#you know what else used narrative tension to great effect but in a chill and vibing way?

[spoilertv]

#SpoilerTV

[phantoms-lair]

❧ ❧ ❧

Three huh, hooboy

~~

Ritsuko wasn’t sure what she was expecting from the third child, no one was since Gendo had lost him, but the smile boy wearing an honest to god black cloak and ornate rings wasn’t it.

“So you’re telling me I was asked to come here in order to pilot a giant robot to fight that giant angel thing?” Shinji asked. “You can’t be serious!” Misato protested. “He’s had no training.” “AWESOME! And they said coming here was a bad idea! It’s even my color. Load me up!”  Misato resisted the urge to facepalm. Where was this fearlessness on the way in?

A1 Clips attached Shinji was brought in the entry plug and the LCL started filling in. “Should I be concerned?” Shinji asked, still remarkably calm for the situation.

“The liquid is breathable, you were oxygenated this way for nine months after all.”  Ritsuko explained calmly.

“Not what I was worried about- oh hey, this stuff tastes great!” Many of the the bridge workers, who’d grown to tolerate the smell of LCL looked at Unit 01 in confusion and a little disgust.

Gendo’s Kid Ritsuko reminded herself. “Unit 01 Launch.”

“Sure he climbs into the giant robot, but not my car.” Misato grumbled. “Okay Shinji, I need you to focus on walking.” The mecha took one tentative step. Then another. Shinji giggled and the robot began to bounce on it’s toes, before slipping and landing on it’s behind.

“Shinji are you okay?” He didn’t seem damaged from the feed, but the life sign readers were malfunctioning and not telling Ritsuko anything. “All okay-dokey.” Shinji said in a sing-song voice before straightening himself out. “Oh look, there’s the Angel. LET’S WRASSLE!” “Ritusko what the hell is going on?” Misato asked as Shinji attempted to suplex the Third Angel. “He wasn’t acting anything like this before.” “It just a hunch, since we don’t have enough data and the readouts aren’t calibrated properly to him,” which sounded better than saying they weren’t working, “But I believe he’s having a unique reaction to the LCL which is putting him in a hyperoxygenated state which-.” She sighed, realizing she had to simplify. “He’s getting high off the LCL.”

“That can happen?” Misato asked, aghast.

“There’s no evidence of it happening before, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. He’s been getting progressively more twitchy the longer he’s in there.” She gestured to the plug feed where Shinji was drumming his fingers on the controls, tapping his feet, and grinning like a loon.

“Oh God, we have to pull him out.” MIsato had paled considerably. She didn’t even want to think about the damage that could be done in this state. “Shinji you need to-” “DEATHTRON HAMMER!” Shinji charged at the Third Angel shoulder first. The AT Fields clashed, creating a red aura around Shinji as he broke through and began pummeling the Third Angel before suddenly retreating and climbing on top of the deployment shaft.  “And now the grand finale. Passed down through the Valentine Family, ARTEM BUSTER!” Cackling he leapt off the shaft and landed elbow first, right on the Third Angel’s core. The resultant explosion blew him off, causing him to ragdoll through the air, before landing in one of the mountains.

“We got lucky,” Misato said grimly. 

~

Section 2 seemed all to happy to shove the boy at Ritsuko. He was still under the effects of the LCL and was talking a mile a minute, occasionally going into a fighting pose and punching the air a few times as if to make a point.

Ritsuko pinched the bridge of her nose. As Misato said, they’d gotten lucky he’d defeated the Angel in this state. He clearly wouldn’t be able to pilot until they could counter whatever he was reacting to in the LCL. “Shinji, we need to give you an exam since the senors in the EVA were malfunctioning and not picking up anything.” Shinji paused in his reenactment of his fight. “You mean like beating and heartbeat and stuff?” He went back to his play fighting the air.

“That’s correct.” Ritsuko felt a headache coming on. “Your sensors are probably fine.” Shinji tried to do a spin kick and failing. “I just don’t have any.”

“You don’t have any life signs?”  “Nope.” Shinji gave them a big grin, with canine teeth that were a little too long and sharp. “I’m a vampire.”

The two college roommates looked at each other. “Shinji, vampires aren’t real.” Misato started to explain.

