#originally excluded because he's both a character and a persona and sometimes that makes me feel weird about including him in group stuff)

[monster-noises]

not to be basic but 1 and 2 from that meta ask meme?

all the question are on the list for a reason Anon! no need to put yourself down for it v-v 1&2 are Excellent questions I"m happy to answer! now. I Imagine you intended this for Lazarus, But! you were not specific so you will now get a Very long post about Everyone >:3c (and by everyone I mean the main 3 characters I consider 'Bartholomew's Nasty Little Bastards')

First up, of course, we will do Lazarus! 1. What inspired you to create your oc?

The really obvious answer here is Re8, my instant consuming love for it and for Karl, the overwhelming need to like... Participate, somehow, in that world, but not being able to cross the Full self-insert hurdle.. He's basically a very Warped-beyond-recognition version of a self-insert, a guy all his own but in somewhere still very Connected to the Me. But the more like.. in depth stuff, like what inspired Lazarus to Be Who He Is is like.. I love like.. weird Art Gore, Body-As-Art kinda shit, Meaningful and disturbing.. somehow Comforting and he's kinda the perfect vessel for that. I've had the Human Taxidermy Artist thing floating around the back of my mind for a decade or so just Waiting for a place to land and Laz was a golden opportunity v-v.

2.Why does your oc look the way they do? What are your reasons for their appearance? When I was settling Lazarus's design I wanted him to have this appearance of like, a very refined and elegant individual; beautiful in a sort of Severe way, but twist it up ever so slightly so he registers as Uncanny and Gross. Beauty Hiding Filth and all that. (just think about how many Fluids get into that Velvet Ensemble on the daily, it's Not Good.) Like the way his pants cut him and the vertical lines make him just All Leg. And his pallid bloodstained skin which makes him look like a Walking Corpse, hair slicked back with its own grease.. a figure that's bewitching and unsettling to witness also yes, the hair is Both a Me thing and a Bride of Frankenstein thing.

Virgil always feels right coming Second on these things.. 1. Inspiration Virgil is ooooooooooold, he's so Old, virgil is Ancient Virgil is possibly my oldest still-in-use OC, I created him a Looooooong ass time ago. like 2010 Long Ass Time. That is to say I do not know Why she exists.

Okay, Not entirely true. I made her for a comic I was writing with my friend at the time. She was my part of the main villain pair, but I do Not remember how I ended up on Toxicologist prodigy but make it Cowboy (which was always a bit of a misnomer for the vibe but nowadays Especially he's less Johnny Cash more Nickleback) I Think, I Think, what I wanted was to have a character that contrasted the Hardest against my friends main villain? who was very Orderly and Serious and Efficient?? beats me though that was So long ago.. I was also just listening to a Lot of Nickleback-esk music at the time, which may have been an influencing factor lmao

2. Appearance Virgil's appearance is pretty simple to explain, all told! He's a Country Boy/Girl, rowdy and ostentatious, and very secure in her understanding of that part of herself. It's where she comes from, and despite his rocky relationship with home it's who he is, y'know? The brightest (and most dangerous) mind in Toxicology doesn't Have to look exactly how you'd Expect her to look now does she? (Virgil pictured here on the Right)

Now our wonderful little Ulysses vwv)/ 1. Inspiration oh this is an Interesting one!! Ulysses (and Charlie, for that matter) came from 2 distinct places to land where they are now.. From time to time I like to entertain the idea of starting a band and having a musical career of some kind, something that blends my love of folk/bluegrass, prog-rock, and power metal into a loud villainous and exhilarating sound. and a few years back, as I was getting into Bluegrass for the first time, I was struck by a Concept for a Concept Album. It was called The Book of Brother UIysses; the story of a sniveling little priest in the frontier days and his Cursed Book, following him around as he fed townsfolk to whatever entity lived in its pages until he was finally Consumed himself. I toyed with it for a bit and eventually put it back on the shelf until the Musical Fancy struck me once more, untiiiiil I was listening to friends at the table: sangfielle and had both a deep desire to do a Horror-Fantasy Western ttrpg And satisfy my ever-present desire to weasel my way into playing two characters at once.. and I pulled ol' Ulysses off the shelf again and made some.. Additions. This has evolved now into them being just like.. free floating OC's? I don't plan on making a comic out of them, I would Still love an opportunity to play them in a TTRPG setting, but I'm not Banking on it, and hey, who knows, maybe I Will make that album someday, but for now they just kinda amorphously Exist within Something resembling a Narrative in my head after a long and complicated journey...

2. Appearance Similar to Lazarus, I wanted Ulysses to be unsettling, but in a Slightly different way. He's too clean- his all black outfit is never grimy, he is clean shaven his hair perfectly quaffed, with that plastered on grin, under eyes obscured by reflective glasses the vibes are just Immediately Off. To the flip side of that I always wanted him to look kinda.. pathetic. When we see him outside of his Persona as The Keeper of the Book, as just a man that is still Human in many ways; he's just.. small, waifish, behind the glasses his eyes are big and jittery, like a pray animal caught in a snare and still trying to fight its way out..

#monster noises #meat husband #dirtbag super genius #the book of brother ulysses #okay so I Lied #All told there are 5 characters in the #'Bartholomew's Nasty Little Bastard's' #club... #but I got tired and these three Are like.. the Main three #and the three I think people may actually recognize and care about #the other two #for those curious #are Idris #(the golden robot who runs a smuggling empire from the same story as Virgil) #and Montgomery (my Renn Faire costume character - #originally excluded because he's both a character and a persona and sometimes that makes me feel weird about including him in group stuff) #but if you take the time to read this and you Do wanna know that stuff for these two I will gladly hop on tomorrow sometime and add them! #explaining my design process for characters is such a Trial though oh my God #because my process is so.. not on purpose? #if that makes sense? #nine times out of ten these motherfuckers appear in my head fully assembled and I just have to go 'Okay!!!' and get on with it #Sometimes I gotta do a bit of work #like Lazarus went through a few iterations before we landed on the pinstripe vest and pants combo #but the core of the outfit and the Intent of the whole thing was always the same #and I Did have to change Virgil over from a Anthro Coyote to a human and That took a few passes to get right #but I don't feel like there's any.. Why to that #at nothing I can place in words #she ended up looking like that because that's how she's supposed to look! #what else do you want from me!!!!

[fauxpromises]

Random musings about Talking Heads & Kuja

Been getting back to writing again and felt like it would be kind of fun to write down my thoughts on the artist and album that inspired some of my thematic ideas for my fic. Though realistically this is more of a general character analysis re Kuja than anything specific to my writing, lol.

Analysis below the cut!

Part of why I was inspired to write is, well, Kuja is one of my favorite characters in fiction and I feel that a lot of his most important themes and characterization go almost completely unexamined. Specifically, I notice fandom tends to focus on his characterization prior to his big change in trajectory. That trajectory results in his constructed persona being pretty much completely destroyed, and in the wake of that, I see his post-arc persona being much more muted and lacking in a solid foundation of identity. No longer the excessively theatrical, outgoing identity that he created in order to convince himself that he was unique and important (neither of which his origin would lead him to actually believe).

And that’s exactly why I relate Talking Heads, and more specifically Remain in Light to him as a character. It’s an album with the central theme of identity conflict, at times in a very abstract way, that I feel fits him as a character so entirely well. The actual style of music has either a chaotic, rapid “racing thoughts” tempo to it, or a subdued sound that nonetheless has feeling of looming dread to it. Sometimes they feel rather casual, but in a superficial way. But the theme is pretty consistent across the track list. Even the title “Remain in Light” and the album cover is meant to convey that something is being obscured and is attempting to come into visibility.

The narrative voice as performed by David Byrne is also extremely fitting. He’s good at conveying a personality that is eccentric and at times seemingly detached from the human experience. He makes quirky, coy observations and tends to muse on the state of humanity or others in ways that almost seem as if he excludes himself from that lot. You could call it somewhat dissociative, while still portraying a lucid train of thought; there’s often a difference in the degree of intelligence the narrator shows in his observations, and his ability to understand the emotions that they yield.

Of the songs on Remain in Light, I believe the ones that most relate to the identity disturbance theme are “Once in a Lifetime”, “Seen and Not Seen”, and the big one for me, “Crosseyed & Painless”. I give a shoutout to “The Great Curve” because it kind of informed the romance dynamic, which, while not supposed to be foremost to the character study, represent something Kuja as a character has almost no interaction with in his canon context (outside of Dissidia anyway) - a tangible connection with another person. That track really complements the theme of delusion that the album insinuates, as it’s a sort of fanciful love song describing an idealized, lofty portayal of a woman. It’s abstract and nonspecific, barely a love song in the conventional sense, but I like the idea that someone who is themself conflicted or deluded about their own identity would struggle to see others as they really are.

Anyway, “Once in a Lifetime” is probably one of the best known TH songs. It’s an almost comedic take on an existential crisis, the narrator reflecting on his uncertainty of the nature of reality to the point of questioning the basic objects he interacts with in his day-to-day (like his wife and his car). “Seen and Not Seen” is a much more obscure track that is an extended metaphor. The narration describes a man who is able to change his physical appearance at will, trying to make it match that of idealized others (like celebrities) or changing it to better suit his perception of himself. It’s a representation of how people shape their personalities and identities, and how they can err in doing so.

But really, I’d say “Crosseyed & Painless” is the song that really, to me, is Kuja’s character arc in a nutshell. I really love the live version from Stop Making Sense specifically for the extended and stylized intro. It starts with a really calm and casual instrumental and guitar line, which gradually (and disconcertingly) transitions into a really fast tempo and guitar which reminds me way too much of “Dark Messenger”. It’s pretty clearly a musical depiction of a descent into insanity as something rather incremental, but ultimately landing with force. It’s definitely something that has to be heard to be understood.

Lyrically, the narrator describes a feeling of identity confusion. Due to an unspecified cause, he feels like he is caught between an assumed identity and a true identity, pretty well explained in the first verse (Lost my shape, trying to act casual). It’s a cause of great distress as evidenced by the third line, “I might end up in the hospital”. And beyond that, the phrase “I feel like an accident” indicates something has occurred that is inevitable.

After the narrator explains his own predicament, to me it seems he turned his skepticism to the reality of everything else rather than admit that the delusion and conflict is within himself. It’s rather clever. He speaks at length about facts, as in the second verse: (I'm ready to leave, I push the fact in front of me/Facts lost, facts are never what they seem to be). Facts are something unavoidable and true by definition, but he focuses his attention on both lamenting their immovability and still trying to rationalize that he can alter them. There’s also talk of doubt, which I expect is related to the aforementioned conflict with facts - despite the denial of them, doubt always voices itself. The chorus in its various versions reaffirm this with the statement “the feeling returns whenever we close our eyes”.

The prominent refrain, however, is the “I’m still waiting” repetition. An annotation on the song on Genius.com sums up the meaning behind it very well:

“What I love about this refrain is that it seems to reconfirm a desire for facts or some kind of master signifier that will give order and meaning to the world, despite the song’s overall critique of facts. The repetition of “still waiting” ties in nicely with the line in the bridge that “Facts cut a hole in us.” This reminds me of what Jacques Lacan calls objet petit a – the object-cause of desire that our desires forever circle around without obtaining.”

If you care to give any of these songs a listen, I’d recommend the album version for all but “Crosseyed & Painless” which has a significantly better version in my opinion on the live album. There used to be an incredibly amazing downmix of the whole album on Youtube but it has since vanished, very unfortunately.

#kuja #talking heads #wow those tags sure are on opposite ends #my fic

[penebui]

Lgbt manga pt.1

If you had to put up with my sorry ass for a few years then yes you know that I have been searching for lgbt mangas!! I put up with the pain of going through most genres that sexualize/fetishize gender identities and sexualities (like yaoi and gender bender) and reading mangas to find if they have lgbt content so you dont have to suffer the pain of trying to! Clown on this post and please face my wrath

Keep in mind that these aren’t in order of ratings!! Its just a list. I also give summaries of the plot, the things that make it lgbt, and some content warnings!! 

