#the spiritual meat grinder

[funeralshawls]

ZHEANI. NEW BABYLON TOUR. HOUSTON 2024.

#p #ok 2 rb #zheani #new babylon tour #the spiritual meat grinder

[ma333ve]

photos I took of zheani in Brisbane a couple nights ago

#maeveposting #zheani #zheani sparkes #brisbane #Brisbane musicians #music #fairy trap #photography #concerts #concert #live #the spiritual meat grinder #tour

[deadratinhotcar]

I’m dull as a knife 🔪

#babiface #Zheani #askulloffoxes #TSMG #the spiritual meat grinder #zheani sparkes #Spotify

[quietlyreadingabook]

zheani in chicago, 3/23/24

#zheani #the spiritual meat grinder #queen shit #had the best night of my life

[no1canseeus]

Zheani's album dropped!

I love all the songs so this list was difficult af to make!

#zheani #zheani sparkes #askulloffoxes #the spiritual meat grinder

[irlratmousegirl]

“My bones have stretched too fuckin fast for me”

#zheani #zheani sparkes #z #spiritual meat grinder #healing #Spotify

[inkher0]

Die Antword is getting popular again for some reason so let me be first to say that those skeleton rat fuckers can suck me from the back before I listen to another one of their trash songs

#Anyways stream The Spiritual Meat Grinder by Zheani

[kazarinn]

I'm finishing up the retranslation for Saint Tail's anime right now, so I'm at the stage where I'm thinking about my next few projects, and I've currently at least decided that I want to do something for Megumi Tachikawa's other works as well. Tachikawa is an incredibly amazing writer, and it's such a shame that her work has been so poorly represented in translation; even beyond the fact that a good chunk of her work hasn't even been translated at all, the ones that were translated seem to have been run through the translation equivalent of a meat grinder.

I prioritized Saint Tail both because it's her most famous work and because it's the one that took the most damage (it's definitely pretty disturbing to find out that around half of the plot was translated to suggest the opposite of what it was actually supposed to mean!), but I do want to call attention to Cyber Idol ☆ Mink (localized by Tokyopop as Mink), generally considered to be Saint Tail's spiritual sequel. Unlike with Saint Tail, the Tokyopop release of Mink didn't flip it horizontally, and it doesn't have incomprehensible nonsense lines like "Great Big Deal!!" that Saint Tail's release did, but...well, I think some examples would demonstrate it better.

Here's Tokyopop's version of a spread from chapter 6:

And here's the proof of concept I sent to my group when pitching this series (done very quickly, so definitely not my best work, but probably enough to get the point across), which was translated directly from the Japanese text:

...Huh? That's not even remotely similar! The original scene is meant to draw a clear parallel between Mink's view of the chocolate and her view of herself, and the progression of the scene plays on the ambiguity of whether "あたしじゃなくて" means "this isn't from me" or "this isn't me". The reason Mink is considered to be Saint Tail's spiritual sequel is that it explores similar concepts of self-identity and the feeling of inadequacy compared to an idealized, sanitized self, something Mink is even less subtle about than Saint Tail was at times, but the nuance here seems to have been lost in translation. (In fact, I'm not entirely sure what must have led to the Tokyopop version's interpretation; the Japanese text doesn't resemble what's there at all.)

Which also means that when you get to later parts of the series like this...

(Tokyopop version)

(Our proof of concept retranslation)

In this case, the Tokyopop version roughly corresponds to the Japanese text but interprets it in ways that really don't get the point of this scene very well, ranging from not catching the specific use of "small and tiny" (ちっぽけな) invoking the earlier scene with the chocolate to making too many specific assumptions about Mink and Kyo's feelings that are actually out of character. (Let alone the fact that the way they phrase Mink's lines here really just doesn't convey the sheer level of desperation and emotion at all...)

For instance, it's a very important part of Mink's character that she doesn't have self-awareness about wanting to feel needed; she says 必要としてくれるなら because she legitimately feels like she's useless or has nothing to offer without the help of the WANNA-BE program. This kind of thing is a common trait of Tachikawa protagonists, and while I know many people might think it's not that big of a deal, I think the difference between "wanting attention and thinking your alter ego is cooler" and "having insecurity from believing you'll never be good enough unless you blot out all the undesirable parts of yourself" is big enough to mean something to a lot of people who would be reading this!

