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cappymightwrite · 3 years

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Jon Snow, Manfred & The Byronic Hero: Part 2

Previous Posts: PART 1

Hopefully Part 1 served as a good introduction on the topic and characteristics of the Byronic Hero, as well as how Jon Snow in particular is likely an iteration of this figure. But now we come to the real meat of this meta series — a closer look at Byron's dramatic poem Manfred (1816–1817), and more importantly, its titular character in comparison to Jon Snow. I was originally going to do an analysis and comparison of two key episodes in Manfred and A Storm of Swords, Jon VI, but have since decided to give that its own post... that's right kids, there will be a part 3!

(Detail from Lord Byron, Thomas Phillips, 1813)

So... why Manfred? Why not Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, or The Corsair, or Don Juan, or any other work by Lord Byron? Well, I'll tell you why, my sweet summer children. It's because of THIS:

Manfred/Manfryds and Byrons in ASOIAF, by order of first appearance and publication:

Ser Manfred Swann (ASOS, Jaime VIII)

Ser Manfred Dondarrion (The Hedge Knight)

Manfred Lothston (The Sworn Sword)

Manfryd o' the Black Hood (AFFC, Brienne I)

Manfryd Yew (AFFC, Jaime V)

Ser Byron the Beautiful (AFFC, Alayne II, TWOW, Alayne I)

Ser Byron Swann (ADWD, Tyrion III)

Manfryd Merlyn of Kite (ADWD, Victarion I)

Manfryd Mooton, Lord of Maidenpool (The Princess and the Queen, TWOIAF)

Manfred Hightower, Lord of the Hightower (TWOIAF)

Manfred Hightower, Lord of the Hightower (Fire and Blood)

Like... what the hell, George?

I find this very interesting, very interesting indeed! *cough* intentional, very intentional *cough* And I have to thank @agentrouka-blog for reminding me of the existence of these Manfreds/Manfryds, and thus pointing me in this particular direction. This evidence is, for me, my smoking gun, it's why I feel justified in exploring this specific work. In my opinion, it really strongly confirms that GRRM is aware of Manfred, he is aware of its author — as a literary name, it is pretty much exclusively connected to Byron, it's like Hamlet to Shakespeare, or Heathcliff to Emily Brontë. In fact, GRRM likes it enough to use this name several times in fact, its frequency of use aided by a slight variation on its spelling.

So, as we can see, there are a striking number of Manfred/Manfryds (9!!) featured in the ASOIAF universe, whereas Byron (2) is used a bit more sparingly — perhaps because the latter, if more liberally used, would become far more recognisable as an overt literary reference? Interestingly, though, we can see a direct link between the two names as both bear the surname Swann: Ser Manfred Swann and Ser Byron Swann (note the exact spelling of Manfred here, as opposed to Manfryd). Ser Byron was alive during the Dance of Dragons and died trying to kill the dragon Syrax, whereas Ser Manfred was alive during Aegon V's reign and had a young Ser Barristan as his squire. So, in terms of ancestry, Byron came before Manfred, which makes sense since Lord Byron created the character of Manfred; he is his authorial/literary progenitor, if you will.

But why Swann, though? Is there any significance to that surname? Well, I did a little bit of digging and turned up something very interesting, at least in my opinion. In Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem Lines written among the Euganean Hills (1818), in its sixth stanza, the poet addresses the city of Venice... the “tempest-cleaving Swan” in the eighth line is clearly meant to be his friend and contemporary, Lord Byron, that city’s most famous expatriate:

That a tempest-cleaving Swan Of the songs of Albion, Driven from his ancestral streams By the might of evil dreams, Found a nest in thee;

(st. 6, l. 8-12)

Ah ha! But let's not forget that the Swanns are also a house from the stormlands — stormlander Swanns vs. "tempest-cleaving Swan." It seems a nice little homage, doesn't it? You could also argue that the battling swans of House Swann's sigil are a possible reference to Byron's fondness for boxing (he apparently received "pugilistic tuition" at a club in Bond Street, London). But to make the references to Byron too overt would ruin the subtly, so it isn't necessary, in my opinion, for the Swanns to be completely steeped in Byronisms.

All in all, it would be very neat of GRRM if the reasoning behind Byron and Manfred Swann is because of this reference to Lord Byron by Shelley. How these names and the characters that bear them might further reference Byron and Manfred is a possible discussion for another day! It's all just very interesting, very noteworthy, and highlights how careful GRRM is at choosing the names of his characters, even very minor, seemingly insignificant ones.

(Illustration of Villa Diodati from Finden's Illustrations of the Life and Works of Lord Byron, Edward Finden, 1833)

Now onto the actual poem, and the ways in which Jon Snow could being referencing/paralleling Manfred. First things first, a bit of biographical context. Take my hand, and let's travel back in time, way back when, to 1816, the year in which Lord Byron left England forever, his reputation in tatters due to the collapse of his marriage and the rumours of an affair with his half-sister, Augusta Leigh (plus he was hugely in debt). No doubt, most of us are familiar with the story, but in 1816 Byron travelled to Switzerland, to a villa on Lake Geneva, where he met the Shelleys and suggested that they all pass the time by writing ghost stories.

The most famous story produced by them was, of course, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818) — which may have served as the partial inspiration behind Qyburn and Robert Strong! Byron himself did begin a story but soon gave it up (yesss, we love an unproductive king); it was completed, however, by his personal physician, John William Polidori, and eventually published, under Byron's name, as The Vampyre (1819). But Byron didn't completely abandon the ghost story project, as later that summer, after a visit by the Gothic novelist M. G. Lewis, he wrote his "supernatural" tragedy, Manfred (1817).*

*I've seen it dated as 1816-17, but the crucial thing to rememeber, in terms of Byron's own biography, is that unlike The Bride of Abydos, he wrote it after his departure from England... this theme of exile will come up later.

Manfred is what is called a "closet drama", so is structured much like a play, with acts and scenes, though it wouldn't have actually been intended to be performed on stage. Indeed, Lord Byron first described Manfred to his publisher as "a kind of poem in dialogue... but of a very wild—metaphysical—and inexplicable kind": "Almost all the persons—but two or three—are Spirits... the hero [is] a kind of magician who is tormented by a species of remorse—the cause of which is left half unexplained—he wanders about invoking these spirits—which appear to him—& are of no use—he at last goes to the very abode of the Evil principle in propria persona [i.e. in person]—to evocate a ghost—which appears—& gives him an ambiguous & disagreeable answer..."*

*As in Part 1, more academic references will be listed in a bibliography at the end of this post.

To sum up the narrative for you, Manfred is a nobleman living in the Bernese Alps, "tormented by a species of remorse", which is never fully explained, but is clearly connected to the death of his beloved Astarte. Through his mastery of poetic language and spell-casting, he is able to summon seven "spirits", from whom he seeks the gift of forgetfulness, but this plea cannot be granted — he cannot escape from his past. He is also prevented from escaping his mysterious guilt by taking his own life, but in the end, Manfred does die, thus defying religious temptations of redemption from sin. He therefore stands outside of societal expectations, a Romantic rebel who succeeds in challenging all of the authoritative powers he faces, ultimately choosing death over submission to the powerful spirits.

According to Lara Assaad, the character of Manfred is the "Byronic hero par excellence", as he shares its typical characteristics found in Byron's other work (as discussed in Part 1), "yet pushed to the extreme." As noted above, there is a defiance to Manfred's character, which is arguable also found in Jon. Certainly though, in all of Byron's works, the Byronic Hero appears as "a negative Romantic protagonist" to a certain extent, a being who is "filled with guilt, despair, and cosmic and social alienation," observes James B. Twitchell. I'll come back to those characteristics presently.

As noted by Assaad, "Byron scholars seem to agree on this definition of the Byronic Hero, however they focus mainly, if not exclusively, on the dynamics of guilt and remorse." Indeed, it is only in more recent years that the incest motif, as well as the influence of Byron's own biography, have been more widely discussed. But perhaps the most compelling aspect of the Byronic Hero is his complex psychology. Although trauma theory only really started to flourish during the 1990s, thus providing deeper insight into the symptoms that follow a traumatic experience, it nevertheless seems, at least to Assaad, that "Byron was familiar with it well before it was first discussed by professionals and diagnosed." As we know, GRRM began writing his series, A Song of Ice and Fire, during the 1990s, and character trauma and its effects feature heavily in his work, most notably in the case of Theon Greyjoy, but also in the memory editing of Sansa Stark in terms of the infamous "Unkiss".*

*The editing, or supressing, of memories is not exclusive to Sansa, however. E.g @agentrouka-blog has theorised a possible memory edit with regards to Tyrion and his first wife Tysha.

But if we return back to that original quote, in which GRRM makes the comparison between Jon and the Byronic Hero, his following statement is also very interesting:

The character I’m probably most like in real life is Samwell Tarly. Good old Sam. And the character I’d want to be? Well who wouldn’t want to be Jon Snow — the brooding, Byronic, romantic hero whom all the girls love. Theon [Greyjoy] is the one I’d fear becoming. Theon wants to be Jon Snow, but he can’t do it. He keeps making the wrong decisions. He keeps giving into his own selfish, worst impulses. [source]

As noted by @princess-in-a-tower, there is a close correspondence between Jon and Theon, with each acting as the other's foil in many respects. In fact, Theon does sort of tick off a few of the Byronic qualities I discussed last time, most notably standing apart from society, that "society" being the Starks in Winterfell, due to him essentially being a hostage. Later on, we see him develop a sense of deep misery as well due to his horrific treatment at the hands of Ramsey Snow. Like Theon, his narrative foil, Jon is also a character deeply informed by trauma (being raised a bastard), but the way they ultimately process and express that specific displacement trauma differs profoundly — Theon expresses it outwardly through his sacking of Winterfell, whereas Jon turns his trauma notably inwards.*

*Obviously, I'm not a medical professional — I'm more looking at this from a literary angle, but the articles I've read for this post do include reference to real medical definitions etc.

Previously, I observed how being "deeply jaded" and having "misery in his heart" were key characteristics of the Byronic Hero, as well as Jon Snow — this trauma theory is a continuation of that. Indeed, to bring it back to Manfred, Assaad goes as far as stating that the poem's titular hero "suffers from what is now widely recognised as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)." I am purposely holding off on discussing what the origin of that trauma is, in relation to Manfred specifically, because, well... it needs a bit of forewarning before I get into it fully. Instead, let's look at the emotions it exacerabates or gives rise to, as detailed by Twitchell, and how they might be evident in Jon and his feelings regarding his bastard status.

(Jonny Lee Miller as Byron in the two part BBC series Byron, 2003)

Guilt

Does Jon suffer guilt due to him being a bastard and secretly wanting to "steal" his siblings' birthright? I'd say a strong yes:

When Jon had been Bran's age, he had dreamed of doing great deeds, as boys always did. The details of his feats changed with every dreaming, but quite often he imagined saving his father's life. Afterward Lord Eddard would declare that Jon had proved himself a true Stark, and place Ice in his hand. Even then he had known it was only a child's folly; no bastard could ever hope to wield a father's sword. Even the memory shamed him. What kind of man stole his own brother's birthright? I have no right to this, he thought, no more than to Ice. – AGOT, Jon VIII He wanted it, Jon knew then. He wanted it as much as he had ever wanted anything. I have always wanted it, he thought, guiltily. May the gods forgive me. – ASOS, Jon XII

But I think Jon's sense of guilt also extends to the high expectations he sets for himself, his "moral superiority" in the face of his bastard status, as discussed in Part 1. He feels guilt pulling him in two different directions, in regards to Ygritte: guilt for loving her, for breaking his vows, and potentially risking a bastard, but also guilt for leaving her, for abandoning her, and potentially leaving her unprotected:

His guilt came back afterward, but weaker than before. If this is so wrong, he wondered, why did the gods make it feel so good? – ASOS, Jon III Ygritte was much in his thoughts as well. He remembered the smell of her hair, the warmth of her body... and the look on her face as she slit the old man's throat. You were wrong to love her, a voice whispered. You were wrong to leave her, a different voice insisted. He wondered if his father had been torn the same way, when he'd left Jon's mother to return to Lady Catelyn. He was pledged to Lady Stark, and I am pledged to the Night's Watch. – ASOS, Jon VI "I broke my vows with her. I never meant to, but..." It was wrong. Wrong to love her, wrong to leave her..."I wasn't strong enough. The Halfhand commanded me, ride with them, watch, I must not balk, I..." His head felt as if it were packed with wet wool. – ASOS, Jon VI

This guilt surrounding leaving the women/girls he cares about unprotected also extends to Arya. Yet it was his need to prove himself as something more than just a bastard, by joining the Watch, which initially prevents him from acting, and which also makes him feel guilt for being a hyprocrite:

Jon felt as stiff as a man of sixty years. Dark dreams, he thought, and guilt. His thoughts kept returning to Arya. There is no way I can help her. I put all kin aside when I said my words. If one of my men told me his sister was in peril, I would tell him that was no concern of his. Once a man had said the words his blood was black. Black as a bastard's heart. – ADWD, Jon VI

I think there is a lack of reconciliation between Jon and his bastard status, between what being a bastard implies in their society: lustful, deceitful, treacherous, more "worldly" etc. Deep down, subconsciously, Jon really rebels against it. You can see that rebellion more clearly in his memories as a younger child, less inhibited:

Every morning they had trained together, since they were big enough to walk; Snow and Stark, spinning and slashing about the wards of Winterfell, shouting and laughing, sometimes crying when there was no one else to see. They were not little boys when they fought, but knights and mighty heroes. "I'm Prince Aemon the Dragonknight," Jon would call out, and Robb would shout back, "Well, I'm Florian the Fool." Or Robb would say, "I'm the Young Dragon," and Jon would reply, "I'm Ser Ryam Redwyne." That morning he called it first. "I'm Lord of Winterfell!" he cried, as he had a hundred times before. Only this time, this time, Robb had answered, "You can't be Lord of Winterfell, you're bastard-born. My lady mother says you can't ever be the Lord of Winterfell." I thought I had forgotten that. Jon could taste blood in his mouth, from the blow he'd taken. – ASOS, Jon XII

But Jon knows this truth about himself, he knows that he has "always wanted it", and that causes him so much guilt because he can't allow himself to be selfish in that regard, because to do so would confirm for him his worst fears... that he truly is a bastard in nature as well as birth — treacherous, covetous, dishonourable.

Despair

As he grows up, learning to curb his emotional outbursts from AGOT, Jon appears more and more stoic upon the surface. But beneath that, buried in his subconscious in the form of dreams, you have this undyling feeling of despair, this trauma connected to his bastard status, his partially unknown heritage:

Not my mother, Jon thought stubbornly. He knew nothing of his mother; Eddard Stark would not talk of her. Yet he dreamed of her at times, so often that he could almost see her face. In his dreams, she was beautiful, and highborn, and her eyes were kind. – AGOT, Jon III

These recurring dreams, sometimes explicitly involving his unknown mother, sometimes not, represent a clear gap, a gaping blank in Jon's personal history and his perception of his identity:

"Sometimes I dream about it," he said. "I'm walking down this long empty hall. My voice echoes all around, but no one answers, so I walk faster, opening doors, shouting names. I don't even know who I'm looking for. Most nights it's my father, but sometimes it's Robb instead, or my little sister Arya, or my uncle." [...]

"Do you ever find anyone in your dream?" Sam asked.

Jon shook his head. "No one. The castle is always empty." He had never told anyone of the dream, and he did not understand why he was telling Sam now, yet somehow it felt good to talk of it. "Even the ravens are gone from the rookery, and the stables are full of bones. That always scares me. I start to run then, throwing open doors, climbing the tower three steps at a time, screaming for someone, for anyone. And then I find myself in front of the door to the crypts. It's black inside, and I can see the steps spiraling down. Somehow I know I have to go down there, but I don't want to. I'm afraid of what might be waiting for me. The old Kings of Winter are down there, sitting on their thrones with stone wolves at their feet and iron swords across their laps, but it's not them I'm afraid of. I scream that I'm not a Stark, that this isn't my place, but it's no good, I have to go anyway, so I start down, feeling the walls as I descend, with no torch to light the way. It gets darker and darker, until I want to scream." He stopped, frowning, embarrassed. "That's when I always wake." His skin cold and clammy, shivering in the darkness of his cell. Ghost would leap up beside him, his warmth as comforting as daybreak. He would go back to sleep with his face pressed into the direwolf's shaggy white fur. – AGOT, Jon IV

"That always scares me", he says quite tellingly. From this key passage, in particular, we can see that Jon feels a deep rooted despair at essentially being unclaimed, unwanted... being without a solid (Stark) identity around which to draw strength and mould himself. He's afraid of being a lone wolf, because as we all know, "the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives," (AGOT, Arya II).

This dream points him in the direction of the crypts — "somehow I know I have to go down there, but I don't want to" — which actually does have the answers he seeks because that is where Lyanna Stark is buried. Yet Jon is "afraid of what might be waiting for [him]", and wants to "scream" with dispair because of the darkness. So, this need for a confirmed identity is a double edged sword, which will no doubt be further complicated when his true parentage is revealed.

Elsewhere, Jon's dreams continue to have this despairing quality to them, often involving Winterfell, the Starks, and especially Ned, which is very interesting on a psychological level:

The grey walls of Winterfell might still haunt his dreams, but Castle Black was his life now, and his brothers were Sam and Grenn and Halder and Pyp and the other cast-outs who wore the black of the Night's Watch. – AGOT, Jon IV

Last night he had dreamt the Winterfell dream again. He was wandering the empty castle, searching for his father, descending into the crypts. Only this time the dream had gone further than before. In the dark he'd heard the scrape of stone on stone. When he turned he saw that the vaults were opening, one after the other. As the dead kings came stumbling from their cold black graves, Jon had woken in pitch-dark, his heart hammering. Even when Ghost leapt up on the bed to nuzzle at his face, he could not shake his deep sense of terror. He dared not go back to sleep. Instead he had climbed the Wall and walked, restless, until he saw the light of the dawn off to the east. It was only a dream. I am a brother of the Night's Watch now, not a frightened boy. – AGOT, Jon VII

But it is never "only a dream", is it?

And when at last he did sleep, he dreamt, and that was even worse. In the dream, the corpse he fought had blue eyes, black hands, and his father's face, but he dared not tell Mormont that. – AGOT, Jon VIII

Even Jon's conscious daydreams in AGOT revolve around his dispairing search for a solid identity:

A lot of these early dreams occur in A Game of Thrones, probably in response to his removal from Winterfell... his self exile. But later on in the series Jon continues to have dreams that tie him to the Starks and to Winterfell, ominous and sometimes despairing too. There's honestly too many instances to list, but if you want to understand the root of Jon's existential despair... it's in his dreams.

Cosmic Alienation

Cosmic alienation, now that's an interesting one in regards to Jon, since he definitely hasn't reached this state... yet. Life and his belief in the divine (the old gods) still hold meaning for him, but then he gets murdered by his black brothers. In the show, the writers hint at some cosmic alienation through Jon stating that he saw "nothing" whilst dead, but then they take it no further and generally do a piss poor job of post-res Jon. This characteristic of Manfred coming to the fore in Jon depends on what happens in The Winds of Winter, but I don't think it is at all that far fetched to assume that Jon will return to his body with a darker, altered perception of things.

Social Alienation

In Part 1, I discussed how Jon, like Byron's heroes, could be read as a "a rebel who stands apart from society and societal expectations." On a more psychological level, we can see how this Otherness, stemming from his bastard status, deeply affects Jon and his perception of himself and the world:

Benjen Stark gave Jon a long look. "Don't you usually eat at table with your brothers?"

"Most times," Jon answered in a flat voice. "But tonight Lady Stark thought it might give insult to the royal family to seat a bastard among them." – AGOT, Jon I

In his very first chapter, we see him quite literally alienated from the rest of his siblings, made to sit apart from them, an apparent necessity he seems fairly resigned to. Also in Part 1, I gave examples of instances in which Jon is mockingly called "Lord Snow," as well as a "rebel", "turncloak", "half-wildling", all of which serve to alienate him from the rest of the brothers of the Night's Watch.

Stannis gave a curt nod. "Your father was a man of honor. He was no friend to me, but I saw his worth. Your brother was a rebel and a traitor who meant to steal half my kingdom, but no man can question his courage. What of you?" – ASOS, Jon XI

The above interaction may seem on the surface to be about one thing — whether or not Jon will be of help to Stannis, offer him loyalty etc. — but tagged onto the end we have quite a poignant question: "what of you?" What are you, essentially. Who are you? The truth of his parentage may, in part, solve these questions... but it may also serve to alienate Jon from his perception of himself further. Ultimately, who exactly he is — what he believes in, who and what he fights for, etc. — will be solely his decision to make going forward.

So, the Byronic Hero, certainly in Manfred's case, but also in later iterations, is arguably traumatised by his own past. But regardless as to whether his trauma is related to a mysterious past, a secret sin, an unnamed crime, or incest, aka "secret knowledge", what is clear in Assaad's interpretation, is that the Byronic Hero is "living with the traumatic consequences of his own past and so suffers from PTSD." But why is Manfred traumatised, what is the specific cause of this trauma, or how might it reveal something deeper about Jon's own trauma? Now, here we come to the unavoidable... I'm going to start talking about Byronic incest and the pre-canon crush/kiss theory, and how it potentially parallels certain aspects of Manfred.

I should preface this by stating that I don't think Jon is suppressing trauma because he committed intentional incest with Sansa, but I do think (or at least somewhat theorise that) Byronic incest does come into play regarding his intense feelings of guilt and existential despair.

But still, stop reading now if are opposed to discussions of the pre-canon crush/kiss theory and the literary incest motif as a whole!

(Detail from The Funeral of Shelley, Louis Édouard Fournier, 1889)

Hey there to the depraved! If you aren't already familiar with the theory, here are some previous discussions/metas on the subject:

Full Blown Meta:

A Hidden and Forbidden Love by @princess-in-a-tower

Ask Answers (Long):

Jonsa as a more positive mirror to Jaime and Cersei? by @princess-in-a-tower, with additional comment by @jonsameta

Discussing the theory by @jonsameta

Evidence for pre-canon Jonsa? by @agentrouka-blog

Kissing in the godswood? by @agentrouka-blog

Why don't we read about Jon's reaction to Sansa and Tyrion? by @agentrouka-blog

More on Jon's supposed non-reaction by @agentrouka-blog, with additional comment made by @sherlokiness

A Jonsa "Unkiss"? by @fedonciadale

A hidden memory? by @fedonciadale

Sansa's misremembering by @fedonciadale

Descriptive parallels between A Song for Lya and Jonsa by @butterflies-dragons

Ask Answers (Short) & Briefer Mentions:

Jealous Jon by @princess-in-a-tower

Your new boyfriend looks like a girl by @butterflies-dragons

Like in Part 1, I've tried to cite as much as I could find, but as always, if anyone feels like I've missed someone important or that they should be included in the above list, please just drop me a line!