In response Shinji turned into a purple hued bat and began an erratic flight in circles, cackling all the way, not knowing how many plans just went up in smoke.

~~~~

Shinji raised by someone else is a common enough trope in fanfiction. I at one point thought of trying my hand at it and went with the Valentine Vampires from Shadow Hearts. It never got past the planning stage, but damned if this wasn’t going to be a fun Shinji

(Note: Shinji ‘died’ in a car crash before being brought back as a vampire by Hilda, so he’s terrified of being in cars)

(More under cut)

~~ “Later, I need to talk to you. About The Case.” There had been a time when 'The Case' had been the drunk driver that hit his wife. Now it was the dark cloud that had hung over Inaba for nearly a year.

Yuu froze. “Is something wrong?”

“No I just – I just need a little more information,” Dojima decided. A hell of a lot more was more truthful.

Yuu nodded. “After Nanako goes to bed, I'll tell you anything you want to know.”The emphasis on the word 'want' puzzled Dojima. As they sat down Nanako reach for the remote and flicked on the TV. Dojima felt a slight chill down his spine, knowing that his daughter had once gone through a similar screen.

Then it hit him. The reason for Yuu's odd manner of speech was to give Dojima an out on some things he might be disturbed by. What little Dojima knew about the occurrences was frightening and mind blowing. Yuu was giving him a way out, trying to protect him from having his world blown apart even further.

Stupid kid, always trying to protect everyone around him. It was moments like this that Dojima would never admit to. Watching his nephew shine in sports and academia was something for any family member to be proud of. But it was watching how he cared and looked out for people, how he protected everyone he came across with the same ferocity that Dojima himself had, that made him wish Yuu had been his son, not his sister's.

Still, Yuu could protect his friends, Nanako, and any other passerby he met, but trying to protect his uncle was taking it too far.

The evening seemed to crawl by at a snail's pace. It seemed a small eternity before Dojima finally finished reading his daughter a bedtime story and turned out her lights.

Yuu was waiting for him in his room, two cups of tea steaming on his table. Dojima tried to start the conversation, but his nephew cut him off. “Ten minutes”

“What?”

“It normally takes Nanako about ten minutes to fall asleep. I don't want her listening in on this conversation.” And thus began the longest ten minutes in Dojima's life. 

Finally Yuu put down his tea and looked Dojima in the eye. “What do you want to know?”

“Everything.” It's more than just the details of the murders. It what his nephew has been through this past year and why on Earth he didn't tell anyone. He did muttered Dojima's subconscious. Twice

“This is your last chance to back out,” Yuu warned. Receiving no reply, he sighed. “It began the day after Yamano's body was found. Yosuke was treating me to a meal as a welcome to town and Chie came along. We met Saki-sempai...” Yuu stopped and shook his head. He hadn't known and there was nothing he could have done at that point. “As we parted, Chie told us about this Urban Myth, the Midnight Channel. That if you looked into a turned off TV at midnight on a rainy evening, you'll see your soulmate.” 

Dojima raised an eyebrow. 

“Don't give me that look. I know how childish it sounds, but I had already seen Chie play the Nutcracker Suite on Yosuke with very little provocation, and besides, what could it hurt? It wasn't like anything would actually happen.” Yuu chuckled self deprecatingly.  “As the clock struck midnight, I looked out the window. Three streetlamps glowed; red, yellow, and blue. The rain was light, but you could still hear the patter on the roof and pavement.”

Dojima felt a chill run up his spine in a way that he hadn't since he was a small child. The faraway look in his nephew's eyes told him he wasn't just telling the story, he was narrating it as he relived the events in his mind.“When I first heard static coming from the television, I thought it was my imagination. I turned around to see the television, that has been off a second ago, was on. I saw flashes of a girl, running from something in fear. The images only lasted a few seconds, then faded to nothing, leaving only the slight glow of a TV that should have been turned off. That's when I heard the voice.”

“I'm still not sure what it was, Izanagi perhaps,-” Yuu continued, ignoring the question his uncle was about to ask, or perhaps too far gone in the memory to realize Dojima had been about to interrupt. “-it's voice seemed to cleave my body in two. I thought my head would explode from the pain. It's word echoed through me: 'I am Thou and Thou art I. Thou art the one who opens the door'.And then – silence.” 

Tension left Yuu's frame. “The only sound came from rain, the only light from the streetlamps. I wasn't even sure if what had just happened was real or not.” Yuu turned from his uncle, towards the TV. “I don't know what I was thinking. At that point, I'm not even sure I was. I just reached out...” Following his narrative, Yuu stretched his right hand out, his fingertip barely touching the screen.

Dojima felt his heart leap into his throat as a ripple pattern flowed across the screen from the contact. Yuu had yanked his hand back, the tentatively reached out again. This time he didn't pull back, pushing his am into the screen nearly up to his shoulder.

Yuu looked at him calmly, completely unphased by how impossible what he was doing was. “This is how it started Uncle. If I hadn't stayed up that night, perhaps I never would have gotten involved.” He pulled his hand back out. “The voice in my head, the images that showed on the Midnight channel, the power that lets me pass through the door, all were important to solving the case.”

“You have a lot of unused vacation time. It's time to call it in. I knew eventually you'd want to know the whole story and we'd discussed how to explain. We decided the best way was to walk you down our path, to reenact the major moments of the case. Tomorrow we'll head to the one place that was the key to our investigation. I'll continue the story there, where we first got involved.” Yuu's expression softened. The take charge tone he had been using evened out to the gentle voice he associated with his nephew. “I know what you just saw isn't easy to accept. It wasn't easy for me either, for any of us. There's no nice way to explain everything that happened-”

“There's never a nice way to explain murder,” Dojima growled, trying the quiet his thumping heart. A large part of his mind trying to find some explanation for what he just saw.

“No, there isn't, but this...it got messier in far more personal ways. You'll see. Rise and Naoto are coming over tomorrow to play with Nanako. And we'll begin on the path of the investigation. You should get some rest.” 

“And you expect me to just fall asleep tonight?” Dojima asked dryly, not sure if he was being serious or trying to lighten the mood.

“It would be best, tomorrow will be tiring. That place always is.”

“That place?”

“Trust me,” It wasn’t a statement, from his nephew, but a plea. Because Dojima hadn’t trusted him on the important things. And because of that a bunch of kids had to face a murderer alone.

“I do.” More of a promise than a statement. That he wouldn’t discount what his nephew  told him ever again.

~~~~ One of the few things that left be dissatisfied in Persona 4 was Dojima’s whole ‘lets not talk about it’ after the fact. He’s the type of person who’d need to know and understand before he could put it to bed in his mind. So this, Backside of the TV would be the group walking him through it to try and gain that understanding.

~~

A haunted looking man stared into his reflection in the bathroom mirror. He had come so far, from the child of poor farmers in his home country to being one of the top programmers in a large-scale American cooperation. Was he really prepared to throw it all away?

There was no doubt about it, a product recall at the late stage would destroy global trust in the company. Competitors could easily move in and remove his company from the picture. Not only would he certainly be fired, but he would be unhireable. All for something that had less than a one in a million chance of happening.

But what if it does happens, eh?  His conscience whispered at him. Could you go on living with yourself knowing some poor soul gets hurt because you did NOTHING?

The man splashed some cold water on his face. It wouldn't do to lose control of his emotions. There was only one thing he could do, and he was going to do it with pride and dignity. Drying his face with a towel, the man marched out of the restroom with a renewed sense of purpose. He marched to the main meeting room, where all the major stockholders and even the company president were waiting.

Trying not to let his fear show, he moved to the podium, sliding his notes and proofs into the small cubby within it. One final deep breath and it was time...

“Gentlemen,” began Rodrick McStewart, “The Pinnacle chip is flawed.”

