr.Beastification before, namely how people are using him as a scapegoat to disown their own pull towards the illusion of safety and guaranteed success. The era of algorithm hacks and mind tricks that we’re in now reminds me a bit of the media version of the pickup artist / redpill scene, where self-styled experts try to brute force human behavior and connection through over-focusing on numbers and science of dubious origin. People have always wanted to bottle and redistribute luck and charisma, and the fact that the YouTube game is half human and half machine makes it seem slightly less insane to try and ‘hack.’ 

As an aside, is there anyone checking up on the people who solely and religiously follow all these hacks and advice? Like, are they actually doing well (in a numbers and personal wellbeing sense) when that’s the primary pillar of their content? I feel like even in the case of Mr. Beast, he probably over-reduces his success down to the variables that he can control/measure rather than the unknowable pile of factors outside of them, so it’s probably not as easy to replicate as he makes it sound.

(Dr. Mittens has a good post about how despite the narratives around Dream, Dream did not come up from zero solely because of his tactical brain, although he’s often used as an example of someone who power-gamed his success.)

So two questions come up in the wake of all this, what is the public hunger that Mr. Beastification inspires, and is YouTube really the place that this pushback is actually going to happen? If YouTube the platform is partly to blame for a certain kind of content rising to the top, one of the simplest answers is to get content somewhere else, which sounds like what Tommy is trying to avoid. Youtube has a virtual monopoly on longform public video hosting so they’re not in meaningful competition with other websites doing exactly what they do, so the threat of this is a bit less.

I look in my subscription feed and even my for-you page and I kind of can’t complain—YouTube knows that I’m “The video essay type” and goes from there, and that’s the bit about the algorithm I can appreciate at the end of the day. I have, largely, been insulated from the dumber things out there. This feels like an issue that’s been taking root in areas that are less curated than my corner, and maybe that’s part of the issue—between youtube hiding most of it’s videos unless it already thinks you’re going to like them and the market flooded with nothingburger formula videos (these problems create each other), it’s more rewarding to stay in your corner than actively seek out new stuff.

Something that I think I want from YouTube (but I don’t think I’ll get because if it were to be part of the system itself it would immediately get abused) is a human referral system. Like the actual ability to curate a page/feed of videos, maybe with a comment to give them context / a reason why you like them. This is because I don’t think I’ll ever trust the creator’s desperation (built-in) and the robot overlords (just want more minutes) over another complete rando who is genuinely like “I enjoyed this :D.” Human attention follows the attention of other humans, and while the algorithm follows that logic in a crude way, putting some texture back into that process might be able to do a lot.

On the topic of franchises, most of the fictional content I consume is from a fandom background so I know that repetition and familiar formats/premises have their place. (Call me parasoical but I like knowing who people are.) I understand why people want to talk about creativity and originality in a world obsessed with formula and guarantees, but I would say to not throw the baby out with the bathwater either, because some people can become so obsessed with innovation that they become backhandedly disdainful of people who have more grounded and reliable tastes.   

#tubeposting #Mage has decided to play one-sided discourse pong with Mr. Simons to pass the time

[sneezemonster15]

What do you think about ppl like this https://sasukeyncoreblog.tumblr.com/post/686622642398183424

Hi.

What's there to say that I haven't said a hundred times before? The last comment made me smile. There is already a credible degree of obsession involved once you become a fan of a piece of art and write about it in an exclusive blog. It indicates a substantial level of commitment and effort, that you wouldn't just invest in something you didn't feel strongly about.

Sasuke and Naruto's love story finds its inspiration in Japanese Shakespeare (Chikamatsu), someone who idealizes the notion of romantic love in Japanese literature. Kishimoto's gargantuan effort in finding all kinds of romantic tropes found in literature, along with his maniacal obsession with making them visually and narratively compatible, using symbolism from South and East Asian mythology, all of it is evidence of his passion for Sasuke and Naruto's story. He has a persistent SNS brain rot himself. I have also discussed the cited interview before in a couple of my posts. It isn't really that difficult to put two and two together. heh.

The last comment in this thread made me think, it must be one of those fans who have their own unsubstantiated headcanons, for which they would easily dismiss glaring evidence of SNS. Meh, I can only snicker at them. What else can I be expected to think, looks like a case of sour grapes to me. And yes, those who deny SNS despite all the evidence are homophobic, directly or indirectly, whether they realize it or not. I don't expect a lot of emotional honesty from Naruto fandom, most of them aren't really aware that they are being emotionally dishonest with themselves, the extent of their denial is so far reaching, I can't really hope to hold an honest exchange of thoughts and opinions with them.