Now, it's a controversial theory, and not everyone's cup of tea — I think that's worth acknowledging! I myself am not wholly married to it, I'd be fine if it wasn't the case, but that being said, I can't in good faith ignore it when considering Lord Byron and the Byronic Hero. The incest is, unfortunately, very hard to ignore, both in his work and in his personal life. It's pretty hard to ignore in Manfred, for that matter, which is why I've held off talking about it... until now!

All aboard the Manfred incest train *choo choo* !!

First stop, Act II, scene one. Oh, wait, an annoucement from your conductor... apologies everyone, I purposely neglected to mention quite a key detail. Remember "Astarte! [Manfred's] beloved!", (II, iv, 136)? Yeah... it's heavily implied that Astarte is in fact Manfred's half-sister. *shoots finger guns* Classic Byron! *facepalms*

Oh, and that's not all! Let's consider the context surrounding the writing of this work for a moment, shall we? Unlike The Bride of Abydos (1813),* Manfred was written notably after the fallout of his incestuous affair with his half-sister, Augusta Leigh, composed whilst in a self-imposed exile. *spits out drink* Woah, woah there cowboy... what in tarnation?! EXILE?!

*As referenced in Part 1, @rose-of-red-lake has written an excellent meta on the influence of Lord Byron's work (and personal life) on Jonsa, paying special attention to the half-siblings turned cousins in The Bride of Abydos.

Although, as noted by rose-of-red-lake, The Bride of Abydos bears strong parallels to the potential romance of Jon and Sansa, as well as Byron’s own angst regarding his relationship with Augusta Leigh, the context surrounding Manfred seems... dare I say it, even more autobiographical. Because like Byron himself, Manfred wanders around the Bernese Alps, solitary and guilt ridden, in a state of exile heavily evocative of Byron's own — as I mentioned earlier, the beginnings of Manfred occured whilst Byron was staying at a villa on Lake Geneva, in Switzerland... the Bernese Alps are located in western Switzerland. In light of this, I think it's very understandable that some critics consider Manfred to be autobiographical, or even confessional. The unnamed but forbidden nature of Manfred's relationship to Astarte is believed to represent Byron's relationship with his half-sister Augusta. But what has that got to do with Jon?

Look, I don't know how else to put this:

Byron self-exiles in 1816, first to Switzerland, to Lake Geneva, where it is unseasonably cold and stormy — his departure from England is due to the collaspe of his marriage to Annabella Milbanke, unquestionably as a result of the rumours surrounding his incestuous affair with his half-sister.

Displaced nobleman Manfred wanders the Bernese Alps, in a kind of moral exile, where "the wind / Was faint and gusty, and the mountain snows / Began to glitter with the climbing moon" (III, iii, 46-48), traversing "on snows, where never human foot / Of common mortal trod" (II, iii, 4-5), surrounded by a "glassy ocean of the mountain ice" (II, iii, 7). He feels extreme, but unexplained guilt surrounding the death of his "beloved" Astarte, who is heavily implied to also be his half-sister.

In A Game of Thrones, Jon Snow chooses to join the Night's Watch, with the reminder that "once you have taken the black, there is no turning back" (AGOT, Jon VI). By taking the black, Jon arguably exiles himself from the rest of the Starks, from Winterfell, to a place that "looked like nothing more than a handful of toy blocks scattered on the snow, beneath the vast wall of ice" (AGOT, Jon III). But we aren't given any indication that he does this due to incestuous feelings regarding a "radiant" half-sister, akin to Byron/Manfred, are we? And it's not like we have several Manfreds/Manfryds AND Byrons namedropped within the text, is it? Oh wait... we do. *grabs GRRM in a chokehold*

What the hell, George?!

(Lord Byron on His Deathbed, Joseph Denis Odevaere, c. 1826)

But lets get back on track here and take a closer look at that section of Manfred I mentioned at the beginning — Act II, scene one, aka the part where all the incest and supressed trauma really JUMPS out.

So, early in Act II, in the chamois hunter's abode (a chamois is a type of goat?), according Assaad's analysis, Manfred is "hyper-aroused by a cup of wine." The wine is offered in an attempt to calm Manfred; however, to the chamois hunter's great dismay, it instead agitates him and makes him utter words which are "strange" (II, i, 35). Rather than wine, Manfred sees "blood on the brim" (II, i, 25). His sudden agitation and erratic behaviour confound the chamois hunter, who observes that Manfred is losing his mind: "thy senses wander from thee" (II, i, 27). Assaad's analysis of this scene, which she believes "is the most revelatory in the entire play" discloses "a bitter truth: Manfred's traumatic past informs his present life."

We might compare this with Jon, in particular, how his dreams reveal certain bitter truths to do with his past, now subconsciously informing his present. I've already looked a bit at his crypt dream from AGOT, Jon IV, but we see a sort of recurrence of this dream again in ASOS, Jon VIII. The imagery of being in a crypt, somewhere underground, buried, in the dark, a place of ghosts and spirits, is extremely evocative. Indeed, to go back to Byron's own description of Manfred, the setting of a crypt is extremely suggestive of certain bitter truths "left half unexplained", of secrets buried... and we know that's true because the secret of Jon's parentage is hidden down there, in the form of Lyanna Stark.

He dreamt he was back in Winterfell, limping past the stone kings on their thrones. Their grey granite eyes turned to follow him as he passed, and their grey granite fingers tightened on the hilts of the rusted swords upon their laps. You are no Stark, he could hear them mutter, in heavy granite voices. There is no place for you here. Go away. He walked deeper into the darkness. "Father?" he called. "Bran? Rickon?" No one answered. A chill wind was blowing on his neck. "Uncle?" he called. "Uncle Benjen? Father? Please, Father, help me." Up above he heard drums. They are feasting in the Great Hall, but I am not welcome there. I am no Stark, and this is not my place. His crutch slipped and he fell to his knees. The crypts were growing darker. A light has gone out somewhere. "Ygritte?" he whispered. "Forgive me. Please." But it was only a direwolf, grey and ghastly, spotted with blood, his golden eyes shining sadly through the dark... – ASOS, Jon VIII

I don't think it's outlandish to state that, unquestionably, Jon's bastard identity is a source of ongoing pain for him. I talked about the theme of despair in Jon's characterisation and it is very evident in the above, and it stems from this "bitter truth" of not being a trueborn Stark, of not being "welcome", or having a true place. The emotions/mindset this trauma, concerning his birth and identity, evokes in Jon is arguably what brings him, on first glance, so closely in line with the Byronic Hero:

Their grey granite eyes turned to follow him as he passed / The crypts were growing darker = A mysterious past / secret sin(s)

You are no Stark / I am no Stark = Deeply jaded

There is no place for you here / I am not welcome there / This is not my place = standing apart from society and societal expectations / social alienation

He dreamt he was back in Winterfell / He walked deeper into the darkness = Moody / misery in his heart

He fell to his knees / Forgive me = Guilt

He walked deeper into the darkness / Please, Father, help me / He fell to his knees = Despair

These aren't all the Byronic characteristics I've addressed in relation to Jon, but it is a substantial percentage of them, all encapsulated, in one way or another, within this singular dream passage. As far as what is fairly explicit in the text, being a bastard is Jon's "bitter truth", it is the "traumatic past inform[ing] his present life." But what is Manfred's "bitter truth", what past trauma is informing his present? And can it reveal a bit more about another layer to Jon's trauma? Because there is a key distinction — Manfred's trauma, his PTSD, stems from a specific event, notably triggered by the (imagined) "blood on the brim" of his wine, whereas for Jon, we have no singular event, we have no momentus experience, we just have this "truth."

As mentioned previously, Assaad has recognised the character of Manfred as displaying symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In Assaad's article, she remarks that "an experience is denoted as traumatic if it completely overwhelms the individual, rendering him or her helpless," and this is quite evident in the interaction between Manfred and the chamois hunter. Sharon Stanley, an educator and clinical psychotherapist, writes that "the word trauma has been used to describe a variety of aversive, overwhelming experiences with long-term, destructive effects on individuals and communities."

So, if trauma is related to an experience, or experiences, is it still accurate to say that Jon experiences trauma, connected to being a bastard? Because there is seemingly no singular or defining root experience, or event that it stems from, it just is… it is a compellation of several moments, revealed to the reader through Jon’s memories and/or dreams. What is being "left half unexplained” here?

Assaad makes reference to the American Psychiatric Association's definition of PTSD, in which it observes that for an individual to be diagnosed with PTSD, they have to suffer from one or more intrustion symptoms, one or more avoidance symptoms, two or more negative alterations, and two or more hyperarousal symptoms. The dreams Jon has certainly suggest something, but it seems like a stretch to say that, like Manfred, he is suffering from PTSD, right? We and Jon are very much aware that he is "no Stark", at least not in the sense that he is Ned's trueborn son, this isn’t something Jon is actively suppressing. By comparison, it is incontrovertible that Manfred committed something in the past, which he deeply wishes to forget and disassociate from:

Man. I say ’tis blood—my blood! the pure warm stream Which ran in the veins of my fathers, and in ours When we were in our youth, and had one heart, And loved each other as we should not love, And this was shed: but still it rises up, Colouring the clouds, that shut me out from heaven, Where thou art not—and I shall never be. C. Hun. Man of strange words, and some half—maddening sin

(II, i, 28-35)

However, we cannot be sure what this traumatic point of origin is, though we know that it is related to something he has done to his beloved Astarte, which subsequently led to her death. Many critics have suggested that his sin is that of incest, and as I noted earlier, that Manfred as a whole is more than just a bit autobiographical and/or confessional in nature. Manfred's incestuous sin therefore re-enacts Byron's incest with his half-sister Augusta. But regardless of the true cause, Manfred is traumatised by his past and cannot overcome it. Is there something in Jon’s past, that may have subconsciously, or consciously, influenced his departure to the Wall — his self exile — which he cannot overcome, and which is closely tied to the issue of and pain he feels due to being a bastard, not just the illegitimacy, but also the negative characteristics it assigns? Is there an event, or experience, we can pinpoint as the origin of Jon’s trauma and potential PTSD?

To circle back to Jonsa, there is some, not unfounded, debate amongst us concerning the validity of the pre-canon crush/kiss theory. I've always found it an interesting theory, but until now, I haven't really given it too much thought. In light of the Byron connection, however, as well as the textual analysis I have for Part 3, I think this scenario, as detailed by agentrouka-blog, seems more and more likely. And I don't say that lightly, I really don't. It is a somewhat uncomfortable speculation to make, even if the interaction was more innocent rather than explicit (this is the side I firmly fall down on), however, it’s ambiguity does potentially parallel Byron’s Manfred and Astarte. This post would be even longer if I included my side-by-side text comparisons, so you may have to trust me for the moment that there are some very striking similarities between Act II, scene I of Manfred, and Jon's milk of the poppy induced dream in ASOS, Jon VI, as well as the actual buildup to that vision.

But, that sounds frankly terrible doesn't it? And it doesn't bode well for his future relationship with Sansa, does it? And what does it mean if Jon is suffering from PTSD due to an incestuous encounter with Sansa? What does that mean for Sansa, Sansa who is doggedly abused and mistreated by men within the present narrative? This is awful, why would GRRM root their romance in something traumatic? Oh I hear you, and these are questions I needed to ask myself whilst compiling this. But you see... now bear with me here... it isn't the actual encounter itself that was traumatic, for either Jon or Sansa, and that is reflected in both their POVs, because, though they think about each other sparingly (explicitly at least), it is never done so negatively. No, the potential PTSD Jon suffers from this experience isn't connected to Sansa, to whatever occured between them. Rather, I believe, it's connected to either the fear, or the reality, that Ned, his assumed father, saw and/or caught him (either Sansa had left at this point, or didn't fully grasp the issue), and this fear, this guilt, this sense of despair, is made evident in this passage:

When the dreams took him, he found himself back home once more, splashing in the hot pools beneath a huge white weirwood that had his father’s face. Ygritte was with him, laughing at him, shedding her skins till she was naked as her name day, trying to kiss him, but he couldn’t, not with his father watching. He was the blood of Winterfell, a man of the Night’s Watch. I will not father a bastard, he told her. I will not. I will not. “You know nothing, Jon Snow,” she whispered, her skin dissolving in the hot water, the flesh beneath sloughing off her bones until only skull and skeleton remained, and the pool bubbled thick and red. – ASOS, Jon VI

That's the traumatic experience, I believe, not the kiss — yep, I strongly suspect there was a kiss. Moreover, Jon's recurring assertion, throughout the series, that he "will not father a bastard" is tied to this in some way, it’s tied to Ned, it’s tied to some sense of guilt and shame. It’s not tied to Sansa. But we'll look at this passage, what it means, what it parallels, and what directly precedes it, in comparison to Manfred, a lot more closely next time.

I'll leave you with a slight teaser though — the parallel that made me really sit up and take notice:

C. Hun. Well, sir, pardon me the question, And be of better cheer. Come, taste my wine; 'Tis of an ancient vintage; many a day 'T has thaw’d my veins among our glaciers, now Let it do thus for thine. Come, pledge me fairly. Man. Away, away! there’s blood upon the brim! Will it then never—never sink in the earth?

(II, i, 21-26)

Note this imagery!!!

Maester Aemon poured it full. "Drink this."

Jon had bitten his lip in his struggles. He could taste blood mingled with the thick, chalky potion. It was all he could do not to retch it back up. – ASOS, Jon VI

In both instances, a drink is offered, with "blood upon the brim", and "blood mingled". In Manfred's case, this is an explicit trigger for him, whereas for Jon? Well, it bit more hidden, a bit more buried, but this moment is, to my mind, the catalyst, because its imagery strongly evokes the colours of the weirwood tree — "blood" red and "chalky" white — you know, the "huge white weirwood" he later on envisions.

*spits out drink*

Maybe the magnitude of this parallel isn't completely evident as of yet, but it will be... or at least I hope it will be, so stay tuned for Part 3!

(Starting to run out of Byron pics so... I dunno, here's Rupert Everret, from The Scandalous Adventures of Lord Byron, 2009)

In Conclusion

To summarise, why is the Manfred connection so monumental to me? Why do I find the pre-canon kiss theory, specifically the scenario detailed by agentrouka-blog, now very hard to dismiss? Because:

The nine (!) Manfreds/Manfryds included within the text, as well as the two Byrons, one of which, the first mentioned in fact, first appears in Sansa's POV. But crucicially the direct link made by GRRM between Byron Swann and Manfred Swann.

The strength of the similarities that can be observed between Jon and the Byronic Hero, but also notably to Byron's Manfred, the "Byronic hero par excellence", according to Assaad. Especially the recurring emotions of guilt and despair, the latter exemplified perhaps most clearly in Jon's dreams.

The prominent theme of self-exile to escape something, something that perhaps cannot be openly stated, present in Manfred, Byron's own life, and Jon's narrative.

Those pesky half-sisters: Augusta, Astarte, and Sansa.

The PTSD symptoms clearly present in Manfred, but left "half unexplained", and seemingly not explained at all in Jon's POV — I'll dig more into this in Part 3.

The "blood upon the brim", and "blood mingled" — more on that in Part 3, I hope you guys like in depth imagery analysis!

Obviously, this is all still just speculation on my part, and it's speculation in connection to a theory that is understandably controversial. I'd be happy to dismiss it... if it weren't for the above. So, I suppose I'm in two minds about it. On the one hand, however you look at it, it's more trauma in an already traumatic series... which is *sighs* not what you want for the characters you care strongly about. But on the other hand, that literary connection to Manfred (and by extension to actual Lord Byron), the way it's lining up, plus that comparison GRRM himself made between Jon and the Byronic Hero... that's all very compelling and interesting to me as a reader, as a former English literature student. So, I don't want it to be true because... incest hell. But then, I also want it to be true because then it makes me feel smart for guessing correctly.

But anyway, we're going to be descending into incest hell in Part 3, so... we'll just have to grapple with that when we come to it. I hope, if you stuck with it till the incesty end, that you enjoyed this post!

Stay tuned ;)

Bibliography of Academic Sources:

American Psychiatric Association, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edn (Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing, 2013); online edition at www.dsm5.org

Assaad, Lara, "'My slumbers—if I slumber—are not sleep': The Byronic Hero’s Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder", The Byron Journal 47, no. 2 (2019): 153–163.

Byron, George Gordon Noel, Byron’s Letters and Journals. Ed. Leslie A. Marchand. 12 vols. London: Murray, 1973–82.

Holland, Tom, "Undead Byron", in Byromania: Portraits of the Artist in Nineteenth- and Twentieth- Century Culture, ed. by Frances Wilson (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2000).

MacDonald, D. L. "Narcissism and Demonality in Byron’s 'Manfred'", Mosaic: An Interdisciplinary Critical Journal 25, no. 2 (1992): 25–38.

Stanley, Sharon, Relational and Body-Centered Practices for Healing Trauma: Lifting the Burdens of the Past (London: Routledge, 2016)

Twitchell, James B., The Living Dead: A Study of the Vampire in Romantic Literature (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1981).

#jonsa #jon x sansa #jonsa meta #jon as the byronic hero #byronic hero #lord byron #tw: incest #cappy's thoughts #grrm and the Romantics #Jonsa and Romanticism #percy bysshe shelley #romantic poets #literary references #damn this was a long one!#glad a split it into another part!#i started to get a bit unhinged by the end not gonna lie

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cultofstan · 3 years

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My love for Bane!!

Before you read, I want to make it clear that there are some nsfw parts to this posts. If you are under 18, please don't read!

This post will go over various details and reasons why my heart belongs to the big green giant know as Bane from Batman and Robin (1997). Get ready for a long read, because I've got a lot to say.

(If you haven't check out my Bane Wallpapers, go do check them out! They bring me so much joy, I hope they do the same for you ppl too!)

His mask is very cool and unique, because if you look closer you see they used Bane's comic book mask as a base and then just changed the mouth area and added black eye pieces on top of the red piece he normally sees out of. Imo, it is the best movie Bane mask we have ever had! A lot of people hate the multiple tubes coming out of his head, but I think it makes things extra spicy! A constant reminder that your not just dealing with any normal super human, you dealing with a venom infused one that can fight you like it's nothing! The bulging veins that can be seen in certain lighting is a detail I feel deserves more love. It adds to his big and tough demeanor. You can really tell the venom is working wonders on him! The zipper on the top of the head and the fact that his mask is most likely made of tight leather or latex brings thr entire thing together and is truly a marvel to look at! I absolute love it!💚Imagining him slick that smooth, stretchy, husky mask on while the venom starts to pump into his brain and muscles just does things to me. If Bane offered me a chance to wear it, venom or not, I would do it in a heart beat! It would probably reek of sweat, his bad breath, and of old leather, but I wouldn't care. Just the thought of inhale all those smells brings me a joy I can't describe! 😍

When I was a kid, in addition to his lovely mask, his clothing choice was another thing I loved about him. It looks like Bane is just wearing a black cotton tank top with some black sturdy pants, but I've always the headcannon that it's actually very flexible black latex one piece! It makes a lot more sense when you notice his collar, chest harness, wrist bands, crotch diaper, and boots are also make out of a harder leather with spikes and studs! I swear, half of my clothing choices/dreams come from this man! His boots, for the most part, are very frankenstein/gothic inspired with thick sole and it going all the way to his knees. The copper rivets are the only things that make them stand out, imo. I've had thoughts were in order to prove my love to him I have to lick or kiss his boots while he judges. I'd hate it for the most part, because they probably taste like dirty and dust, but I want him to know that I do love him, so I'd do small smooches starting from his toes and work my way up his leg until I'm straight up licking his boots. I'd get so carried away he'd probably make me stop pretty quickly so I don't get sick 😂. His spiked collar and wrist bands are easily the clothing items I want the most! Any time I see someone on the street with spikes in their clothing I immediately think about him. Because he's worn them for so long, they're probably not that tight or rough but still firm enough to not sag. Maybe even a little flaky in certain parts. I don't think I'm comfortable with myself enough to wear a collar in public but I've come so close to buying spiky wrist bands or gauntlets it's crazy I don't actually own a pair yet. One day, I'm sure. His crotch diaper, for lack of a better name for it, is the one thing I'm 50/50 on. Some days I think it really adds to his look, especially with the spikes that go out. Plus, to a certain extent, it makes practical sense because that way heroes cant go from behind his and try to restrain him, or can't throw too many kicks, without getting poked/cut by the spikes. But other days I think it just doesnt look that great, because it ultimatly looks like a big metal diaper, it takes away from his intimidation. Plus, I won't be able to give him proper hugs! (I want to give daddy all the hugs he deserves! 💚) His chest piece is what brings everything together. The little Bane symbol is so cute, I've always looked for a pin or something to buy but no luck. I actually used to have this Bane cape that I won at Six Flags when I was little. I cut the symbol of his face out of it and tried multiple times to attach it to my jean jackets but I suck at sowing. 🥲 The leather straps that hold the chest piece compliment the other leather pieces of his outfit. The metal looking chest piece looks wonderful and adds a layer to his character that I both love and hate. In this movie he's a drone, a mindless agent that is only allowed to follow orders. I'll will discuss this in a bit. But for the record, I hate the fact that Bane is written as big dumb idiot in this movie. It's the one big problem I have with him, which sucks because I literally love everything else about him!