1. Welcome to Room #305! by Wanan 

Kim Jung Hyun moves into an apartment (room #305) with a friend of a friend, named Kim Homo! Who (you guessed it) is gay! As Jung Hyung begins to live with Kim Homo, he slowly learns to accept him for his sexuality. Once he overcomes his homophobia and completely accepts him for who he is, other lgbt characters pop in too!! They all have their struggles with their identities, and it is very realistic, but the art style helps keep all that angst at bay! As far as english translations go, we have several lesbian characters, and a trans guy. You can read the english translation on several manga sites, but if you want the link to the original since this is a webcomic, here’s the [link]! Unfortunately english updates are very slow since translation teams have other projects, and legal companies who translate take their sweet precious time. 

2. Bokura no Hentai by Fumiko Fumi

The title might seem misleading, however it can be translated as “Our Transformation”! Buckle up buttercup cause this manga will fuck you over emotionally. Three crossdressers meet up after being in a crossdressing group, with different reasons as to why they crossdress. Parou crossdresses to fall in love with a straight guy, Marika is actually a trans woman, and Yui crossdresses as his dead sister to “help” his mother with her grieving. There are some other characters who don’t fit within the gender norms! 

Now let me tell you if you are dealing with some trauma and can’t handle very sensitive topics, this manga might not be the one for you. Although it isnt just homophobia and transphobia, it also contains content of sexual harrassment, pedophilia, and suicide. However these topics are not glorified or sexualized. They are trauma of some of the characters and they must learn how to overcome from it individually. However, there is a happy ending for them!! Please let that be known! I enjoyed reading it if sobbing your heart out counts as enjoying it, because it has indeed pulled my heart strings (although I am not a trans woman, I am a trans guy and I can identify with only some of the things Marika goes through, as trans women go through different experiences than trans men and have it harder on them.) 

3. Hourou Musuko (Wandering Son) by Takako Shimura

This manga is one of the most well known mangas realistically depicting trans identity. It became popular when an anime adaptation came out! However the anime adaptation only covers the middle school part of our protagonists lives, however it encourages you to read the manga to find out what happens to them and their life! We have two protagonists. Shuichi who identifies as a girl, and Yoshino who identifies as a boy. Shuichi is the primary protagonist while Yoshino serves as a secondary protagonist. 

This manga also realistically depicts how hard it is for transfeminine people to come out and be themselves while transmasculine people seem to have it easier (dont clown on this dear fuck). We have lesbian, gay, and genderfluid characters galore! Although they do have some touchy topics like transmisogyny and transphobia in general, it is less heavier than Bokura no Hentai.  

Some people might not like the outcome of this story when it comes to Yoshino, however I am content with it because it shows that people should be able to explore their gender identity, and they are welcome to change it anytime as they see fit. Sometimes you won’t figure out your identity if you don’t explore. 

4. Shimanami Tasagore / Our Dreams at Dusk by Yuhki Kamatani

Also one of the more well known ones, the mangaka of this beautiful story is X-gender and asexual! It follows the protagonist, Tasuku is contemplating suicide as rumors circulate that he is gay at his highschool (he is). He sees a woman jumping off a building nearby and runs to her aid. Her name is Anonymous/Somebody and she sees herself is asexual but other than that she does not like labels, she invites Tasuku inside the building she just jumped off, which contains a group of exclusively lgbt characters. 

We have both trans, lesbian, and gay people. We see their struggles. We see how they overcome it. We see how even we ourselves can harm others even if we’re both lgbt. Of course there is homohpobia, transphobia, etc. however it is all handled perfectly and we get the satisfaction of these characters speaking up for either themselves or for each other. I also love Anonymous simply because she doesn’t like labels and chooses not to use them (excluding the asexual part). Not everyone whos part of the lgbt community has a label, however they are still a part of us! 

5. Fukakai na boku no subete o (Fukaboku)/ Love me for who I am by Konayama Kata

Fukaboku is a very special manga to me, as it goes in depth on gender identity and sexuality. There are two protagonists, Tetsu who is a cis guy and supposedly straight (we later find out that he is not), and Mogumo, who is both intersex and nonbinary. 

Tetsu works as a chef at Question Cafe, and everyone employed in fanlations are called girlyboys, however in the official translation they use otokonoko which is anyone crossdressing as a girl regardless of their gender. There are plenty of transwomen, gay people, etc.! Tetsu falls in love with Mogumo, so he isn’t straight, however he isn’t explicitly gay because he recognizes Mogumo as what they identify as, nonbinary. It is safe to say that he could either be pan, bi, omni, etc. however we can’t confirm since it hasn’t been explicitly stated.

We learn how transfeminine people have certain struggles, like shoes that dont fit them, breasts, and voice feminization. We also have a dose of family struggles when it comes to Mogumo in later/current chapters. 

Before you dm me, yes. Yes I know about the shit prequel. The prequel actually features a gay couple in fukaboku. I have read it. Reluctantly even if it was only 24 pages. However just because the prequel is shit does not mean we should cancel Fukaboku. There is a thing called being critical of the content you’re enjoying. If we treated it like cancel y because of x, then things like persona 4 and danganronpa would be cancelled, but lets not get into that. 

6. Kanojo ni Naritai Kimi to Boku by Umi Takase

I haven’t heard of this one as much as I have the others, so I was very much pleased when I heard about this! There are two protagonist (yes there are a lot of lgbt mangas with two protags I’ve noticed too), Hime and Akira. Hime has a crush on Akira, who identifies as a girl. However this manga is also realistic, as Akira doesn’t fully ‘pass’ as a girl herself. Hime wants to do anything she can to help Akira feel comfortable on her first day of school wearing a girl’s uniform. Because of Akira being made fun of, Hime shows up to school in Akira’s male uniform to help Akira in solidarity. 

Their teachers are fully aware of Akira’s situation, however instead of discriminating her they accept her. Their homeroom teacher helps Hime overcome her internal problem about lashing out at others who try to befriend Akira, and she slowly realizes that just because people can’t accept Akira straight away, they will slowly get used to her and come to terms with the fact that Akira is trans in their own time rather than have it being forced on them.

Hime and Akira make friends slowly and we see that even little things (like calling Akira cute and/or a girl) helps Akira, even if theyre small things we dont usually notice. Hime also struggles with her crush as she sees Akira as a girl, yet she cant accept the fact that shes attracted to girls. 

Although Akira doesnt feel the same way as Hime does, she doesnt just like her as a friend, but also not as a lover either. Its safe to say that these two have a quasiplatonic relationship with each other. 

7. Yuzu no Koto by Arai Shou

I have noticed that there are plenty of mangas with transfeminine characters as the focus, rather than transmasculine, so heres one for the transmasculines! Ichigo’s best friend Yuzu comes back to school, however he is enrolling as a boy! It is very humorous as Ichigo tries to understand and get used to her best friend’s new identity. Although it is slow as each chapter is a single page, it is hinted that Yuzu has a crush on Ichigo (or if thats just me squinting really hard). 

8. Ohana Holoholo by Torino Shino 

It is a story about two bi women who are ex-girlfriends, raising one of the women’s baby together as a little family! There is also an idol/actor who helps them out and visits them occassionally! If you want something warming and wholesome, this is the manga for you!! 

9. My Androgynous Boyfriend by Tamekou

Wako, a woman who works for a publishing company is in a relationship with an androgynous/genderless man! Her boyfriend wears dresses, makeup, and is an instagram model! It is not necessarily treated as crossdressing. It is handled pretty well, and the chemistry between Wako and her boyfriend is very strong. They both love each other so much and help each other with their hobbies and interests. This is what a loving and healthy relationship is supposed to look like!!

10. Inside Mari by Shuzo Oshimi

It is debatable if this is actually considered lgbt, considered the circumstances, however I put it on this list because it shows how mental illnesses and disorders really feel to the person whos suffering from it. Please read throughout this whole section to understand why. 

Inside Mari is about a man named Isao who stalks this young girl named Mari. He follows her back outside of a little convenience store, but when she turns back and looks at him he wakes up inside her body and doesn’t know how to cope with it. He tries to find Mari while putting on a facade and living as her. He meets a girl named Yori who instantly recognizes that Isao isn’t actually Mari from his mannerisms. This girl has had a crush on Mari, just like Isao. Isao tries to prove to Yori that he switched bodies, and when he goes to his apartment, he finds someone living as him, but it isn’t Mari.

The more we delve into this manga, the more we figure out exactly what happened to Mari and Isao. As Isao and Yori visit and retrace his steps, Isao gets flashbacks to memories of Mari. Isao soon realizes that he isn’t actually the real Isao, but a introject of Isao, and that Mari actually has DID because of childhood trauma. The ending is bittersweet, as Mari comes back but Isao unfortunately becomes dormant/disappears since I don’t think what happened was them merging. 

11.  Seibetsu  "Mona Lisa" No Kimi He by Yoshimura Tsumuji 

In the world, people can choose what gender they want to be when they’re 12. When they’re 14 their appearance corresponds to their gender. Hinase however, is 18 years old and they still haven’t chosen a gender. They prefer to be neither. However when their two best friends suddenly confess to them, their hormonal development suddenly starts to increase. 

Imagery and symbolism is very clear in this manga!! As we revolve around the color blue/cyan and the debate and interpretations of Mona Lisa’s gender. I’m very hopeful that Hinase will stay as nonbinary rather than choosing a gender, simply because both of their best friends confessed and asked them to become the opposite gender to be with them. It is very much hinted that Hinase will be in a romantic relationship with their male best friend however. I love this manga simply because the protagonist doesn’t want to identify as either male nor female. 

12. Jun And Kaoru: Pure And Fragrant by Neiki Zui

Jun and Kaoru have a special condition, by midnight they both switch genders. Because they both have this condition, they hang out with each other and help each other with clothing, etc. It should be addressed that these two do not have the “I wish to be a girl/boy” etc. The problem that they have though is their growing crush on each other. They are either genderqueer, or genderfluid, or whatever you prefer since it isn’t directly stated within the manga. They’re not cis or straight! It is a very fun and comedic love story and I wish to see further updates on it!!! 

13. Sakura-Chan to Amane-Kun by Asazuki Norito 

This story revolves around Sakura who identifies as a girl and Amane who identifies as a boy. Amane spots Sakura dressed as a girl and instantly recognizes her, however instead of belittling her he asks her out on a date, only if she goes as a girl. During school however, they have to pretend to be the gender theyre assigned with while not interacting with each other. 

Since there is a lot more but I dont want to break tumblr, I will be making a part 2 and I’ll post it tomorrow! 