“A 'flaw'?” Armando Guitierrez's voice sounded innocently curious, but it was all Roddy could do to keep from shivering. “What kind of 'flaw'?”

“One I've never seen before,” Roddy answered honestly. “If activated, the chip's ability to increase the rate of information flow goes into overdrive, the consequence of which are, to say the least, dire.”

One of the stockholders leaned forward “What do you mean 'dire'?”

McStewart sighed. “The computer would start downloading information from the internet at an unseen rate. And not just one or two files, it would try to download the whole bloody thing. Rather than slowing down as this continues, it speeds up causing the system to critically overheat in under a minute. It's not unlikely the computer would explode, causing serious damage to the user in the process.”

It was silent as a morgue.  “W-What are the odds of this happening?” Another suited man asked.

Crud. He was hoping that wouldn't come up. “I've calculated the odds at four hundred and fifty million to one.” As he feared, he watched the entire boardroom relax, joking amongst themselves that they had been scared of nothing. The fools saw such a large number as unreachable. But the truth was the chip had already sold over 60 million units on pre-order alone.  In under a year it would reach five hundred million, practically guaranteeing at least one accident.

Guitierrez took a deep breath. “Thank you for bringing this to our attention, Roddy. I will discuss this with the shareholders. If you would please wait in my office, we can discuss this further and see how we can salvage this.”

He knew he was being dismissed, but it was more than he had thought he would get. At least Guitierrez was willing to listen to him in private, even if he was going to spend the next hour telling the stockholders there was no problem.

Guitierrex's office was a long rectangular room, the north side of which was completely glass. The mahogony deck used the window as a backdrop. Roddy flopped down in the wheeled leather chair in front of the desk and pulled out his notes. On one of the pages was a picture of the Pinnacle chip focused in on it most important feature, the 'Broken Arrow' core. Many times McStewart wished he could have spoke with the R&D team that had developed it. It's power was amazing, McStewart was sure the chip he had built around it wasn't accessing a fraction of it's true power. 

“Thank you for your patience Roddy, no sit, sit” Guitierrez  gestured  for the programmer to remain sitting in the wheeled leather chair. “How could this has happened?

“The Broken Arrow core is so powerful. Moreso than we ever could have guessed. A system built around it would probably be the most powerful system in existence, but a normal computer just can't safely handle it.”

“I see,” Guitierrez walked to the north wall of his office, which was a solid glass window letting in the cold December sun. “We shall have to rally as quickly as possible. How many other developers are aware of the flaw?”

“None, I didn't want to start a panic, not until I was completely sure.”

Guitierrez turned his back from the window “A wise move Roddy,” He gripped the back of Roddy's chair. “I thank you for your final service to this company.” 

Roddy had expected to be fired. What he hadn't expected was for his employer to start pushing the chair at top speed towards the window. He also hadn't expected the window to not me made of hurricane glass.

Shards of shattered glass fell with him as he tumbled out the window. He hit a tree branch with a thud that probably broke all his ribs but halted his fall enough to survive it. As quickly as he could he made his way to his car. He wished he could just call an ambulance, but he didn’t want to give Guitierrez the chance to finish the job.