I've probably watch the Bane transformation scene in Batman and Robin, like, a thousand times. No joke. I didn't realize it then, but seeing a short, thin, twink become a tall, hulking, king really hit my desires in the right way. Like, now, I know for sure that's one of my kinks and it makes me so damn happy! Granted, I've never been skinny in my life, but I've always wanted to be a musclar and strong man, so it makes sense why I love this scene so much. It's a literally fantasy of mine brought to life! More specifically, I've always wanted to be a type of strong that allows me to run miles like it's nothing, throw punches that instantly knock someone out, and lift so much weight that I borderline have a superhero body. Don't get me wrong, this is seriously mentally unhealthy because I know it's kind of impossible considering my personality and the actuality of gaining so much muscle, but I believe as long as I realize it's a dream and not beat myself up over it, it's not too bad of a thought to have. Actually, if you think about it, this Bane is kind of a plus size body representation. Sure he's got giant arms that can crush my bones like tooth pics, but he's pretty bulky with a big belly. That might be too much of a stretch to say, and I totally understand if people don't agree with. That being said, I have to say it, this man probably gives the best hugs in all of Gotham! He's so big that you don't even need a jacket in the house! Just let him embrace you and you'll never feel alone or cold again! His thick hands holding you in really tight, his muscles locking you in and warming your arms, while his gut pushes you back a little of your feet, like he wants to swoop you into his arms and carry you! 🥰 He'd be careful with his spikes of course, don't worry. A detail that sends me over the moon about Bane in this movie is his green skin. I can't put my finger on it, but it really adds to the whole transformation and therefore my thirst for him grows even bigger! Especially because it's completely unique to the movie. It looks so good that I wonder why the comics haven't adopted something similar.

I could go for hours about how I think the writers butchered Bane's character in this movie, but I want this post to mainly act as a positive appreciation post/background for head cannons that I might post about him one day. So to end, and give a taste, I'll finally talk about Bane being a drone in this movie. In weird way, because he's played as a mindless servent, it makes this version of Bane one of the easier Bane's for me to fantasies about. This is because in the movie, it's implied Bane only follows Poison Ivy because she was the first person he didn't see as a threat. Plus, I wouldn't be surprised if she used some of her suductive powers on him. (I would too, just saying) So, with that established, I like that he's a mindless drone because it means that, in my head, he's not exactly my "servant" but he will basically do whatever I say. Why? Because I will prove to him I not a threat either, and only want to love him!! He'll have a concuious and his own goals, and I'll follow along and help because I trust him and want to support him, but, for the most part, he will do what I say and love me in return. I could explain this more, but I want to save the juicy parts for the follow up post I have planned for this. 😏

If you've read this far, thank you. From the bottom of my hear. I've never wrote something this personal or long. I hope I can continue to do more of these, if I'm passionate enough.

#bane #batman #Robin #batman and robin #leather #Mask #dc comics #comics #superhero #supervillain #Spikes #Studs #Green #Black #red #i love him #daddy

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goneseriesanalysis · 3 years

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Astrid Ellison

So here are my opinions on Astrid Ellison from book 1. Astrid was the character on which my opinion changed the most, which is why it’s taken me so long to get my thoughts together. Sorry for the length again but it seems I have a talent for ✨rambling✨

Spoilers for Gone by Michael Grant down below

Original Opinion: Astrid was one of my least favourite characters. I remember finding her irritating and self-righteous and honestly couldn’t think of a single good thing to say about her.

New Opinion: Astrid was my favourite character in this book. She had moments where I found her slightly irritating - but I think that was Michael struggling to right a smart character more than anything else. She was so kind and brave and not at all like the emotionless and manipulative girl that I remember hating at the grand age of 14.

1.) Astrid’s appearance - Astrid is one of the better described characters in Gone. In the first chapter we find out that she “had shoulder-length blonde hair, and liked to wear starched white short-sleeved blouses that never failed to catch Sam’s eye.” This description immediately establishes her as Sam’s love interest, from her being the first character to get a proper description to Sam’s clear infatuation with her. This is perhaps one of the reasons why I’m not a huge fan of their relationship – it was obvious from page 3 that they were going to end up together. We get three other main descriptions of Astrid throughout the book that really stood out to me:

“Her normally sharp, discerning blue eyes were wide, with way too much white showing” – Chapter 1

“She sat in the big white wicker rocker with her feet propped up on the railing. Her bare legs were blazing white in the sunshine.” – Chapter 20

“The starched white blouses of the pre-FAYZ had given way to t-shirts” – Chapter 28

What really stood out to me in these descriptions is the repeated use of the colour white. Now, in religion white is symbolic of faith, innocence and sacrifice, all of which really seem to fit the characterisation of Astrid. She has a lot of faith in the beginning, not only in God but also in herself. She is relatively confident in who she is and in her place in the world. As the book continues, however, she begins to lose this faith. As she sacrifices more of her time to the care of Little Pete (I really don’t like how Michael constantly treated him as a burden but that is a topic for another post), she becomes less and less confident in her faith and begins to resent what she has become.

As for Astrid’s innocence, I believe this is more of an insight into how Sam views her as opposed to how she actually is. Astrid is intelligent and brave and caring (although a lot of the time I think she struggles to show it) – but is she innocent?? I don’t think so, at least not in the traditional sense. She has grown up as a parent, been forced to mature faster than other children her age. She is Little Pete’s constant defender, and I think in this way Sam underestimates her. As the book continues, he begins to see this, with her staple white blouses transforming into t-shirts, he begins to see her for who she is.

2.) Astrid’s Personality and Character - Aside from Astrid’s intelligence and religious beliefs, Astrid has a very well-rounded personality. She is brave and kind-hearted but seems somewhat socially inept, meaning that the softer side of her personality is often hidden by her cool exterior. (I think there is a possibility that Astrid is autistic-coded but I don’t know enough about the topic to develop this point past mere observation). She takes on the role of a mother to Little Pete and this calmer, kinder, and more protective side of Astrid is often shown in small moments throughout the books. Astrid is the first person to offer comfort to Quinn when he realises his parents are missing, and it is only once she does this that Quinn finally allows himself to fall apart (Chapter 2). She places a hand on his shoulder and for the first night is the one who hears out Quinn’s wild theories, instead of shooting them down (cough cough Sam).

Her relationship with Little Pete is a complicated one. While she often seems resentful about her new position as a guardian, it feels like her resentment towards Little Pete is a way for her to mask her anger at things that are beyond her control. She is furious that the FAYZ has left her without parents, and is even more furious because she can’t truly understand why it has happened. So, to stop these feelings of helplessness, she targets her resentment towards the person she is closest do (as most of us unfortunately do when we feel this way). But despite her anger, her unconditional love always wins out. And this is one of the things I absolutely adored about her when re-reading. Despite her often feeling trapped by her new role in Little Pete’s life, she is still willing to distance herself from Sam, Edilio and Quinn (who are, as far as we know, the closest thing she has to friends) in order to keep him safe. She realises that Little Pete caused the FAYZ in chapter 11 and, even when Sam confronts her, her first move is to defend LP – she is not concerned with what they think of her, only with the safety of her brother.

Further on in the book, after Drake forces her to call Little Pete a slur, she is horrified with herself. She gives almost no thought to the pain she went through stating that “now she was far more angry at herself than she had ever been at him.” I think this really just shows how devoted Astrid is to her brother and, when you remember that she is only 14 it really is amazing how strong she forces herself to be for him. I began to notice on this read through just how much she neglects her own emotions and wellbeing in favour of protecting others (she even shields LP with her own body when the church collapses on top of them and we get no indication as to how injured SHE is). Once again her thoughts are only on her brother. While I wish she had made more of an effort to communicate with Little Pete in a way that he could understand (the few times she does this in the book, he does respond well and it would have been interesting to develop this side of their relationship more, rather than just the one sided protector/protected dynamic), when you think about her age and the trauma that she must be experiencing, I think she does exceptionally well to stay so kind, patient and collected for the majority of the time.

One thing that really surprised me the most when revisiting Astrid’s character was her immense bravery. This is a huge part of her character that I had completely forgotten about, leading me to remember her as little more than a typical damsel in distress. While she often uses her intelligence as a defence mechanism, such as in Chapter 15 when she stands up to Diana, in times when a verbal smack down is inappropriate, she is perfectly willing to put herself in danger in order to protect those that she cares about. We first see this in chapter 10 when she breaks up the fight on the highway. We see it again when Panda and Quinn attack Little Pete, with one of my favourite quotes of the whole book, “Did you throw a rock at my brother?’ Astrid yelled. Fearless in her outrage.” It reminds me so much of the Frankenstein quote “I am fearless and therefore powerful” and was the point in the book where my past prejudices got completely wiped away and were replaced by my new love for her. She cares so much about people, and gets hardly any recognition for it. I just want to give her a hug 😥

Another thing I noticed about Astrid, which I thinks fit’s in really well with the idea of her being this awkward social outcast (I mean did she even have any friends before??) is that while many pop culture references are made by a variety of characters, Astrid makes multiple references to historical figures:

“Patrick was named for Patrick Star, the not-very-bright character on Spongebob” – Lana’s pov Chapter 2

“It’s like a roadrunner cartoon” – Quinn Chapter 9

“I’ll bet you’re one of those brainy Lisa Simpson types” – Diana Chapter 14

“Let me guess, you’re secretly a wizard who was raised by muggles.” – Sam Chapter 21

“And this isn’t exactly the time for me to consult Yoda on how to use my power” – Sam Chapter 26

“..an ornate, heavy iron thing that Coates kids joked was the tenth Nazgul” – Jack’s pov Chapter 32

“Too bad Dr Phil’s not around.” – Diana 39

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” – Astrid Chapter 5

“To understand this you’d have to be Einstein or Heisenburg or Feynman, on that level” – Astrid Chapter 13

“Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. I forgot who said it.” – Astrid Chapter 17

I don’t have much else to say about this other than I find it quite interesting and I think it perfectly highlights how Astrid never quite fits in, no matter how hard she tries.

3.) Astrid’s Intelligence - Astrid’s intelligence is mainly used for world building throughout the first book. It is from Astrid that we learn the full story of the power plant incident, learn that the barrier is a dome and are introduced to the idea of animal mutations, as well as many theories about the outside world/ what caused the FAYZ (although those last theories are a misdirection on her part). This works well for the most part as it means that important information can be spaced evenly throughout the book, without the need for info-dumps. However, sometimes Michael’s attempts to showcase Astrid’s intelligence were, I think, a little on the nose and took me out of the story. The worst offender for this, in my opinion, is in chapter 2 with the line “Is that meant to be a pro forma reassurance or a specific commitment?” This is a really nit-picky complaint but this line just really bugged me as it seemed like he was making her smart for the sake of being smart and it kind of came off as annoying. I know one of her character flaws is her social awkwardness but this just felt too much. I love the way she over-explains and over-analyses things when she’s nervous, and I think her constant referencing to things that the other characters just don’t understand perfectly demonstrate this flaw, but lines like this seemed a little irritating and obnoxious.

The secondary use for Astrid’s intelligence in this book is as her primary line of defence. Her intellect is something that she prides herself on, but it is also something that separates her from everyone else. People are intimidated by her, and, as a result, she has learned to use her intelligence as a weapon when necessary. This is clearly seen in chapter 14, when Diana tries to intimidate her and Astrid immediately starts asking Diana questions about the cause of the FAYZ (questions that she knows Diana has no answer to). It’s later seen in chapter 22. When Drake begins to bully Astrid into calling LP a slur, she fights back by explaining that said slur is outdated; explaining the meaning of it; and then explaining how it does not fit LP anyway. While she knows that she cannot use her physical strength, her intellect is something that she can weaponise in certain situations in order to protect herself and those she loves. Her proficiency in this tactic also leads me to believe that Astrid has probably been in similar situations before. Everyone in Perdido Beach seems to know about LP. Is that why she has no friends?? Has she distanced herself from her peers in order to protect LP from their ignorance, whether consciously or not??

4.) Astrid and Religion - I don’t have as much to say about this, as I’m not religious myself and have very little understanding of Christianity (Or Catholicism – I’m actually not sure which Astrid is meant to be so if anyone knows I would appreciate it), but I feel like this is a such a huge part of who Astrid is that I had to at least mention it. One thing that I do like is Astrid’s seemingly constant battle between her scientific beliefs and her religious beliefs. While she does believe in God, she won’t accept him as an explanation for the FAYZ, and still looks for a scientific answer. Her relationship with religion seems to act as more of a moral guideline rather than a fundamental belief system. She looks to God for guidance and support in times of trouble, such as at Bette’s funeral (Chapter 17), as she is being chased by Drake (Chapter 24) and when the church is collapsed on top of her (Chapter 45) and seems to be convinced that her morality is directly tied to her faith. However, she relies on facts (things she can explain and control) for true comfort, and doesn’t allow her faith to interfere with her action. I think these ideas are perfectly encompassed by this quote from Chapter 40 “No. I believe in free will. I think we make our own decisions and carry out our own actions. And our actions have consequences. The world is what we make it. But I think sometimes we can ask God to help us and He will.” – And I am quite excited to see how her faith/ loss of faith changes her perceptions in the later books.

5.) Astrid’s Role in The Book - For the most part, Astrid has three main roles in this book:

- To act as LP’s protector

-To act as a source of plot-relevant and world building information to the reader

-To be Sam’s main motivation is becoming the leader

And this, in my opinion, is a phenomenal waste. Astrid was the perfect candidate for the leader of the FAYZ, and giving the role to Sam made no sense?? I think what Michael was trying to do was suggest that Sam had to be the leader instead of Astrid because, while Astrid is the intelligent one who knows how to work people, Sam is the one who people look to when things go wrong. (Think of Katniss and Peeta’s dynamic in The Hunger Games). But, it just doesn’t work. For one, we know that what the people of Perdido Beach think has very little effect on leadership. There was no uproar when Caine took over. Were people scared and upset?? Yes. Did they run to Sam’s aid and rebel against Caine?? No. So why should it matter whether they prefer Sam to Astrid – Sam could still be the hero without being the leader. In fact, I think it would have made both characters so much better if this was the case. Also we know that in times of crisis, people DO look to Astrid. Albert’s cat anyone?? Furthermore, Astrid’s ability to use her intellect to play on people’s emotions is a much better match for Caine’s easy charm than Sam with his flame throwers. I mean please. Astrid has a cool and intimidating exterior that actually hides a well of deep emotions that she can pull from and use to manipulate people into doing things they never thought they were capable of (we mostly see this work with Sam in this book during the fire, chapter 4, and the first time he controls his powers, chapter 28). Caine has an easy going and charming exterior that hides his lack of empathy, allowing him to use people for his own gain as he sees them as expendable. They are such PERFECTLY MATCHED OPPOSITES. But no. Michael wanted the leader to be Sam because?? Fire?? Ugh. Even when the question of who will take over if Sam poofs comes up in chapter 40, NOBODY EVEN MENTIONS HER. Astrid suggests that Edilio takes over and that’s that. (With that being said I do find it interesting that Astrid basically chose both the leader AND the backup leader but still. Let her live up to her full potential Michael.)

I think I’ve pretty much covered the first two bullet points in other sections but I’ll just quickly mention her part in Sam becoming the leader. It’s very clear from the fire onwards that Sam being in charge is Astrid’s main goal. Is this so that Sam can protect her?? Maybe. Idk. But it kind of frustrates me that she is broken down into Sam’s love interest towards the end, rather than coming into her own role. We are constantly shown that she is the main reason that Sam is becoming the leader, and this is even explicitly stated when Sam tells his mother/the gaiphage that he has “someone I have to stay here for” – chapter 46. I think the book should have ended with Astrid taking on her own role (as the leader obvs but I would have settled for something smaller or, you know, ANYTHING), instead of her just becoming Caine’s human shield. I do have more to say on this topic but I feel like it falls more into the relationship category so I’ll leave that for a later post.

And I’m not even going to talk about her powers past saying: what was the reason?? As far as I can gather Michael wanted a reason for Astrid being so insistent about Sam taking on the role of leader and so gave her a weird power and then decided hmm no.

Thank you so much for reading and I would love to hear all of your thoughts on Astrid. I think I’m going to do Caine next but who knows.

#the gone series #astrid ellison #Gone

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patriotsnet · 3 years

Text

What Republicans Voted Against The Repeal Of Obamacare

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/what-republicans-voted-against-the-repeal-of-obamacare/

What Republicans Voted Against The Repeal Of Obamacare

Latest Partial Repeal Effort Dies Before Deadline

A breakdown of the moment John McCain voted against repealing Obamacare

Another Senate attempt to repeal portions of the Affordable Care Act has ended, this time before going to a vote.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced a GOP-led health care bill would not go to a vote after three Republican senators said the bill did not have their support. In July, a similar partial-repeal effort died when Sens. John McCain, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski voted against it.

The latest bill, spearheaded primarily by Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La. and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., ;would have taken funding that is used under current law for Medicaid expansion and insurance subsidies and used it to fund block grants to states. A preliminary analysis by the Congressional Budget Office said the bill would have reduced the deficit by $133 billion by 2026 as well as resulted in millions more uninsured people compared to the current health care law.

McCain and Collins, along with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., publicly voiced their opposition to the Graham-Cassidy bill.

Proponents of the bill only had a few weeks to gain enough support before a temporary process that allows health care legislation to pass in the Senate with 50 votes rather than the usual 60 ends on Sept. 30. Graham called it the GOP’s “best and only chance” to meet its goal of repealing Obamacare.

Until we see new movement on his promise to repeal Obamacare, we’ll continue to rate this Stalled.

Republicans Plan Healthcare Vote; Obama And Tv Host Denounce Bill

6 Min Read

WASHINGTON Senate Republicans announced plans to vote next week on their latest bid to scuttle Obamacare even as a popular comedian who has become part of the U.S. healthcare debate denounced the bill and former President Barack Obama on Wednesday warned of real human suffering.

President Donald Trump, who has expressed frustration at the Senates failure thus far to pass legislation dismantling Obamas signature legislative achievement, said 47 or 48 Republicans back the bill, which needs 50 votes for passage in the 100-seat Senate, which his Republican Party controls 52-48.

We think this has a very good chance, Trump, who made replacing Obamacare a top 2016 campaign promise, told reporters during an appearance with Egypts president in New York.

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul opposes the bill. At least five other Republicans are undecided on it: Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan of Alaska, John McCain of Arizona and Jerry Moran of Kansas.

Republican Senator John Thune on Fox News said: Were a handful of votes short of having the 50 that we need.

As they worked to gather enough votes to win, after prior legislation failed in July, congressional Republicans and the White House were on the defensive after Jimmy Kimmel used his late-night TV show to blast the proposal and call Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, one of its two sponsors, a liar.

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Patrizia Rizzo, SEO Reporter

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REPUBLICANS have campaigned against Obamacare ever since it was signed into law in 2010.;

But with a change in presidency ahead, the Supreme Court is likely to leave in place the bulk of Obamacare, including;key protections for pre-existing health conditions.

Recommended Reading: How Many Republicans Voted In The Texas Primary

Republicans Have A Health Plan Finally

The House Republican Study Committee has come out with a viable plan.

Getty

For the past ten years Republicans in Congress have been largely AWOL on health care.

If memory serves, there has never been a hearing to showcase the victims of Obamacare. Nor has there been a hearing to show how sensible reforms could make the lives of those victims better.

When it came to legislation, the GOP only had two ideas: either abolish Obamacare entirely or toss it to the states. Neither approach actually solved a health care problem. They just allowed Republicans in Washington to wash their hands of the issue and pass the problems along to someone else.

Until now.

The House Republican Study Committee has accepted the challenge and delivered. In a 68-page document, it identifies the worse problems in our health care system and shows how they can be solved.

The proposals are bold, impactful and easy to understand. Here is a quick summary.

Personal and portable health insurance. In an ideal world, if people like the insurance they get from an employer, they would be able to take it with them from job to job and in and out of the labor market. Under the Obama administration, this practice was not only illegal, employers who bought individually owned insurance for their employees faced huge fines.

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Republicans On The Affordable Care Act

In the 2012 Republican Part Platform, Republicans spoke out against the Affordable Care Act, stating that the Democrats used it more as an assertion of power than they used it to improve health care conditions in this country, and in doing so they detrimentally damaged the health of this nation. The Republican Party views the requirement for United States citizens to purchase health insurance as an attack on the Constitution. They believe that the financial burden it would bring upon the country, and specifically on individual states, through the expansion of Medicaid is unsustainable, and will harm the nation as a whole. The act was so firmly opposed by the Republican Party that not a single Republican voted for the final version that Obama signed into law.

Read Also: What State Has The Most Republicans

Obamacare Repeal Requires Replacement After 2016 Election

Republicans had spent eight years trashing the Democratic health care overhaul, but now that they were in power, they ran up against the same political winds that forced ObamaCare tolook like such a political Frankensteins monster to begin with. Conservatives wanted a complete and total repeal of the law; moderative Republicans wanted to protect certain pieces of it.

Changes Required By The Affordable Care Act After 180 Days

Seniors are entitled to a $250 rebate to close the Medicare Part D coverage gap.

A government website is created to allow people to search for information about health insurance companies, available plans, and other essential facts.

Insurers are not permitted to exclude pre-existing conditions from coverage for children.

eHealth publishes its;first in a series;of resources to help uninsured children navigate differences in individual states.

Read Also: How Many Presidents Were Democrats And Republicans

What Now For Obamacare

There are not thought to be any further plans for a new bill to repeal Obamacare because the skinny repeal was seen as the only measure Republicans could get through Congress.

However, lawmakers could revive the issue and take it up later in the year.

Following the vote, President Trump tweeted: “As I said from the beginning, let ObamaCare implode, then deal.”

Mr Trump’s position on healthcare reform has varied – he has spoken out at various points for Obamacare being repealed, repealed and replaced, or being allowed to collapse by itself.

In his statement, Mr McCain said Obamacare was in a state of “collapse”, with healthcare premiums “skyrocketing” and providers “fleeing the marketplace”.

He criticised the way Obamacare had been passed by Democrats using their Obama-era majority and called for senators to “return to the correct way of legislating” with input from both parties.

“We must do the hard work our citizens expect of us and deserve,” he said.

But Texas Senator Ted Cruz insisted the fight was not over.

“Mark my words, this journey is not yet done,” he said.

Gop Senators Announce Final Chance For Obamacare Repeal

Republicans vote to repeal Obamacare

On the same day that Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced a single-payer health care bill, four senators on the Republican side of the aisle unveiled what they called their last attempt to roll back portions of the Affordable Care Act.

The bill, spearheaded by Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Dean Heller, R-Nev., and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., would replace federal funding currently being spent on Medicaid expansion, tax credits and subsidies with block grants, which state leaders could decide how to allocate. It would also end the medical device tax as well as Obamacare’s individual and employer mandates.

Graham, in reference to Obamacare repeal efforts, told congressional Republicans during a Sept. 13 press conference, “This is your best and only chance to make it happen.”