In any case, once I'm done with Saint Tail, I do have some other projects I want to prioritize first, since Mink's official translation is at least somewhat readable (kind of a low bar, but...). But I did want to call attention to this for now in case anyone was interested, because while Saint Tail and Mink are far from the only shoujo or magical girl manga from this era to have such poor treatment in localization, I don't think this issue has been well-documented when it comes to Tachikawa's work, and it really does break my heart.

#Cyber Idol Mink #Dennou Shoujo Mink #Mink #Saint Tail #Kaitou Saint Tail #Megumi Tachikawa #Magical Girl #Shoujo Manga #Shoujo

[stalkerofthegods]

Straight to the point Thor offerings etc

Herbs •Oak, mountain ash, hazel, Donnerbesen/Teufelbesen, house-leek/Sempervirum tectorum, hawthorn, houseleek, tormentil, oak

Animals• goats, bulls, Tanngrisnir "teeth barer" and Tanngnjostr "teeth grinder”

Colors •Sky-blue, cloud-white, lightning-gold, and red, purity white. 

Crystal• moss agate, Amethyst, Lapis Lazuli, Sodalite, Turquoise and Sapphire, iron, Thunderstones, fulgurite, thunder egg

Symbols•Hammer, goats, belt, and gloves of strength

Jewelry you can wear in their honor • A hammer, a necklace of his runes.

Alter ideas• Thor’s hammer figures, model goats (ideally pulling a cart), weapons, shield, lightning-bolts, rainwater, garlic, leek, onion, hawthorn, houseleek, tormentil, oak, the runes Thurisaz or Sowelo, rocks, metal, rainwater

Diety of• God of war, fertility, thindrr and lighting and of the people, spiritual healing, sacred groves, protection 

Patron of The dead, rain, thunder, hallowing, spiritual healing, war, protecting, protection, birth, marriage, and death, burial, and cremation ceremonies, weapons and feasting, traveling, land-taking, and the making of oaths between men

Offerings• Mead, beer, goat meat, hearty foods with lots of meat, onions, and garlic, flavored coffee, whiskey, beer, hard cider, meat sandwiches on dark bread with good mustard, bacon, sausage, lunch meat and sources of protein that builds muscle, Donate time to an organization dedicated to protecting children from abuse, do heavy work for someone in need of it, Protect the needy, Escort someone to do something that scares them, and be there as a source of courage and moral support for them, hard wood, Dark chocolate (he said he likes it.), ground ivy

Devotional• working out, helping around the house, helping others and protecting them, Honoring your family and learning your history, keeping your personal space tidy or cleaning it up as an act of devotion, watch a storm from inside, spend time in the rain, put thunder/storm music when meditating or going to sleep, stand in the storm (at a safe place away from trees and metal objects), collect storm water, Write him a letter praising him, compliment him, read his stories from Prose and Poetic Edda, thank him for being the protector of the humankind, Light up a candle of dark blue/red/grey colours, Place your offerings at the base of a tree, Be yourself and honest, live your life honourably and truthfully, Wear a necklace of Mjölnir, Set and maintain your personal boundaries, stand up for yourself and others, give him something that you made, Take care of pregnant people, 

Ephithets•Tor, Ásabragr (Asabrag, Æsir-Lord), Ása-Þórr (Asa-Thor Æsir-Thor), Atli (The Terrible), Björn (Bjorn, Biorn Bear), Einriði (Eindriði, The One who Rides Alone, The One who Rules Alone), Ennilangr (Ennilang, The One with the Wide Forehead), Harðhugaðr (Hardhugadr, Strong Spirit, Powerful Soul, Fierce Ego, Brave Heart), Harðvéurr (Hardveur The Strong Archer), Hlóriði (Hlórriði, The Loud Rider, The Loud Weather-God), Öku-Þor (Oku-Thor, Ukko-Thor, Cart Thor, Driving Thor), Rymr (Rym, Noise), Sönnungr (Sonnung, The True One), Véþormr (Vethorm, Protector of the Shrine), Véuðr (Véuðr, Véoðr, Veud, Veod), Véurr (Veur, Guard of the Shrine, Hallower), Vingþórr (Vingthor, Battle-Thor, Hallower), The Thunderer and many others

Equivalents• Zeus (Greek), Jupiter (Roman), Hercules (Greek), Thonar (worshiped in England)

Signs of them reaching out• sudden signs of their animals, seeing goats, seeing hammers, suddenly drawn to him, all of the sudden interest in fighting 

Number• Thurisaz, Sowelo, nine

Morals• Morally grey, he does murder.