SNS inspires obsessive shipping. Full stop. If you understand the core ingredients of what makes SNS, SNS, if you really have that depth of feeling and understanding, if you are capable to feel what Kishimoto wanted you to feel, then you cannot be compared to shallow shippers and fans. Not all audience is alike. Godfather is an instant classic, one of the greatest films ever made, a masterclass in film theory. But one of my film buff friends fell asleep in the middle of watching it, it just wasn't her speed. Likewise, I usually like to watch Nolan's films but I fell asleep (twice, I tried twice and fell asleep both times) while watching his Batman trilogy. My ex, who happens to be a Batman obsessive themselves, haven't forgiven me for it yet.

So I understand not everyone gets SNS, the major themes that make their story so great. I appreciate it the way I do, because I come from a background where I have seen a hell lot of drama, romantic and otherwise, in films and literature and theatre. I am an art enthusiast, and as a former academic, I have written expansively on it. So, my context is different from a layman's context. I can identify things in it that most fans of a certain age and background can't, and I can't exactly blame them. My personal experience of life is also rich and diverse enough for me to appreciate SNS in a way that most others can't. If you don't know what you are looking at, you wouldn't understand why it is meaningful. But I can, and so can other fans such as me.

Understanding Naruto and Shippuden in its truest sense is a liability. It is a privilege and a curse. It's a boon and a burden. If one can get obsessive about literature such as Romeo and Juliet, then why not SNS, it's loads better than Romeo and Juliet. Yeah, I said it, and I stand by it.

I have said it before and for the purpose of this ask, I will say it again. If you ship Naruto and Sasuke for the right reasons, reasons that Kishimoto delineates himself, you believe in love for the right reasons. I am a childhood trauma survivor, and I really don't have time for shallow, superficial shit. I like substance and emotional heft in my stories. Kishimoto wrote his magnum opus with definitely this one thought in his mind, to write the greatest love story about two orphans in a conflicted world, a reflection of his own world, marred by the vagaries of war and loss and grief. Look at his interview that is mentioned in the thread, it is quite clear that his focus is on relationship and feelings. Love despite all odds. So intense and extreme and all consuming, that he is afraid people think of the boys as lunatics. He thinks perhaps they won't be able to get it, get the boys. He is aware how it looks to people who don't understand it. But he also knows that people who have experienced the stuff he writes about, they will understand. And they do. People who have survived childhood trauma, understand things about human condition that most people aren't able to, throughout their entire lives.

At the risk of being vulnerable, I would like to talk about what broke me first when watching Naruto the first time. No, it wasn't SNS. This scene. When little Gaara decides that if nobody loved him, he would love himself. Yeah, I had a breakdown after that. A very very deeply repressed memory came to surface. When I was a kid, entirely neglected and abhorred, I used to lock myself in my room, squash myself in a corner and imagine an adult me, rocking and hugging myself like a baby, while I wrapped my own arms around me, and telling myself that the adults in my life might not care, but the future adult me cares. So if they won't love me, I would love myself. That's how I used to comfort myself. Of course, later, it became kind of a part of my pathology, just like Gaara. Couldn't be helped. heh. But yeah, Kishimoto really put his finger on my most sensitive and deeply repressed nerves, he brought them out in the open and played them like a fucking harp, but it made the most haunting and beautiful melody so I stayed for the whole concert. Lol.

When I say their story isn't really age appropriate for its target group, I am not joshing, it really isn't. So I get that it's not for everyone. Maybe not even for adults who don't have that depth of emotions and understanding that this story requires. And it becomes clear that these are the same people who end up mischaracterizing both Sasuke's and Naruto's characters. It also helps that I have seen/read a lot of LGBTQ+ media, so the kind of tropes that I can identify in it, most others can't. Only the other day, I was talking to a friend of mine, he is an animehead. And even he doesn't get it. He also maintained that they were brothers and that Japanese media tends to depict male bonds as especially close, which is the case for Naruto and Sasuke, but that it isn't romantic. He compared them to Vegeta and Goku, sigh....