#lgbt #lgbt manga #manga #lgbtq #lgbtq manga #trans #gay #my post #long post #i enjoy doing stuff like this #prolly because its how i found out i was bigender

[2ofswords]

for your analysis meme: clara

This is going to be so much fun and so very tough, because Clara is such an amazingly complicated character! God, I love her so much but part of that is because she is very ambivalent and hard to describe. She is one of these characters where you can find an opposite trait for every other one she has (which is kind of the point of her). Also: I still haven’t played the Changeling route in Patho1 and I have a stronger understanding of the Patho2 universe… so bear with me. I will try my best to analyse our favorite saint.

their biggest strength

I needed to think a while about this one and the term that stuck with me was attentive cleverness. Because I really couldn’t decide if I wanted to call her attentive or clever and luckily these two can be combined into something, I find pretty precise for what I want to describe. Clara is very clever and has a lot of knowledge that not really anyone else in the patho-universe can gain (or at least the amount of it, people share bits and pieces). She is the healer most aware of the meta-narrative and at least in routes that aren’t hers is telling you either that she knows more than you do or straight out telling you something, you needed to know (and probably didn’t want to). As is obvious by her focus on hands and talking her main skill is also interaction with other people… but I think a lot of it comes from the fact, that Clara is a good listener. Which seems to be counter-intuitive because listening is assigned as Artemy’s domain in the artbook, but I think the other word used – rhythms – is pretty important here. Artemy’s skill is finding connections, intuit solutions as well as similarities and differences (there is a reason he realizes his similarities to Aglaya’s description of the inquisition) and gaining cultural knowledge that he then transforms into practical and usable abilities. Clara’s “listening” is more about singular people’s well-being and personal struggle. (She is like a good therapist. If your therapist wanted to convert you into a sacrificial religion. ^^) She interacts with her surroundings directly and attentively. I mean, she is very well informed very early on without really having a live before that or at least not in town (again, I did not play the changeling route yet and do not know her origins or how ambiguous they are kept at the end. Either way, she arrives in town at the beginning of the game and navigates her way pretty well.) However only calling her attentive sounds like the trait is a passive one which is not something I mean. Both her personas as a saint and a thief use her knowledge that is gained by being attentive in unconventional ways and/or for unconventional means. As noted in the beginning, Clara is very clever and that in combination with her noticing even small discrepancies and listening to people makes her able to peek behind the curtain of the game in the first place. It also helps to get yourself into places people normally wouldn’t want a teenage girl to be and Clara knows and is fully willing to use this ability. It is both the reason why she knows so much more about the greater scope of the disaster and also why she always seems to be able to get into any place she wants to. By the way, just as an afterthought: Of course that ability doesn’t come and is in fact enhanced by empathy. I do not think, Clara is listening to people only to use them and to gain information. You can genuinely be willing to listen to someone and still use the information you get out of these conversations. Listening carefully and actively engaging with other people is a great part of that strength!

their greatest weakness

Does “not being able to hold a knife when the town wants you dead” count as a weakness? Okay seriously, I have a really hard time to put what I consider her weakness into one expressive term. So I will talk about it first at length and then we will see. What caught my mind first was ironically Clara’s problems with communication. That might be the case because, yes, I still haven’t played her route, so I am working mostly on her ways of communication with the other healers. But Clara really has a lot of strong points that she has trouble getting across or acknowledged. Sometimes that is definitely not her fault and one of her problems is, that she is not taken seriously by other people. But trying to persuade someone to their cause and emphasizing the reason with an elaborate monologue how the other healers are demons. Daniil was genuinely asking, why you wrote your letter about your destiny, it’s fine! Same happens in Pathologic 2. Saying someone to stay put when they are in a pretty bad spot already is not a bad idea and Artemy is pretty open to both warnings and clairvoyance in general but saying. “Nope, do literally nothing even if you know you want to, I am a better doctor anyways” is… yeah hurting him in his professional pride isn’t exactly a smart move. Often it feels like she really has a chance to explain and the other healers would probably listen but then there is just a terrible miscommunication. (Which is a thing for all of the healers but Clara I-am-going-to-call-your-father-a-horrible-person-while-we-are-at-his-funeral Saburova… Look, it might be true but it is also hilarious.) But putting communication skills here would still be weird, since… you know… she is pretty good at communicating in different ways! And also all three healers are pretty prone to miscommunication albeit in different ways and for different reasons… So I think we have to dig a bit deeper still… So why is this happening and hindering her? There are multiple reasons to come to this conclusion. One I would call childlike stubbornness. (Which btw. Is also one of her strengths, but… it is Clara, everything is also its opposite. God I love her so much, she is just so hard to describe, it’s amazing!) Even with all of her wisdom and cleverness… Clara is still a child. As she should be, it makes her so much more interesting! But she also has this childlike quality of just… assuming people will completely understand and accept what she is trying to see and getting frustrated the moment it doesn’t happen. This is one of her contradictions. She is so very attentive, and she can touch other people with her hands as well as her words, but she also is inexperienced and doesn’t really know a lot about the world or about how to socially approach people which can be a big problem, if she desperately needs someone to listen. The other argument would be about her role in the plot and the way she regards her own role as well as the other healers. She is the most aware one and she does indeed know a solution to the dilemma of the story (if we do not conclude that this is a three way battle, but I exclude my thoughts about the factions themselves for this. She definitely though knows how to get rid of the town vs. polyhedron conflict) but this also puts her in direct opposition to both healers. Which… you know is completely fair and not a weakness. But, she is very uncompromising about this and while all of them are – at least when they are not the main protagonists – Clara is the most unmoving and also uncompromising of the three, telling everyone always very directly how she things the others are shit. Which again, is very justified but becomes a big problem when she needs help and makes it harder for her to express her own thoughts, even if they are very justified and might even help all parties. Speaking in riddles and of concepts beyond something we would see as our reality surely doesn’t help there either.

a headcanon about their childhood

Oh dear, tbh I am not even sure how metaphorical she just crawled out of the earth at the beginning of the game and if she even has a proper childhood… I think it is pretty literal but there are allusions in Patho2 that she actually has a past? At least she speaks about it and I guess it can be as made up as real. (A classic Clara move ^^) And having no defined past is kind of a big thing for her so… sorry, no childhood headcanon here.  

a headcanon about their future (if they have one)

Again, I am not really sure if she stays in town or leaves with Block and I have read fanfiction with both, so I am not sure if there is a consensus in fandom either… If she stays in town I imagine her still being with the Saburovs but I do not know, if I really like this headcanon, since abandoning your newly found orphan in the middle of a plague is really something that should revoke parent rights… But on the other thing the position among the mistresses seems to still be pretty defined at least in the endings in Patho 2. I like to see her travelling with Block at least for a while. Maybe not at the front, that would be just… bad. But she also seems like the person who would just poke their head around at random intervals and nobody really knows, when she will get back and somehow Clara still knows exactly what is going on in town… Still she also seems pretty bound to the place and she has business there… it’s a tough call. She will definitely fire up the rivalry of the mistresses by a lot though. Probably even if she is just there for a second, she would definitely sow some mischief between Capella and Maria! Another triad of petty politics for her! Yay?

a small detail/scene that leaves a great impact

Oh dear, every scene she is in is just so impactful! (Also never knowing which Clara is with you right now (if there even is a difference) doesn’t make this easier...) I really like her quest in Artemy’s run, where she is upset about not knowing what exactly she is in the first place… but that is not really a small details or scene. Same goes for the cathedral and her offer to meet the inquisitor together with Dankovsky to stand up for that whole disaster. Which is still a really heroic but also not really a small scene and there is nothing to talk about there aside from “man, is Clara brave and set on doing the right thing!” I also think the letter about her ending is really interesting because it is just so out there and giving all of her bound a demonic nickname is just so over the top, but tbh all of the ending letters are very… passionate. So this might be more the games writing even if they lampshade it and talk to each other like the other one is the only healer in town who wrote a completely insane letter… But I digress. While I love Clara’s Patho1 design, I will say that I love her shaved hair in Patho2 and the commentary the artbook has for it. Seeing it as a sign of sickness or a deliberate mark of sainthood is just so on point for her! It is a really nice visual piece for her characterization and I also think putting the beany on top of it makes it even better. It is contradicting but firstly she deliberately kind of tries to hide her own contradictions (I mean, it is not part of her! It is just the sister, she is wrong!), which is also a nice added detail. Also, she might combine contradicting elements, but god, she is doing it with style!

their philosophy/worldview (or part of it) described in one neat little sentence

I am throwing the towel! How should this even work with Clara??? She has different philosophies and worldviews! Also, I think they differ a bit between the first and second game. The first one aligns a lot with the humble faction from what we hear but in the second game her dialogue alludes more vaguely to touching and changing people and not necessarily to “The right people must die for our world to continue” which is most of what I heard from her. Hm… How about: A saint’s duty is to touch the immoral and diseased, thus one can never rid themselves of all dirt. I am not that happy with this one, but… at least it has the whole touching other people thing in it and it is about good people not being pure, which also is a theme with her. It still sounds a bit judgemental and I don’t really like this emphasis of the “dirtied” but… I mean this is what Clara talks about in her letter, so I still think it fits, even if I would dare to say that she shows a lot more compassion than this sentence shows.

#pathologic #pathologic clara #the changeling #Clara Saburova #Which tags are we using for Clara???

[muchymozzarella]

Ranking the Overwatch Cinematic Shorts (so far)

I’m gonna be ranking each short based on storytelling quality (since, let’s be real, all the animation is amazing) and the way it affected me personally, as well as the relevance of each short to their primary character or characters. 

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Junkertown: The Plan

I’m not putting this in my main list because it was animated differently from the rest, and mainly for a map rather than characters, even if it did a little bit of storytelling. However, the expressions in this were amazing, as was the comedy writing. Still an excellent piece, though I’m not putting it in my main rankings. 

Doomfist Origin Story

Though technically counting among all the other origin stories, because this was fully animated, I felt it needed mentioning. This 2D style is fantastic, exciting, and Sahr Ngaujah’s Doomfist has me in CHILLS every time I watch it. I’d rank it mid-high on my list if it were being ranked, but since it doesn’t count among the cinematic shorts, I’m excluding it. I need this anime in my life, tho.

NOW FOR THE MAIN RANKINGS! 

#11 - Reunion

Reunion was... disappointing. It was still beautifully animated, still exciting and fun, but as a character piece it felt more like a vehicle for Ashe and Echo than any real story. McCree wasn’t given the attention or character depth they gave him in his comic, or even in the Retribution.

Still good, but the most disappointing of the lot. 

#10 - Overwatch Cinematic Trailer

The OG! The first look that made us excited about Overwatch. It does what it needs to well, but being one of Overwatch’s earliest works, it has a lot of outdated elements, such as the subtle changes in Tracer and Widow’s design, and the more flat portrayals of characters that were much nuanced later on.

Still excellent, though, and a good way of portraying what Overwatch was meant to be as a game, as a concept, and as its own universe.

#9 - Shooting Star

Now this was an excellent character piece. I dearly appreciated the look it gave us into D.Va’s real personality underneath all the propaganda/media persona, and her anxieties and pressures and fears. It, however, didn’t affect me very much on first viewing, especially in comparison to the rest, and it isn’t the most memorable to me, so it’s lower on the list. Still quality, though. 

#8 - Rise and Shine

This would be higher on the list, but I wasn’t affected until maybe my third or fourth viewing. Something about the way the emotions played out seemed not to develop as well as the rest. However, this is still an emotional, touching, and surprisingly LONG short about Mei, and it really delves into her character and drive, while also giving us significant backstory on Overwatch’s role and situation in-universe. The music was lovely, and Mei as a character is just amazing, and so very compelling. Elise Zhang did a wonderful job, especially since she sometimes struggles with English, especially a fully English piece like this. And it is GORGEOUS. All of them are, but this one in particular captured something great in the lighting and setting. 

#7 - Infiltration

Now this is where I’m starting to have trouble picking between titles :P This one grappled with #6 for the higher spot, but I’m putting this here because the other one’s thematically stronger. This one, however, was about everything you’d want in a short. It’s exciting, it’s got deep and interesting, moving plot, it has multiple characters but shows us exactly what Sombra is about and gives her such PERSONALITY. The animation is great, the storytelling is great, and it plays out the way the best superhero animated series from the 90s and early 2000s played out. One of my favourites. But still not as high on the list as the next ones. 

#6 - Hero

I think what made this so impressive and memorable was actually the soundtrack. The mood was set so perfectly in this short alone, but also it was thematically stronger from start to finish with the idea that old heroes could still be heroes, and that new ones could arise as a result of the old ones. It was exciting, the action was excellent, and the world of Dorado just pops. 

But definitely the music. Who could forget that guitar at the end? 

#5 Alive

So they, uh... straight up MURDERED SOMEBODY??? 