Elswhere, Debbie Douglas put in the preorder for one of those Pinnacle chips. It would be just the perfect thing to give Dexter for Christmas.

~~~~

An attempt to redo Freakazoid as a more serious superhero story. Not much more to be said.

#Anonymous #Ghost Writing #NGE #Shadow Hearts #Persona 4 #Freakazoid #I don't know why it moved the readmore to the top of the document #by it won't let me fix it

[akocomyk]

Twenty-eight books read in 2019.  Sixteen longlisted books.  One person who wastes his time writing sh*t as if they really matter.

Here it is.  The best books I read in the past year.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

The unfortunate books that I had to let go since I only had ten spots to fill.

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green (2017)

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie (1934)

History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera (2017)

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie (1926)

Bird by Bird by Anne Lammott (1994)

The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith (2014)

*Ratings range from 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest

━━━━ ☆ ━━━━

10th Place

56 by Bob Ong (2018)

Rating: 4.300

Bob Ong makes a comeback on my list with his latest novel.  His other book, Si, ranked 10th last 2015.  This is the second time a Filipino book enters the list and is also the second nonfiction book ever—after Into the Wild last 2016.

In his latest release, Ong returns to the writing style that made him famous— reminiscent of his earlier books like ABNKKBSNPLAko.  56 is like a 300-page commentary or editorial about the issues of the present Filipino generation.

Other readers have found the book a little too preachy.  I find it enlightening as it serves as a wake-up call to the Filipinos who are turning their blindsides to the harsh realities of our nation.

━━━━ ☆ ━━━━

9th Place

Mga Kirot ng Kapalaran (Kikomachine Komix blg. 11) by Manix Abrera (2015)

Rating: 4.445

This is a long-overdue recognition to my favorite comic strip artist (Fun Fact: I met him quite a few times already).  For many years, I've ignored the chance to even put his works in the list of contenders.  I'm not throwing it away again.  Now, I have my first book to enter the top 10 classified under comics and graphic novels.

In this collection of strips by Manix Abrera, his work remains as humorous and as satirically laughable as the first time I saw his comic. Themes have changed to reflect the new trends and issues of our present society.

For as long as Manix draws and publishes his work, I will continue to read them as I know he gives an intellectual yet amusing input to our society's problems.

━━━━ ☆ ━━━━

8th Place

Mga Batang Poz by Segundo Matias, Jr. (2018)

Rating: 4.450

“Beautiful and relevant, but not flawless,” this is what I said on my review for this YA novel.

Mga Batang Poz is the third Filipino book on this list.  Having three books on the list is a first.  Furthermore, this is also the first time in four years that a Filipino book enters the list.

As previously mentioned, I have certain problems with regard to the overarching narrative of the novel.  I wish that Matias could’ve written something more elaborate or something that doesn’t feel forced.

Nevertheless, the book accomplishes its goal of being a story that advocates HIV awareness, especially towards the youth.

━━━━ ☆ ━━━━

7th Place

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate (2012)

Rating: 4.485

In this book, you'll see both the cruelty and the compassion of humanity through the eyes of a gorilla named Ivan who is the narrator of the story.

Ivan is based on a real-life gorilla who was being used as a live animal attraction in Zoo Atlanta.

It is quite obvious that the book is meant for a younger audience, but despite this, I know anyone of any age will be able to appreciate it.  Ivan is a gorilla after all, and I think the simplicity of how it was written suits his character, making the tone of the story more natural.

Overall, it was very touching.  Although it mirrors pretty much what happened to the real-life Ivan, it efficiently delivers its message for animal welfare.

━━━━ ☆ ━━━━

6th Place

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (1939)

Rating: 4.525

This is a mystery novel filled with suspense and everything that'll make you love and hate it at the same time.  The horror it gives chills you to the bone for every page you turn.

Agatha Christie is insane—and I mean that in a good way.  The plot was so well-thought out that even when nearing at the end, I had no clue who the culprit was.  When it was revealed to me, I was like, “Yeah.  That makes absolute f*cking sense.”

For a book that has ten major characters, it does well in handling them.  You know when a piece of literature is brilliantly made when even if its length isn’t considerably long, it doesn’t sacrifice the characters’ backgrounds and the narrative of the story.

Despite the novel’s inhumane and despicable acts, it also addresses issues about criminal injustices that are still prevalent today.  In our country alone, criminals—corrupt officials, master drug dealers, rapists, murderers—are still roaming around the streets, evading the consequences of their actions.   At times when the law is not enforced properly, people resort to their own type of justice.

━━━━ ☆ ━━━━

5th Place

Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram (2018)

Rating: 4.590

In this debut novel by Adib Khorram, the titular character Darius suffers from clinical depression.  Also, he's a Star Trek and Lord of the Rings fan.

This book demonstrates the fact that real depression is not simply cured by positive reinforcement and bible verses—as what most overly religious people think.

The novel highlights Darius' relationship with the other characters—most especially with Sohrab.  It shows how he copes up with them while he struggles with his mental disorder.

There are also subtle hints of homosexuality, which added to the overall tension of the story since the main characters are Muslims.  It wasn't blatant but it was obviously present—in the right and necessary amount.

To me, this is a spiritual brother of Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz—one of my favorite books.  It gave me the same feeling of awe, beautiful pain, and joyful nostalgia. There were parts that broke my heart—I was ugly crying while riding a bus—and by the end, I was a complete mess, although I'm utterly happy.

━━━━ ☆ ━━━━

4th Place

Moonrise by Sarah Crossan (2017)

Rating: 4.595

What I love most about this book is how it was written.  Instead of being in paragraphs, it was written in verses—like poetry.  I thought it was creative and oddly fitting for the story.

Even though there are more blank spaces on the pages than letters, those words are enough to draw me into the story.

The novel is about Ed whose brother was up on death row.  I found myself rooting for him, and I was hoping similarly to how he was hoping in the story.  When the end came, I couldn't help myself from closing my eyes.

The narrative was fairly simple, it matches the way it was written.  The characters—although few and also written with the utmost simplicity—feel so human and are not flat, cardboard cutouts.

In the light of all the flawed justice systems and abuses of law enforcers not just in America but everywhere else in the world, it's good to find a book that's bold enough to address such issues and an author who's brave enough to write them.

Lots of murderers are on the loose, yet there are innocent people being slaughtered for crimes they didn't commit.

━━━━ ☆ ━━━━

3rd Place