Courting• Sif

Past lovers/crushes• Járnsaxa (joutan), Sif (goddess)

Element• fire, air 

Personality• He’s a big flirt, he likes to be complimented and to compliment you back, He often displays a quick temper and is quick to engage in violence, even if violence may not be necessary, but he is kind, kinder than you would actually expect. 

Home• Asgard

Mortal or immortal • immortal 

Fact•Thor could even bring some things back to life, Thor was invoked at weddings, at births, and at special ceremonies for these abilities to protect and sanctify, his other names are Thorr, Thunor, Thonar, Donar, Donner, Thur, Thunar, or Thunaer.

Curses• tools randomly breaking, arguments with your spouse, you can your spouse fighting, marriage problems 

Blessings• safety at sea and bounty on land, blessing your marriage 

Roots• Indo-European make him generally accepted today as derived from a Proto-Indo-European deity

Friends• The Aseir

Parentage• Odin and Fjorgynn, or Jord, and Sif.

Siblings• Vidar, Baldr, Höðr, Týr, Meili, Váli, Bragi, Hodr

Pet• Tanngrisnir "teeth barer" and Tanngnjostr "teeth grinder (two goats that reincarnate every time they're eaten, and pulls a Thor's chariot)

Children •Móði, and Thrudr (Strength). He was also the father of three sons, Modi (Courage) and Magni (Strength), and his son Ull

Appearance in astral or gen• Thor is a huge, good-hearted, rough-hewn, red-haired and -bearded man with fiery eyes.

Festivals • Þorrinn, pronounced “Thorrinn” in English

Day • Thursday

Place• in sacred groves, including the one near Dublin.

Status• Norse deity in the asier, protecting Asgard 

Hates• Jörmungand (they kill each other), snakes.

His Tarot cards• Chariot

Scents/Inscene • Pine, Cinnamon, Musk, Nutmeg and Sage

Prayers• 

Sif & Thor 

I offer this prayer to Thor and to the Goddess Sif. Hail to You, Holy Ones. Hail to You, Protectors of Midgard, Hail to You, Son of Odin and Hail to You, His gleaming Bride. You hallow and drive out all pollution. You are mighty. There is no malignant force that You cannot banish. There is no threat, You cannot overcome. You are magnificent and Your grace protects me in the face of evil. Mighty Thor, wise, compassionate Friend of humanity, look upon us and wield Your hammer for our protection. Gracious Sif, You Whose gentle touch causes the grain to grow, please nourish us, restore us, and grant us the fortitude to walk in alignment with the Holy Powers always. Through Your blessings, may we grow strong in faith. through Your blessings may we grow strong in devotion. Through Your blessings, may we always resist impiety, may we be nourished as the grain is nourished under Your caring hands. In times of peril, come to our aid, I pray. In times of desperation, I place myself under Your care.nHail Thor, Son of Odin. Hail Sif, His Gracious Bride.

To Thor 

Son of Strength. I ask you to grant me that strength. That I may lift the weight of the day. Defender of Midgard. Grant me your skill in battle. That I may protect my family, my land and my kin. Bringer of Rain and Thunder. Grant me the ability to wash the weariness and pain of my daily work. That I may strike my next task like the blows from Mjolnir.  Son of Odin, Hammer Wielder, Giant Killer and Guardian of Man. I ask that you make me like the sturdy oak. That I do not break from the blows of misfortune. That I may not be crushed by the powerful. That I may be resilient and mighty like your own arm. That I may be brave to face the evil of this world. Hail Thor!