Seriously though, this short, despite having the action and excitement of both Infiltration and Hero, rises above because of how it revealed the stakes of Overwatch. It revealed that they weren’t afraid to go there, to show the othering of sentient people with the omnic rights protests led by an omnic religious leader mirroring past tensions between an oppressed group and a majority, and to show someone who is both a major religious figure AND a political figurehead being straight up assassinated for the goals of a shadow organisation. 

This was an action-packed, exciting, visual treat with a terrifying and skilful villain who was a real threat, but above all else, it showed us that Overwatch wasn’t going to baby its audience. 

#4 - Recall 

Winston is such an excellent character, let me just say. As far as we, the audience, are concerned, he is Overwatch - at least, the new form of it, and the best form of it - and the way this short presents his desire to see the world be better, mixing in some deep universe lore and more action showing the threat that Talon is, this short is one of the most important just in terms of Overwatch’s story. It’s got action, it’s got some surprisingly effective humour, and it centres on a great character and his wants and decisions. 

NOW WE’RE IN THE HOME STRETCH - AKA THE PLACE WHERE I COULD NOT DECIDE WHERE TO PUT THESE TITLES. 

BUT I HAD TO RANK THEM. SO HERE THEY ARE. BUT ASSUME THEY ARE ALL EQUALLY AMAZING BECAUSE THESE ARE THE THREE BEST OVERWATCH CINEMATIC SHORTS SO FAR.

# 3 - The Last Bastion 

This was a masterpiece. Without dialogue, it conveyed emotion, it was a feast for the eyes, the music and sound design were on point, and it was honestly just... amazing. Really, it was perfect. The only reason it’s #3 is because #2 and #1 hit me harder in the emotions on first, second, third, and subsequent hundred viewings. But this short about a PTSD-ridden robot and their path to healing is just... beautiful. Heartwrenchingly beautiful, sweet without being saccharine, and way more real than we expected a short about a singing robot and their bird best friend to be about.

If you were ever to teach a masterclass in short form animated storytelling? You’d use this as an example. That’s why it won an award for Best Writing in Film & Video. 

#2 - Dragons 

God, this was hard. This was actually my favourite of ALL the cinematics, in fact, it STILL IS MY FAVOURITE. It’s the first thing I show people to get them hyped for Overwatch, when they still haven’t checked it out. It’s just amazing. The storytelling is masterful and exciting, and the way it tells two intertwined stories is both stylistically amazing and beautifully plotted out. 

It’s a visual treat, with excellent music, and the narration by Papa Shimada really sets the tone. The action is great, the characters are great - it’s all just great, and gets my heart pumping every time. And the art for the children’s story? Utterly amazing. 

And the only reason it doesn’t get top billing is because the last of these just makes me cry every single time I watch it, without fail. It just... it’s too much, guys. 

#1 - Honor and Glory

Dammit. I hate this. I love it. The timeless themes, the mix of old epic warriors and sci-fi battles, the perfect line that bookends the start and finish of this short. THE MUSIC, HOLY SHIT. Every time I watch this, I cry. It’s never failed me. It’s just so earnest and painful, and brings to tears even the most stoic people. 

It has the emotions of The Last Bastion and the same themes of old battles, but has this added tinge of tragedy with a character who is just so... worn down, that seeing him in the prime of his life just makes it even more tragic. 

This is my #1, top Cinematic Short out of Overwatch. And I need to watch it a thousandth time, because I’m still not over it. 

#overwatch #cinematic shorts #ranking #list

[badocsarethebeesknees]

Heloise Lane (Pokémon)

Firstly, his design is delightful. I love it.The artist is brilliant in that aspect! ... The Pokémon might need a little work though. Gastly’s just a difficult Pokemon in general- trust me. I know.

Name: Heloise Lane

First name is a rare feminine Scandinavian/German name, but the French version “Héloïse” has been gaining traction in France. May mean healthy and wide or a variation of Helios the Greek sun God. This name was most likely chosen as it is becoming popular. Nothing too wrong with that. 

Age: 21 Birthday: October 31st [ which is the reason for his halloween obsession ]

Why am I getting a bad feeling.

Eye Colour: Grey/Blue Hair Colour: Purple/Orange

We can’t see both of this OCs eyes to tell whether the creator means he’s heterochromic or not, but I’m pretty sure they just mean it’s a mix of those two colors. Purple and orange hair, however...

I don’t think any characters (with the exception of like... Guzma) have very notably two different colors of hair. I’ll excuse it for the most part, but still... easy with the design liberties.

Trainer Class: Hex Maniac/Psychic

Unless you’re in a certain RP group where you 100% have to pick a certain trainer class, I don’t exactly recommend it. Why? Because then you can’t be too creative with your OC. Look at Sidney from OR/AS:

He’s a part of the Elite Four, so he doesn’t exactly have a trainer type. He’s very non-linear with any character designs. Just exclude this entire section unless it’s absolutely necessary.

Hometown: Laverre City Region: Kalos

The name fits the region as Kalos is based off of France. Way to go, creator!

Personality:

Mild Sweet and mothering to his pokemon Morbidly obsessed with halloween the the ‘death’ aspect A bit of a space case

Mild- OK Sweet and mothering to his Pokémon- Common, but OK Now, the Halloween obsession is something we need to talk about. If we’re assuming Kalos operates the same way France does, then France doesn’t exactly nationally celebrate Halloween. Even more notable is that it’s actually during La Toussaint (or All Saints Day in English) on November 1st.  While Halloween still happens, it’s not like here in America where almost all streets have to be ready for trick-or-treaters- it’s more in prepared little areas for children to celebrate. Pokémon does have it’s dark moments, but a character being obsessed with death is very out of character for its universe. Samhain (the origin of Halloween) has no death aspect so to speak, either. It’s literally the harvest. Calm down.

Bio: Heloise is a sweet and quiet boy who grew up with loving, if a little eccentric parents, and due to the day of his birth he soon became enamoured with Halloween and all it’s aspects. He was always a bit of a spacey child, often getting lost in his own large home or the grounds/woods surrounding it. He met his pokemon in the woods he loved to roam and formed very strong bonds with them throughout his early teens.

“He met his pokémon in the woods he loved to roam” *hasn’t got a Pokemon yet*

Since he is often lost in his own little world it’s been good for him to have his team around since he very literally wanders into trouble all the time, he doesn’t really mind though and is happy to get out of his little city and explore a new region with his pokemon friends.

Cute little ending there and rather acceptable character bio. If he had a little more notable personality, it would help in RPs and various fanfic.

Likes: Autumn Weather and snow His pokemon [ of course] Halloween [ of course ] Dislikes: Summer Weather Awkwardly upbeat people in his personal space 

Say Halloween one more time. It’s really starting to annoy me and taint this character as a whole.

THARR BE POKÉMON NEXT-

Nickname: Gigi Species: Pumpkaboo N/A Level: 60 Ability: Insomnia Persona: Gigi is a sweet Pumpkaboo that loves all the attention she gained from her ‘mommy’ and is never away from his side for more than a few seconds if she can help it. She enjoys eating candy and sometimes takes things from others

Nickname: Gabriel Species: Darkrai Pitch-Black Pokemon Level: 56 Ability: Bad Dreams Persona: Gabriel spent his time, before he met Heloise in the woods, simply wandering and eating dreams he came across. They met one night while Heloise was wandering around alone in the dark in the woods. They simply watched each other at first but after many of the same meetings happening over time caused them to slowly but surely bond and now Gabriel considers himself a sort of protector so the small male and takes his well-being very seriously and is often a bit too overbearing. Nickname: Jean-Luc Species: Gastly N/A Level: 50 Ability: Levitate Persona: Jean-Luc lived alone in one of the abandoned houses in the woods Heloise liked to wander and after a meeting he began to follow the small male around until eventually he was just always seen with him and considered his pokemon. It became official not long after that and he happily follows after Gigi and often gets into arguments with the Pumpkaboo about who Heloise loves more. Nickname: Andre Species: Chandelure The Luring Pokemon Level: 46 Ability: Flash Fire Persona: Andre is the chirpier and more active ‘twin’ of the two Chandelure in Heloise’s party. He enjoys floating around and brightly illuminating everything and luring people around in the woods to get them lost. He and his ‘twin’ met Heloise as little litwicks that would get him lost in the woods and soon grew very fond of him after their many meetings. Nickname: Adrien Species: Chandelure The Luring Pokemon Level: 46 Ability: Flame Body Persona: The more reserved and collected of the ‘twins’, Adrien enjoys watching Andre make a fool of himself while he helps Gabriel keep an eye on Heloise since the small male has a knack of getting himself lost and into trouble with his air-headedness.

May I say the use of “the small male” makes me highly uncomfortable. Not exactly sure why, but it does.  This isn’t a competitive team, so I won’t criticize it as one. I’m just simply astounded that Heloise did not use a Pokéball on any of these Pokémon, meaning they could run away or be caught by another trainer at any time. 

Overall, this trainer started out good, but the logic caused it to burn down in twisted flames pretty fast.

I give Heloise Lane...

One disappointed Pikachu/10

#you tried #Original Character #Plain Jane #Illogical Appearance #Special Snowflake #Pokémon #first review

[how2to18]

Fame, if you win it, Comes and goes in a minute. 

— Jule Styne, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green, “Make Someone Happy” 

The pure products of America go crazy.

— William Carlos Williams, “To Elsie”

¤

DRIVE DOWN some of Hollywood’s major thoroughfares or visit some of its celebrated tourist attractions, like Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, and you’re bound to see at least one mural featuring  bona fide pop icons like Marilyn, Elvis, and James Dean. Depending on the artist, the players joining Marilyn might include Sinatra, John Wayne, or Chaplin. If Duke Haney, the author of Death Valley Superstars, commissioned his own mural, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce might not approve. Yes, Marilyn would still be there, but her supporting cast would be a bunch of troublemakers as obscure as she is famous — Steve Cochran, Sean Flynn, Mark Frechette, Christopher Jones — as well as the notorious Lee Harvey Oswald and William Desmond Taylor, the victim of one of Hollywood’s greatest unsolved mysteries.

The personalities on Haney’s mural are just some of the subjects he profiles in his engrossing new collection of essays, Death Valley Superstars: Occasionally Fatal Adventures in Filmland. All but one of Haney’s pieces were originally published on Brad Listi’s literary website The Nervous Breakdown, where I discovered his work in December 2013. Familiar with Haney’s experience writing screenplays and acting in low-budget films, Listi, who had published Subversia (2010), Haney’s first collection of essays, invited him to begin writing about Hollywood. Haney twice demurred, not wanting to be known as just another Kenneth Anger. “I had been struggling to start a novel for two years to no effect,” Haney recently told Listi on his podcast, “and it might rejuvenate me to work instead on a quirky tour of a neglected career and colorful life [tough guy actor Steve Cochran] — an appreciation with elements of biography.” He accepted Listi’s invitation and began writing biographical essays on some of destiny’s darlings, and a number of also-rans who briefly achieved a measure of fame only to see it undone by scandal, misbehavior, or malign fate. Superstars isn’t restricted to luminaries of the screen: Hugh Hefner, Jim Morrison, and the aforementioned Lee Harvey Oswald show up in its pages. Haney’s deep research, fresh insights, and engaging prose bring these subjects to life. He also includes several lively accounts of his own experiences working for legendary cheapjack producer Roger Corman and even more marginal Hollywood operators.

Haney leads his book with a powerful memoir, “When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth,” a real cri de coeur recalling how the New Hollywood films of the ’70s celebrated in Peter Biskind’s book Easy Riders, Raging Bulls inspired him to journey to Hollywood to make the same kinds of films, only to discover that the blockbuster success of Star Wars and its successors had already killed the New Hollywood movement, torpedoing the career Haney had imagined for himself in Charlottesville, Virginia, where he had immersed himself in movies screened at the palatial Paramount Theater and a local revival house. There, he discovered the Holy Trinity of Method acting — Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, and James Dean — and their ’70s equivalents — Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Jack Nicholson, and Dustin Hoffman — all of whom he had hoped to emulate once he hit Hollywood.