To pass the bill, the senators face a fleeting window of time. A temporary process that Republicans have been relying on to advance health care legislation in the Senate with 50 votes rather than the usual 60 votes will end on Sept. 30.

That process didn’t quite work on July 28, when a bill to repeal portions of Obamacare died on the Senate floor after Republican Sens. John McCain, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski voted against it.

President Donald Trump applauded the new bill in a statement released after the press conference.

The bill is not a full repeal of Obamacare.

It is not yet clear if the bill has enough votes to pass the Senate, so for now we continue to rate this promise Stalled.

Recommended Reading: How Many Republicans Are In The House Of Representatives 2012

Affordable Health Care For America Act

This article is part of a serieson

The Affordable Health Care for America Act was a that was crafted by the United States House of Representatives of the 111th United States Congress on October 29, 2009. The bill was sponsored by Representative Charles Rangel. At the encouragement of the Obama administration, the 111th Congress devoted much of its time to enacting reform of the United States health care system. Known as the House bill, HR 3962 was the House of Representatives chief legislative proposal during the health reform debate.

On December 24, 2009, the Senate passed an alternative health care bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act . In 2010, the House abandoned its reform bill in favor of amending the Senate bill rel=nofollow>reconciliation process) in the form of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.

Democrats Sought To Put Gop Colleagues On Record With Symbolic Vote

Democratic congressional campaigns have already made health care an early focus of their 2020 messaging, and House Democrats bolstered that effort Wednesday with a symbolic vote that sought to once again put Republicans on record on the issue.

Eight Republicans sided with Democrats on the nonbinding resolution, which the House adopted, 240-186.;The measure condemned;the Trump administrations support for invalidating the 2010 health care law in its entirety.;The Department of Justice, in a new filing last week, backed a Texas judges decision to strike down the law.;

Three Republicans; New Yorks;Tom Reed and John Katko and Pennsylvanias Brian Fitzpatrick had voted in January to authorize the House general counsel to intervene in the lawsuit to defend the health care law. All three also voted for the resolution Wednesday.

One Democrat 15-term Minnesota Rep. Collin C. Peterson bucked his party and voted against the resolution. Hes one of the last Democrats remaining in the House who opposed the 2010 health care law and is likely the last Democrat who can hold his heavily agricultural 7th District seat.

Democrats were otherwise united in supporting the resolution, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee launched positive Facebook ads touting their vulnerable members votes to protect families with pre-existing conditions.

Also watch:;What if we switch to a single-payer health care system?

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First Steps To A Repeal Are Under Way In Congress

The quest to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act began even before Donald Trump was sworn in as president.

More than two weeks before Trump’s inauguration, the Senate made its first move, approving a procedural motion on Jan. 4 to start debate on a budget resolution.

Passing a budget resolution is a key step in repealing President Barack Obama’s signature health care law. It allows the Republican majority in Congress to repeal sweeping portions of the law with just 51 votes in the Senate. This process, known as reconciliation, saves the majority from having to round up the 60 votes required to break a filibuster — a much tougher challenge.

On Jan. 12, the Senate passed the budget resolution itself, 51-48. Every Democrat voted against it . The only Republican to cross party lines to vote with Democrats was Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who had expressed concerns about repealing the law without a replacement ready to go.

The budget resolution includes instructions that provide the tools necessary to repeal the law.

Among other things, it instructs the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee to submit legislation to the Senate Budget Committee by Jan. 27.

Still, using reconciliation to repeal the Affordable Care Act has its challenges. While the ACA has a multitude of provisions, the reconciliation process can only address matters related to federal spending and taxes.

Still, this is enough to rate this promise In the Works.

Premium Subsidies And Affordability

The ACAs premium subsidies were designed to keep health insurance affordable for people who buy their own coverage in the individual market. Premiums for individual market plans increased alarmingly in 2017 and 2018, although they were much more stable in 2019 and 2020, and rate changes for 2021 appear to be mostly modest. But premiums for people who arent eligible for premium subsidies can still amount to a substantial portion of their income.

The individual market is a very small segment of the population, however, and rate increases have been much more muted across the full population .

Democrats have proposed various strategies for making coverage and care affordable. Joe Bidens healthcare proposal includes larger premium subsidies that would be based on the cost of a benchmark gold plan and based on having people pay only 8.5% of their income for that plan . Bidens proposal would also eliminate the ACAs income cap for premium subsidy eligibility and provide subsidies to anyone who would otherwise have to pay more than 8.5% of their income for a benchmark gold plan. This would eliminate the subsidy cliff that currently exists for some enrollees.

The 2020 Democratic Party platform calls for a public option health plan that would compete with private health insurance carriers in an effort to bring down prices, and lowering the eligibility age for Medicare from 65 to 60.

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How Many Republicans Voted For Obamacare

The Affordable Care Act, also called Obamacare, received no Republican votes in either the Senate or the House of Representatives when it was passed in 2009. In the Senate, the bill was passed with a total of 60 votes, or 58 Democratic Party votes and 2 Independent Party votes. The House passed the legislation with 219 Democratic votes.

The Affordable Care Act received 39 votes against it in the Senate, all from Republicans. One senator abstained from voting. In the House, the ACA received 212 votes against it, with 34 coming from the Democratic Party and 178 from the Republican Party. There were enough votes for the ACA in the Senate to prevent an attempt to filibuster the bill, while the House vote required a simple majority.

The ACA originated in the Senate, though both the House and Senate were working on versions of a health care bill at the same time. Democrats in the House of Representatives were initially unhappy with the ACA, as they had expected some ability to negotiate additional changes before its passage. Since Republicans in the Senate were threatening to filibuster any bill they did not fully support, and Democrats no longer had enough seats to override the filibuster, no changes could be made. Since any changes to the legislation by the House would require it to be re-evaluated in the Senate, the original version was passed in 2009 on condition that it would be amended by a subsequent bill.

Directive Ending Key Subsidy Threatens Obamacare’s Viability

After failing in several attempts to pass legislation overturning the Affordable Care Act, the Trump administration took a big step toward undercutting the law Oct. 12 when it said it would no longer continue funding a class of widely used subsidies without congressional appropriations.

The payments in question are known as “cost-sharing reductions.” They were intended to ease copayments and deductible costs for millions of low-income Americans who have purchased insurance coverage on the Affordable Care Act online marketplaces. The estimated cost of the payments was $9 billion next year and nearly $100 billion over the next decade.

The payments have been subject to a legal dispute since House Republicans sued in 2014, arguing that the Obama administration was improperly paying the subsidies when no money had been appropriated for that purpose by Congress. The House Republicans’ lawsuit was initially upheld in federal district court, but the case has continued to work its way through the courts.

In its announcement, the White House specifically cited the legal case as the reason for ending the payments. Insurers had been expecting a new round of payments on Oct. 18.

Health policy specialists agreed that the impact could be serious.

Experts said that lower-income Americans would be hurt the most by the change.

But ending the subsidies could have other indirect impacts, experts said.

Also Check: How Did Republicans Do In The Primaries

Republicans Fail Again To Kill Off Obamacare In Senate

By Susan Cornwell

5 Min Read

WASHINGTON – U.S. Republicans on Tuesday fell short yet again in their seven-year drive to repeal Obamacare, in a bitter defeat that raises more questions about their ability to enact President Donald Trumps agenda.

The party was unable to win enough support from its own senators for a bill to repeal the 2010 Affordable Care Act and decided not to put it to a vote, several Republicans said. The bills sponsors vowed to try again, but face steeper odds after Sunday, when special rules expire that allow them to pass healthcare legislation without Democratic support.

We basically ran out of time, said Senator Ron Johnson, a co-sponsor of the measure with Senators Bill Cassidy, Lindsey Graham and Dean Heller.

Republicans have now repeatedly failed to deliver on their longtime promise to roll back former Democratic President Barack Obamas signature domestic accomplishment.

They have yet to achieve any major domestic policy successes in Congress this year, which could hurt their efforts to retain control of the Senate and House of Representatives in the November 2018 congressional elections.

Republicans widely view Obamacare, which provides coverage to 20 million Americans, as a costly government overreach. Trump vowed frequently during the 2016 election campaign to scrap it. Democrats have fiercely defended it, saying it has extended health insurance to millions.

Related Coverage

See more stories

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statetalks · 3 years

Text

What Republicans Voted Against The Repeal Of Obamacare

Latest Partial Repeal Effort Dies Before Deadline

A breakdown of the moment John McCain voted against repealing Obamacare

Another Senate attempt to repeal portions of the Affordable Care Act has ended, this time before going to a vote.

McCain and Collins, along with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., publicly voiced their opposition to the Graham-Cassidy bill.

Until we see new movement on his promise to repeal Obamacare, we’ll continue to rate this Stalled.

Republicans Plan Healthcare Vote; Obama And Tv Host Denounce Bill

6 Min Read

We think this has a very good chance, Trump, who made replacing Obamacare a top 2016 campaign promise, told reporters during an appearance with Egypts president in New York.

Republican Senator John Thune on Fox News said: Were a handful of votes short of having the 50 that we need.

Related Coverage

Why Do Republicans Oppose Obamacare

Patrizia Rizzo, SEO Reporter

11:10 ET, Nov 11 2020

Patrizia Rizzo, SEO Reporter

Invalid Date,

REPUBLICANS have campaigned against Obamacare ever since it was signed into law in 2010.;

But with a change in presidency ahead, the Supreme Court is likely to leave in place the bulk of Obamacare, including;key protections for pre-existing health conditions.

Recommended Reading: How Many Republicans Voted In The Texas Primary

Republicans Have A Health Plan Finally

The House Republican Study Committee has come out with a viable plan.

Getty

For the past ten years Republicans in Congress have been largely AWOL on health care.

If memory serves, there has never been a hearing to showcase the victims of Obamacare. Nor has there been a hearing to show how sensible reforms could make the lives of those victims better.

Until now.

The House Republican Study Committee has accepted the challenge and delivered. In a 68-page document, it identifies the worse problems in our health care system and shows how they can be solved.

The proposals are bold, impactful and easy to understand. Here is a quick summary.

You May Like: Is Red The Color Of Republicans

Republicans On The Affordable Care Act

Read Also: What State Has The Most Republicans

Obamacare Repeal Requires Replacement After 2016 Election

Changes Required By The Affordable Care Act After 180 Days

Seniors are entitled to a $250 rebate to close the Medicare Part D coverage gap.

A government website is created to allow people to search for information about health insurance companies, available plans, and other essential facts.

Insurers are not permitted to exclude pre-existing conditions from coverage for children.

eHealth publishes its;first in a series;of resources to help uninsured children navigate differences in individual states.

Read Also: How Many Presidents Were Democrats And Republicans

What Now For Obamacare

There are not thought to be any further plans for a new bill to repeal Obamacare because the skinny repeal was seen as the only measure Republicans could get through Congress.

However, lawmakers could revive the issue and take it up later in the year.

Following the vote, President Trump tweeted: “As I said from the beginning, let ObamaCare implode, then deal.”

Mr Trump’s position on healthcare reform has varied – he has spoken out at various points for Obamacare being repealed, repealed and replaced, or being allowed to collapse by itself.

In his statement, Mr McCain said Obamacare was in a state of “collapse”, with healthcare premiums “skyrocketing” and providers “fleeing the marketplace”.

He criticised the way Obamacare had been passed by Democrats using their Obama-era majority and called for senators to “return to the correct way of legislating” with input from both parties.

“We must do the hard work our citizens expect of us and deserve,” he said.

But Texas Senator Ted Cruz insisted the fight was not over.

“Mark my words, this journey is not yet done,” he said.

Gop Senators Announce Final Chance For Obamacare Repeal

Republicans vote to repeal Obamacare

Graham, in reference to Obamacare repeal efforts, told congressional Republicans during a Sept. 13 press conference, “This is your best and only chance to make it happen.”

President Donald Trump applauded the new bill in a statement released after the press conference.

The bill is not a full repeal of Obamacare.

It is not yet clear if the bill has enough votes to pass the Senate, so for now we continue to rate this promise Stalled.

Recommended Reading: How Many Republicans Are In The House Of Representatives 2012

Affordable Health Care For America Act

This article is part of a serieson

Democrats Sought To Put Gop Colleagues On Record With Symbolic Vote

Also watch:;What if we switch to a single-payer health care system?

Don’t Miss: What Is The Number Of Republicans And Democrats In Congress

First Steps To A Repeal Are Under Way In Congress

The quest to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act began even before Donald Trump was sworn in as president.

More than two weeks before Trump’s inauguration, the Senate made its first move, approving a procedural motion on Jan. 4 to start debate on a budget resolution.

The budget resolution includes instructions that provide the tools necessary to repeal the law.

Among other things, it instructs the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee to submit legislation to the Senate Budget Committee by Jan. 27.

Still, this is enough to rate this promise In the Works.

Premium Subsidies And Affordability

The individual market is a very small segment of the population, however, and rate increases have been much more muted across the full population .

Don’t Miss: What 10 Republicans Voted For Impeachment

How Many Republicans Voted For Obamacare

Directive Ending Key Subsidy Threatens Obamacare’s Viability

In its announcement, the White House specifically cited the legal case as the reason for ending the payments. Insurers had been expecting a new round of payments on Oct. 18.

Health policy specialists agreed that the impact could be serious.

Experts said that lower-income Americans would be hurt the most by the change.

But ending the subsidies could have other indirect impacts, experts said.

Also Check: How Did Republicans Do In The Primaries

Republicans Fail Again To Kill Off Obamacare In Senate

By Susan Cornwell

5 Min Read

We basically ran out of time, said Senator Ron Johnson, a co-sponsor of the measure with Senators Bill Cassidy, Lindsey Graham and Dean Heller.

Republicans have now repeatedly failed to deliver on their longtime promise to roll back former Democratic President Barack Obamas signature domestic accomplishment.

Related Coverage

See more stories

source https://www.patriotsnet.com/what-republicans-voted-against-the-repeal-of-obamacare/

0 notes

pixie-skull · 6 years

Text

# 24 Post: “Get to know me Better Part Deux” Tag

Get to know me Better Part Deux

@odd-cinderella Thank you for tagging me. :D I am so humbled darling.

Rule: tag ten followers you want to get to know better (I like saying potential pals, instead “followers”)

- Name: Emily (I am aware my username so new, yet hopefully some nicknames can be made?)

- Gender: Confusing, I do not mind typically being seen as a woman, yet with thinking I am demi-girl or gender-fluid. Woman and agender. I go by both they/them and her/she. This first time being very out about it. Hopefully, when I transfer I will be more.

- Star sign: Aries (not hot-tempered, I am the romantic type. :D )

- Height: 5ft 3in like Logan James Howlett AKA Wolverine in the Marvel Comics.

- Sexuality: Panromantic Demisexual, leaning towards women (single). I am though waiting til marriage too, and may be ace too.

What image do you have as wallpaper: On this site, I had a rainbow moon gif, yet now Josephine Wall’s art. I am a sucker for beautiful details. On my phone, I had She-Hulk ^*_*^ Now a color palette of periwinkle, lilac, lavender, and violet.

- Have you ever had a crush on a teacher?: If I have, not remembering.

- Where do you see yourself in 10 years: Very soon I am turning 21, yet ten years I turn 30 and almost 31. O.O I would be celebrating my gold birthday. https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=golden%20birthday I hope for: 1. Being with people who make me feel happy, like being friends with @theghostlightison still and I be happy if in love and maybe engaged. My school I pray to transfer it has a huge LGBTQ+ student body so I may meet my future spouse. ^*_*^ 2. I hope to have a stable job and feel enriched by the fact it makes me good, rather being paid. 3. My writing being published.

- If you could be anywhere else right now, where?: Dougal, Ireland due to wanting to see relatives and see the beautiful landscape. Also, New Zealand for THE LORD OF THE RINGS! =D

- What was your coolest Halloween costume?: @odd-cinderella I can relate to cosplaying. I am stuck between my first comic-con where I went as a Hobbit or my last year Halloween Costume when as “Scott Pilgrim versus the World” Ramona Flowers.

- What’s your favorite 90s show?: Also like @odd-cinderella I specifically choose from different types of shows, Anime: Sailor Moon. American Cartoons: I remember as a kid liking Spongebob Squarepants a lot. Live-action: Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I have older siblings hence watching the show.

- Last kiss?: If you saw my post of my “# 18 Post: 18 ships of mine” or along those lines, I kissed someone who I said to keep his identity not to be known as Dreamworks “Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas” as Kale, due he looks like the character. I thought we were dating, he thinks we are friends, so after a few weeks of me thinking he was my eighth relationship, I asked, and he said being friends he prefers. Kinda peeved off he does not understand kissing a huge step for me being demisexual, yet upside, he was a fun make-out. Upside still friends and jokingly “flirt”.

- Have you ever been stood up?: I do not think so, I came close to, but glad I did not do it. The person, they were nice, yet just sad to not click.

- Have you ever been to Las Vegas?: Drove with my family through it, so kinda.

- Favorite pair of shoes: I like my boots that I jokingly dub “My Slayer boots”, which with my matching fake leather black jacket I feel like Buffy Summers.

- Favorite fruit: Pomegranate, the juice, the seeds covered in dark chocolate, and more good.

- Favorite book: I am stuck between “The Last Unicorn” Peter S. Beagle (I love the animated movie, so favorite animated movie based on a book).

“Frankenstein; The Modern Prometheus” by Mary Shelly or “Dracula” by Bram Stoker (favorite story due to living action movies, even though the books are better).

Hoping to start “What Dreams May Come” (The movie holds a special a place in my heart) Richard Matheson. I am aware there are common themes here, yet whatever. XD

I have read “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” (I liked the movies more)

- Stupidest thing you’ve ever done: Letting my seventh ex, take a squeeze at my chest. It has drastically changed my confidence in my body to a certain amount, this was an almost a year ago. I was in kickboxing and due to this wore tighter outfits than I like, then one day he just grabbed at my shirt and I told him no, he than said something like “I am already respecting your choice to wait, so why not just this”. I was so stressed out by the school by then so I did not think much as I should and thought that was valid. Granted it bothered me I dated such a slimeball. Bothers me how he then, later on, he tried to convince me to “give out”. I kept saying no and luckily stood my ground on this. He clearly was not happy, yet tired to manipulate me, make me feel guilty, and more. Bums me out further this white boy had the guys to say very borderline racist things, like saying the “N” word with a soft “A”, not a hard “R”. Luckily we dated under a month, yet I still feel dumb I dated him. I *trigger warning* even scratch (like with pins) my forearms, shoulders, and chest to be “ugly” so he stops. Luckily barely any scars, but ugh. I am now in a better place, just bothers me how that happened. Luckily compared to my other formally dated who I am friends with, he is far away from me. (I do use Disney Phoebus to represent him, even though this boy so weak like I have more muscles than him, yet he still slithered negative things in my mind). To make it sadder I dated someone so much more understanding a gentleman, who I choose as Naveen when talking about him due looks closest to him.

On a positive note, I am growing to be happier, even though, now I am feeling sad lately, this helped cheer me up. Also, my birthday coming up, I will see family, and get my hair dyed, have a party with friends who make me happy, and more.

0. @themostlyclosetedteen

1. @sailorzelda94

2. @winglesshopeful

3. @myhollie1911

4. @thenamelessdoll

5. @disneyfemslash

6. @animagix101

7. @geebs96

8. @vulpeproductions

9. @ultraviolet04

10. @hashtag-mylife

The numbers mean nothing, just wanted to keep track. Yes, I can count, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10, yet why not include 0? XD

#Q and A #So strange to reveal my name #Pan and proud #proud pansexual oh wait in my case panromantic #Panromantic and proud #Pansexuality #Pan #The Lord of the Rings #LOTR #The Last Unicorn

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carlculationinfinityinterviews · 4 years

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LACK THE LOW INTERVIEW

Lack The Low( Kat Hunter) an independent artist who crafts atypical auditory alchemy with her music.Lack The Low’s sound traverses throughout the neural networks of many different genres like an experienced traveller with a multitude of sonic synonyms under her belt. Her debut album One Eye Closed is an intriguing beast that never fails to grant the listener with something new without being gaudy or using tools for tools sake.

Lack The Low - God Knows Why

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Tell me about your first introduction to music and what was the catalyst or first piece of music that you can recall connecting with that made you start thinking about becoming a musician?

Really, I don’t remember not being a musician. My mother is a pipe organist and my dad a singer, so when I turned four years old they told me to pick an instrument and so I started violin lessons. Equally, it’s difficult to pinpoint a moment where I “committed” to music. When I finished high school, I had to choose between studying music or studying dance at university (I’d been deeply involved in both up until that point), so that was a big decision at the time. But really music is kind of a thing that happened to me; a constant in my life. I remember writing songs from about age 6 and one time I sang a tune I’d written to my mother, and she showed me how to write it out on manuscript and harmonise it on the piano, and I think that’s the first time a light bulb went off in my head about what it might mean to “write music”.

What was the first piece of music you bought with your own money and personally sought out to buy and what drew you towards wanting to buy and listen to your first purchase?

Back when I was a kid, CD singles were a big thing. I think the first CD I ever purchased was Macy Gray’s, “I Try”, which in hindsight has aged well (what a banger!), but the first CD I really fell in love with was Alanis Morrissette’s “Precious Illusions” single circa 2002. I really remember connecting with the lyrics, and her emotional singing style.

What albums/artists/bands or art forms shaped the scope of your musicianship and how you approach the music you write? How do you push yourself and how important do you think that it is for musicians to push past the limits with what they create?

I listened to a lot of indie rock all through high school and gradually got into some weirder things over time. Radiohead was a massive influence for me and Amnesiac is still one of my all time favourite albums. Specifically Silverchair’s Diorama album was a big influence for me: it’s harmonically super complex and beautifully orchestrated by Van Dyke Parks. The Most Serene Republic were also really influential for me, and more recently These New Puritans. But overall my listening habits are actually pretty wide, so what I make is just as much a synthesis of all the instruments I’ve played and styles I’ve listened to over time.

Lack The Low-Future Heavy

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I don’t really think it’s important to push yourself. I think making music is probably hard enough as it is, and trying to make something that sounds difficult might just result in something that sounds contrived, which is not really interesting to me. I think the real challenge of composition is to try to let through what comes most naturally and not overthink everything; to just be a conduit and serve the purpose of the song as purely and as authentically as possible.