Now, he saw Naruto as a kid, so that's what he remembers. I could not keep it in at that point, I took my sweet time, but I proved him wrong. He still is resentful and doesn't completely agree, because he has this complex, whatever, as a long time Anime fan, in comparison, I have only been here a year. But he doesn't contradict me anymore. He knows his arguments will be stripped naked and spread to crumble in the sun, and good thing about him is that he defers to my critical evaluation.

But he is my friend and I care enough to invest in him. I can't do that for every Tom, Dick and Harry. But I do write a blog and when I am offered resistance to my posts, I don't react too much, unless the opportunist in me wants to make poor jokes, because what's it gonna accomplish? SNS is so in your face, that it takes a special brand of denial and homophobia to dismiss it. And I can give one all the technical reasons to prove it's a love story, but like I said, it really is about emotions. Feeling. If you can't feel it, you won't get it.

Perhaps some of these commenters also think either Sasuke or Naruto or both are straight? What can I say to that level of incomprehension? Maybe read more? Or live more? But that kind of advice should be coming to them from their mentors and therapists, not me.

In summation, Naruto and Shippuden aren't everyone's cup of tea. Those who scrunch their eyebrows at the obsessive passion that shippers show for SNS don't really get what makes SNS so damn special, and what exactly inspires such strong emotions in the shippers. It inspires an entire sea of emotions. And not everyone has the kind of mind or disposition to contain and process that kind of emotion. And I don't expect them to.

#sns #naruto #uzumaki naruto #uchiha sasuke #sasuke #sasunaru #narusasu #ask

[yr-bed]

'Cool' is perhaps the essence of 'counterculture', in the paradoxical, post-1960s sense of something that’s both anti-normative and yet unavoidably bound up in normalisation. “Cool” is also, by virtue of its elusiveness, structurally antisocial. Something stops being cool when everyone starts doing it, or wearing it, or whatever. That means that as long as you operate under the sign of 'cool', you can’t build anything lasting, or broad-based - because the moment you do, it stops being cool and the glamour migrates somewhere else. By the same token, ordering your social life around “cool” requires a certain ruthlessness: a willingness to exclude old friends, ditch old haunts, or cut someone dead, the moment they no longer have the magic fairy-dust. It’s anti-loyal. That’s all very well if you’re so young (ie a teenager) your social structures and movements are mostly pre-determined, for instance by the requirement to keep showing up at school. In that situation, your social setting won’t change much regardless of who or what is or is not cool this week. It’s a different matter once you’re an adult: for at that point, you become responsible for creating and sustaining your own social networks. If, in that context, you aspire to build lasting friendships, cross-generational loyalties, and thick social bonds of the kind able to sustain meaningful family life, then 'cool' is your enemy. 'Cool' will discourage you from keeping up with old friends; 'cool' will put you off talking to old people; 'cool' will incentivise you to seek out only friends who are just like you, or who everyone else admires. It will deter you from taking the emotional risk of friendship with those who have different perspectives, or whom others might look down on. Above all, 'cool' enjoins you never, ever to let on that you need other people. There is nothing less cool than needing. But the absolute opposite of 'cool' is not 'uncool' but 'cringe': the wincing, jaw-clenching feeling you get when you do, or witness, something that you know the cool people would regard not just as uncool, but actively anti-cool: embarrassing, awkward, social Kryptonite. And while babies merely uncool, probably the most cringe thing you can do is going to church. There, you show up regularly to join a group of others you didn’t choose, and some of whom are probably old, or weird, or awkward, or otherwise uncool. The purpose of showing up is prayer: again, the opposite of cool, because to pray is to declare, openly, that you are not completely self-contained.

[...]

A culture that valorises “cool” sets us up to fail as social beings - and then sells us myriad forms of “self-care” to make up the shortfall. Against this, you need to be cringemaxxing. You need to be seeing old schoolfriends. You need to be helping out at Scouts. You need to be praying with old ladies, babysitting people’s kids, picking up litter, and wearing the jumper your nan knitted. It feels weird to begin with, but it’s worth it. Trust me: I’m as uncool as it gets. You need to be cringemaxxing.

Mary Harrington

#quotes #mary harrington #to be cringe is to be free

[twilightmalachite]

Big Ocean - Those Who Throw Away and Those Who Pick Up 3

Author: Nishioka Maiko (with Akira)

Characters: Yuuta, Koga, Adonis

Translator: Mika Enstars

"(They’re so good-hearted to the very core… So kind… I can’t stand it. Like a mirror, the more I face them, the more dirtied I become.)"