Haney’s essay could easily be titled “Star Wars and Its Discontents.” He spends a hefty chunk of “Dinosaurs” expounding on the detrimental effect of that beloved franchise. Star Wars did more than merely change Hollywood’s commercial ecosystem, infantilizing movies. It became a cultural Death Star, Haney contends, whose puerility pervaded society, reducing adults to Peter Pans who are not ashamed to line up at the box office for movies that would once have been considered strictly kid’s stuff and to buy “adult” coloring books.

In the powerful conclusion of “Dinosaurs,” Haney recalls his childhood self going to see a movie (When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth [1970]) for the first time:

I can picture him now, about to see a movie alone for the first time. He walks up the long corridor, carpeted in red, of the Paramount Theater, pausing at the concession stand to gawk at thumbnail photos of the posters for sale, and a voice in his head says, Don’t look. God doesn’t want you to look. But the voice is quiet in the darkness of the auditorium, where the boy watches a girl in a fur bikini cavort anachronistically with a dinosaur, and the boy thinks, Man, I would love to be that dinosaur, never dreaming that, when he’s a man, a dinosaur is just what he’ll be.

Someone once wisely said that participation in sports doesn’t create character, it reveals it. The same can be said of the effects of fame and its pursuit, something personified by Marilyn Monroe and Lee Harvey Oswald, Haney’s most famous subjects. They were both pathetic wretches who thought that fame would enable them to escape the pain of anonymity. Monroe was a perpetually unhappy woman who never knew her father and whose mother had a disordered mind. The response she got for modeling for some rather chaste cheesecake photos set her direction. With considerable effort, she became a worldwide sex goddess, but her fame only exacerbated her unhappiness. She finally found release in a bottle of Nembutal one lonely night.

In “Golden State Girl,” Haney argues that Monroe was a genuine artist whose greatest creation was her inimitable screen persona.  “There’s no pathos in the image they propose,” Haney writes, after describing several instances of her hateful behavior,

but there’s pathos aplenty in the image of Marilyn as a wounded stray, as the candle in the wind of Elton John song, as a martyr of celebrity, of Hollywood, of men and patriarchy and the male gaze. This image — and it’s finally a single image — excludes those traits it can’t, and doesn’t want to, accommodate: opportunism, toughness, willfulness, petulance, all of which, and then some, can be found in a convoluted woman with a genius for appearing the opposite.

Lee Harvey Oswald was born two months after his father died. His mother was a kook. He believed that he deserved to be a major actor on the stage of history, not just some nobody sweating his life away stacking boxes of schoolbooks in an old warehouse. The secret delight he must have enjoyed after making himself the focus of the world’s attention lasted only two days before a .38 bullet in his belly ended his life. In “Oswald Has Been Shot,” Haney explores the possibility that three movies that Oswald saw — We Were Strangers (1949), Suddenly (1954), and The Manchurian Candidate (1962) — may have inspired him to kill the president.

As his essay on Oswald demonstrates, outsiders fascinate Haney. And that fascination extends to Hollywood’s outsiders, the nearly forgotten actors who were deserted by fame in their own lifetimes. Haney is their champion. In Superstars, he tells the stories of Sean Flynn, Mark Frechette, Steve Cochran, and Christopher Jones in captivating detail and provides us with the most complete biographies these men are ever likely to get. 

Sean Flynn inherited the handsomeness of his father, legendary screen swashbuckler Errol Flynn, but lacked his casual élan in front a movie camera. Sean sought adventure as a photographer in war torn Vietnam and Cambodia, where he disappeared in 1970. Steve Cochran possessed a kind of oily charisma that suited his portrayals of shady characters in films like White Heat (1949) and Private Hell 36 (1954). He was an uncomplicated man who cared only for masculine luxuries — exotic sports cars and boats — and women: he had an insatiable sexual appetite. He could also be physically violent with them. He died horribly when a mysterious disease suddenly struck him as he was sailing his yacht Rogue in the waters off Guatemala, while a crew of barely legal Mexican women he had hired to help him promote a film project could only look on helplessly.

Mark Frechette never wanted to be an actor. He didn’t know what he wanted to do until he fell under the spell of cult leader Mel Lyman in Boston. After a talent scout for director Michelangelo Antonioni spotted Frechette in New York, Antonioni cast him as a campus radical running from the law in Zabriskie Point (1970). Frechette often sparred with Antonioni during the shoot. It didn’t matter; he was only doing it for Mel. Frechette’s misbegotten idea of a revolutionary political statement was to rob a bank, which got one of his accomplices killed. Frechette died in prison when a barbell fell on his neck, asphyxiating him. He was only 27.

Christopher Jones rocketed to stardom in only his second film, Wild in the Streets (1968), a political fantasy about a 22-year-old rock star who becomes president. He bore a striking similarity to James Dean, with the same mesmeric ability to seduce an audience. Jones quit acting abruptly after filming Ryan’s Daughter (1970) and became an enigmatic recluse until his death in early 2014 at age 72. In what may be the most fascinating piece in Death Valley Superstars, Duke Haney does much to unravel the shadowy mystery of Jones’ post-Hollywood years for the first time.

“I think Hollywood is the true Death Valley,” says Haney, “because it’s where dreams go to die, and sometimes the dreamer.” Fortunately, Haney is still with us — and we owe him our thanks for Death Valley Superstars, a dream of a collection.

¤

Peter L. Winkler is the author of Dennis Hopper: The Wild Ride of a Hollywood Rebel (Barricade Books, 2011) and the editor of The Real James Dean: Intimate Memories from Those Who Knew Him Best (Chicago Review Press, 2016).

The post Hell Down in Hollywood: On Duke Haney’s “Death Valley Superstars” appeared first on Los Angeles Review of Books.

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[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #370

Top Ten Videogame Protagonists

Games, eh? Don’t you just love ‘em? I mean, the good ones at least. Or sometimes even not just the good ones. Sometimes ones that are a bit pants but somehow get under your skin. Or, if not exactly pants, then just kind of “OK”, sort-of-a-little-bit-mediocre, but they scratch an itch that needs scratching, especially if they’re mobile games and you’re after something relatively untaxing but time-wastey.

Sorry, where was I?

Anyway, a funny thing about games is the concept of the protagonist. Games – even narrative games – are different from other forms of art and media because of the issue of control. You are supposed to be the protagonist. And in narrative games – or games that can roughly be described as following a narrative, which is to say, not sports games – designers can either present a protagonist who is themselves a fully-formed character, or they can offer a nonentity, a blank slate upon which you can draw your own personality. Are you Mario or is Mario you? It’s Duke Nukem versus Gordon Freeman. A character versus an avatar.

So here we are then. My favourite video game protagonists. The main characters; the ones you play. Some of these I think are cool characters in their own right; some of them are, like I implied above, silicon avatars, canvases, a means for you to interact with the world. And that’s alright; that’s what they’re there for. But they do it so well, in such a way as to help elucidate greater meanings for the game in question. I always felt – to digress a little around the same topic – that in the original Knights of the Old Republic, I created a character out of whole cloth; they were me, it was as if I were playing through the events of the game. They were a digital representation of my psyche. But in Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, because the demands of the plot necessitated my character to jump through certain hoops, I began playing as that character; assuming a role, so to speak. Rather than “what if I were a Jedi,” I began playing as “what if I were this Jedi; what would I want this Jedi to do?” I found this very rewarding, even if the second game is somewhat inferior to the first.

But I can’t quite remember why I felt those things, which makes me want to play both games again.

Where was I? Oh yeah – top ten game protagonists. Press A to start.

Guybrush Threepwood (The Secret of Monkey Island, 1990): a perfect example of playing a character. Guybrush is fully-formed and all you do is point him at stuff. Witty, silly, naïve, heroic; you don’t shape his character, and with only one real path through the games, all you do is pick which one-liner he’ll deliver next.

Lara Croft (Tomb Raider, 1996): although mostly a blank slate, the iconography of Lara – shorts, vest, combat boots, two huge guns – helped reinforce the character you were playing; tough, no-nonsense, fully capable, physically adept, a female Indiana Jones.

Kyle Katarn (Star Wars: Dark Forces, 1995): almost machine-tooled to be the perfect Star Wars fan-service character – Han Solo but a Jedi! – Katarn is admirably sarky through his entire life, a voice of cynicism even when in full-on hero mode. This is supported in cut-scenes, whilst in-game you get to indulge in wish-fulfilment, especially in sequel Jedi Knight, the first game to really let you wield a lightsaber. The element of choice was revolutionary in those days, allowing you to embrace the Light Side or the Dark, with requisite powers and different endings, and Katarn reflected your player choice perfectly.

Manuel Calavera (Grim Fandango, 1998): like Guybrush, Calavera is a complete character; indeed, he’s more realistic and nuanced than Guybrush, despite being a skeleton with a clunky polygonal head. Beautifully brought to life by Tony Plana (Ugly Betty’s dad!), Manny is funny, earnest, and quietly heroic, and you feel for him sufficiently to want him to complete his quest even when trying to negotiate the weird rotational control system and walk across multiple pre-rendered backgrounds to get to the next objective.

Joanna Dark (Perfect Dark, 2000): like Lara Croft, Joanna Dark is mostly character through iconography: a futuristic catsuit, nifty-looking fun, and funky sci-fi spy gadgets. But by speaking in cut-scenes we get more of her identity, even though it’s still a thin characterisation; she’s basically Lady James Bond but in the future. However, being Lady James Bond but in the future is a fantastic hook, and a nice turn in cut-glass upper-class deadpan goes a long way.

Luigi (Mario Bros., 1983): Mario and Luigi began life virtually interchangeable, just two different avatars, their very look dictated by the constraints of the hardware. But over time, as Mario became a veritable superhero, Luigi began to plough his own furrow as the more timid, more peaceable brother. His scaredy-cat antics in Luigi’s Mansion helped solidify this, and his meme-worthy Mario Kart side-eye hinted at a desire to score one over on his brother from time to time. Although still, really, a fairly blank slate game-wise, his is a story of character through decades of hints and gags and side-appearances.

Conrad B. Hart (Flashback, 1992): another blank slate, literally this time, as you play as an amnesiac with no idea why you were outrunning hoverbike-riding bad guys in the opening cutscene. Conrad sticks in my memory, though, through his beautiful animation; despite the stylised polygonal character design, he looked and felt fully human as he ran, rolled, and leaped across the screen.

Duke Nukem (Duke Nukem, 1991): a near-perfect marriage of game icon and game play; Duke embodies the very essence of Duke Nukem 3D. A brash and loud platform/shooter character in two original outings, it’s the seminal classic FPS for which he will always be remembered. Crass, vulgar, offensive, violent; all this and more. He’s a rather unlikeable character, but in leaning into his outlandish, boorish machismo, 3D Realms created a hilarious game which reflected the persona of its star to a tee. I’d love to see him brought back in a way that parodied the current culture of toxic masculinity, although I fear a good portion of the audience wouldn’t see the joke.

Dizzy (Dizzy – The Ultimate Cartoon Adventure, 1987): he’s an egg! Like, a walking egg! What’s up with that? Back when other folk were getting down with Mario or even Sonic, I was enjoying Britain’s bedroom coder equivalent. Characterful and cartoonish when that was virtually unheard of in games, Dizzy felt like a breath of fresh air, even if he probably smelt like a sweaty omelette.

Gordon Freeman (Half-Life, 1998): whilst “blank” characters are common in FPS games – Doom, Quake, Unreal, etc – Half-Life made that a feature. Gordon’s muteness became a character trait; was he traumatised, otherworldly, indifferent? As his messianic legend grew in Half-Life 2, and he became surrounded by believable and verbose characters, his silent demeanour and unconventional behaviour (really just standard FPS tropes) became more and more incongruous, and delightfully commented upon by those around him. Gordon Freeman represents, parodies, and explores every notion of player-character as transparent avatar, and does it utterly perfectly, creating his own distinct character even as he just utterly gets out of the way of you playing. You are Gordon, even though Gordon is really a nothing. Masterfully done.