On the Come Up by Angie Thomas (2018)

Rating: 4.605

Just when you thought Angie Thomas couldn't write anything as good as The Hate U Give (THUG), she gives us this.  If it's not better, then it sure is as brilliant as her debut novel.

This is Thomas' second consecutive year in my list, with THUG bagging the top plum last year.

The novel is proof of Thomas’s writing prowess.  It successfully immersed me into the life of her protagonist, a life filled with hope, angst, and ambition.  And the dialogue… Especially the rap battles.  They were amazing.  Seeing as Thomas herself was a rapper, you can feel the ingenuity in her words.

Moreso, this is one book that we really need in our present times.  It reflects all of my sentiments regarding social media and how it can make or break a person.  And how much the oppressed and marginalized communities lack representation, and how they are still subject to much prejudice.

━━━━ ☆ ━━━━

2nd Place

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (2007)

Rating: 4.680

This beautiful novel demonstrates the horror of domestic violence towards women.  It also provides a glimpse of the people and culture of Afghanistan during the times of war.

I'm in love with how Khaled Hosseini's characters flesh out from the pages.  You'd love them.  You'd care for them.  Their agony becomes yours.  Their pain drips out from the corners of the books as your tears trail down your cheeks.

And on their sweet, small victories, you'd give a sigh of relief as the anxiety is slowly drained from your body.

In the two years that I've read a book by Hosseini, it didn't fail to shatter my heart. The Kite Runner ranked first in my 2017 list, and now this. If ever get to read another one of his books, I've no doubt it will also be a contender for that year's list.

━━━━ ☆ ━━━━

1st Place

Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman (2018)

Rating: 4.765

This book is also up on my shelf for the best sequels ever—be it for any medium.

I read this earlier this year and it remained unbeatable until 2019 ended.

This is the second book in Neal Shusterman's Arc of a Scythe trilogy, the sequel to Scythe—which placed 3rd in my 2017 list.

Growth and expansion. These are the things I love about the sequel.  Ronan and Citra, the two main protagonists of the trilogy, are older, wiser, and better people, despite the fact that they're teenagers.  You can feel their struggles with their respective endeavors.

Also, the universe is bigger.  The Arc of Scythe novels feature a world where death does not exist and everyone is biologically immortal.  In order to balance the earth’s population, there are these so-called Scythes whose life-long job is to assassinate anyone they choose.

In this sequel, you get to know more about the mechanisms of their world.  There’s a new main character, Grayson, who takes you deeper and gives you a view of what it's like to live as a normal human.

The book deals with the adverse effects of the ways power-hungry people want to achieve their ambitions.

But that's not why I went gaga after reading the book.

IT.  WAS.  EPIC.  The plot twists within the plot twists.  The narrative.  And the ending.  My god, that ending.  I COULD HEAR MY SILENT SCREAMS.  After the last page, the only thing I thought of was, "GIVE ME THE THIRD BOOK RIGHT NOW!"

Thunderhead isn’t flawless, but it’s a very fine piece of literature that I recommend to anyone who loves to read.

• • • • •

I hope I won't regret putting Thunderhead in first place after a few years.  I regret giving the top spot to I'll Give You the Sun last 2016.  After pondering about the books I've read in the past years, I've found that Anthony Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See is one remarkable and memorable book, and the one I should've given the highest honors.

Books with relevant themes dominated my shelf but the book that won my heart was the one with intricate plots and a phenomenal ending.  It feels weird but I hope for the best.

Happy New Year, everyone!

#Top10books

[eddycurrents]

BPRD: The Devil You Know ~ Messiah - Chapter One

Story: Mike Mignola & Scott Allie | Art: Laurence Campbell | Colours: Dave Stewart | Letters: Clem Robins

Originally published by Dark Horse in BPRD: The Devil You Know #1 | July 2017

Collected in BPRD: The Devil You Know - Volume 1: Messiah

Plot Summary:

While Liz and a team work to clear Parkinson, North Carolina and find the van that was transporting Abe, a premonition seems to be forming across the world. Ashley Strode is getting warnings from a demonic possession, Fenix is having creepy dreams, and Varvara is on the march gathering followers. “She is coming.”

Reading Notes:

(Note: Pagination is in reference to the chapter itself and is not indicative of anything found in the issue or collections.)

pg. 1 - This is a different way to open, with a text piece. As part of a communique to Devon, it effectively tells a bit about the current status quo, consequences for Liz’s actions in the last arc, and plants the seeds of a few ongoing plot elements.

pg. 2 - This is gorgeous. And ominous. Both the crow representing a possible harbinger of doom, and the giant rocky Ogdru Hem. The dust around everything just makes it feel claustrophobic. Like the air itself is choking the world.

pg. 3 - Laurence Campbell and Dave Stewart just rock at depicting ruined post-apocalyptic landscapes. 

pg. 4-5 - I think using Howards as an intro to what the Bureau is up to on the ground is an interesting choice. While he’s channelling his lifetime spent in the past fighting monsters, he still represents a brutal change to how to approach this new world. That it’s bloody and violent, regularly trying to eat you. Also, that the old ways can often tend to still work, just through adaptation. His improvised shield with a car door is genius.

pg. 7 - I don’t think Liz was back home during the worst of Devon’s prejudice against Abe, but that’s no reason that she wouldn’t have heard it from Panya or literally any other BPRD agent in her return. This seems to be continuing the idea that there’s still tension there and that there’s certainly friction against Devon’s leadership.

pg. 8 - It’s great to see Ashley Strode being brought back into the main narrative. It makes you wonder what’s going to shift, other than Varvara, to make her role more essential to the Bureau.

pg. 9 - Like in the opening text describing the dreams of a girl, the demon here is probably referring to Varvara. Probably.

pg. 10 - Oof. That’s one hell of a way to find out that Kate’s dead.

pg. 11 - I like the designs of the new portable heavy ordinance that the Bureau’s got. 

Also, it’s kind of sad that Tian now seems to be filling the complainer role. There always seems to be one, and I kind of would have expected it to be Nichols since he spent some of Cometh the Hour being an asshat, but Tian’s largely been the empathetic rock. To see him turn to squabbling and defeatism seems to underline the idea that everything is turning to crap.

pg. 12 - The immensity of the field of “cricket” eggs is horrifying. It’s like a field of xenomorph eggs multiplied infinitely. The rats chilling by a skeleton just add that extra detail of more unnerving material.

pg. 13 - Made even worse that they seem to be popping.

pg. 15 - Probably not a good way to go. The shimmery blue electro-wand thing reminds me of some of the Heliopic Brotherhood of Ra technology from Witchfinder.

pg. 16 - That stings.

pg. 18 - This hurts, but I love the callback, a reminder as to the kind of person that Tian was. Thematically, it’s also kind of the death of hope.

pg. 19 - If this is the “dream” that people are sharing, it’s kind of disturbing. Though I think it’s interesting that it’s left open as to whether it’s Varvara or someone else.