Season: Winter

Location: Yumenosaki Light Music Club Room

Koga: …With an even with this sort of message, you’re given a time to say things ya usually can’t say.

Adonis: Things you’re not able to say?

There’s certainly times where certain circumstances can make deepening bonds possible.

The ones you care about are… Yuuta and Hinata?

Koga: Yeah, tha’s right. If there’s anythin’ I can do for them, nows the time. Y’know, I’m surprised you know. That it’s about them, I mean.

Adonis: There aren’t many juniors out there that you care about as much as them. So, I kind of figured.

But why? I know things had gotten awkward around the time of SS. But lately haven’t you guys been having fun together just like you used to?

Koga: But yknow, it’s that. We’d just given ourselves distance so that we wouldn’t end up collidin’ with each other. The adult thing to do.

But once I distanced myself like that, I missed my chance to return back to ‘em, basically…

Adonis: Hm. You’ve put a lot of thought into this, haven’t you.

Have you tried approaching it simply? If you do something wrong, you apologize. If you have something to say, you say it. Don’t we?

Koga: But this ain’t a matter of right and wrong.

The reason this is so messy is because it’s an issue that can’t be settled with whose in the right and whose in the wrong.

They’re not in the wrong for choosing such a method, and I’m not in the wrong for gettin’ angry. It’s not like they’re evil or anythin’.

Yuuta: ……

(Ah~h. These seniors of mine, even Aniki… They irritate me to all end.)

(Why’re you bothering trying to pick up what I’m trying to leave behind?)

(They’re so good-hearted to the very core… So kind… I can’t stand it. Like a mirror, the more I face them, the more dirtied I become.)

(That’s why I faced myself away.)

(I would’ve even preferred it if he had just cursed me out instead…)

(Otherwise, I’ll end up regretting it.)

(—But I won’t. I can’t, and I don’t want to. Things can’t resolve itself like that so simply.)

(That day, I decided to build myself a meaningful “context” of my own volition. Even if I had to make sacrifices for it.)

(Even if I have to be screaming “that time and place I fought wasn’t all for nothing”… Because I’m sure at the end of all this, it’ll be the top of the idol world.)

(So I won’t turn back.)

(But... Sometimes this place shines so brightly… My eyes start to blur.)

Koga: ——

Yuuta: (…? Are they still talking?)

Koga: —Well, that what I was hopin’ for the Repayment Fes. That’s the last I’ll say on it.

I dunno if there’s even anythin’ we can do about it anymore, anyways.

Adonis: Right. I’m sure it’s difficult to overturn what’s already been decided.

…Hm. Would it be possible to do it at an ES event or live instead? Or is it no good if its not Repayment Fes?

Koga: Absolutely can’t be ES. They’re always gettin’ in the way and doing whatever the fuck they want!

Besides—

Adonis: ?

Koga: There’s no reason to collide with 2wink as UNDEAD— as idols. ‘Cuz the ones I wanna talk to, are Aoi Yuuta and Aoi Hinata.

It’s just us here at school. There is no UNDEAD. It’s ‘cuz of that we can collide with each other as seniors and juniors without anythin’ more on top that.

Yuuta: ……

Sigh~…

—Seriously irritating…

At a time like this, Aniki’s probably at his dorm or on the way back to it, isn’t he? Ummm, lemme open my contacts…)

—Ah, hello. Aniki, where are you right now?

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#big ocean #yuuta aoi #koga oogami #adonis otogari #event #translation

[galacticlamps]

writing asks!! 22, 26, 30? o:

22 - What is it about watching the same two idiots falling in love over and over again?

I couldn’t figure out a short way of answering this. It’s under the cut.

26 - What would you describe as OOC?

Something that doesn’t earn its keep. I think I can be convinced a lot of things make sense in context if a text is persuasive enough, but when it introduces/implies character traits that either conflict with things that were established before it, or are new but big enough to then become conspicuous by their absence in earlier appearances of that character, without sufficiently addressing the discrepancy with a good, believable reason for the change/omission, then I put it down to being OOC. And of course, the burden of proof is proportional to the size of the thing in question.