Links/websites/sources •

http://www.northernpaganism.org/shrines/thor/offerings.htmlhttps://www.reddit.com/r/pagan/comments/v3qn1e/offerings_to_thor/https://www.tumblr.com/freyjasdottirr/656705772435193856/how-to-worship-thor-for-beginners https://occult-world.com/thor/https://aminoapps.com/c/pagans-witches/page/blog/thor/7eop_a5jCPurvZk2W3QXxP55Yaen6YJzQZ taking-thymehttps://kids.britannica.com/students/article/Thor/313835#:~:text=Thor's%20wife%20was%20Sif%2C%20a,stepfather%20of%20Sif's%20son%20Ull.https://norse-mythology.org/symbols/thors-hammer/https://www.reddit.com/r/heathenry/comments/j30vk6/offering_prayer_to_thor/Charming of the Plough Prayer to Thor and Sif | Gangleri's Grove

@aretemisapollo

There you go, have a good thorsday

(it's funnier on Thursday)

#the gods #thor odinson #doing the research for you #asier #norse heathenry #greek gods #norse mythology #norse gods #norse pantheon #norse paganism #norse heathen #heathen #heathenry #thor #thor ragnarok #thor worship

[lemontartyellow]

Season 1 Ed is such a funky little guy because one scene with him you could be like “Awww poor dude :(((( People are so mean to him for no reason :(((( He’s just a dorky guy who is trying to be nice but doesn’t understand social cues :((((“ And the next he will say/do some shit that’s the spiritual successor to Jerma985’s “If I chop you up in a meat grinder” and then you’ll be like “Ohhhhh, I get it now, there is something deeply wrong with him”

#edward nygma #gotham #the riddler

[foxqueen-katarian]

Darkness and Spiritual Guardians is such a mean spell combo. Particularly if you also hide your Barb and Fighter just inside the Darkness radius and give them Sentinel.

It’s just so mean to sit in a choke point and make enemies run into the meat grinder that is your party.

#it does mean that my Druid sits in a corner and holds concentration on the Darkness spell #but it’s worth it because you don’t have to worry about Ranger attacks #BG3 #*ranged #cheesed the Halsin portal fight this way

[funeralshawls]

#tch #bitch im wasted i smell Guud 😔 #zheani #the spiritual meat grinder

[warsofasoiaf]

Looking at European peasant rebellions, there are some cases of peasants forcing knights and minor nobles to lead them. I don't understand how that could work; whats to stop the so called leader from just running away, or even purposely sending the peasants into a meat grinder?

There's a lot of ways that could happen depending on the circumstances. A lot of these nobles despised the feudal overlords that were above them, particularly for nobles in service to large kings at the fringes of their kingdoms. Peasants might have threatened to not pay or burn their taxes if they didn't rise up in revolt. They could threaten to besiege their keeps (particularly useful if the keep was small or if they had family there) or run them out of town (for hedge knights and other landless warriors). And usually, there were other members of the senior command who knew enough about military strategy that they'd see a bad one - from watch commanders and guards to actual loyalist nobles.

However, usually there was also a system of carrots to supplement the stick. Plenty of these minor nobles would be independent rulers of their new land. As leaders, they'd be entitled to a share of the enemy's war chest. Also, an appeal to community might help smooth things over. Religiously-motivated revolts such as with the Cathars or Lollards had spiritual rewards and a sense of community for supporting their fellow co-religionists, and national/ethnic revolts had similar appeals, such as the Flemish rebelling against France during the Franco-Flemish War.

I could probably be more specific if you had a specific campaign in mind.

Thanks for the question, Alt.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

#history

[deadratinhotcar]

I’m as dull as a knife.

I am a whore of a wife

Fucking killing this life

So happy, I cried.

I’m an angel, why am I on my knees?

#music #Zheani #zheani sparkes #the spiritual meat grinder #TSMG #Spotify

[rymbrr]

Never leaving the spiritual meat grinder, it seems

[valley-of-the-lost]

Something that deeply bothers me about Back From the Brink, especially as an adaptation, is its treatment of Yan Hui is absolutely criminal. My poor girl went through a meat grinder and came out the other side a shadow of her former self.

Most of her arcs from the novel are immediately flattened right out of the gate. She's immediately 100% on the side of the spirits, which completely skips her arc in the novel where she was on the side of the spirits but she had to grapple with how that was in opposition to her strong attachments to the xian sects.