pg. 21 - Dragging the van with Abe’s body towards the Ogdru Hem. That does raise questions as to what they want Abe for.

pg. 22 - This is...something. Great art from Campbell and Stewart.

pg. 23 - More ominous premonitions about “she’s coming”. Also, Eris is really creepy.

pg. 25 - Speaking of creepy. Kroenen and von Klempt as an odd couple is still funny and disturbing. Especially now that Kroenen seems to be the only one who can hear von Klempt (who really appears dead) and they’re also talking about “her” coming.

pg. 26 - Varvara coming across the two of them probably isn’t a good thing.

pg. 28 - Giving a demon an army of normal people likely isn’t going to end well.

Final Thoughts:

This is the beginning of the end, the culmination of 25 years of storytelling, and it starts with a gathering storm. It starts off in the fairly familiar opening of many BPRD stories, checking in with many of the different characters, picking up not too long after Cometh the Hour, out searching for Abe’s body.

It’s interesting, though, because despite being a natural continuation of the story and having a visual consistency with Laurence Campbell providing the incredible line art and Dave Stewart the colours, it feels different. I think it’s probably the layouts that contribute to this. Cometh the Hour was large, bombastic, and explosive as it wound down the Hell on Earth movement. This is tighter. What feels like more panels and tiers, changing the overall pacing and atmosphere.

d. emerson eddy knows the end is coming soon.

#Give 'em Hellboy #Hellboy #BPRD #The Devil You Know #Messiah #Mike Mignola #Scott Allie #Laurence Campbell #RaisingHellboy #360

[sparda3g]

Gintama Chapter 702 Review

I have been dreading for Gintama to return and not only I got my satisfaction, it exceeded my expectation. Although the chapter is shorter than last time, the content still packs a heavy punch to leave you feeling awed and invested. This chapter was an outstanding setup for the grand finale that I still have chills, goosebumps, and anything else that a man would feel when the hype is extraordinary. Once more, I’m dreading for Gintama to return.

It has been a while since the last chapter, though luckily for me, I still remember the setup and the events took place. I remember Takasugi reached to the top to confront Shouyo while Yorozuya is reunited and running towards where the two are at. Sadly, this chapter doesn’t begin with a gag like the last shift, but it’s all good when the series is at the intense climax. We’re in the endgame now.

The chapter begins with a really good hype build-up with yours truly, Sakamoto. That facial hair is doing wonder for his design as he come across like a really cool guy. That and the artwork is very solid throughout the chapter; clearly, Sorachi’s long break helps out the clarity. Back to Sakamoto, it’s all about the fate of the world, hence the chapter’s title. This moment raise the stake and increase the tension as it is the finale. It’s like the speech about history is written by the victor. The idea is this is the fight that will change everything; it’s the true endgame.

It is incredible that Earth stays getting attacked and always come close to world destruction. It’s practically fate by this point. Sakamoto always have a great speech in his arsenal and this is no exception. The pain and struggle always come for them, but their fate will deny the fate. It highlights all the Joui Four’s scenario respectively, a good reminder after a long break. It’s all about fighting to see the end and justify a reason they may or may not know. It’s inspiring and helps the hype level for what’s to come next.

Takasugi has been stellar throughout this arc. If he was like his old self before Shogun Assassination Arc, his ticking time bomb to death wouldn’t worry me. Now, I am anxious to know what his destination is. Needless to say, I’m deeply worry for the guy. With all that said, his confrontation with Shouyo is heartwarming; showcasing his great development. I’m really glad that he finally got to meet him alone. I wanted him to share his side of thoughts about his sensei, his comrades, and his own feelings.

As rough state Takasugi is in, he still smiles at the sight of his master. It’s not Utsuro, but Shouyo to his eye. He truly wants to go back home; back to the way things were. This was touching; I feel sorry for Takasugi. You can feel his words and expression how much he wanted to see him. The students may have split apart before, but now, they are returning back home. It’s a touching metaphor to say, “Family will always be family.”

The best part of the speech is when he contrast his life to Gintoki’s. In the midst of his speech, Otae was close to get crushed by blocks, but Yorozuya shows up in time to save her. Gintoki broke his staff and got hit by a block. It should be funny, but this quickly plays off as a moment to recover the best sword of them all. He is the man that moved ahead to the future and Takasugi’s role is his companion. The metaphor and the narration makes the moment emotional; I could draw tears. I can’t do it justice here, but the narrative flow is so good. Takasugi passing out got me praying; that’s how much I cared. He did recover, but then the scene segue to one of the most unexpected emotional scene this series gives so far, and that’s saying it a lot.

Out of all people to give us an emotional speech, it’s Utsuro/Shouyo himself. In fact, this is the best part of the chapter aside from the ending. Although he appears as Shouyo, it is best to be reminded that he’s the embodiment of all characters of himself within a body. In other words, he’s everyone; Utsuro, Shouyo, whoever. The idea is he acknowledge what and who he is, and nothing will change the fact he has long live to experience many life decisions. Even when he did die before, the memory remains, including Edo defeating him in the war. Honestly, this series presented very well how awful immortality can really be. He finally found the moment to die for good and this is for the best.

Shouyo’s speech doesn’t end there, but the scene does shift to Katsura and Hitsugi to connect the narrative of the end of Shouyo. There are few interesting notes here. Shouyo’s speech ties in to the moment where his heart was destroyed, because it truly is the end of him. Even if he were to gain a crystal, a replacement so to say, it’s only temporary. Basically, he’s human, and anyone with his blood will die along with him eventually. Technically, this is a plot twist and a damn good one. I’ll say it again, “We’re in the endgame now.”

What really captures my interest is Hitsugi as a character. I am stunned how Sorachi managed to make a mute guy and a third henchman into a sympathetic character and I like it. It’s another plot twist when you think about it. For a while, fans thought he’s favoring Utsuro to revive and restart the chaos once again. It turns out he is favoring him, but to put an end to his life; just as current Shouyo’s wish. It amazes me how any of his disciple truly loves him and knows what’s right. Clearly, he is the most beloved master.

I don’t know if this twist means other moments are red herring, but it’s more like us looking at the wrong direction. I thought he was a slave to Tendoshu, when in reality, he knows what needs to be done and reviving Utsuro isn’t it. What struck me the most is how he was able to understand the hardship and misery of Utsuro as immortal being. Even for a short while compare to Utsuro’s lifespan, it is a nightmare, so he wants to grant him death. What’s up with good writing making me feel sympathy for a character who is either evil or short-lived? I like how he wished the best for everyone associated with Utsuro a closure they deserved. Sleep well.