((Because of that, the feeling also applies to canon stuff in lengthy series like Doctor Who or Star Trek, especially when it feels like a failure of a particular writer to capture existing characters well, rather than an intentional decision or a plot twist to take them in a different direction. So the question of “does it feel earned?” and even “does it feel like you at least tried to earn it, and knew you had to earn something, whether or not I think you succeeded?” are probably what determine my feelings there.))

In fanfic & other written mediums though, even more often than interpretations of a character I struggle to make sense of, the thing I most often find myself considering OOC is dialogue. Maybe that’s just because dialogue is even less often explained than actions - only rarely will narration elaborate upon why a character chose to describe something in a certain way, so there’s less of an opportunity for those justifications I seem to judge by - but for some reason, OOC actions make me think “What are you, Writer, making [character] do???” and OOC dialogue makes me go “Well that’s not even [character] then, is it?”

I think I’d feel this way anyway, spending as much of my time as I do around plays where what’s said & how it’s said is such a large part of a script, but let’s face it - one of the characters I most frequently write & read fic for speaks what ranges from a dialect to an accent depending on who’s writing him, and phrasing/word choice with him never doesn’t feel significant. I know it’s certainly something I spend a lot of time thinking about when I write Jamie - whether he’d use a Scots word/expression or not depending on the context of the scene, who he’s talking to, how he’s feeling at the moment, hell, even the words directly surrounding it & what sounds like it’d flow more naturally, given all those other factors, in that exact sentence - and I’m sure many of those choices I make are too small to read as being meaningful most of the time, without even getting into whether or not someone else would agree with my judgement. But I still wind up doing that every time I write him (admittedly, more in the edit than the first draft) not because I think I’ve got such a mastery of language or even because I believe everyone that reads it is running through it with such a fine-toothed comb, but because hard-to-swallow dialogue is just one of those things that pricks up my ears and takes me out of a story quicker than any other way in which characters could be OOC.

30 - Describe a fic that almost happened, but then it didn't.

To be honest, I don’t actually have any fics that I consider abandoned - partially bc I’m quite content working on a wip for a long time before committing to finishing it one day, and partially because even when I am sure that’s my goal, I’m aware of how slow I can be - so even if I haven’t made any progress on a particular story in months, that isn’t enough for me to think of it as officially “not happening” anymore. The closest I can do is describe a fic that I thought was much closer to completion than it turned out to be, over a year ago:

At its inception, it was a one-shot told from the Doctor’s perspective, in which Circumstances have forced Jamie to admit his feelings for the first time in a very unideal situation, and he’s especially upset about this because he swears he was planning on telling him soon, he just really wanted to go about it correctly. Pretty standard fanfic fair, shouldn’t be too hard.

The thing was, I wanted there to be some irony in that this confession happens only a number of days after the Doctor came to terms with his own feelings, decided they were unrequited, and promised himself never to tell Jamie about them - and I wanted the audience to be aware of that the whole time, to’ve seen him make that decision before Jamie’s confession even began. So I knew that meant I needed a prelude set in the recent past, plus the plot details that would give sufficient context to the Original Scene - all the dialogue of which, start to finish, and even a little of the narration, didn’t even come to 2k. I already knew what all the explanations were, I wasn’t blocked or anything, but when it came to turning them from Facts I Knew About The Fic into actual storytelling, they were way longer than I was happy with. Which I know isn’t evil in itself - if I wasn’t okay with writing things that turned out to be longer than I originally thought, there’d be even less on my Ao3 page - but in my head this was very much meant to be a fic about those 2k words, and now it felt like the stuff that was supposed to just be there to support it was instead completely overpowering it, maybe even drowning it out, and that I didn’t like, so I stepped away from it.

I still work on it every so often, but I haven’t figured out what my goal should be - to keep it under 5k at any cost, or to turn it into a multi-chapter adventure-style story even if that means the focus isn’t what I want it to be on anymore. I do quite like both that original 2k and the context in my head that makes it make sense, so I’m still convinced I’ll get it on its feet somehow, eventually - but the two options are so different from each other that I have to make a firm decision before anything I do can be considered “progress” so it’s the most-stalled WIP I have at the moment.

Writing Asks!

Back to ‘why these two idiots over & over again?’