Her whole dynamic with Zi Yue has been actually completely gutted. Yan Hui can no longer see ghosts, so the whole misunderstanding that soured her initially friendly relationship with Zi Yue is completely gone and replaced with a shallow tsundere senior disciple + lazy/underpowered younger disciple. It also destroys the scene at the gate of Chen Xing Mountain when Yan Hui is leaving.

What happened in the novel was that Zi Yue was trying to provoke Yan Hui as Yan Hui was leaving the mountain, and then she finally succeeds by breaking the hairpin Yan Hui's shifu gave her. The drama counterpart of this scene is just Zi Yue going "hey take your stuff with you" in a very tsundere manner and then Yan Hui stabbing next to her head. Without the trigger of the hairpin Yan Hui just looks like a dick instead of someone who was pushed to explode.

Oh, but that's not even getting into the nonsense with not only depowering Yan Hui but also poorly utilizing the few skills they allowed her to have.

There was no reason to depower her. Literally none. You can't even say it was to clear the way for her to become Lady of the Dark Aura because the whipping scene right before would've destroyed her cultivation anyway. All it does is detract from her agency, like making the event that facilitated her banishment from Chen Xing Mountain an accident as opposed to a purposeful move. It also neuters the seed of her relationship with Tian Yao because the whole reason he started falling for her was because she defended him over and over again when he was at his most vulnerable. And now the scenes where she actually does that are noticeably fewer than in the novel because those scenes required her to actually be able to fight. It's infuriating.

What makes it worse is that she DOES still have a couple of abilities of her own left over, like the ability to use ambient spiritual energy to hold her breath and make a sword fly. An ability she uses a grand total of... 3? 4? times before its dropped completely. And it might not be such a big deal if this ability wasn't revealed to be something her shifu taught her in lieu of being able to learn the stuff the other disciples were. This automatically associates the impact this ability has on Yan Hui's life to the impact her shifu has on her life. But Yan Hui barely uses her ambient spiritual energy technique, so is the story trying to say that her shifu has barely had an impact on her life?

I know that's not what it's trying to say btw, but it's laughable that when the drama reveals it was Ling Xiao that taught Yan Hui how to use ambient spiritual energy its framed like its something significant when its use in the drama was little more than a slightly useful party trick that gets dropped even before the Yongzhou arc kicks off.

Which brings me to Tian Yao and how Drama! Tian Yao is parasitic to Yan Hui's character. Yan Hui's power has been stripped so any power she has left or does get is tied to Tian Yao. He teaches her how to use the Heart Protection Scale, he has to save her from the aura in the forest with Flaming Dragon Fang (Tian Yao does a weird amount of fighting for the guy thats supposed to be depowered and has his body still 80% scattered), and Yan Hui masters the Dark Aura for the purpose of protecting/saving him. She is not allowed to keep or have a skill set that isn't tied to Tian Yao in some way.

This is in stark contrast to the novel that while she is alluded to have boosted power due to part of Tian Yao being in her body, she was actually trained by Chen Xing Mountain so those skills are all her own. Sure, Tian Yao adds to her repertoire by teaching her new techniques, but the difference between this and what the drama does is the difference between teaching someone who already knows tools how to use a new one and basically teaching someone from the ground up. It's narratively patronizing to her character.

And... in the same vein, the drama stole a scene from Yan Hui where she takes Tian Yao back to her hometown and the graves of her parents and instead has him bring her to Dragon Valley.

Hhhhh...

This might not be such a problem if the drama hadn't established that it was indeed dedicated to ripping out the structural supports of Yan Hui's character in favor of making her revolve emotionally around Tian Yao. And this just furthers it. Yan Hui isn't allowed to exist outside of Tian Yao, he can't have been sealed in a big tree near her hometown, instead she has to be an orphan that frees him unintentionally after stumbling across Dragon Valley. It's absurd.

And what's probably the worst part is that Zhou Ye was wasted in this role.

She's already proven she has the chops to act in the range of the type of character Yan Hui is. Gu Xiang is close enough to Yan Hui in terms of base attitude that I feel confident in saying Yan Hui is perfectly within Zhou Ye's acting range. And she looks great as Yan Hui too with the ponytail. But they just waste her with the butchering of Yan Hui's character and it's just sad to watch.

#voice of the lost #back from the brink #yan hui #hu xin #no this is not a structured essay i'm saving that for later