The best portion of the speech is here. After you take it all in with Shouyo’s wish and how the effect come in play, we learn how he truly feels about everything. It’s pretty emotional. His final move is to collide with Altana and cancel out the destruction to save Edo. It’s his only way to save a life and yet, he cannot save the loved ones that are his disciples. I don’t recall if I said this before and it doesn’t need to be said, but I’ll say it now: Shouyo is a tragic character.

He has been a great character, villain or not. Usually, a character can be good in one criteria, like a good person, but a crappy villain, or vice versa. Shouyo can work well for multiple roles. This is why he is well liked in the community. Because of good writing and sheer investment of these characters, I can sympathize his misery of not able to do well as immortal; can’t save not one disciple. Even offering a life with his blood, it only brought tragedy. When he cries, shoot, I begin to cry. He didn’t deserve this. He can make a great protagonist in a tragic series; I can’t say that’s a compliment. It’s sad as hell. Life truly sucks, and yet, he cannot die.

The chapter is covered with plot twists, so it might as well have one more and it’s the most shocking one. Imagine the mood you’re in after reading heartbreaking words from each characters; you’re overwhelmed with emotions. Then, the twist to top them all happens with a sheer suspense. A page left me wondering until blood is spill. Takasugi stabs Shouyo and it is gut-wrenching to fathom it. The twist is Takasugi is gone (for now at least) and Utsuro has taken over the body. Wow…

I didn’t see this coming. In fact, the way I saw it before this chapter was Utsuro is back in his own body and going to fight Takasugi before Gintoki arrives. Never would I guess Takasugi lose his conscious to Utsuro, but it makes a lot of sense. That’s why we needed to see Tendoshu as fallen victims to Utsuro. It all lined up well for this twist to happen. That said, it’s painful for Takasugi to be the man to kill his beloved master, before his very eye. Someone in the reddit pointed this out and it’s sadly true: both eyes witness the tragic fate with tears and death. Hasn’t he suffered enough? Bottom line, Utsuro is the final boss and it all comes down to the final scene.

I absolutely love the atmosphere of the aftermath of Altana destruction. Utsuro delivered bone-chilling words about Shouyo once again dies without saving anything. That’s just dark. After his line, the rest of the chapter goes silent and the visual storytelling kicks into high gear. What I love about this is how it is setting up for the final stage for the final battle. Gintoki is out of the rubble, resuming his chase for Shouyo. He arrives to the place, only to see his master dead. That’s awfully sad that he couldn’t fulfill the one path to see it through, and ironically, it’s because of Takasugi. The image of seeing your close friend being the murderer is morbid and disheartening. It’s even worse when Takasugi sadistically smile one more time before Utsuro completely takes over. Gintoki can’t catch a break at all.

The sad part is he has to kill the two of his loved one for a price of one. This series is cold when it truly needs to be. As sad it is, I can’t contain my excitement. The last shot with Gintoki and Utsuro standing got me floored with amazing amount of hype. Two men with a mission, the sun in the background, everything that has built up to this point. That shot is pure hype. It’s the final destination level of the final boss. This is Metal Gear Solid 4 final fight level of greatness. This is whatever you think it’s the best final stage tier. This is the endgame.

The whole arc has been stellar because it is more grounded, personal, and emotional. Have it end with a War Arc, it would have been pretty good, but not enough for total satisfaction. Granted, it was a solid War Arc, best in Shounen category, and opinions will vary, but a condensed concentration on few characters rather than everyone is much easier to digest, and the pacing flows more naturally. This is why the ending is shaping up to be incredible. Even if it is taking forever due to multiple trolls, fans will get the satisfaction they deserved, let alone Sorachi himself.

Bottom line, this chapter was outstanding for its incredible emotional roller coaster from various characters, excellent buildup for the final battle, and plenty of great panel shots with deep intensity and excitement. I can’t do justice on its atmospheric trip, especially the last couple of pages, but I had chills. The next chapter is hype of the hype. I have to think which soundtrack to use for the final battle. This is it. There’s no other way. Gintoki versus Utsuro as Takasugi. It all ends here.

#gintama #chapter 702 #review #spoilers

[lightsandlostbells]

Skam Italia season 2, episode 3 reaction

Thanks to the people who read and left comments on my previous recaps, especially the one for episode 2! I appreciated hearing from you ❤️

I wrote some stuff about this episode. I don’t have much of a preamble, except the usual: I make comparisons to the original show because I’m interested in the remakes as adaptations, I don’t have 100% positive things to say, if you want to just enjoy the season and not see criticisms, avoid this. 

Episode 3

Clip 1 - Dudes being dudes

Martino is sitting on a couch overlooking the city, for … reasons. I don’t know why he came here specifically to brood. Is this his special place? Is this a boy squad hangout? It’s certainly got a nice view.

So the other boys made it to Emma’s, it was just that Martino skipped out. Then they have less reason to be mad at him, to be honest; yeah, it sucks that he blew them off, but they made it to the party.

Elia throws a ball at Martino when Martino is clearly not paying attention. Dickhead!

Dudes, he didn’t even lie to you? He ignored you. Which is not great but if a friend ignored me when we had plans, I would be worried something happened to them. Of course the thing that happened to Martino was an attractive boy feeding him garbage noodles, but still.

Martino finally lies to the boys in a more active way, spinning them a story about fighting with his mother and getting anxious, which is certainly believable knowing his home situation and is likely drawn from his real experience. In the original, Isak also uses his mom as an excuse, although he lies less blatantly than Martino does. Isak lies more than Martino overall, I think, but in that case, he sort of vaguely alluded to there being “stress” with his mom, without going into details, and Jonas was able to pick up on what he meant without Isak having to say more, and Mahdi was able to pick up that there was something more serious going on even if he didn’t know the exact situation. This time, Martino’s lie is more fleshed-out, and Giovanni is vocally supportive and claps Martino on the shoulder. (I guess it’s possible that he knows Martino is lying and is covering for him, but he’s playing it pretty sincere. He knows Martino’s family life is difficult so he probably buys it.)

This is why I had to laugh at some comments I read that were like “Giovanni is able to read Martino when Jonas couldn’t read Isak.” Lmao, no. There are plenty of times when Jonas could pick up on Isak’s mood and situation without it needing to be spelled out to him. 

Anyway, after the situation is ironed out, we get an anecdote about Elia’s lack of success with the Argentinian girl, telling the story of ... putting Luca in a suitcase? He is petite. Martino laughs with the boys and all seems okay for now. The dynamic has been restored.