Tell me about the steps you had to take in order to develop the facility/skills to create the music you make, did you have lessons or was there a method of study or practice you followed? Was there any specific musicians that inspired you?

I had violin lessons through my childhood and saxophone lessons in high school and joined the school big band. Then towards the end of high school I started studying voice. I also started self-teaching piano and guitar along the way, and did grades in music theory as well. When it came to making work for Lack the Low, I also had to learn to record and mix everything. I already had some basic DAW skills from previous bands, but in 2015 I went really deep with Ableton and got into more if its functions, especially using samples and soft synths. I spent a number of months doing an online mixing course too, which gave me enough overview to get started. I wouldn’t call myself a very good engineer; I don’t think I have a very good mindset for the science behind it all. But I learned just enough to start producing my own work.In terms of self-producing, there’s a local musician called Aphir, who I’m close friends with and who is an incredibly good producer and engineer, and seeing her play live was a big inspiration for me to learn more about technologies that could allow me to become a more self-sufficient artist. With Ableton and a lot of hardware/software technologies, you really have to have good role models and people you can go to with questions because you come across issues that really aren’t self-evident. There’s a lot of trial and error and a lot of troubleshooting.

Lack The Low-The Daylight Is All Inside

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How do you maintain your level of musicianship and ensure that you are becoming a better musician?

I practice singing daily, and I work as a singing teacher, so I spend a lot of time overall on my voice, and a lot of incidental time studying voice pedagogy and science. I also try to get in piano practice daily, and violin practice when I can. This year I started taking violin lessons for the first time in about 14 years, and piano lessons for the first time ever, so I’m focusing much more on building and keeping up my technique in those areas. But for the most part I find myself wishing I had the time to do more!

Tell me about how Lack The Low formed and what led you to starting this project? What were your creative intentions/musicals goals you had from the beginning and how has that changed from then to now?

Although there wasn’t a single moment, I feel it formed in around 2015 when I’d just moved back from the UK. While I was overseas I didn’t make that much music and didn’t have much of a musical support network, but when I moved back to Australia, I also started doing the Artist’s Way course and I felt like making something. I’d become very burned out being in previous bands and had felt really disillusioned by the music industry, so it took some real mental reframing to want to make music again. My only goal was basically, “Let’s see if I can make a whole album of music all by myself”. I didn’t want to think about releasing it, or whether it would be good or not, or whether anyone would hear it or like it, I just wanted to feel like I was capable of finishing a project of my own volition and gain the skills along the way to do that. And that took me three years, but I managed to do it. But when it came to releasing and having other people hear my work, I was kind of dumbfounded by the whole process. I had no expectations, so I took every lesson (good and bad) as gratefully as I could. Now my goals have much more of a sense of reality to them – it’s not just me making work in a vacuum for better or worse. Being able to complete my initial goal gave me some self-belief, so I’ve now been experimenting with different sounds and different aesthetics, trying to make more active decisions across the board.

My favourite thing about your debut is all the different musical directions and ideas that come together. How do you begin the songwriting process and how to approach connecting all of those different sections together? Is there a method that you follow or does it depend on what type of song you are working on?

I wish I had a process! Every song starts differently. In many ways I’m still a very traditional song writer in that I think of most songs initially as lyrics, melodies and chord progressions. It doesn’t come naturally to me to think texturally or in terms of sound design. So, some songs come fully formed and I write the lyrics in a single day, whereas some songs are slowly put together or given up on then revived over a number of years. Very occasionally I’ll start a song in-the-box but normally I write at the piano or combo organ or guitar. I feel much more at home with a real instrument in my hands. And then after that, the production often takes a really long time. I end up to-ing and fro-ing between different ways of fleshing things out, and eventually stitching it all together. I think that’s a reason many of my arrangements end up so Frankenstein’s monster-y. To some degree I’m going in blind without any assumptions and hoping ideas come to me that will best serve the song – that’s always the goal: to serve the emotion of the song. I think I really have no idea what an actual producer does or how they get anything done; for me production is like making a tapestry and it all takes forever.

Was your debut a concept record or anything you considered in terms of a narrative between the songs or the whole album? What did you want the listener to experience, think or feel with this release?

No, it’s not a concept record… I mostly tend to just focus on each song having its own world and meaning, and then staying as true to that single vision as possible. There’s a lot of different themes on the record, but a lot of it has to do with dark sides of humanity and personal growth. Some songs feel quite dystopian to me because I’m taking a kind of dark psychological theme and pushing it to its nth. The most important thing for me is that each song is really emotionally resonant in its own way. Complexity can be great and thought provoking, but communicating in an emotionally engaging way is really my main goal.

What were the main influences that you drew from when you were working on your debut album?

My influences can come from anywhere, but normally my songs are about philosophical ideas I’m trying to get my head around. Sometimes I find myself being really inspired by computer games, books, TV shows or films – anything that speaks to an idea that latches onto my brain.

How do you transfer the arrangements to a live setting since there’s an abundance of different instruments? Is this something you have to constantly think about when composing?

The answer is I don’t think about it at all when composing. But I really should. It would be way more sensible to only use sounds that I can replicate in a live setting,and one day I’d like to do a project like that again.

Lack The Low-Progress (Live)

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(Recorded live, January 6th 2020, by Royal Ubiquitous Handycam)

But because I don’t have a band, I really took nothing for granted with this project. I remember having a realisation when I first started producing music for myself that was something along the lines of, “hey, I don’t even have to use hi-hats”. It sounds obvious, but I’d come from bands where you have a bassist and guitarist and drummer, and they all have to be playing for most of the song, and there are assumptions that each person makes about what kind of tones or parts of their instrument they’ll default to using. But I found it really freeing to realise I wasn’t constrained by that anymore. I didn’t have to feel guilty about not using cymbals for a whole song, like I’d be letting anyone down.

Also, there are a lot of sounds that are completely unreproducible live. For example, there are bird sounds and machine sounds that are field recordings I took myself that have been digitally twisted beyond recognition. There’s banjo in just one song, and bagpipe samples in another. It would be a total nightmare to make happen in the real world, note-for-note.

The one thing that did influence the writing process was when I was getting closer to completing the demos and recording everything, I’d locked in a really amazing trumpet player and French horn player to record the parts, and that made me really confident to go all out in the horn arrangements, especially for Seven Different Species – the trumpet and horn duet in that song is one of the things I’m proudest of.

Do you have a set rule or philosophy of how you want both of the different realms of performing live and what you hear on record? Do you think that everything should be repeated live as its heard or that the audience want to experience something that can only be witnessed from being at a show?

I think this depends on what part of the album/composition cycle I’m in. Generally what I find is that during the writing phase what you see live is fairly representative of what’s probably going on in my Ableton file, and more representative of how the recording is (or at least is at that moment). And if I’m in the release stage I do feel a certain obligation to have live versions sound enough like the recording. But after that I can depart pretty dramatically from the original recorded version, sometimes to the point where it’s almost unrecognisable.

I think this process is reflective of what it’s like to prepare for a live show as an electronic musician (and although my compositions don’t always sound electronic, I’m still using tools and a workflow that has its foundations in electronic production). When you’re in a band, you can take a written song to your band members, and they flesh it out for you and maybe you add it to your live set, and the song develops over time as a live performance potentially long before ever being recorded in any way. Whereas as an electronic or self-produced musician, you have to work in the opposite direction; often ending up with a recording long before you figure out how to deconstruct it or make it a performative “live” experience. And in my experience this creative deconstruction can happen more and more to a composition over time.

Tell about your live setup and the preferences within your setup? Is it combination of software and hardware instruments to emulate what is on the recorded album? Does this differ between what you use when recording and what you using in a live setting? Please go into detail for all of the gear ends out there.

My live set up changes pretty regularly, but currently most of the time I’m playing solo. I’m using a midi keyboard and a Novation launchpad going into Ableton. I’m mostly using the launchpad to trigger clips or to control Live’s looper, to make vocal loops. The keyboard is going into a variety of piano, synth and organ sounds, and I also have some additional vocal FX mapped to this so I can turn them on and off quickly. And then it all goes out through an interface and that’s about it! I’ve been trying to keep my live show as simple and effective as possible because I have the tendency to over complicate things, which then makes shows more stressful than they need to be.

You can purchase/stream/download Lack The Low’s music from the following links below and please follow these pages to keep with regular updates from the band:

https://linktr.ee/lackthelow

https://lackthelow.bandcamp.com/

https://open.spotify.com/artist/7BdQjLu3Ryk5DoQHQwYJ5a

https://www.instagram.com/lackthelow/?hl=en

https://www.facebook.com/LackTheLow

Marks Of Provenance III - A Bushfire Fundraiser by Provenance

All proceeds from the 14-track compilation will go directly to those affected by the Australian bushfire emergency via the Fire Relief Fund for First Nations Communities. The fund has been established by First Nations musician Neil Morris, in direct consultation with, and upon the request of, fire-affected First Nations communities, including those who have lost their homes and been forced to evacuate to other regions.

Lack The Low will be playing at Arctangent Festival in the UK this year! Make sure you get out there and watch her set!

https://arctangent.co.uk/tickets/

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terramythos · 7 years

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Review: The Prestige by Christopher Priest

Genre/Tags: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Split Narrative, Unreliable Narrator, Memoir, Journal, Stage Magic, Historical Fiction, Horror

Warning(s): Child death, miscarriage (unrelated), suicidal ideation, self-harm

My Rating: 3/5 (Somewhat Recommended)

**Minor Spoilers Follow** (Unusually long review!)

“I step forward to the footlights, and in the full glare of their light face you directly.

I say ‘Look at my hands. There is nothing concealed within them.’

I hold them up, raising my palms for you to see, spreading my fingers so as to prove nothing is gripped secretly between them. I now perform my last trick, and produce a bunch of faded paper flowers from the hands you know to be empty.” -Alfred Borden

An Aside: The film The Prestige (dir. Christopher Nolan) was based off of this book! The movie is honestly one of my favorites ever and certainly my favorite Nolan film; it’s a concise and harrowing tale of obsession and revenge and how it consumes the two main characters, all wrapped together with a strong cast, interesting twists, and a good nonstandard setting. Definitely my kind of story.

Obviously it’s impossible not to compare the two, and I know some of that will come across in my review. That being said, I strongly believe that adaptations are different for a reason and should be judged on their own merits, so my base review will only cover the book and my impressions of it. You can probably tell, however, that I preferred the film purely from the rating. I will write more about how the two compare near the end. This review is a bit longer than usual for it.

My Summary: An investigative journalist named Andrew, adopted at a young age, is sent to research a local cult holed up in an abandoned estate owned by the Angier family. In doing so, he meets a woman named Kate Angier, who recognizes him from childhood. It turns out their ancestors, Rupert Angier and Alfred Borden, were two feuding stage magicians in the late 1800s, and the bad blood between the two families has spilled out into modern times. While Andrew doesn’t particularly care about the family that abandoned him, he gets the sense that his long-lost twin is calling out to him from somewhere and compelling him to stay, and he learns the history of the feud.

From there the narrative shifts to a memoir by Alfred Borden which exposits notable facts of his life, including what got him into stage magic and an immense secret which influences everything he does, including how he pulls off his most famous trick, The Transported Man. He also documents an ongoing rivalry between himself and fellow magician Rupert Angier, and the latter’s constant attempts to one-up him, leading to a climactic and uneasy final encounter between the two, with supernatural elements to it.

An interlude narrated by Kate comes in the middle which reveals an Uncomfortable Detail about her childhood and connection to Andrew. Some supernatural stuff is implied. Then, the story shifts to a narrative from the point of view of Rupert Angier, this time in the form of a journal. Similar to the first half, it goes over Rupert’s life and history, and the circumstances the rivalry between him and Alfred. It documents his attempts to surpass The Transported Man, a trick he obsesses over. It is also noteworthy in that mutual scenes between the two are not the same, implying unreliable narration on part of one or both men. Their rivalry eventually comes to a head.

The Good:

Features a strong voice. It felt like both halves of the story were solidly rooted in their time period and I never felt “taken out” by the phrasing and language of the two protagonists. It ultimately felt interesting to read.

Parallels between the two halves of the story are interesting and satisfying when they occur. It was interesting to flip back and forth between certain scenes and see what was different between them, and try to piece together who was telling the truth. I haven’t run into many books that do that.

The story is obviously well-researched; Priest has a working knowledge of stage magic and the general economic climate of late-1800s London (and, to my surprise, Colorado history, which I’m familiar with). When the characters describe their acts, it has a lot of depth which makes them come across as convincing professionals.

The core concept itself is really quite interesting; it’s an odd conflict and time period to pick, but it pays off in a lot of ways. The choice to use unreliable narrators in a story about stage magic is brilliant.

Of all things the story reminded me heavily of Frankenstein, particularly the way the book describes the supernatural/science-fictioney elements and how it plays into the lives of both men. I could appreciate the references it dropped.

The choice to do a pure half-and-half split narration was risky, but I think it paid off and ended up more effective than just threading the two stories together in alternating chapters. As I mentioned above, I liked that I had to flip between the two. You take what Borden says in the first half for granted– after all, why lie about it?– but the inconsistencies between him and Angier are an intriguing and come much later. (I’d prefer it if the book DIDN’T mention this directly, but unfortunately…)

The Mediocre:

While I liked the split narrative, having the halves be purely autobiographical or journalistic ultimately bogged the story down. By its nature a journal contains a lot of fluff that doesn’t necessarily connect to the story. It felt like Priest was trying to be “authentic” by including a lot of life details that end up… ultimately irrelevant? It detracted a lot from my experience because I had zero reason to care about those things and they served no purpose to the story.

As a result of the above issue, the events of the story felt episodic and disconnected, not a part of some overarching and connected feud. Especially in a story that relies on subterfuge and deception, things that might seem irrelevant should reflect in a new light as the story progresses. The first half accomplishes this in some ways, but it falls apart in the second half.

It had an annoying tendency to foreshadow a twist, reveal it, backtrack and reveal the twist to be “impossible” then… go back to it? Just kind of an irritating bait and switch, generally. Twists work with this type of story due to the whole stage magic thing but that gimmick completely goes against the attitude of it.

The framing device with the modern characters seems ultimately pointless. The story would have been fine without it. It would also prevent that… ending. See the final point under “The Bad”.

The Bad:

The characterization was lacking. There are a lot of people that come into the story and leave virtually no lasting impression on it, which isn’t a good sign. The big problem here is with this type of story, characters SHOULD be the driving force, and they simply aren’t. I get that the story focuses on the main two, but it shouldn’t be to the exclusion of all else.

And I really hate to say it, but the main characters were not especially interesting. A memoir and a journal by nature have a laser focus on one specific person, and while that was true enough, the characters don’t really change all that much. Both Borden and Angier are self-important assholes. That’s fine. The problem is they stay that way the entire story and refuse to examine themselves or develop in any concrete way until the very last second. Even when a character has a moment of reflection, like “this feud is stupid we should just end it”, something contrived keeps it going and neither character grows or matures from the insight. If this is intentional, it’s a frustrating position to put your reader in.

The conflict ultimately makes no sense. The feud is founded on stupid reasoning, and the way it sustains itself seems unrealistic. Even when a spoiler event happens that gives a character EXCELLENT motivation to push the story along and solidify the feud (possibly justifying this story built, ultimately, on miscommunication), it gets resolved in three pages and then the feud just… continues for no reason? If the feud is intentionally pointless, then play that up more! Show it through the side characters, or the modern framing device, or something. It feels bad otherwise.

I’m just going to say it. The ending is stupid as hell. Just really fucking dumb. Yeah, let’s turn this into a supernatural horror story… randomly? It makes no goddamn sense with the rest of the book. It felt like a joke ending. Nothing really set it up beyond the science fiction elements of some of Tesla’s stuff and even then it went in a way different direction. If the rest of the book had been like that, sure, but it wasn’t.

Final Thoughts: The Prestige is a book that features a fascinating core concept. Rival stage magicians at turn-of-the-century London trying to one-up each other and how they ultimately go too far? Frankenstein style science fiction? Nikola Tesla features prominently? But to me it fell short– it’s the type of book that could be great with a stronger editorial hand clipping out unnecessary fluff and bolstering the characters. The movie accomplishes this! It’s just a shame it couldn’t happen with the… book it’s based on.

That doesn’t mean the book is bad– far from it. It obviously came up with the framework that made one of my favorite films, and I liked seeing connections between the two. Again, I have to stress that it’s well-researched and an interesting idea, and the writing quality is good even if it falls short on storytelling. The idea of having unreliable narration for a story about stage magic is goddamn brilliant and I’m glad the author went for it. I just think he jumped the shark.

A lot of my complaints with the book are solved in the movie adaptation. It’s ironic that a book that has so much more time and space to develop characters falls flat, but the shorter movie version doesn’t. A story about obsession, one-upmanship, and how revenge destroys a person when they go too far should be character-driven and the movie understands this. The feud between Angier and Borden is caused by a stronger and more personal event, and you start off rooting for Angier. However, as the story progresses, Angier’s willingness to go to further and further extremes switches sympathy to Borden. Even more important are the side characters, their arcs, and seeing how they react to each man’s obsessiveness, and how it tears everyone apart on an interpersonal level. It’s raw and it’s structured well; everything is relevant, which makes the twist at the end all the more satisfying. You get a more concise and philosophical story overall, and I feel it’s way more appealing that way. The ending is also much different and much, much less stupid– I cannot stress this enough.

So ultimately I’m glad this book exists because it gives us an excellent story– one that only reaches its full potential in the adaptation. If it weren’t for that egregiously bad ending then maybe it would be a 3.5 (I’d penalize it more based on that but… ehh). You can certainly read it if you want to for the good aspects of it, but you should probably just watch the movie. If you want a story about rivalry gone too far, I’d recommend Vicious by V.E. Schwab or Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, both of which are character-driven with fascinating (and consistent) premises.

#Taylor reviews #books #3/5

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adapted-batteries · 7 years

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Season 2 Things

So I just finished up season 2...time to do some more rambling about each episode. Probably won’t be as long as my season 1 ramble, but just in case I’ll still stick it under a keep reading.

“And the Drowned Book”

I totally forgot about the obnoxious hat Stone is wearing wherever he is. Also, unless I wasn’t paying enough attention, the hallway Ezekiel is eating pizza in and not getting arrested is the same hallway they ran through in the “Vatican” in season 1.

When Moriarty points out Flynn has sun damage Flynn says he moisturizes...random fact but surprisingly a really good habit I’m glad he has. And who can not enjoy Flynn getting flustered about Moriarty deducing stuff, even if Flynn jumped the gun and thought he was Sherlock. I mean if a character from something I really loved to read popped out...I’d probably end up blurting out “I love you” too.

Also...Cassandra gets all the ladies...you can tell when Stone realizes things when Cassandra tells the Italian girl that she can do anything she puts her mind too, when he does that glance at the stunned Ezekiel. I mean it’s pretty obvious she wasn’t just giving Cassandra her number for fun friend time...and Stone knows it. I think this bit is what helps him later on in season 3, when he stops Ezekiel from attempting to go with Cassandra and Estrella...Stone’s got that same knowing face. I like to think Ezekiel’s deflating is partially due to to losing the Italian girl...but mostly that Cassandra got the earrings off her before he did (he sees it when he and Stone walk in, I’m not sure why he left them though, guess he was too dumbfounded).

Later on in the Library when Cassandra’s like “We weren’t okay,” Stone gets pretty tender, but it’s different than he was in season one. A lot of Jassandra shippers like to point out that’s a thing there, but Stone literally just saw her get a girl’s number, and the change in tenderness is also from Stone trusting her finally...this whole season not once does Stone mention his fragile trust at all, which means he’s gotten over it. And also, who wants to die and make Cassandra sad? Literally no one.

Random last observation from this ep: When Flynn and Eve kiss on the sidewalk, both Ezekiel and Cassandra are looking away in the background, which could be coincidence, but it looks kind of purposeful. I just chalk it up to everyone being dorks.

“And the Broken Staff”

I liked the fact that Flynn suddenly starts complaining about work, but before...and through this season too, he’s literally work work work and never stops, because he doesn’t want to stop, doesn’t want to have to be alone with his thoughts and be still.

When Prospero and Moriarty get in the Library all I wrote was “A Prospero (and Moriarty), in my Library? It’s more likely than you think, Jenkins.” This is gonna be a thing for every season...considering there’s a thing in the library every season.

Stone makes a passing comment about Ezekiel not knowing how to use a card catalog...but I don’t know how to use one either...and I’m surprised he knew, unless he was sneaking off to the local library in his town as a kid. That being said, with my weird knowledge of random stuff, I probably could shoe a horse...though I’ll leave it to the professionals.

When Ezekiel talks to the librarian to get the works of Shakespeare, in the background Cassandra whacks her head against the shelf in frustration which cracked me up.

When they get back in the Library, Flynn’s all like “good you passed my test” but like what test...I know he’s floundering at not being on top of stuff but I kind of want to know if he was gonna ever run them through something like that just to test them.

Also when Prospero and Moriarty are in the elevator, I’m reminded of that lovely blooper of them fake making-out in there...couldn’t watch that scene with a straight face.

Flynn holding onto Ezekiel for dear life...the birth of Flyzekiel...but honestly he was really holding on, and didn’t seem to think much of that, even Ezekiel had to remind him to get free. Also, I wanna know how Frankenstein’s monster is doing, if he got plastic surgery and went into sports.

We all know Flynn can’t act well to save his life...but at least he can fake out Prospero to get him to go for the wrong tree. Also speaking of trees...what did he burn??? And I kind of wish Eve fought Moriarty just to see what would happen.

For some reason I never really caught all the mentions of “the locked door with no key” that popped up a lot, when watching now I realize that it’s Eve and Flynn’s statue room. Nice build up.

“And What Lies Beneath the Stones”

Ooookkkayy prepare for a bunch of Oklahoma rambling. My first statement even before Isic came on screen was “Stone’s dad is what I hate about my state” so there’s that.

That I could find, Wagner doesn’t exist, but there’s a Wagoner, which I thought was where they were setting it, but then Lile says that the land is Choctaw, so that puts it 50 miles south of Wagoner, but then Andy comments they’re not locals (they being the protestors) so it could be Wagoner. Since Stone says the place is a couple hundred miles from his home town, and he was a surveyor so I can trust he was being pretty accurate, either location puts Stone’s hometown somewhere in West Oklahoma, specifically anything west of Enid, Weatherford, and Lawton. For a bit I considered the theory that Stone was from Christian’s actual hometown, Norman, but with OU being there, Stone would’ve went to OU and then gotten out of Oklahoma, not been an oil rigger, so I threw that out pretty quick. I also wondered if Stone was a northeastern Okie like myself, but with the mileage he gave, 200 miles from the heart of Choctaw territory is into Kansas, and that's assuming a minimum 200 miles, which it may be more.