I’m not sure if this question is supposed to be about the appeal of fanfic in general or not, but being me, I’m just gonna make it about Two/Jamie. Which I think is fitting not only because it’s 90% of what I talk about here but also because even though I’ve been in fandom since high school, and shipped lots of things and had plenty of opinions, and even written fic before, I never had anything I’d call an OTP before them. So without getting into what I love about them either as individuals or a ship, I think they have a very specific appeal to me as a fanfic pairing - partially because their relationship sits right at a sweetspot between fleshed out and undefined in their source material, and partially because of what that source material does & doesn’t leave me wanting, and a certain level of inexhaustibly they also share with other characters from that era of the show.

We’ve talked before about how infrequently they make announcements about what they mean to one another, how most of the time it’s demonstrated in their behavior rather than declarations about being best friends, and I know I’ve also mentioned that I don’t think said behavior would change all that drastically before & after starting a romantic relationship. Their actions are consistent and make up a significant part of their relationship, and yet there are some pretty basic questions they still leave unanswered from a shipping perspective. They have good, instant chemistry, which could easily rush things along - but they also have believable reasons for stalling both recognizing and acting upon their feelings - they both come from cultures that would frown upon a relationship between them for various reasons, on top of the typical Friends-to-Lovers conundrums of ‘Are my feelings a betrayal of our friendship?’ and ‘Even if they aren’t, is confessing them worth risking our current relationship?’ And since it’s so hard to pinpoint how or when they’d get together, the relationship could be in basically any stage of development at just about any point in their continuity. Personally, I could see them acting upon their feelings for the first time in Season 4 or 6 (or even 6b) with pretty much equal likelihood, and I don’t believe there’s any kind of fandom consensus on the timing either, even though so many people are happy to refer to them as married.

And that’s great for the whole ‘same two idiots falling in love over and over again’ thing for a couple reasons - on the one hand, it obviously offers a ton of variety since you can read or write about it happening in so many different ways, and with different supporting characters, situations, and levels of personal history involved leading up to it, and still accept that’s how it goes as long as the story’s executed well - but it also means there’s no part of canon that’s like, The Gay Part - the whole thing is. Sure, there are episodes with more Good Bits than others, and the first few stories when they’re both newer to each other & also sharing the screen with two other main characters are the ones that feature them interacting the least - but generally speaking, any time you’re watching them, you’re watching the relationship you like, there’s no waiting for it to get good or develop into the version of it that’s shippable, because it’s so beautifully consistent across their era.

And that’s the other thing I find uniquely appealing about them & why derivative, transformative, interpretive works suit them so well - I think a real strength of their relationship (not even as a couple but as an element in a narrative) is its very stability, which is tightly connected to the kind of story it originated in: a long-form serialized episodic scifi tv show where the plots are driven by mystery & adventure, to which the consistency of the main characters’ relationship provides a comparatively solid foundation & contrast. In short, they’re characters that thrive best on being plunked down into various scenarios the audience can watch them weather, and they’re people we can get very attached to without ever having focused on too too hard on, in the source material. And that already makes them a goldmine for fanfic potential, but there’s another element in there that I think is harder for me to explain.

Initially I wrote an even longer-winded explanation for this bit & got really pretentious citing different dramaturgical approaches & everything, but basically, it boils down to this: I have never wanted their source material to be more about their relationship - not simply because canonicizing it might limit the otherwise limitless possibilities for imagining how that relationship came to be - but because I think something fundamental would have to change (be lost!) in these characters that I know and love if they existed on a show where inter-personal drama and romance were major elements of the plot & narrative.

And because of that, when I look at works of fanfiction (or even EU materials, which in this respect really are the same thing) that aim to ask ‘what if,’ explain things canon doesn’t, or further explore things canon incorporates but hasn’t exhausted, I never feel like it’s a consolation prize or some kind of second-best to what could’ve/should’ve been onscreen, because I think those are the spaces where an exploration of their relationship really belongs - not as a sideline, but as a more natural habitat where they can freely thrive. For different characters originating in a different work, fanfic might mainly serve to speculate about what could happen next or even to correct something disappointing that canon failed to do - and while Two/Jamie can do stories like that too, they aren’t bound by it. If you’re going to fic for those reasons primarily or even exclusively, I think there’s a chance of finding the “fic to end all fics,” and feeling like the box has been ticked and the need met and then some of the motivation & appeal would go with it.