I should have laid down some ground rules… the main one, I guess, was that all these characters had to debut within that game, which meant no Sam or Max, sadly. And though I’m listing their first appearances, in some cases it was a subsequent game where I fell in love with them (for instance, although I’d played Dark Forces, I became a fan of Kyle Katarn after playing and adoring Jedi Knight). Finally, I hope it’s obvious, but these are protagonists, not just game characters; the people you play as, properly, in a game (so not, say, Garrus from Mass Effect, even though you can control him during combat; the protagonist is still Shepard). This means no Elaine Marley or Alyx Vance. And though I’ve included “vessels” such as Dizzy and Freeman, I have excluded characters like Shepard, who really are just blank slates, to the point where you can even control what they look like (J.C. Denton nearly made the cut, though, as he does have a little bit more of a character of his own).

#top ten #games #gaming #gaming characters #protagonists

[theconservativebrief]

The House That Jack Built, Lars von Trier’s disturbingly graphic new film about a serial killer who mutilates women and children, has been a topic of debate since the moment it debuted.

The film prompted mass walkouts at its Cannes premiere in May. Early reviews ranged in tone from outraged to unenthused to almost ecstatic. On the whole, reactions to the film were so vehement that some wondered if the movie was too controversial to be released at all.

But now, The House That Jack Built is getting not just one, but two different theatrical releases before the end of the year.

The first comes on November 28, with the film’s unrated “director’s cut” playing in a series of one-day-only screenings. Then, on December 14, an R-rated version of the film will be released in limited theaters and for rent on digital platforms. (The director’s cut will also be digitally released for purchase, though when that will happen remains unclear.)

In the past, some of von Trier’s films have been released in theaters solely as unrated cuts. But The House That Jack Built is getting two theatrical releases, for two versions of the film — one unrated and one R-rated. Why? The short answer is simple: money.

But there’s a longer explanation, too, revealing the tactics that the film’s distributors are using to help the film build buzz and make money from American audiences.

The walkouts at Cannes weren’t unusual unto themselves; the glitzy French festival is known for its boisterous audiences, which often signal their approval of a film — or their disgust in it — with whatever the situation calls for. Responses can include cheers or boos, standing ovations or walkouts.

But the walkouts from The House That Jack Built were surprising in one big respect: To many industry observers, it was startling that the film was playing at Cannes in the first place.

That’s because von Trier, who’s made a career of directing provocative films like Breaking the Waves, Dogville, Antichrist, and Nymphomaniac, was banned from the festival in 2011. In a press conference before von Trier’s film Melancholia premiered in competition that year, a journalist asked the director about his German roots and his use of a “Nazi aesthetic” in the film. Von Trier’s response included a statement that he “understands” and “sympathizes” with Hitler, and that he is, himself, a Nazi.

The comment seemed likely to have been made in (ill-advised) jest, but uproar ensued. Von Trier quickly issued an apology, claiming he had simply made a provocative joke, but festival director Thierry Fremaux declared him “persona non grata” at Cannes. And though Fremaux said the ban would only last one year, von Trier’s two-part “sex epic” Nymphomaniac did not premiere at Cannes in 2014.

Von Trier at the House that Jack Built premiere in Cannes in May. Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images

So the announcement that The House That Jack Built would premiere out of competition in 2018 raised some eyebrows, given von Trier’s penchant for provocative material. And the stir only grew after people actually saw the film. Matt Dillon stars as a serial killer named Jack, and the film chronicles five of Jack’s most pivotal killings — which involve the gruesome dismemberment of children and a scene that can only be described as misogynistic human taxidermy. A meandering, sometimes philosophical conversation between Jack and an off-screen interlocutor is interspersed with Jack’s murders.

The film is hardly out of character for Von Trier, who is no stranger to controversy. His 2009 film Antichrist starred Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg as a bereaved couple coping with their grief through, among other things, graphic genital mutilation. Nymphomaniac drew criticism from some quarters for its unsimulated sex and sadism. Both of those films were eventually released without a rating in the US.

For some audience members and critics — even some who had defended von Trier in the past — The House That Jack Built was a bridge too far in depicting grotesque violence, particularly against women and children. At the Playlist, Jessica Kiang called the movie “repulsive, toxic trash”:

In the past, Von Trier has been defensible on the grounds of his undeniable filmmaking talent and because so much of his nihilism clearly sprang from a place of intense personal pain and depression. This film, however, goes so much further in its overt horribleness that it feels like the director is standing in the middle of the road over its mutilated corpse waving a bloody knife and begging the police to arrest him. In which case the least helpful reaction we can have, and I say this as a fan of many of his previous films, is to pull back and stroke our chins and work out how to call it Art.

And at Pajiba, Caspar Salmon wrote, “When I left The House That Jack Built, it was because I could no longer remember why I was doing this anymore. I could suddenly not recall why films did this; I could not remember why the torture, abuse and murder of women was a subject matter, to be assessed by me after being made to endure it.”

But some critics loved the film, calling it “possibly brilliant,” or reading it as von Trier’s attempt to sneer back at the comments that got him banned from Cannes seven years prior. For his part, the director characterized the film in interviews as his attempt to make the audience “think.” He has also claimed a far-reaching right to free speech, said he enjoyed the outrage, and declared the film “celebrates the idea that life is evil and soulless, sadly proven by the recent rise of the Homo trumpus — the rat king” — by which he meant Donald Trump.

IFC acquired the film for US release, and announced a few weeks ago that the “director’s cut” of the film — the version that played at Cannes — would receive a one-day-only unrated release on November 28 in theaters across America.

But in a move that diverges from the unrated theatrical releases of Antichrist and Nymphomaniac, a second, R-rated version of The House That Jack Built will be released in theaters on December 14. That choice has a clear reasoning behind it.

Von Trier on a poster for The House That Jack Built. IFC Films

In most cases, only one version of a film is released theatrically, and any “extended” or “unrated” cuts are made available when the film moves to home video release. So why would IFC release two different versions The House That Jack Built in theaters — especially since von Trier’s most recent controversial films were only released as unrated cuts?

IFC declined to give a definitive answer when I reached out for comment, with a publicist simply writing via email, “We wanted to make sure audiences could see both versions so we have made them both available.” But since R-rated cuts of other von Trier films were never released — in theaters or other formats — that doesn’t fully answer the question.

The answer seems pretty obvious: revenue. But to understand why, you have to know how the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) ratings system works.

The MPAA is the entertainment industry’s member organization for the major movie studios. In brief, all filmmakers and production companies can choose to voluntarily submit their movies to the MPAA’s ratings board, a group of people employed by the organization who are mostly anonymous. Those people watch films and assign them a rating based on established criteria concerning sex, profanity, and violence.

How much money your film makes often depends on the rating it receives. Most movie theaters — operating on a “gentleman’s agreement” with the MPAA — will not let anyone younger than age 17 attend an R-rated film without an adult, and some people (for reasons of conscience or otherwise) won’t attend R-rated films no matter how old they are. The result is that PG-13 rated movies usually make about twice as much money as R-rated films at the box office. (That’s why most blockbusters are rated PG-13.)

But even an R-rated film makes more money than movies that are rated NC-17, a designation meant to exclude any moviegoer under age 17, whether or not they are accompanied by an adult. There’s no legal reason for this; it’s just the policy at most movie theaters, particularly multiplex chains, in the US. And NC-17 films are rated that way for graphic sexual content or graphic violence, so many people prefer not to see them anyhow.

The NC-17 rating was created as a replacement for the older “X” rating, which was originally intended to denote a film that hadn’t been rated. But when the X rating was ultimately co-opted as a marketing tool by pornographic film distributors, its intended meaning became moot. So the NC-17 designation, by contrast, has always been a true rating; rather than meaning “unrated,” it denotes that a film contains particularly mature or violent content. And it has come to carry a stigma of its own, similar to what an X would have denoted to viewers in the past.

An NC-17 rating cuts way down on the number of people who can or will attend a film, and so for that reason alone, many theaters refuse to even carry NC-17 films. Why devote an entire theater screen to a movie that most people won’t even pay to see? It doesn’t make good business sense.

Uma Thurman and Matt Dillon in The House That Jack Built. IFC Films

It costs money to make a film, and the inherent goal is usually to recoup that cost. So sometimes, filmmakers who receive an NC-17 rating will recut the film to receive an R rating instead, thus making the film palatable to movie theaters and a broader audience. You’ll likely get your movie into theaters and sell at least some tickets with an R rating (though not as many as you would if the movie was rated PG-13). That’s what most production companies and distributors are ultimately after.

Occasionally, though, a film that receives (or definitely would receive) an NC-17 rating is simply released as “unrated,” to bypass the stigma that comes with the NC-17 rating. It’s a little silly: Movies that don’t contain graphic content are rarely released unrated, at least theatrically, but the semantics do matter to many people, whether they’re theater owners or audience members. Often, a film that was initially recut to receive a theater-friendly R rating will come out with an unrated version as well, sometimes called a director’s cut, aimed at home video audiences.

Lars von Trier is obviously not concerned with his films’ marketability to a broad audience. He often makes the kind of films that give even extreme horror obsessives pause. You don’t go to see a von Trier movie about a serial killer to scream a little; you go to be pushed, to be challenged, to be scandalized and horrified.

Rather than being released with an NC-17 rating, both Antichrist and Nymphomaniac were released in theaters as unrated. That’s perfectly fine. Such films lack the stigma of an NC-17 rating, and are unlikely to screen in multiplexes, but they still play in art-house cinemas, and can be rented and watched at home (in the case of Nymphomaniac, several versions are available).

The House That Jack Built release, however, appears designed to maximize the potential for the film to earn money on the back of its graphic content. The marketing copy for the one-night-only director’s cut screenings capitalized on its controversial reputation, referring to the film as “the same version that was shown at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and prompted both a 10-minute standing ovation and more than a few disturbed walkouts.”

That’s calculated to tantalize a certain breed of moviegoer, more or less a dare: Are you strong enough to watch the movie that others could not? It worked: Many of the November 28 screenings have completely sold out. And in a social media-driven world, that matters. People who attend those screenings will likely post public commentary about the film, driving up interest. It’s a smart business reason to turn the unrated screenings in an “event” before the general release.

Matt Dillon in The House That Jack Built. IFC Films

Then a few weeks later, after the initial wave of buzz, The House That Jack Built will have its R-rated theatrical release, which promises slightly less graphic violence, while still obviously being disturbing. That version of the film will likely bring in a broader audience, in addition to remaining in theaters for more than a day, resulting in more ticket sales.

Importantly, the digital version of the R-rated film will only be available for rent, while the director’s cut will only be available to purchase. It’s easy to imagine a scenario in which a person sees the R-rated film in theaters or rents the R-rated cut, and then gets curious about what was left out and buys the director’s cut — all of which contributes to the film’s overall revenue. (Especially since the typical cost of purchasing a film digitally is roughly the same as seeing it in a theater.)

So the dual release of The House That Jack Built, fueled by social media buzz and its reputation from Cannes, is poised to be a smart move for the film’s distributor while also maximizing the money that a graphically violent von Trier film can bring in. It still won’t reach a broad audience. But anyone who wants to see it, or is curious, will have that opportunity, as long as they’re willing to buy a ticket or hand over a credit card number.

And that seems like just about what von Trier wants. “It’s quite important not to be loved by everybody, because then you’ve failed,” he told Cineuropa this summer. “I’m not sure if they hated [The House That Jack Built] enough, though. If it gets too popular, I’ll have a problem.”