Other rambling on Oklahoma stuff, we don’t have license plates on the front of our vehicles, only the back. And I’ve never seen the one Isic has on his truck. I thought maybe it was an old farm-truck plate, but even then, it’s like a weird mash of the 1939 and 1942 plates. Most of the the cars in the town though, including Lile’s SUV, have the correct plate for the year, the one with “Sacred Rain Arrow” statue on the left of the numbers and letters with Oklahoma in script above them and “Native America” in white on a blue bar under them. I still have this one, though this year they rolled out the new plate so I’ll have the new one in November.

Jenkins makes a passing comment that Ezekiel being here would be like a bad rendition of Oklahoma!...but I don’t really know what he meant by that since there’s nothing here to steal...was it some weird comment on Hugh Jackman’s run on Oklahoma! or something?

Also in terms of there being protesters in the first place...Oklahoma has so many tribes in it that they definitely wouldn’t be digging on that land in the first place...if people knew it was a sacred plot, they couldn't have gotten that land to dig easy. But, since Isic is a horrible person, and he ignores permits, of course he’d be digging.

When Cassandra shushes Ezekiel to listen to Isic and Stone talk, I was totally her. The first time I watched this episode I was hanging on every word for his backstory. Question though, I know Isic is a perpetual drunk, but if Stone was a surveyor for ten years, a noble Oklahoma profession, why would he think Stone couldn’t read a map? Heck, even I can read a surveyor map.

Cassandra makes a comment about him lying about his life, that she thought would've been more complicated...but honestly people out here love to be in denial about stuff...if they have an image of you they want to see, and you don’t do much to contest it, they’ll happily believe whatever they see is you. I speak from experience. It’s not hard to hide...just annoying and hurtful to yourself in the long run.

Later on Stone makes a snide comment about Isic using the company funds for a new “12 gauge” which is a common fowl hunting gun...and from a small town, Stone would be weird for not hunting, and he wouldn’t have wanted to stick out, so he so should know how to gut an animal back in season 1 in “And the Fables of Doom.” Even I know that...granted my experience is from science class dissections...but still.

The chain Cassandra cuts wasn’t actually locking anything, it was around the handle...so there’s that filming goof.

Ezekiel mentions for a truth of his that he was in MI6...I need more info on that...like what if his handler pops up like Rockwell popped up for Eve?

I really wish Stone had been telling his dad all that stuff, but I do wonder if all that truth weakened the creature a bit. And you could tell Stone is starved for affection when he hugs it...for just a second, he lets himself savor the hug before he pulls away to toss them both in the hole.

One of Cassandra’s truths is her wanting to be Vietnamese....but like why???

I would’ve loved it if when Stone got back up and his dad was like “What happened to you?” Stone answered “Oh, I just had a fistfight with myself.” Also I like that Stone realizes he doesn’t need his approval, but his dad still doesn’t know anything about him...it’d mean a lot more if he would’ve actually said what was up.

“And the Cost of Education”

This ep made me slightly wary of my uni’s fraternity row...granted they didn’t help matters when I was walking to my car one night and heard weird chanting of something I couldn't understand to an eerie rhythm...never found out what that was about.

Love the fact that Jenkins didn’t simply say that Wexler’s head exploded...he had to mime it, with sound effects.

Also Cassandra getting excited about going to college was basically me all of high school...and for the most part, my excitement was fairly justified...I am a lot happier now than I was back then. Though I was never excited for parties like she was...the only one I ended up going to was with my writing club...who just got drunk and started reading poetry...yeah that did happen...and it was great. No frat parties for me thanks.

“Transferring” at Wexler happens at an alarming rate, but random transfers with no word do happen...I did find out later that the girl decided to transfer back home, Minnesota I think, but only a month after she left without word. I didn’t know her that well though.

I’m glad my school motto isn’t Latin for “The devil appears! Fire!”

Lucy mentions she got her tip to investigate Wexler from “the lake forum”....were the Ladies of the Lake talking to Lucy too?

I felt so sad when Stone met his idol basically to find out he was a dick.

Question...if it’s bright daylight out...why’s a frat party going on? Parties are a night thing, at least at my uni everyone has the decency to not be day drinkers anyway. We also don’t have pep rallies, but my high school did. That being said...going to stuff like that is in no way essential for a good college experience...I enjoyed myself just fine without all that hoo ha, though I might be crashing the band stand this fall at some football games because I got to know one of the drum majors.

Honestly though seeing Stone get to be professor was great, and he even got to use his line “architecture is just art we live in.” Question though...who goes to class in their cheer outfit? Like no one did that for any sport at my uni.

Low key wish “wanna see my particle accelerator” was a euphemism...for what I have no clue. I wish I had a research space like Lucy...though mine would be very, very green, but man that’d be great.

Okay what is that voice Ezekiel does for Stumpy when he’s complimenting himself for running an image search? Like what accent is that???

The Ezekiel being bait scene...specifically Stone confirms Ezekiel statement that he’s cute...literally responds with “Yeah, you’re cute” and it doesn’t sound like sarcasm that much...it’s quick...but he says it for sure. Also Ezekiel comments on his singing being good...it’s hard to pick him out in the singing scene in “And the Rise of Chaos” and he mostly sticks to the “bum” part of the song so I need to actually hear him sing.

Me any time the Ladies of the Lake show up: “Hey it’s Parker.” Also I wonder if they’ll ever make a reappearance in the show.

I hate seeing Ezekiel distraught over Stumpy getting broken...hurts my heart.

And at the very end I got annoyed with how angry Jenkins was being towards Cassandra, like she didn’t do anything, and she stayed, which was the right thing.

“And the Hollow Men”

At the very beginning, when Ezekiel jumps down from the ceiling, either they’re standing on a very bouncy floor, or they’re all on the mat Ezekiel landed on for some reason....I guess is a height thing for the scene.

Woo for Flynn realizing communication is important.

Also...that lingering on Ezekiel ass that Stone did with his flashlight...I saw that boy...also when they woke up stone got up really fast when he heard Eve, way faster than Ezekiel did.

Stone knows Chinese telegraph...but not enough Spanish to do better than Flynn??? Seriously Stone.

Ray says Flynn’s a runner...was that the Library simply stating a fact or bashing him for it?

I know Moriarty is supposed to be shady bad guy...but man I just want him to not be bound to Prospero and have fun working with the Librarians. Also I wanna know how Moriarty calculates his charming if it’s got decimal places.

So Moriarty talks about Holmes in the way that Eve’s thinking about Flynn...which is a romantic way for her at least...so like is that suggesting something about Moriarty and Sherlock Holmes???

Still need to know why there’s a Sumerian temple in Pennsylvania.

Did Moriarty really think getting the staff of knowledge would help him undo his being bound to Prospero? I mean it’s obvious it didn’t cuz he’s still working for him later, but did he really think it’d work? To be fair I had no clue if it would or not.

Oh man the way Flynn’s face lights up when Ray says Flynn’s his best friend...and then that sorrow when he talks to Ray for the last time in the Library...man seeing Flynn hurting messes me up.

At the very end Stone really scowls at Ezekiel when he says he doesn’t know where the brooms are...like Ezekiel didn’t seem to be joking around, why so pissy Stone?

“And the Infernal Contact”

My first note was “I feel this episode is a perfect metaphor for the United States political scene” because I mean what else could be wrecking this much havoc besides a deal with a devil?

I wanna know how those workers didn’t hear that crash...I guess they had really good ear protection on.

I have no clue what it’d taste like...but I wanna try the Chupecabra’s jerky.

When Jenkins describes how a devil would appear to Ezekiel (Katy Perry wearing the crown jewels with a wad of cash and an unnatural attraction to young Aussie boys), Ezekiel’s face is too cute I swear.

There’s more x-rays in Jenkins’s lab...a leg and feet this time...whoever it is has a muscular calf.

“Well if you’re asking me about what happens after you die, I remind you I’m one of the least qualified people to answer that” oh Jenkins you’re the best. Also Stone’s question about “is it soul...soul?” is definitely fueled by his time in church...it’s got weight behind it, and means his church experience was less than impressive.

I got kind of annoyed with Stone when he’s attempting to tempt Ezekiel to reveal if he used the Library’s stuff to steal...like quit bashing the boy for his character growth...and also he totally got a chain wallet because of Ezekiel...cuz those things are not in style in Oklahoma besides with the goths maybe.

Jenkins says to Keatings that he used to be a wrestler...I wonder if that’s true...and if so, how good he was. Also the circling camerawork reminds me of Leverage.

Jenkins definitely has a pleased face when he mentions the Librarians at work...he’s proud of his grandkids.

I always thought the fuzzy focus thing they did for the gas leak scene was cool.

When Eve’s friend dude asks who Jenkins is, Jenkins responds that he’s a Librarian before he corrects himself...I wonder what Jenkins thinks of himself as. I mean to us he’s the caretaker, and he decides on that title later, but I wonder how many times he’s done that to people before.

Sesslemen tries to sell Ezekiel on saving the world...something that wouldn’t have appealed to season 1 Ezekiel at all. Woo for character growth!

At the end of the ep, when Jenkins tells them it’ll take 8 hours if they don’t keep still, Ezekiel about laughs, you can see his cheeks puff out a bit as he holds it back.

“And the Image of an Image”

Okay so does Jenkins have an alert for when stuff pops up online, or does Ezekiel leave his social medias signed in on the Library’s computer?

Stone gives Cassandra a weird look when she say’s she’s never been clubbing, like how is that a weird thing Stone it could easily be because the environment was too much stimuli boy.

So Jenkins clubbing...um well if he danced with Snake-Hips Tucker I assume he was dancing similarly...so there’s that (look it up if you don’t know what that means)...and CBGB was a punk spot in NYC...and the Magic Tramps were a punk band, so not only did Jenkins have a hip hop phase, but he had a punk phase too. Also that brings up the question on what Jenkins looked like...I mean an old man like him probably would’ve been odd at CBGB so that implies he looked younger, plus when Dorian last saw him Dorian said he wasn’t grey either, so either Jenkins used glamours, or he didn’t get old till the 2000′s, which is interesting since some immortals tend to age to a specific point in life then stop after that and stay that age.

Cue the #squad scene...Stone’s arms though...and Ezekiel’s outfit, and Eve’s on fire. And then when Stone’s like “there’s nothing about this that says ‘cowboy’” Ezekiel gives him a little nod which either means “Stone you’re never not a cowboy” or he was trying to assure Stone that he didn’t look like a cowboy but wasn’t being very enthusiastic about it. Also when Stone tells Ezekiel to sneak in Ezekiel gives him a look like he was about to smirk at him. Idk what that’s about.

Stone and the bouncer nerding out is hilarious.

Okay so Stone TOTALLY slapped Ezekiel’s ass before the left the club to save the next victim... it’s at 13:54 if you wanna go check that. Also when Ezekiel’s showing him the post for that girl Stone unnecessarily puts his had on Ezekiel’s but doesn’t lift phone up like it looks like he was going to, and after that when the camera is on Ezekiel’s face, he either swallows or bites his lip/inner cheek when he looks at Stone, and then barely keeps his jaw shut when Stone slaps him.

Eve attempting to handle drunk Cassandra is always fun to watch, including when she has no clue what to do with herself when Cassandra’s staring at her.

Stone nerding out when Dorian Grey was real...and then after Jenkins said him and Oscar Wilde were “more than friends” Stone repeated him like his mind was blown.

Also when they break into the art gallery Stone’s both disgusted and in awe that Ezekiel has access to so many galleries with his retinal backdoor. Oh and when he found the painting, Stone didn’t turn off his blacklight, you can see it glowing in his pants before he turns to face the camera.

I didn’t realize Cassandra vommed in Dorian’s office space until the closed captioning came up with (vomiting) on the bottom of the screen. Also Ezekiel was enjoying having Cassandra draped on his shoulder, I saw that little smile he did.

When Dorian dies Jenkins breaks the screen with one finger...either he did it really hard or magical backlash made the ipad weak.

There’s that look down and lip press thing Ezekiel does when Stone insists he was holding back his punches...I mean there’s a variety of ways of expressing “Whatever you say, cowboy” but that was kind of a weird one to go for. Also that concern when Ezekiel says he’s not tied to anyone or anything, like for some reason Stone didn’t believe Ezekiel was alone.

Also how quickly did they get tacos...I guess time passed but it seemed like only a minute passed between them leaving and Cassandra running back in.

“And the Point of Salvation”

For some reason when Jenkins summoned the spirit I got a Dresden Files magic vibe.

Hey Ezekiel mentions the keypad Glen-Reider, nice Leverage throwback.

The whole “Some master thief loop” is great, including the tasing...also Ezekiel shooting Stone in the leg as an example of it being a video game...and then Stone’s subsequent offense at being an npc.

Once they first pull the Atlantean stone out, you can see the pain on Ezekiel’s face because they’d died several times already. The first time he looks like he’s close to losing it is when he yells he can’t watch them die again when he locks them in. And that hurt continues into the Eve and Ezekiel scene when she tells him the war story, to the point his voice gets tight and almost cracks on the end of “I like the way you look at me when you tell it.”

Kind of a random statement on that scene, but as a gamer Ezekiel would’ve tried jumping off that balcony to the center bit or to the door, unless he did and it just didn’t show it because it didn’t work.

“You think I’m me” Ezekiel realizing his snarky jokester act he’s been doing is biting him a bit. And it’s the sorrow in his voice is what convinces them he’s telling the truth, and the things they told him in the many loops he’s done. Stone can’t even comprehend the situation, it’s really messing with him having Ezekiel be so serious, and I think afterwards Stone treats him differently because of that, because he knows what Ezekiel can be, given enough trauma, and he doesn’t want him to go through that again.

Stone’s excitement at rocket jumping is adorable.

When the three get back, Stone flat out denies Ezekiel being gone, where the girls start taking in the new reality. And then when the get Ezekiel back, Stone has to touch him, not just shake his hand for whatever reason he does that, he’s got to pat him on the chest like he’s got to reassure himself Ezekiel’s real.

Also did Ezekiel suffer a bit of temporary amnesia when he got back? Because he seemed pretty confused when Eve said they were Librarians. And his face when they get back to the Annex and tell him what happened tells me he didn’t remember. It was definitely a “nah I didn’t do that, doesn’t sound like me” face, which looks different than his other head shake in season three after Stone claims his immunity was because he loved Cindy first, which was more a “Nah man you got it wrong, why you gotta assume stuff?”

At the end, where did they teleport to? I mean we know it’s Cicily, but Jenkins seems pretty put out about wherever was on the globe.

“And the Happily Ever Afters”

When Flynn’s trying to remind Jenkins about the Librarians, he mentions that Stone “wrote that cute little article about O’Keefe”...why would he call it cute? Maybe he thought it was endearing? Kind of an odd way to describe it.

Eve gets a bit of a country accent in Cicily, so does Cassandra...I like to think it’s Stone rubbing off on them. Also Stone just wants to be a nerdier Indiana Jones.

You can tell when it clicks for Flynn when Cassandra’s describing her life...it was the ponies in the bar that did it.

Okay what was with the weird arm thing Stone did to let Ezekiel slide past him? Also why have him slide past and then kind of lean into him? It’s so weirdly domestic, and the way he looks over at Cassandra too honestly makes an argument for Jassekiel, but there’s definitely Jazekiel at least.

Flynn was either really flustered by Eve and Moriarty or really bad at telling people’s ages because he says Ezekiel’s 15...but clearly he’s got a beer and they’re in the US which means he’s gotta be 21, and Cassandra nor Eve would let him break the law drinking underage.

Stone seriously checks out Ezekiel’s ass...like a slow look down, then back up, before he looks at Flynn...there’s no other way to take that...that’s not a normal friend thing at all...ahem...also Stone smile’s when Eve says “I don’t need another mess in my town” which means Ezekel’s gotten into shenanigans.

Honestly I think it’d be fun if Ariel worked with the Librarians again...it was fun having her around.

“I’ve never seen anything move that quickly, except for that night Gretchen and I heard Santa come home early from Oktoberfest.” Okay so Jenkins hangs out with Mrs. Claus when Santa’s out partying???? Also Santa was sneaking? I need more information on this event.

When the LiTs have to start remembering who they are, several people have the idea that Ezekiel starts remembering the video game loop here. When I was watching this ep, when Flynn tells him who he is, Ezekiel gets quiet real quick, and doesn’t talk until later on. And when the spell tries to grab him again, he has a lot of emotion in his voice when he says no, so either it takes a lot to deny his dream, or he was getting memories again from remembering.

When they put their talismans down and start telling their real stories, Flynn gives Stone an endearing look, and pats his chest, which he doesn’t do for anyone else...some interesting Flynnstone stuff in this ep.

So if everyone was affected by Prospero’s spell, what did Jenkins do to get rid of the spell on him?

“And the Final Curtain”

I mean sure it’s bad no technology works...but I wouldn’t mind living in a forest...I loved being up in the mountains in New Mexico last week for sure. Also wouldn’t Prospero’s spontaneous forest growing greatly help with the greenhouse gas problem we have?

I need to know how the Library got a tardis...that implies the Doctor doesn’t have it anymore. Did a Librarian work with/encounter the Doctor?

Also in this scene Amazon Video’s closed captioning messed up and instead of Cassandra saying “we haven’t violated any rules, it’s Schrodinger’s cat” it said “we haven’t violated any rules, we should use your cat” which makes it sound like Cassandra’s giving really weird solutions to time travel problems.

Flynn is not a master of dialects...nor can he act...that we know. Also kind of wish Moriarty was a robot from the future, some obnoxious Terminator fun.

What is the cawing Flynn does as he’s playing Hamlet? Is that a normal dying noise people make???

The whole creation of Prospero is really cool, and the subsequent exorcising of him. Really enjoyed this episode for sure.

Flynn and Moriarty fighting is hilarious...I literally wrote “Eve corral your children.”

So If Eve wields Cal thanks to the Ladies of the Lake, does that make her Arthur too? Or was her ability to wield him thanks to the Ladies of the Lake? Also “Hey it’s Parker again.”

When Moriarty gets stabbed, Flynn’s suddenly concerned, telling him that’s not how his story ends. Apparently he was growing on Flynn. Also did he die, or I guess when the staff got broken, Prospero’s binding over him got broken, and he went back to his book?

When they’re saying goodbye, Stone completely avoids looking at them, it kind of looked like he was tearing up a bit. Also Ezekiel looked really sad, like he couldn’t handle losing Eve again, but you can see his resolve to not show anything in front of the others. And when Eve tells Cassandra not to live her life for anyone else, man that gets me every time.

The statue time traveling...yess...I loved that so much, and Cassandra teasing Eve with the dinosaurs coming back.

Well, that’s season 2 for me. Tomorrow I will start Season 3, and probably finish watching it, then type up my season 3 comments Saturday. It actually takes me a bit to get through my notes, today I started around 6, and finished up around 8:30, with a break for dinner. As always, feel free to message me if you wanna chat about anything mentioned.

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rallamajoop · 7 years

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The curious parallel evolution of The Man from UNCLE and The Avengers

I’m starting to need a proper tag for "things I read or watched because of UNCLE" -- case in point, this post involves two different examples of the genre. One is C.W. Walker's book Investigating The Man from UNCLE, which I'm still reading now. Though it inevitably covers a lot of the same territory as John Heitland's book on UNCLE's history (and, admittedly, in somewhat less casually accessible fashion), it also adds a real wealth of new background detail and insight to the subject. I'm sure I'll get around to writing up a proper review once I'm done -- but for now, here's a few specific details that caught my eye. One of the more curious items of trivia from Heitland's notes was the information that, early in development, there was at one point to be a supporting character variously named "Mary Smith" or "Doris Franklyn": an out-of-work actress who would assist Napoleon during his adventures. Walker, happily, provides rather more detail about what her role was to be -- making it clear that she was actually supposed to function as Napoleon’s partner in Norman Felton’s early drafts.

Even at this early stage, Solo would be a loner in name only. Described as Solo's "confidant," Mary Smith is a talented, if struggling, actress who also happens to be multilingual and something of a chameleon. She is ready to hop a plane to anywhere in the world to assume any number of identities as needed, though these masquerades "will always be in the realm of believably." The synopsis indicates that Mary Smith may experience some conflict between advancing her career and assisting Solo, but inevitably she will join him because there is a "bond" between them.

What stands out about this concept -- a professional male spy paired with a skilled female amateur -- is that Felton seems to have unwittingly hit upon the formula behind another 60's spy show, which was already airing on British TV: The Avengers (not to be confused with Marvel's Avengers, with which it shares nothing but the name, and the paradoxical lack of interest in revenge as a motivator behind most of its adventures). For those unfamiliar, The Avengers followed the adventures of a professional spy by the name of John Steed, and his various non-professional partners -- the most significant of whom were women. Exactly what agency Steed works for is never specified, nor (as far as I can uncover) why he relies so much on regular amateur helpers, most of whom have no connection to his current case, but it draws on so many of the same tropes as UNCLE that there's plenty of basis for comparison between the two.

The other reason I checked out The Avengers, however, was based on the reputation of Steed's partner from the second and third seasons -- Cathy Gale, a mature, well-spoken, quick-witted, judo-flipping heroine -- a character arguably years ahead of her time. I could go on at length about how great Cathy is, but it's really not that relevant here -- what you really need to know is that the show is even better remembered for her successor, Emma Peel, who joined the show just as it secured a US broadcasting deal and a corresponding jump in budget. Like Cathy, Emma was a talented, well-educated amateur, and as capable as Steed in hand-to-hand combat. Though both she and Cathy clearly had much more successful day-jobs and probably much more expensive educations than Doris Franklyn, the parallels are hard to miss.