But with the Second Doctor & co, even setting homophobia and eras and the realm of possibility totally aside for a moment, I don’t have some fantasy about a Drama- Romance- Genre show about the evolution of their relationship or anything else I turn to fanfic for - I love that their relationship primarily exists as the status quo in a show of a different genre, and that the times when it’s put under the magnifying glass are only rare moments on tv (like being one of several plotpoints in Evil), or EU stories that exist specifically to let audiences spend more time in the company of characters no longer current, or Fanfic that purposely defies genre to make a scifi serial briefly into a character piece or a romance instead, either because it’s telling the story of an event that’s truly different from Life As Usual, or just because it’s looking at that routine from a different angle. I like that you have to look at the story from an angle distinct to the one from which the tv show is told to see the other facets of what is conceivably there. No, their source material was never about the Doctor & Jamie being in love - but since they are, you can choose to make it a story about that if you watch it with 3d glasses on - if you engage with it in a space that zeros in on the personal, the mundane, the things happening when the main adventure is not.

For me, the medium & genre combo that produced these guys means that I never actually wish something would or did happen onscreen - all I ever want is the ability to believe it could be part of their story anyway, and as a derivative work, fanfic very much offers that, so “watching the same two idiots fall in love over and over again” doesn’t get old, because that’s an end unto itself, and specifically the only end I want when it comes to these particular characters.

#oof im sorry this wasnt shorter #they just seemed like explain type questions & im bad at doing that briefly #thank you for the ask though I definitely found these interesting to think about! #i hope i didnt make two/jamie sound static though #it's not like i think they don't change - more that they're something you could set your watch by #like knowing it's definitely 4pm even though the weather & the time of year determine if that's a sunny afternoon or practically dark out

[thetaekookcloset]

Don't take this the wrong way. I don't agree exactly with that anon. But hand holding during a performance doesn't strengthen my idea of a possible romantic relationship between them. Because then if we take everything else that each of them have done on stage, we know where that conversation can lead us. Cause other duos have had some, what appears to be more intimate moments as well. So i rather let stage moments be. We can still enjoy them ofcourse, without assigning meaning to it.

Lol that’s completely fine, anon, we don’t have to agree on everything here!  It was never the fact that the other anon disagreed with me that I took issue with, it was everything else about that ask.

Normally I completely agree with you on this, or at least mostly I do.  I guess there are some onstage moments I put more stock in than others, because for me it depends a bit on the context.  For example, when Tae and JK held hands during the same moment of Save Me for the PTD in LA concert, I thought of it just as a cute/sweet interaction, but it didn’t stand out as seeming more meaningful than that to me.

For this new moment in particular, from the Busan concert, it was more the context and the little details of the interaction that made it seem more potentially meaningful or significant.  But of course not everyone is going to or has to see it that way either, it just stood out to me personally, that’s all.

And even though I sometimes see certain onstage moments as holding more potential significance, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having a blanket policy not to really consider those seriously.  They’re happening onstage in front of a direct audience, so at the very least there’s always that element of fanservice, and just cutting those out of your considerations makes sense to me, even if it’s not something I necessarily feel the need to do myself.

One thing I didn’t really get into with that other ask was something you brought up here too, which is the idea that other pairs have these moments as well, and yes, of course they do!

The way I think of all of this is sort of like doing a big jigsaw puzzle.  Each relationship is its own puzzle, and you don’t have a picture of what it’s supposed to look like at the end.  Every interaction we see is one piece of the puzzle.  The more of those you gather, the clearer a picture of the relationship you have, but we still only have a fraction of each puzzle, you know?

Still, as we fill in those puzzles for ourselves, the pictures become clearer and clearer, and we have more and more of a sense of what the overall picture might turn out to be.  So a cute interaction between Vmin, for example, is going to fit into the puzzle of their relationship differently for me than a cute interaction between Taekook will, even if the interactions themselves are very similar to each other.

For me, Taekook’s puzzle already looks to be pretty romantic, whereas Vmin’s looks like a close, semi-familial platonic puzzle, so hand-holding moments (as an example) seem a little different to me when I add them in.

That’s just a way to try to explain how it works for me when I’m considering things like that, I hope it makes sense.  In any case, we certainly don’t all have to agree, and it makes sense that not every moment is going to mean the same thing to everyone, you know?

#i mentioned vmin and i can't stop thinking about their hug #from the end of run bts so #here you go #ask #taekook #taekook and busan concert