Original Source -> Critics called Lars von Trier’s new movie “repulsive.” It’s being released twice.

via The Conservative Brief

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[lavignne-blog1]

The Workplace Worries of an Abuse Survivor

odškodnění pozůstalých Shortly following a new worker began at a community insurance firm, the veteran staff users agreed that he was "very wonderful" and "would go out of his way for you." They knew practically nothing about what inspired these behaviors in his place of work nor the truth that he subconsciously viewed it as his property-of-origin. The ground flooring serves as the foundation on which all others in a making relaxation. So, too, does a person's upbringing-except that it turns into the basis upon which his lifestyle rests. If it has entailed abuse, dysfunction, or even alcoholism, it is weak and can effortlessly crumble, often necessitating a individual to compensate for it with inflated and sometimes just about scripted behavioral attributes other individuals are unsuccessful to comprehend. He sees the world the way no other individuals do. This basis generally demands a person to camouflage his deficiencies by portraying an image reverse to that which he feels or believes about himself. He might, for illustration, be perceived as staying outwardly welcoming and simply finding along with some others, but inwardly he churns with dread and insecurity, participating in silent conflicts with some others as he chews on the things they do that retrigger his individual untolerated kinds. Insecurity, fear of errors, an inability to complete the features for which he thinks he is incapable, and internal employee conflicts may spark frequent and spontaneous occupation resignations. Conversely, this continuous need to mask these insecure features can transform a particular person into the tremendous-employee, as he functions out his childhood need to obey and comply with every rule and consequently prove his ability and self-really worth by volunteering for jobs others avoid, overworking and -reaching, folks- and manager-satisfying, working extra time with or without having added payment, assuming enhanced tasks, and even having get the job done home, in the procedure turning into the quintessential "firm person" without others ever comprehending his motivations. Ironically, this effectiveness and loyalty may possibly direct to at any time-higher positions for which he is not emotionally outfitted, creating him to compensate for and go over up the progressively terrified thoughts with even greater determination and work. In their excessive, these endeavors can change his nonexistent character until eventually it gets his persona, as he is transformed from a human being to a human performing. Most of his misbeliefs about his inadequacies final result from his continually replayed essential mum or dad voices, which echo the authentic, but rarely glad reception of his achievements through his upbringing. Like a computer, his brain can only return what has been downloaded into it. Very long striped of boundaries at house, he is quickly utilised and exploited by coworkers and supervisors alike. As a sufferer cultivated by his upbringing, he can be taken edge of and is familiar with no other suggests of survival. If his actions and responses could be voiced, they would very likely say, "I am a lot less than you, not deserving, and flawed. So do what at any time you desire and use me nevertheless you see healthy. I am going to by no means protest or complain. This is what I'm used to." But, unless he has started restoration or treatment, he is ironically unlikely to be in contact with this voice or even recognize why he submits himself to such making use of conditions. Aside from the truth that he has been so cultivated, he subconsciously sights these folks as present-time associates of previous-time mothers and fathers who have been never satisfied with what he did. The much more, in fact, that he submits to this kind of behavior, the considerably less worthy he feels, only supporting his misbelief. Related workplace incidents unknowingly regress him to his childhood when he was powerless and his mother and father ended up perceived as flawless and incapable of mistake, making the basic misbelief that any mistreatment of him was thanks to his own shortcomings and not their personal. To compensate for this dysfunctional and most probable abusive upbringing, he adopted practically scripted roles, which he may subconsciously continue on to act out in his work location, as the only believed methods of survival. The 1st of these is "hero," whose origin and goal are maybe the most challenging to decipher, because he becomes the "great man or woman," carrying out in accordance to the handbook-approved polices. In fact, he might symbolize the normal by which others can only aspire. He is unbiased, requirements no just one, is frequently the one others seek advice from relating to methods, overachieves, and is flawlessly trustworthy and accountable, therefore masking the inferior and insecure thoughts that inspire him. Considering that the existing to his emotions is minor more than a trickle, he turns on the juice to the productive aspect of him as if it have been a gushing fireplace hose, unsuccessfully trying to replace 1 with the other. Skating on skinny ice, he attempts to do everything in a great fashion right up until his pursuits turn into the equal of his self-worthy of. But any mistake might shatter this fleeting experience. This function immersion, on top of that, may well be the totality of his lifestyle. Although others may possibly carry out inside corporation specified parameters to gain their paychecks, for illustration, they most most likely also have families and other actions to whom and to which they return in the night. The hero might not. Riddled with childhood-originating resentment, the "scapegoat"-the second purpose-was developed by the human being who was constantly forced to settle for the blame and load his parents or even other siblings would not, hence persuading him to get obligation for the mistakes or infractions of some others now. So acclimated is he to carrying the body weight of them, in reality, that he may well subconsciously generate the circumstantial catalysts which impose the burdens on him, enabling him to act out his a great number of related childhood episodes and then lament about their unfairness and injustice. Whilst the scapegoat passively plots his childhood reenactments, the "dropped kid"-the 3rd function-silently slinks from them, as he had during his developmental several years, now hardly existing. Perceived as an unnamed, individuality-devoid silhouette--whose type, at periods, may well seem to be little a lot more than the shadow it reflects on the wall and just as dimensionless--his id could be lowered to small far more than, "What is his title?" Unfortunately, he is recognized by his absence or recognition. His nonexistent presence often displays how he feels about himself inside of. "Snicker, clown, laugh" can be used to describe the fourth function, the "comedian" or "clown," but, in each cases, that laughter is most probable the veil that camouflages the person's inner disappointment. Tapping into his spontaneous capacity to uncover humor in most circumstances and entertain his coworkers, the kid-turned-adult comedian turns lemons into lemonade for other individuals, transforming private interior unhappiness into exterior pleasure for them, enabling him, in the method, to attain a perceived level of basic safety by weaving a internet of acceptance around him. These four roles, all adopted as defense mechanisms towards childhood danger, evolve into a life span of survival characteristics aimed at self-security, considering that the particular person once all over again subconsciously sights the globe as an extension of the 1 established in his property-or-origin, forcing him to pave a route with the approaches that proved safe for him. Therein lies the good reasons guiding an abuse survivor's habits in adulthood and the worries he provides to the place of work-his nearly programmed, but unchallenged belief that the adult world is a transplant of his childhood one particular, leaving him fearful and hypervigilant of guardian-resembling and -retriggering authority figures. In spite of his ostensibly bonding features and pursuits, this sort of as his feeling of humor, socializing at lunch, and holding the very same or related-stage titles as his coworkers, he regularly feels as if he is not component of them, as if he were being on the outside hunting in, mainly because actual physical existence does not necessarily ameliorate or exchange emotional absence and isolation. A man or woman can, in actuality, be in a home with a dozen or more other individuals and nevertheless really feel on your own, due to the fact his distrust of them renders it difficult to join with them on a social and for this reason soul stage. Without a doubt, sensing a person's distance and psychological disconnection, other individuals may possibly exclude him from following-work or weekend social engagements, as if he silently conveys his lack of want to be part of them, but this can ironically go away him hurt and further solidify his misbelief that he is not worthy of their friendship. Accumulated, but unresolved childhood infractions, abuses, and traumas can retrigger and rekindle at work venues, as individuals and incidents replay in the person's mind, progressively "removing" him from the current and immersing him in his past, his mirror neuron-stored tapes attempting to convince him that the surroundings and people in it are not secure and somehow harmful to him. So potent can these unfavorable emotions and fears turn into, in truth, that they may in the end management him till he both releases them by implies of spontaneous anger outbursts or resigns. This, in essence, is an expression of the common grownup-baby dichotomy, as the previous demands to be part of the planet, working as a mature person, doing work, and earning income, while the latter, mired in the internally fleeing interior baby, seeks safety with no issue for the monetary suggests to help him. Both equally are enthusiastic by the need to endure, but on different stages and from age divergent perspectives. Because of constantly replaying traumas in an abusive survivor's head, he can neither ask for support nor protect his actions, and is frequently subconsciously lowered to the powerless and overwhelmed little one that spawned his first debilitation. Nothing at all is more terrorizing than a individual confrontation with another, due to the fact it transports him again to the plenty of-and, most likely, harmful-kinds he previously endured. During that powerlessness, in addition, he was by no means perceived as getting been on the appropriate or triumphing side. Paradoxically, when this kind of a human being is appointed to positions of regulate and superiority as an adult, it provides a diploma of security for him, given that it elevates him to the exceptional or winning position the moment represented by his abuser. Instead of becoming belittled and overpowered as a child, he now feels that he can exert these effects on other folks, and as a result feels more powerful and safer. In fact, this form of man or woman, to better or lesser degree, can be categorized as the frequently-labeled "regulate freak," due to the fact he grew up in a chaotic atmosphere where absence of manage led to his detriment and he now strives to get back it with this sort of a function at his career. In essence, he employs the similar misdirected system his abusive moms and dads did at his position of work. Conversely, when he does not suppose these a function, and is consequently psychologically regressed to the internal baby stance, he is diminished to taking whatever comes his way, no matter if it be more capabilities, obligations, or duties that are not always paired with enhanced payment, because he feels also unworthy to refuse them. Ironically, they may well signify an intangible "benefit," which most probably only exists for him-namely, proportionately assuming more of a workload transforms him into an individual who is liked, who is considered as an ally, rising his degree of protection. This conclusion is a lot more reasonable than it might initial surface to be, given that abused young children think that they are seen a lot more as enemies than "good friends" to their mothers and fathers-that is, those who by some means get in the way, are burdensome, and not always needed. Propelled by this sort of unaccepting main caregivers down a route toward perfection in his responsibilities-all in an try to compensate for his "imperfections" and elusively get that seldom provided appreciate--he could translate this dynamic to the place of work, completing jobs, functions, and reviews in a exact and detailed way, and then anticipating, but failing to notice, very similar functionality in his coworkers. Finally adopting the very same intolerance for their shortcomings as his parents did for his, he only re-sparks the cycle in his very own existence, if he has not previously carried out so with his very own youngsters at property. This situation may possibly evolve until it creates the workaholic, or the individual who replaces his self-really worth with accomplishment- and monetary-value. As an abyss devoid of beneficial emotions, he finds it hard to extract joy from friendships and interactions, and his immersion into perform enables him to stay away from inspecting his unexpressed hurts. His work natural environment may possibly be more of an extension of his household natural environment than imagined, as the task hopper, regularly searching for new work venues for the ostensible explanation of landing "that excellent task," could subconsciously be in research of "that perfect home"-or the a single he by no means experienced, furnished that he can have faith in the "family members member" employees residing in it.

[pamphletstoinspire]

EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL, THE APOSTLE, TO  THE HEBREWS   - From The Latin Vulgate Bible

Chapter 1

PREFACE.

The Catholic Church hath received and declared this Epistle to be part of the Canonical Scriptures of the New Testament, though some doubted of it in the first ages[centuries], especially in the Latin Church, witness St. Jerome on the 8th chap. of Isaias; Luther and most of his followers reject it, but the Calvinists and the Church of England have received it. Others, who received this Epistle in the first ages[centuries], doubted whether it was written by St. Paul, but thought it was written by St. Barnabas, or by St. Clement of Rome, or St. Luke, or at least that St. Paul only furnished the matter and the order of it, and that St. Luke wrote it, and St. Paul afterwards read it and approved it. It was doubted again, whether this Epistle was first written in Hebrew (that is, in Syro-Chaldaic, then spoken by the Jews) or in Greek, as Estius pretends. The ancient writers say it was written in Hebrew, but that it was very soon after translated into Greek either by St. Luke or St. Clement of Rome, pope and martyr. Cornelius a Lapide thinks the Syriac which we have in the Polyglot to have been the original; but this is commonly rejected. See Tillemont on St. Paul, Art. 46, and note 72; P. Alleman on the first to the Hebrews, &c. St. Paul wrote this letter about the year 63[A.D. 63], and either at Rome or in Italy. See Chap. xii. 24. He wrote it to the Christians in Palestine, who had most of them been Jews before. This seems the reason why he puts not his name to it, nor calls himself their apostle, his name being rather odious to the Jews, and because he was chosen to be the apostle of the Gentiles. The main design is to shew that every one's justification and salvation is to be hoped for by the grace and merits of Christ, and not from the law of Moses, as he had shewn in his Epistles to the Galatians and the Romans, where we many observe this kind of difference: To the Galatians he shews, that true justice cannot be had from circumcision and the ceremonies of the law: to the Romans, that even the moral precepts and works of the law were insufficient without the grace of Christ: and in this to the Hebrews, he shews that our justice could not be had from the sacrifices of the old law.