Was this early UNCLE concept, then, directly inspired by The Avengers? The tale of UNCLE's genesis does start with a visit by Norman Felton to the UK in the early 60's, where a woman from the BBC gave him the idea of writing something about a different kind of hero. The Avengers isn't a BBC series, so he's unlikely to have heard much about it in the office, but it might have been showing on TV while he was there, depending on the time of year. It's conceivable that Felton might have caught an episode or two of the first or second season while in the UK -- but both Walker and Heitland's accounts agree that it didn't even occur to Felton to write something about spies until much later. Walker talks at length about the connections between UNCLE and the existing Bond franchise, between the UNCLE fanbase and the later one for Star Trek, but The Avengers isn't mentioned anywhere. I suppose it's possible that some semi-conscious memory of an episode or two of some spy show he saw in the UK might have been in Felton's mind as he dreamed up his new show, but it would be a big stretch even to suggest it. As best we can guess in retrospect, the similarities seem to be little more than coincidence. But the story only gets stranger when Sam Rolfe comes aboard -- because Rolfe, according to Walker, had his own proto-UNCLE concept kicking around at the time Felton contacted him for help in developing the series. Called The Dragons and St. George, Rolfe got as far as writing a pilot script that was never produced. The titular St. George was actually to be an agent who worked for the United Nations "above and beyond the law, unofficially aiding law enforcement agencies with difficult or unusual cases." Moreover, St. George was assisted by two amateur companions:

The first is rich, handsome, blond Lance Mordred, an ex-racing car driver who suffered a devastating accident and whose face is now swathed in gauze. Lance's damaged body parts have been replaced with those of volunteer donors, and with each donation, Lance has also acquired the skills or special talent attached to the donated part. The second is Lance's wife, Laura, "a cool, classic beauty," an ex-actress who can take on various roles, chameleon-like. "Whatever the mind can conceive, she can create".

Putting aside the Frankenstein-inspired side-kick, there's plenty of what would become UNCLE in this concept -- but even more of The Avengers. An agent working for an international agency, assisted by two talented amateurs? Once again, we’re right back with John Steed. If Rolfe had ever seen or even heard of The Avengers himself though, the knowledge seems to have been lost to history. Again, the similarities seem most likely to be little more than bizarre coincidence. But the story goes on:

Considering the similarity between Felton's Doris Franklyn and The Dragons and St. George's Laura Modred, it seems odd that Rolfe would purposely leave out Doris. Nevertheless, he did, adding that it would appear "cheapskate" if so large and powerful an organization as UNCLE should be forced to use an unemployed actress instead of a special agent to do the job.

And there, in a nutshell, Rolfe outlines exactly why the idea of a part-time actress being called in to assist Napoleon on his missions confused me so much when I first encountered it in Heitland's account -- and, moreover, why I struggled so much to get into The Avengers: If Napoleon and Steed work for such important agencies, why in god's name are they reduced to recruiting unpaid help to do their jobs?

Are their assistants supposed to be so swept up in the excitement that they don't care? Rolfe's polymath racing car driver at least had the justification being able to bring a truly unique skill set to the job, but Emma Peel and Mary Smith have no such excuse. It makes sense that Napoleon might recruit an innocent connected to a case occasionally, but once they become a regular, they should at least be able to expect a salary and some sort of pension plan in return for risking their lives. In fact, unlike Steed's first (male) partner, no reason is ever given for why Cathy or Emma assist him at all: episodes that would have introduced them were recut and shunted back into the TV schedule, so that they first appear as his partners without any explanation at all. The uncomfortable subtext, that the contribution of women like Emma and Mary needs no official recognition, because the men involved may take it for granted, is about as ugly as it comes. I doubt it was intended, but the casual de-valuing of women's work doesn't speak well of the values of the decade. If anything, it says rather too much. Nevertheless, that three different creators all independently managed to hit upon variations on this theme within a couple of years of one another in the 60's must mean something, and if no-one was copying anyone else, then the possibility still remains that all were responding to some still older source of inspiration. Perhaps, in imagining their fantasy super-spies, dropping in to help solve unusual cases like some sort of government-sanctioned Doctor Who, they were all subconciously drawing on the Sherlock Holmes archtype, where the genius crime-fighter comes accompanied by his personal Watson equivalent. Perhaps, as with the Innocents formula that UNCLE eventually settled upon, they hoped to draw on the fantasy that anyone could wind up partnering James Bond. Perhaps they simply thought it would be more interesting if one of their protagonists wasn't a full-time professional. Two out of the three appear to have given little if any thought to the less fortunate implications of the concept. Nor, apparently, did most of the audience of The Avengers back in its own day. In any case, it's certainly for the best that Felton and Rolfe wound up revising their concept of UNCLE before it made it to the screens -- not just because that would have denied us the much-beloved UNCLE we got, but also because The Avengers already existed. The world didn’t particularly need another secret agent with a full-time-amateur assistant, but the idea of partnering an American agent and a Russian was even more daring, and it’s highly unlikely anyone else would have come up with it independently (let alone managed to get it to screen) had Rolfe and Felton not hit upon the idea.

#The Man from U.N.C.L.E.#John Steed #Emma Peel #Cathy Gale #Doris Franklyn #Mary Smith #muncle book #the other muncle book #things I watched or read because of UNCLE

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holytheoristtastemaker · 4 years

Quote

Search engine optimization (SEO) is essential for almost every kind of website, but its finer points remain something of a specialty. Even today SEO is often treated as something that can be tacked on after the fact. It can up to a point, but it really shouldn’t be. Search engines get smarter every day and there are ways for websites to be smarter too. The foundations of SEO are the same as they’ve always been: great content clearly labeled will win the day sooner or later — regardless of how many people try to game the system. The thing is, those labels are far more sophisticated than they used to be. Meta titles, image alt text, and backlinks are important, but in 2020, they’re also fairly primitive. There is another tier of metadata that only a fraction of sites are currently using: structured data. All search engines share the same purpose: to organize the web’s content and deliver the most relevant, useful results possible to search queries. How they achieve this has changed enormously since the days of Lycos and Ask Jeeves. Google alone uses more than 200 ranking factors, and those are just the ones we know about. SEO is a huge field nowadays, and I put it to you that structured data is a really, really important factor to understand and implement in the coming years. It doesn’t just improve your chances of ranking highly for relevant queries. More importantly, it helps make your websites better — opening it up to all sorts of useful web experiences. Recommended reading: Where Does SEO Belong In Your Web Design Process? What Is Structured Data? Structured data is a way of labeling content on web pages. Using vocabulary from Schema.org, it removes much of the ambiguity from SEO. Instead of trusting the likes of Google, Bing, Baidu, and DuckDuckGo to work out what your content is about, you tell them. It’s the difference between a search engine guessing what a page is about and knowing for sure. As Schema.org puts it: By adding additional tags to the HTML of your web pages — tags that say, "Hey search engine, this information describes this specific movie, or place, or person, or video" — you can help search engines and other applications better understand your content and display it in a useful, relevant way. Schema.org launched in 2011, a project shared by Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Yandex. In other words, it’s a ‘bipartisan’ effort — if you like. The markup transcends any one search engine. In Schema.org’s own words, “A shared vocabulary makes it easier for webmasters and developers to decide on a schema and get the maximum benefit for their efforts.” It is in many respects a more expansive cousin of microformats (launched around 2005) which embed semantics and structured data in HTML, mainly for the benefit of search engines and aggregators. Although microformats are currently still supported, the ‘official’ nature of the Schema.org library makes it a safer bet for longevity. JSON for Linked Data (JSON-LD) has emerged as the dominant underlying standard for structured data, although Microdata and RDFa are also supported and serve the same purpose. Schema.org provides examples for each type depending on what you’re most comfortable with. As an example, let’s say Joe Bloggs writes a review of Joseph Heller’s 1961 novel Catch-22 and publishes it on his blog. Sadly, Bloggs has poor taste and gives it two out of five stars. For a person looking at the page, this information would be understood unthinkingly, but computer programs would have to connect several dots to reach the same conclusion. With structured data, the following markup could be added to the page’s code. (This is a JSON-LD approach. Microdata and RDFa can be used to weave the same information into content): { "@context" : "http://schema.org", "@type" : "Book", "name" : "Catch-22", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Joseph Heller" }, "datePublished" : "1961-11-10", "review" : { "@type" : "Review", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Joe Bloggs" }, "reviewRating" : { "@type" : "Rating", "ratingValue" : "2", "worstRating" : "0", "bestRating" : "5" }, "reviewBody" : "A disaster. The worst book I've ever read, and I've read The Da Vinci Code." } } This sets in stone that the page is about Catch-22, a novel by Joseph Heller published on November 10th, 1961. The reviewer has been identified, as has the parameters of the scoring system. Different schemas can be combined (or tiered) to describe different things. For example, through tagging of this sort, you could make clear a page is the event listing for an open-air film screening, and the film in question is The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou by Wes Anderson. Recommended reading: Better Research, Better Design, Better Results Why Does It Matter? Ok, wonderful. I can label my website up to its eyeballs and it will look exactly the same, but what are the benefits? To my mind, there are two main benefits to including structured data in websites: It makes search engine’s jobs much easier.They can index content more accurately, which in turn means they can present it more richly. It helps web content to be more thorough and useful.Structured data gives you a ‘computer perspective’ on content. Quality content is fabulous. Quality content thoroughly tagged is the stuff of dreams. You know when you see snazzy search results that include star ratings? That’s structured data. Rich snippets of film reviews? Structured data. When a selection of recipes appear, ingredients, preparation time and all? You guessed it. Dig into the code of any of these pages and you’ll find the markup somewhere. Search engines reward sites using structured data because it tells them exactly what they’re dealing with. (Large preview) Examine the code on the websites featured above and sure enough, structured data is there. (Large preview) It’s not just search either, to be clear. That’s a big part of it but it’s not the whole deal. Structured data is primarily about tagging and organizing content. Rich search results are just one way for said content to be used. Google Dataset Search uses Schema.org/Dataset markup, for example. Below are a handful of examples of structured data being useful: Recipes Reviews FAQs Voice queries Event listings Content Actions. There are thousands more. Like, literally. Schema.org even fast-tracked the release of markup for Covid-19 recently. It’s an ever-growing library. In many respects, structured data is a branch of the Semantic Web, which strives for a fully machine-readable Internet. It gives you a machine-readable perspective on web content that (when properly implemented) feeds back into richer functionality for people. As such, just about anyone with a website would benefit from knowing what structured data is and how it works. According to W3Techs, only 29.6% of websites use JSON-LD, and 43.2% don’t use any structured data formats at all. There’s no obligation, of course. Not everyone cares about SEO or being machine-readable. On the flip side, for those who do there’s currently a big opportunity to one-up rival sites. In the same way that HTML forces you to think about how content is organized, structured data gets you thinking about the substance. It makes you more thorough. Whatever your website is about, if you comb through the relevant schema documentation you’ll almost certainly spot details that you didn’t think to include beforehand. As humans, it is easy to take for granted the connections between information. Search engines and computer programs are smart, but they’re not that smart. Not yet. Structured data translates content into terms they can understand. This, in turn, allows them to deliver richer experiences. Resources And Further Reading “The Beginner's Guide To Structured Data For SEO: A Two-Part Series,” Bridget Randolph, Moz “What Is Schema Markup And Why It’s Important For SEO,” Chuck Price, Search Engine Journal “What Is Schema? Beginner‘s Guide To Structured Data,” Luke Harsel, SEMrush “JSON-LD: Building Meaningful Data APIs,” Benjamin Young, Rollout Blog “Understand How Structured Data Works,” Google Search for Developers “Marking Up Your Site With Structured Data,” Bing Incorporating Structured Data Into Website Design Weaving structured data into a website isn’t as straightforward as, say, changing a meta title. It’s the data DNA of your web content. If you want to implement it properly, then you need to be willing to get into the weeds — at least a little bit. Below are a few simple steps developers can take to weave structured data into the design process. Note: I personally subscribe to a holistic approach to design, where design and substance go hand in hand. Juggling a bunch of disciplines is nothing new to web design, this is just another one, and if it’s incorporated well it can strengthen other elements around it. Think of it as an enhancement to your site’s engine. The car may not look all that different but it handles a hell of a lot better. Start With A Concept I’ll use myself as an example. For five years, two friends and I have been reviewing an album a week as a hobby (with others stepping in from time to time). Our sneering, insufferable prose is currently housed in a WordPress site, which — under my well-meaning but altogether ignorant care — had grown into a Frankenstein’s monster of plugins. We are in the process of redesigning the site which (among other things) has entailed bringing structured data into the core design. Here, as with any other project, the first thing to do is establish what your content is about. The better you answer this question, the easier everything that follows will be. In our case, these are the essentials: We review music albums; Each review has three reviewers who each write a summary by choosing up to three favorite tracks and assigning a personal score out of ten; These three scores are combined into a final score out of 30; From the three summaries, a passage is chosen to serve as an ‘at-a-glance’ roundup of all our thoughts. Some of this may sound a bit specific or even a bit arbitrary (because it is), but you’d be surprised how much of it can be woven together using structured data. Below is a mockup of what the revamped review pages will look like, and the information that can be translated into schema markup: Even the most sprawling content is packed full of information just waiting to be tagged and structured. (Large preview) There’s no trick to this process. I know what the content is about, so I know where to look in the documentation. In this case, I go to Schema.org/MusicAlbum and am met with all manner of potential properties, including: albumReleaseType byArtist genre producer datePublished recordedAt There are dozens; some exclusive to MusicAlbum, others falling under the larger umbrella of CreativeWork. Digging deeper into the documentation, I find that the markup can connect to MusicBrainz, a music metadata encyclopedia. The same process unfolds when I go to the Review documentation. From that one simple page, the following information can be gleaned and organized: { "@context": "http://schema.org/", "@type": "Review", "reviewBody": "Whereas My Love is Cool was guilty of trying too hard no such thing can be said of Visions. The riffs roar and the melodies soar, with the band playing beautifully to Ellie Rowsell's strengths.", "datePublished": "October 4, 2017", "author": [{ "@type": "Person", "name": "André Dack" }, { "@type": "Person", "name": "Frederick O'Brien" }, { "@type": "Person", "name": "Marcus Lawrence" }], "itemReviewed": { "@type": "MusicAlbum", "@id": "https://musicbrainz.org/release-group/7f231c61-20b2-49d6-ac66-1cacc4cc775f", "byArtist": { "@type": "MusicGroup", "name": "Wolf Alice", "@id": "https://musicbrainz.org/artist/3547f34a-db02-4ab7-b4a0-380e1ef951a9" }, "image": "https://lesoreillescurieuses.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/a1320370042_10.jpg", "albumProductionType": "http://schema.org/StudioAlbum", "albumReleaseType": "http://schema.org/AlbumRelease", "name": "Visions of a Life", "numTracks": "12", "datePublished": "September 29, 2017" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": 27, "worstRating": 0, "bestRating": 30 } } And honestly, I may yet add a lot more. Initially, I found the things that are already part of a review page’s structures (i.e. artist, album name, overall score) but then new questions began to present themselves. What could be clearer? What could I add? This should obviously be counterbalanced by questions of what’s unnecessary. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean that you should. There is such a thing as ‘too much information’. Still, sometimes a bit more detail can really take a page up a notch. Familiarize Yourself With Schema There’s no way around it; the best way to get the ball rolling is to immerse yourself in the documentation. There are tools that implement it for you (more on those below), but you’ll get more out of the markup if you have a proper sense of how it works. Trawl through the Schema.org documentation. Whoever you are and whatever your website’s for, the odds are that there are plenty of relevant schemas. The site is very good with examples, so it needn’t remain theoretical. The step beyond that, of course, is to find rich search results you would like to emulate, visiting the page, and using browser dev tools to look at what they’re doing. They are often excellent examples of websites that know their content inside out. You can also feed code snippets or URLs into Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper, which then generates appropriate schema. Tools like Google’’s Structured Data Markup Helper are excellent for getting to grips with how structured data works. (Large preview) The fundamentals are actually very simple. Once you get your head around them, it’s the breadth of options that take time to explore and play around with. You don’t want to be that person who gets to the end of a design process, looks into schema options, and starts second-guessing everything that’s been done. Ask The Right Questions Now that you’re armed with your wealth of structured data knowledge, you’re better positioned to lay the foundations for a strong website. Structured data rides a fairly unique line. In the immediate sense, it exists ‘under the hood’ and is there for the benefit of computers. At the same time, it can enable richer experiences for the user. Therefore, it pays to look at structured data from both a technical and user perspective. How can structured data help my website be better understood? What other resources, online databases, or hardware (e.g. smart speakers) might be interested in what you’re doing? What options appear in the documentation that I hadn’t accounted for? Do I want to add them? It is especially important to identify recurring types of content. It’s safe to say a blog can expect lots of blog posts over time, so incorporating structured data into post templates will yield the most results. The example I gave above is all well and good on its own, but there’s no reason why the markup process can’t be automated. That’s the plan for us. Consider also the ways that people might find your content. If there are opportunities to, say, highlight a snippet of copy for use in voice search, do it. It’s that, or leave it to search engines to work it out for themselves. No-one knows your content better than you do, so make use of that understanding with descriptive markup. You don’t need to guess how content will be understood with structured data. With tools like Google’s Rich Results Tester, you can see exactly how it gives content form and meaning that might otherwise have been overlooked. Resources And Further Reading “Getting Started With Schema.org Using Microdata,” Schema.org “Schema.org Project Repository,” GitHub community “Structured Data Markup Helper,” Googe Webmasters “Add Structured Data To Your Web Pages,” Google Developers Codelabs “Rich Results Test,” Google Quality Content Deserves Quality Markup You’ll find no greater advocate of great content than me. The SEO industry loses its collective mind whenever Google rolls out a major search update. The response to the hysteria is always the same: make quality content. To that I add: mark it up properly. Familiarize yourself with the documentation and be clear on what your site is about. Every piece of information you tag makes it that much easier for it to be indexed and shared with the right people. Whether you’re a Google devotee or a DuckDuckGo convert, the spirit remains the same. It’s not about ranking so much as it is about making websites as good as possible. Accommodating structured data will make other aspects of your website better. You don’t need to trust tech to understand what your content is about — you can tell it. From reviews to recipes to audio search, developers can add a whole new level of sophistication to their content. The heart and soul of optimizing a website for search have never changed: produce great content and make it as clear as possible what it is and why it’s useful. Structured data is another tool for that purpose, so use it.

http://damianfallon.blogspot.com/2020/04/baking-structured-data-into-design.html

#SEO #Local SEO training

0 notes

riichardwilson · 4 years

Text

Baking Structured Data Into The Design Process

About The Author

Frederick O’Brien is a freelance journalist who conforms to most British stereotypes. His interests include American literature, graphic design, sustainable … More about Frederick …

Retrofitting search engine optimization only gets you so far. As metadata gets smarter, it’s more important than ever to build it into the design process from the start.

search engine optimization (SEO) is essential for almost every kind of website, but its finer points remain something of a specialty. Even today SEO Company is often treated as something that can be tacked on after the fact. It can up to a point, but it really shouldn’t be. Search engines get smarter every day and there are ways for websites to be smarter too.

The foundations of SEO Company are the same as they’ve always been: great content clearly labeled will win the day sooner or later — regardless of how many people try to game the system. The thing is, those labels are far more sophisticated than they used to be. Meta titles, image alt text, and backlinks are important, but in 2020, they’re also fairly primitive. There is another tier of metadata that only a fraction of sites are currently using: structured data.

All search engines share the same purpose: to organize the web’s content and deliver the most relevant, useful results possible to search queries. How they achieve this has changed enormously since the days of Lycos and Ask Jeeves. Google alone uses more than 200 ranking factors, and those are just the ones we know about.

SEO Company is a huge field nowadays, and I put it to you that structured data is a really, really important factor to understand and implement in the coming years. It doesn’t just improve your chances of ranking highly for relevant queries. More importantly, it helps make your websites better — opening it up to all sorts of useful web experiences.

Recommended reading: Where Does SEO Belong In Your Web Design Process?

What Is Structured Data?

Structured data is a way of labeling content on web pages. Using vocabulary from Schema.org, it removes much of the ambiguity from SEO Company. Instead of trusting the likes of Google, Bing, Baidu, and DuckDuckGo to work out what your content is about, you tell them. It’s the difference between a search engine guessing what a page is about and knowing for sure.

As Schema.org puts it:

By adding additional tags to the HTML of your web pages — tags that say, “Hey search engine, this information describes this specific movie, or place, or person, or video” — you can help search engines and other applications better understand your content and display it in a useful, relevant way.

Schema.org launched in 2011, a project shared by Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Yandex. In other words, it’s a ‘bipartisan’ effort — if you like. The markup transcends any one search engine. In Schema.org’s own words,

“A shared vocabulary makes it easier for webmasters and developers to decide on a schema and get the maximum benefit for their efforts.”

It is in many respects a more expansive cousin of microformats (launched around 2005) which embed semantics and structured data in HTML, mainly for the benefit of search engines and aggregators. Although microformats are currently still supported, the ‘official’ nature of the Schema.org library makes it a safer bet for longevity.

JSON for Linked Data (JSON-LD) has emerged as the dominant underlying standard for structured data, although Microdata and RDFa are also supported and serve the same purpose. Schema.org provides examples for each type depending on what you’re most comfortable with.

As an example, let’s say Joe Bloggs writes a review of Joseph Heller’s 1961 novel Catch-22 and publishes it on his blog. Sadly, Bloggs has poor taste and gives it two out of five stars. For a person looking at the page, this information would be understood unthinkingly, but computer programs would have to connect several dots to reach the same conclusion.

With structured data, the following markup could be added to the page’s <head> code. (This is a JSON-LD approach. Microdata and RDFa can be used to weave the same information into <body> content):

This sets in stone that the page is about Catch-22, a novel by Joseph Heller published on November 10th, 1961. The reviewer has been identified, as has the parameters of the scoring system. Different schemas can be combined (or tiered) to describe different things. For example, through tagging of this sort, you could make clear a page is the event listing for an open-air film screening, and the film in question is The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou by Wes Anderson.

Recommended reading: Better Research, Better Design, Better Results

Why Does It Matter?

Ok, wonderful. I can label my website up to its eyeballs and it will look exactly the same, but what are the benefits? To my mind, there are two main benefits to including structured data in websites:

It makes search engine’s jobs much easier. They can index content more accurately, which in turn means they can present it more richly.

It helps web content to be more thorough and useful. Structured data gives you a ‘computer perspective’ on content. Quality content is fabulous. Quality content thoroughly tagged is the stuff of dreams.

You know when you see snazzy search results that include star ratings? That’s structured data. Rich snippets of film reviews? Structured data. When a selection of recipes appear, ingredients, preparation time and all? You guessed it. Dig into the code of any of these pages and you’ll find the markup somewhere. Search engines reward sites using structured data because it tells them exactly what they’re dealing with.

(Large preview)

Examine the code on the websites featured above and sure enough, structured data is there. (Large preview)

It’s not just search either, to be clear. That’s a big part of it but it’s not the whole deal. Structured data is primarily about tagging and organizing content. Rich search results are just one way for said content to be used. Google Dataset Search uses Schema.org/Dataset markup, for example.

Below are a handful of examples of structured data being useful:

There are thousands more. Like, literally. Schema.org even fast-tracked the release of markup for Covid-19 recently. It’s an ever-growing library.

In many respects, structured data is a branch of the Semantic Web, which strives for a fully machine-readable Internet. It gives you a machine-readable perspective on web content that (when properly implemented) feeds back into richer functionality for people.

As such, just about anyone with a website would benefit from knowing what structured data is and how it works. According to W3Techs, only 29.6% of websites use JSON-LD, and 43.2% don’t use any structured data formats at all. There’s no obligation, of course. Not everyone cares about SEO Company or being machine-readable. On the flip side, for those who do there’s currently a big opportunity to one-up rival sites.

In the same way that HTML forces you to think about how content is organized, structured data gets you thinking about the substance. It makes you more thorough. Whatever your website is about, if you comb through the relevant schema documentation you’ll almost certainly spot details that you didn’t think to include beforehand.

As humans, it is easy to take for granted the connections between information. Search engines and computer programs are smart, but they’re not that smart. Not yet. Structured data translates content into terms they can understand. This, in turn, allows them to deliver richer experiences.

Resources And Further Reading

“The Beginner’s Guide To Structured Data For SEO: A Two-Part Series,” Bridget Randolph, Moz

“What Is Schema Markup And Why It’s Important For SEO,” Chuck Price, Search Engine Journal

“What Is Schema? Beginner‘s Guide To Structured Data,” Luke Harsel, SEMrush

“JSON-LD: Building Meaningful Data APIs,” Benjamin Young, Rollout Blog

“Understand How Structured Data Works,” Google Search for Developers

“Marking Up Your Site With Structured Data,” Bing

Incorporating Structured Data Into Website Design

Weaving structured data into a website isn’t as straightforward as, say, changing a meta title. It’s the data DNA of your web content. If you want to implement it properly, then you need to be willing to get into the weeds — at least a little bit. Below are a few simple steps developers can take to weave structured data into the design process.

Note: I personally subscribe to a holistic approach to design, where design and substance go hand in hand. Juggling a bunch of disciplines is nothing new to web design, this is just another one, and if it’s incorporated well it can strengthen other elements around it. Think of it as an enhancement to your site’s engine. The car may not look all that different but it handles a hell of a lot better.

Start With A Concept

I’ll use myself as an example. For five years, two friends and I have been reviewing an album a week as a hobby (with others stepping in from time to time). Our sneering, insufferable prose is currently housed in a WordPress site, which — under my well-meaning but altogether ignorant care — had grown into a Frankenstein’s monster of plugins.

We are in the process of redesigning the site which (among other things) has entailed bringing structured data into the core design. Here, as with any other project, the first thing to do is establish what your content is about. The better you answer this question, the easier everything that follows will be.

In our case, these are the essentials:

We review music albums;

Each review has three reviewers who each write a summary by choosing up to three favorite tracks and assigning a personal score out of ten;

These three scores are combined into a final score out of 30;

From the three summaries, a passage is chosen to serve as an ‘at-a-glance’ roundup of all our thoughts.

Some of this may sound a bit specific or even a bit arbitrary (because it is), but you’d be surprised how much of it can be woven together using structured data.

Below is a mockup of what the revamped review pages will look like, and the information that can be translated into schema markup:

Even the most sprawling content is packed full of information just waiting to be tagged and structured. (Large preview)

There’s no trick to this process. I know what the content is about, so I know where to look in the documentation. In this case, I go to Schema.org/MusicAlbum and am met with all manner of potential properties, including:

albumReleaseType

byArtist

genre

producer

datePublished

recordedAt

There are dozens; some exclusive to MusicAlbum, others falling under the larger umbrella of CreativeWork. Digging deeper into the documentation, I find that the markup can connect to MusicBrainz, a music metadata encyclopedia. The same process unfolds when I go to the Review documentation.

From that one simple page, the following information can be gleaned and organized:

And honestly, I may yet add a lot more. Initially, I found the things that are already part of a review page’s structures (i.e. artist, album name, overall score) but then new questions began to present themselves. What could be clearer? What could I add?

This should obviously be counterbalanced by questions of what’s unnecessary. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean that you should. There is such a thing as ‘too much information’. Still, sometimes a bit more detail can really take a page up a notch.

Familiarize Yourself With Schema

There’s no way around it; the best way to get the ball rolling is to immerse yourself in the documentation. There are tools that implement it for you (more on those below), but you’ll get more out of the markup if you have a proper sense of how it works.

Trawl through the Schema.org documentation. Whoever you are and whatever your website’s for, the odds are that there are plenty of relevant schemas. The site is very good with examples, so it needn’t remain theoretical.

The step beyond that, of course, is to find rich search results you would like to emulate, visiting the page, and using browser dev tools to look at what they’re doing. They are often excellent examples of websites that know their content inside out. You can also feed code snippets or URLs into Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper, which then generates appropriate schema.

Tools like Google’’s Structured Data Markup Helper are excellent for getting to grips with how structured data works. (Large preview)

The fundamentals are actually very simple. Once you get your head around them, it’s the breadth of options that take time to explore and play around with. You don’t want to be that person who gets to the end of a design process, looks into schema options, and starts second-guessing everything that’s been done.

Ask The Right Questions

Now that you’re armed with your wealth of structured data knowledge, you’re better positioned to lay the foundations for a strong website. Structured data rides a fairly unique line. In the immediate sense, it exists ‘under the hood’ and is there for the benefit of computers. At the same time, it can enable richer experiences for the user.

Therefore, it pays to look at structured data from both a technical and user perspective. How can structured data help my website be better understood? What other resources, online databases, or hardware (e.g. smart speakers) might be interested in what you’re doing? What options appear in the documentation that I hadn’t accounted for? Do I want to add them?

It is especially important to identify recurring types of content. It’s safe to say a blog can expect lots of blog posts over time, so incorporating structured data into post templates will yield the most results. The example I gave above is all well and good on its own, but there’s no reason why the markup process can’t be automated. That’s the plan for us.

Consider also the ways that people might find your content. If there are opportunities to, say, highlight a snippet of copy for use in voice search, do it. It’s that, or leave it to search engines to work it out for themselves. No-one knows your content better than you do, so make use of that understanding with descriptive markup.

You don’t need to guess how content will be understood with structured data. With tools like Google’s Rich Results Tester, you can see exactly how it gives content form and meaning that might otherwise have been overlooked.

Resources And Further Reading

Quality Content Deserves Quality Markup

You’ll find no greater advocate of great content than me. The SEO Company industry loses its collective mind whenever Google rolls out a major search update. The response to the hysteria is always the same: make quality content. To that I add: mark it up properly.

Familiarize yourself with the documentation and be clear on what your site is about. Every piece of information you tag makes it that much easier for it to be indexed and shared with the right people.

Whether you’re a Google devotee or a DuckDuckGo convert, the spirit remains the same. It’s not about ranking so much as it is about making websites as good as possible. Accommodating structured data will make other aspects of your website better.

You don’t need to trust tech to understand what your content is about — you can tell it. From reviews to recipes to audio search, developers can add a whole new level of sophistication to their content.

The heart and soul of optimizing a website for search have never changed: produce great content and make it as clear as possible what it is and why it’s useful. Structured data is another tool for that purpose, so use it.

(ra, yk, il)

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/baking-structured-data-into-the-design-process/ source https://scpie.tumblr.com/post/614974130235785216

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laurelkrugerr · 4 years

Text

Baking Structured Data Into The Design Process

About The Author

Frederick O’Brien is a freelance journalist who conforms to most British stereotypes. His interests include American literature, graphic design, sustainable … More about Frederick …

Retrofitting search engine optimization only gets you so far. As metadata gets smarter, it’s more important than ever to build it into the design process from the start.

Recommended reading: Where Does SEO Belong In Your Web Design Process?

What Is Structured Data?

As Schema.org puts it:

“A shared vocabulary makes it easier for webmasters and developers to decide on a schema and get the maximum benefit for their efforts.”

With structured data, the following markup could be added to the page’s <head> code. (This is a JSON-LD approach. Microdata and RDFa can be used to weave the same information into <body> content):

Recommended reading: Better Research, Better Design, Better Results

Why Does It Matter?

It makes search engine’s jobs much easier. They can index content more accurately, which in turn means they can present it more richly.

(Large preview)

Examine the code on the websites featured above and sure enough, structured data is there. (Large preview)

Below are a handful of examples of structured data being useful:

There are thousands more. Like, literally. Schema.org even fast-tracked the release of markup for Covid-19 recently. It’s an ever-growing library.

Resources And Further Reading

“The Beginner’s Guide To Structured Data For SEO: A Two-Part Series,” Bridget Randolph, Moz

“What Is Schema Markup And Why It’s Important For SEO,” Chuck Price, Search Engine Journal

“What Is Schema? Beginner‘s Guide To Structured Data,” Luke Harsel, SEMrush

“JSON-LD: Building Meaningful Data APIs,” Benjamin Young, Rollout Blog

“Understand How Structured Data Works,” Google Search for Developers

“Marking Up Your Site With Structured Data,” Bing

Incorporating Structured Data Into Website Design

Start With A Concept

In our case, these are the essentials:

We review music albums;

Each review has three reviewers who each write a summary by choosing up to three favorite tracks and assigning a personal score out of ten;

These three scores are combined into a final score out of 30;

From the three summaries, a passage is chosen to serve as an ‘at-a-glance’ roundup of all our thoughts.

Some of this may sound a bit specific or even a bit arbitrary (because it is), but you’d be surprised how much of it can be woven together using structured data.

Below is a mockup of what the revamped review pages will look like, and the information that can be translated into schema markup:

Even the most sprawling content is packed full of information just waiting to be tagged and structured. (Large preview)

albumReleaseType

byArtist

genre

producer

datePublished

recordedAt

From that one simple page, the following information can be gleaned and organized:

Familiarize Yourself With Schema

Tools like Google’’s Structured Data Markup Helper are excellent for getting to grips with how structured data works. (Large preview)

Ask The Right Questions

Resources And Further Reading

Quality Content Deserves Quality Markup

(ra, yk, il)

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/baking-structured-data-into-the-design-process/ source https://scpie1.blogspot.com/2020/04/baking-structured-data-into-design.html

0 notes

scpie · 4 years

Text

Baking Structured Data Into The Design Process

About The Author

Frederick O’Brien is a freelance journalist who conforms to most British stereotypes. His interests include American literature, graphic design, sustainable … More about Frederick …

Retrofitting search engine optimization only gets you so far. As metadata gets smarter, it’s more important than ever to build it into the design process from the start.

Recommended reading: Where Does SEO Belong In Your Web Design Process?

What Is Structured Data?

As Schema.org puts it:

“A shared vocabulary makes it easier for webmasters and developers to decide on a schema and get the maximum benefit for their efforts.”

With structured data, the following markup could be added to the page’s <head> code. (This is a JSON-LD approach. Microdata and RDFa can be used to weave the same information into <body> content):

Recommended reading: Better Research, Better Design, Better Results

Why Does It Matter?

It makes search engine’s jobs much easier. They can index content more accurately, which in turn means they can present it more richly.

(Large preview)

Examine the code on the websites featured above and sure enough, structured data is there. (Large preview)

Below are a handful of examples of structured data being useful:

There are thousands more. Like, literally. Schema.org even fast-tracked the release of markup for Covid-19 recently. It’s an ever-growing library.

Resources And Further Reading

“The Beginner’s Guide To Structured Data For SEO: A Two-Part Series,” Bridget Randolph, Moz

“What Is Schema Markup And Why It’s Important For SEO,” Chuck Price, Search Engine Journal

“What Is Schema? Beginner‘s Guide To Structured Data,” Luke Harsel, SEMrush

“JSON-LD: Building Meaningful Data APIs,” Benjamin Young, Rollout Blog

“Understand How Structured Data Works,” Google Search for Developers

“Marking Up Your Site With Structured Data,” Bing

Incorporating Structured Data Into Website Design

Start With A Concept

In our case, these are the essentials:

We review music albums;

Each review has three reviewers who each write a summary by choosing up to three favorite tracks and assigning a personal score out of ten;

These three scores are combined into a final score out of 30;

From the three summaries, a passage is chosen to serve as an ‘at-a-glance’ roundup of all our thoughts.

Some of this may sound a bit specific or even a bit arbitrary (because it is), but you’d be surprised how much of it can be woven together using structured data.

Below is a mockup of what the revamped review pages will look like, and the information that can be translated into schema markup:

Even the most sprawling content is packed full of information just waiting to be tagged and structured. (Large preview)

albumReleaseType

byArtist

genre

producer

datePublished

recordedAt

From that one simple page, the following information can be gleaned and organized:

Familiarize Yourself With Schema

Tools like Google’’s Structured Data Markup Helper are excellent for getting to grips with how structured data works. (Large preview)

Ask The Right Questions

Resources And Further Reading

Quality Content Deserves Quality Markup

(ra, yk, il)

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/baking-structured-data-into-the-design-process/

0 notes

comicteaparty · 5 years

Text

October 26th-November 1st, 2019 Creator Babble Archive

The archive for the Creator Babble chat that occurred from October 26th, 2019 to November 1st, 2019. The chat focused on the following question:

Describe your process for world-building. How do you go about it both outside and inside the story?

The Q - working on WAYFINDERS

Oooooh, last time it was @Holmeaa - working on WAYFINDERS 's time to shine, but this time it's me! I LOVE world building. Who doesn't, amirite? For me, there are a few different ways to go about world building, depending on what I need the world for. For general solo-projects, it usually starts with a QUESTION ("What if the world was turned on its side?") - and then we build from there. WAYFINDERS (working title) started as a D&D campaign. I knew I wanted 1) lots of islands and 2) weird magic effects on the islands. That was it. Luckily I had the absolute luxury of PLAYERS to help shape the world: - one wanted to be a trickery cleric, so I created a pantheon of gods - one wanted a warlock of the Great Old One, so I [spoilers] and created an eldritch-type patron - one wanted to be a frankenstein's monster-type girl, created in a lab, so I stared into nothing for a few days and then integrated laboratories and science projects - they all wanted to be casters, so I made magic an important, integral part of the world and plot (and I made them a barbarian friend so they wouldn't, you know, die immediately) From there, the ball rolls: Why would there be labs creating people? Answer: there was recently a war and wars need soldiers. How do people worship the pantheon of gods? How long has the war been going on? What does the Great Old One-patron have to do with anything? You answer one question and new questions arise. Then you answer those. Suddenly, you have a rich world with countries, trade routes, a magic system, a way to cheat the magic system, politics, architectural styles, divine intrigue, etc. etc. etc. ... Then you make a comic out of it.

Holmeaa - working on WAYFINDERS

To add design wise to world building! Since there is 2 countries, I wanted each country to have their own feel, their own design, in buildings and furniture so unconscious we can show what islands belongs to what territory because of that! So especially, how would the countries build kitchens, what is a living space like, for both poor and rich, colors used, material used. So one country is Norse viking inspired, the other more Mediterranean and Persian

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Seconding the questioning method for sure. I didn’t start from a question about the world, moreso “What would I like to draw for years?” but the questions came from that. Why is the world this way? Was it always like that? What changed to make it that way? Was it someone’s fault or was it random/accidental? What does everyone think about the state of the world? Are there factions that have arisen from these feelings? From that you can already create so many things: a mood, a lore, a main character, a societal tone, and a conflict. It’s a huge help for starting a basic world.

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Then I just... went to Pinterest Once I 'solved' the main aspects of the world, I went image-searching for inspiration. Motifs, symbols, textures, color schemes, clothing, food, architecture... Find things that exist in our world, bring them into yours, meld them as you see fit. Comic work is such a steady combination of words influencing images, and images influencing words, and your worldbuilding should be the same way. Let them work together!

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

But that's outside the story - inside the story, I still have lots of opportunity to worldbuild, and I'm still asking questions and solving problems throughout the process. Just from the questioning method, I've already created a lot of secondary conflicts that didn't exist when I started. Secondary conflicts are great at fleshing out a world. If you have an army/military as part of your world, who do they fight? If you have some sort of 'blight' or ailment common to your world, what effect does it have on society? If you have a rigid, unbending social structure, who/what is keeping it that way, and at what cost? If you work broadly enough in the beginning, you can keep your world open to really interesting changes down the line.(edited)

IzzyNinjaMaster

For Unlikely Heroes, I knew I wanted my world to be expansive and to seem like it was never ending, which can be a difficult task. I still find myself adding more and more things everyday. Such as: how does the magic work in the world? What gods do everyone worship? Are there any major conflicts in the land? Who is the nobility in charge of the land? What languages are spoken? Not to be spoilery but I've even developed drugs that are used and people's reaction to it in different areas in the world.

Right now I've really been focusing on developing my pantheon and the gods in it. I want the worship of the gods to feel like an actual religion. So to do that, I've been developing small stories of the gods and how they created the world and it's people. It's been super fun to do actually, and I know it will be helpful in the long run of the story.

Cronaj

Despite writing fantasy, I actually depend on the real world a lot for inspiration. This isn't just for my comic, but for pretty much all of my fantasy stories. You could consider it a part of my style. With that in mind, the setting of my comic was developed by studying history and many cultures to begin the process of world-building. I depend a great deal on thinking about the little things in life that make us tick. How we live day to day, what we eat, wear, sing, how we make money, what money is used for, what our beauty standards are like, the importance of family and friends and community as a whole. These are the things that make up our cultures, and obviously these things are different for every culture. Understanding that the world is not separate from culture, and vice versa, is also important. They effect each other. Why does one culture eat so much fish? Because they live near an ocean. Well, why do they live there? Because they believe that the ocean is a sacred place. Why do they believe that? Because their ancestors survived persecution by sailing across the ocean, and the story goes on. Nothing in the world of my comic is random. There is always a reason, a connection to some other thing in the world. In some cases, I created a character first, and then based on their personality, I put them in a particular setting or background. In other cases, a character needed to fulfill a specific purpose in the world, so I created them based on a setting or circumstance and developed them later. Obviously, it took a lot of time, but eventually, the gaps kind of fill in themselves. I wish I could be more insightful about how I created the maps, or the languages, or the poetry, stories, and songs, or the religions and ceremonies, but again, it just took a lot of research into real-world histories and culture, and some time to think.

AntiBunny

I use a fairly similar world to ours, aside from a few changes in history. So that said the city in which most of the story takes place is largely where world building happens. I have plenty of files for only my use mapping it out, and its history. That said I only reveal bits when they're significant. Exposition really should only happen when it's necessary to share information that a character wouldn't know. I let readers put together the bits of the world for themselves.

One of the biggest moments of worldbuilding in AntiBunny http://antibunny.net/ happened at the end of chapter 5, which revealed something no one knew, that revealed the origin of the lagosapiens.

keii4ii

For HoK, writing what I know plays a big part. I grew up in both urban and rural Korea. A lot of things that are taken for granted in today's society, both in the US and in Korea (though especially in the US for obvious reasons), were quite different back then. That experience, strengthened with my relationships with my elders who grew up during even older times, informs how I write a fantasy society inspired by Old Korea. One thing that I really want to see more often in media is REAL cultural differences, deeper than the surface. (example: Avatar: the Last Airbender was very American in how the characters thought and behaved, despite the Asian aesthetics. That was fine for that show, but it did leave me wishing there was a show that took it several steps further with the culture.) I can understand why that territory isn't often explored. It's because you want to make your story accessible to your target audience. And if the culture you're depicting is confusing to your target audience (which is a very real possibility with RL cultures), so much of the story is going to be invisible and/or misunderstood to the audience. That's not a good thing! I find myself often struggling to strike a balance between accessibility and authenticity. You'd think I have it easy, with a main character who's from the US. When the MC is confused about something, it's not too hard to convey to the readers that there's a cultural difference issue at hand. But when the MC doesn't even realize he's misunderstood something (THIS HAPPENS A LOT IRL when different cultures mingle), the readers might not realize it either... Thus my struggle. (edited)

keii4ii

Oh and @LadyLazuli (Phantomarine) "What would I like to draw for years and years?" is not only a valid question, but also SMART.

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Right?? I'm also lucky that my interests have stayed pretty consistent through the years. I feel terrible for people who get exhausted by their comics, and feel the need to switch to something else - either because they've developed new styles/interests, or because they didn't think the initial idea through It happens to the best of them, though!(edited)

sssfrs

I just include things I think would be cool into my world. I really like realism in worldbuilding so I model a lot after real history. Being in school for ecology helps with designing natural elements too

MJ Massey

I typically start with one singular concept that the main story will revolve around and then work outward from there. For example, Black Ball started with the idea of doing a fantasy concept in a historical setting that wasn't the typical "ye olden times". So I started with "magic in the 1920s" and what that would look like, and started riffing on two major concepts--what happens when magic was an everyday commodity and then suddenly isn't, and having two conflicting ideologies clashing against each other (Practical Sciences vs Arcane Sciences, basically science vs magic)

and I kept building out from there. How would a world where magic could take care of a lot of manual tasks be affected by it? What would society look like? Why are people Practicals over Arcanists, or vice versa? Would there be the same mass immigration to the US? What do race relations look like in this different timeline? And so on and so forth. Needing to answer these questions necessitates building out the world more.

Not all of it will be directly addressed by the story since it's more of a limited scope, but that's kind of the point -- Emily can't affect major change in her world, but she can try and solve her sister's murder case

sssfrs

Is your story Black Ball related to the line of packet ships of the same name?

MJ Massey

no I was not aware there were ships

Black Ball is taken from the saying "behind the eight ball", a 1920s slang meaning to be in a difficult spot or struggle (the 8 ball is black in billards)(edited)

and also being "black balled"

sssfrs

Oh interesting

There was also a Black Ball line of packet ships that ran between Liverpool and NYC sometime in the 19th century

#ctparchive #comics #webcomics #indie comics #comic chat #comic discussion #comic tea party #ctp #creator interview #comic creator interview #creator babble

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