Chapter1

God spoke of old by the prophets, but now by his Son, who is incomparably greater than the Angels.

1 God having spoken at different times and in many ways, in times past, to the fathers, by the prophets: last of all,

Notes & Commentary:

Ver. 1. At different times,[1] and in many ways. The first word signifies that God revealed the incarnation of his Son, as it were, by parcels, and by degrees, at different times, and to different persons, to Adam, to Abraham, to Moses, to David, &c. The latter word expresseth the different ways and manners, as by angels, by immediate inspirations, and revelations, by types, figures, and ceremonies.[2] --- Last of all, by his Son, this true, natural, eternal Son, of whom we must always take notice, that being both true God, and true man, by the union of the divine and human nature to one and the same divine person, St. Paul speaks of him sometimes as God, sometimes mentions what applies to him as man, sometimes as our Redeemer, both God and man. This must necessarily happen in speaking of Christ; but when we find things that cannot be understood of one that is a pure or mere man only, or that cannot be true but of him, who is truly God, these are undeniable proofs against the errors of the Arians and Socinians. (Witham)

Note 1:

Ver. 1. Multifariam, polumeros; which signifies, that God revealed the coming of his Son as it were by parts and parcels, or by degrees, first revealing some things and then others.

Note 2:

Ver. 1. Novissimè, ep echatou, which reading Dr. Wells prefers before that in the ordinary Greek copies, which have ep echaton ton emeron, followed by the Protestant translation and Mr. N.

2 In these days hath spoken to us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the world:

Ver. 2. Whom he hath appointed heir of all things. Heir is here not taken for one that succeeds another at his death, but for the same as Master or Lord. And though Christ be inseparably God and man, yet this applies to him, as man, because, as God, he was not constituted in time, but was always from eternity, Lord of all things, with the Father and the Holy Ghost: by whom also he made the world. That is, all created beings, and in such a manner, that all creatures were equally produced by the three divine persons. See John i. 3. and the annotations on that place. (Witham)

3 Who being the splendour of his glory, and the figure of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, making purgation of sins, sitteth on the right hand of the majesty on high:

Ver. 3. Who being the spendour,[3] or brightness of his glory, not as beams or rays are derived from a lightsome body, but by a necessary and eternal communication of the same substance, and of the whole light; in which sense the council of Nice[Nicaea] understood the eternal Son of God to be light of light. This partly helps us to conceive the eternal generation of the Son from the Father, because the brightness is at the same time with the sun, though all comparisons fall short of this mystery. (Witham) --- We may here observe the two natures of Christ. As God, he is the Creator of all things; as man, he is constituted heir of the goods of God. Not content to possess the inheritance of his Father in his own person, he will have us as coheirs to share it also with him. May we so live as to hear one day that happy sentence: Come, ye blessed of my Father, &c. --- And the figure of his substance.[4] In the Greek is the character of his substance; which might be translated, the express image. There are different ways by which a thing may be said to be a figure or image of another: here it is taken for such a representation of the substance of the Father, that though the Father and the Son be distinct persons, and the Son proceed from the Father, yet he is such a figure and image, as to have the same nature and substance with the Father, as the Catholic Church always believed and declared against the ancient heretics, and particularly against the Arians. Their words may be partly seen in Petavius, lib. ii. de Trin. chap. 11.; lib. iv. chap. 6.; lib. vi. chap. 6., being too prolix for these short notes. And this may be understood by the following words concerning the Son: and upholding or preserving all things by the word of his power. As he had said before, that all things were made by him, so all things are preserved by him, equally with the Father. See Colossians i. 16, 17. See also ver. 10. of this chapter, and the annotations on John i. 3. (Witham) --- Figure. This does not exclude the reality. So Christ's body in the eucharist, and his mystical death in the mass, though called a figure, image, or representation of Christ's visible body and sacrifice upon the cross, yet may be and is the self-same substance. (Bristow) ---Sitteth on the right hand of the majesty on high. This also may be taken to express the equality of the Son with the Father, if considered as God; but this sitting on the right hand of God, both here, in St. Mark, chap. xvi. and in the apostles' creed, express what agrees with Christ, as our Redeemer, God made man by his incarnation, and who as man is made the head of his Church, the judge of the living and of the dead; and so St. Stephen said, (Acts vii.) I see the heavens open, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God. (Witham)

Note 3:

Ver. 3. Splendor gloriæ, apaugasma, refulgentia, effulgentia, &c.

Note 4:

Ver. 3. Figura substantiæ, charakter tes upostaseos. Hypostasis signifies persona, subsistentia, and also substantia.

4 Being made so much better than the Angels, as he hath inherited a more excellent name than they.

Ver. 4. Being made so much better, &c. The Arians pretended from hence that Christ was made, or created. But the apostle speaks of Christ as man, and tells us that Christ, even as man, by his ascension was exalted above the Angels. --- As he hath inherited a more excellent name. That is, both the dignity and name of the Son of God, of his only Son, and of his true Son. See 1 John v. 20. (Witham)

5 For, to which of the Angels hath he said at any time: Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again: *I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?

Ver. 5. Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. These words, though commonly expounded of the eternal generation of the Son of God in the day or moment of eternity, yet may be truly applied either to Christ made man by his incarnation, or to Christ risen from the dead, as they are used by St. Paul, (Acts xiii. 33.) because the same Christ both these ways is the Son of God. It was the only true and natural Son of God, who was made flesh, who was made man, who rose from the dead; and the eternal Father manifested his eternal Son by his incarnation, and shewed him triumphing over death by his resurrection. --- I will be to him a father, &c. Although these words might be literally spoken of Solomon, yet in the mystical sense (chiefly intended by the Holy Ghost) they are to be understood of Christ, who in a much more proper sense is the Son of God. (Witham)

6 And again, when he introduceth the first begotten into the world, he saith: And let all the Angels of God adore him.

Ver. 6. Let all the Angels of God adore him. These words seem to be cited out of Psalm xcvi. 7., according to the Septuagint. And they seem to be an invitation, and a command to the Angels to adore Jesus Christ, when at the end of the world he shall come to judgment. This is one of the proofs which St. Paul here brings, to shew that the Angels are inferior to Christ, because they are commanded to adore him. (Witham) --- God shews the superiority of his divine Son over the Angels, in ordering the latter to adore him. Wherever the person of Christ is, there it ought to be adored by both men and Angels, therefore in the blessed sacrament [of the Eucharist].

7 And to the Angels indeed he saith: He that maketh his Angels, spirits: and his ministers, a flame of fire.

Ver. 7. Maketh his Angels,[5] spirits: and his ministers, a flame of fire. St. Augustine, on Psalm ciii., and St. Gregory, hom. xxxiv. in Evang., would have the sense and construction of the words to be, who maketh the blessed spirits to be also his Angels, or messengers to announce and execute his will: (messengers and Angels signify the same in the Greek) Calvin and Beza by spirits, here understand the winds, as if the sense was only, who maketh the winds and flames of fire, that is, thunder and lightning, the messengers and instruments of his divine will, in regard of men, whom he punisheth. But this exposition agrees not with the rest of the text, nor with the design of St. Paul, which is to shew Christ above all the Angels, and above all creatures. St. Paul therefore is to be understood of Angels or angelic spirits: but then the sense may be, who maketh his Angels like the winds, or like a flame of fire, inasmuch as they execute his divine will with incredible swiftness, like the winds, and with a force and activity not unlike that of fire. (Witham)

Note 5:

Ver. 7. O poion tous Aggelous autou pneumata, not ta pneumata, the Greek article being put before Angels, and not before spirits, may seem to favour that exposition, which compares Angels to the winds and to a flame of fire.

8 But to the Son: Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of justice is the sceptre of thy kingdom.

9 Thou hast loved justice, and hated iniquity: therefore, God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy partners.

Ver. 8-9. But to the Son. That is, to his Son Jesus Christ, he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever, and lasts for eternity. --- A sceptre, or rod of equity, is the sceptre of thy kingdom. That is, O Christ, God and man, head of thy Church, judge of all mankind, thou shalt reward and punish all under thee with justice and equity, as thou hast loved justice, and hated iniquity: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee. Many here understand God first named, to be in the vocative case, and that the sense is: therefore thee, O God, thy God, hath anointed: thus Christ is called God. Others take God in both places to be in the nominative case, and to be only a repetition of God the Father; and the sense to be, thee Christ, God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above them that are partakers with thee: by which spiritual unction, some understand graces infused into Christ's soul at his incarnation, by a greater plenitude of graces than was ever given to any saints whom he made partakers of his glory in heaven; others expound it of an unction of greater glory given to Christ in heaven as man, because by his sufferings and merits he had destroyed and triumphed over sin. See Estius, Cornelius a Lapide, &c. (Witham)

10 And: Thou in the beginning, O Lord, hast found the earth: and the heavens are the works of thy hands.

11 They shall perish, but thou shalt continue: and they shall all grow old as a garment:

12 And as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: but thou art the self-same, and thy years shall not fail.

Ver. 10, &c. And again: thou in the beginning, O Lord, hast founded the earth, &c. The text, as well as the authority of interpreters, shew these words to be still spoken of the Son of God, of Christ, who was both true God and man. And though part of Psalm ci., from which these words are taken, contain a prayer to God for the restoring of the city of Jerusalem, yet in this psalm is chiefly signified the glory of Christ, and of his Church, which will be spread over all nations. See St. Chrysostom, Estius, Cornelius a Lapide, &c. --- As a vesture shalt thou change them, &c. The apostle, in the second verse of this chapter, had said that the world was made by the Son of God: now he tells us that all created things shall wax old like a garment, shall decay and perish, (at least from their present state and condition) shall be changed; but thou, who art both God and man, art always the same, without decay or change. (Witham) --- The apostle here applies the work of the creation to the Son of God, and thus furnishes a clear and striking proof of his divinity, against the Unitarians. To elude this proof, some of them pretend that these verses have been fraudulently added; but they are found in all the Greek copies, and in all ancient versions of this epistle. Others try to give forced interpretations to these verses, but the words are convincingly clear to all who do not purposely shut their eyes.

13 But to which of the Angels said he at any time: Sit on my right hand, until I make thy enemies thy footstool?

14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent to minister for those, who shall receive the inheritance of salvation?

Ver. 13-14. Sit on my right hand, &c. The ancient Jews themselves understood this 109th psalm of their Messias, nor could they answer Christ's words, (Matthew xxii. 45.) when he shewed them by these same words, that their Messias was not only the Son of David, but also the Lord of David, of whom it was said: the Lord said to my Lord, sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy enemies thy footstool. See also 1 Corinthians xv. 25. and in this epistle, Chap. x. 13. --- Are they not all ministering spirits? &c. The apostle, in this chapter, not only shews how much the dignity of Christ is superior to that of the highest Angels, but also his divinity; and that he is both true God and true man, as the ancient Fathers took notice against the Arians. (Witham) - The holy Angels, says St. Augustine, to whose society we aspire, help us without difficulty, because their notion is pure and free. (De Civit. lib. 11. chap. xxxi.) Having then Jesus Christ for our advocate and mediator at the right hand of God, and his Angels for our guardians, ministering spirits, what can we wish for more?

#epistle of st. paul to the hebrews