Again, all the chasing of the Argentinian will have been for nothing as she is a lesbian.

Elia kicks a ball at Martino as punishment, because Boys Will Be Boys. Then again, I’m sure Martino prefers balls flying at him to having to arrange another party with the girls.

Clip 2 - Gay test

Martino arrives home with some food. The fridge looks pretty empty, so I guess they aren’t keeping on top of groceries. Or this is Martino taking care of it because his mom can’t.

Then his mom enters, and he says he’s going to cook for her. So he’s being nice to her, which is sweet. Mom is too tired and needs to lie down after a long meeting.

It seemed like Isak’s mom had schizophrenia or schizotypal disorder, correct? She had delusions and was actively sending him Biblical texts that were confusing. But we haven’t see any of those from Martino’s mom - I don’t think there’s been any hints that she’s been seeing things or believing in things that aren’t real. So far it seems like she’s dealing with depression, mainly. Apparently she is holding down a job. (I’m wondering what the reasoning was behind this change, and honestly, I suspect that they didn’t want to deal with depicting stuff like psychosis on screen, now that the mother character is visible rather than existing via text message.)

I’m curious how this relationship between Martino and his mom will play out, because a) we have not seen a single clue that she might not accept his sexuality - I mean it’s definitely possible that it will come up, but there are no warning signs like how Isak’s mom sent him hellfire and brimstone texts, so is there supposed to be anxiety there on his part? b) he’s clearly not estranged from her the way Isak was with his mom - so what’s the climax of that relationship going to be? It was a big moment when Isak came out to his mom because it was not just her accepting him for being gay, but sealing a rift in that relationship overall. Of course I’m sure it will be lovely when Martino comes out to his mom, but his sexuality doesn’t feel like a huge issue separating them so far. There are obvious issues in this relationship, but he’s also trying to reach out to her and make dinner, they’re capable of some connection even though they’re also heavily struggling and Martino often seems frustrated and wants to get away from it all.

Martino is chilling and eating dinner. He sends a message to Emma, saying that things were stressful and he’ll tell her about it, he heard her party was great, etc. He’s very friendly and natural. Not coming on in a performative way, not seeming regretful or like he doesn’t want to have this conversation. And Emma texts him back in what seems like a not too much of a confrontational way? She calls him an asshole but it makes Martino laugh, he’s not stressed about it. Also, putting the “asshole” in parentheses makes it seem softer, not like a serious insult but a humorous aside. I don’t know if that holds for Italian, though. 

Okay … are they seriously leading into the Gay Test clip like this? Really? Really? Look, I get that Martino and Isak are different characters, but why is so much tension being sucked out of the narrative?

Isak was lying in bed at 3 am staring at the ceiling, miserable, dealing with insomnia, and reading Bible texts from his mom, and he went and did the gay test out of desperation. He really, really had hit a low point and wanted to work out the issues gnawing at his brain. And it sucked because he had gotten his hopes up for Even, but Even was apparently taken (by a girl) and Isak thought he was reading too much into it. That much Martino can identify with. But Martino has absolutely not shown the same level of inner struggle as Isak. I mean, this clip is taking place at a reasonable hour, he seems in a reasonable mood, just eating and watching TV, laughing at Emma’s message. His mom’s condition earlier was not great but it wasn’t terrible. This doesn’t seem like a low point. 

Again, Martino isn’t Isak, but then you have to ask why is he getting Isak’s scenes? For every single clip that has been adapted from Isak to Martino, you have to consider: what’s the point of this scene in Martino’s journey, and why was it recreated rather than deleted or altered to fit his particular characterization or story? It’s not unfair to ask these questions, and it’s not unfair to question whether this scene fits the narrative they’ve been building, or discuss how changing the details of a scene affects the tone and purpose. I’m not saying this clip has no place in Martino’s story, or that you can’t tone it down somewhat, but it’s just weird how the setup for a clip like this one gets dialed down, because the setup is a huge part of its emotional effect, and presenting it more casually makes it feel far less necessary to the story.

Martino looks at Emma’s picture with some fondness and types in “how to get turned on by a girl if you’re gay.” I guess I can rationalize this as Emma being friendly and cute and wouldn’t it be so much easier if Martino could just go out with her instead of wanting to be with Niccolò? But yeah, the internalized homophobia has not landed.

Martino starts with how to get turned on by girls if you’re gay, rather than googling to see whether he’s gay or how not to be gay or something else. (Isak took the gay test first and then googled that bit about getting turned on by girls. Though I don’t think Isak actually was unsure about being gay or not - like. He knew.)

Here’s the thing - this is a horrible thing for a gay kid to look up regardless, instructions on how to be straight are always shit. But because Martino seems like he’s in a pretty stable (even good or amused) mood prior to this, because of the way we lead into the scene, this search seems more like …. really fucking misguided, rather someone dealing with a lot of pain. Like this isn’t something Martino is pressuring himself to do because he’s feeling like shit, it’s an idle web search. 

An idle search that takes him to a gay test! Not the same as the one Isak took, though. I think the questions do lean on stereotypes on what gay men like/do, though it’s less obvious than Isak’s quiz? What kind of cuisine you like, for example - answering like vegetarian/vegan food would probably make you “gayer” than liking Italian or Mexican food, because vegetables are for weaklings and meat is for men men men men manly men.  There is a moment where Martino appears to debate and says that he sees a vagina rather than a snail in an ambiguous image, so I guess that’s him trying to make his answers appear straighter.

The quiz says Martino is exclusively heterosexual. Martino does not seem too impressed with that result.

Lmao, that ridiculous cartoon of the Kinsey scale.

Clip 3 - Martino makes up with Emma

The boys are playing table football. Martino and Giovanni are on a team against Elia and Luca and they lose, so they must crawl under the table. Martino has to endure some creative punishments in this episode, doesn’t he? All at the hands of Elia.

I’m not terribly judgmental about character wardrobes or anything like that, especially since I don’t know what the fuck is trendy for The Youths in various countries, but is there a reason Martino wears so many shirts buttoned up all the way to his neck? Is that supposed to be an example of his repression, or is that just his personal style? I’m serious. 

Martino sees Emma and goes up to her. She does not seem happy to see him, sooo … I guess she really was mad at him? His reaction to her texts seemed amused, so I assumed he read them as her not being 100% serious? Okay, guess not.

Isak was very, verrrry slick when he did this part with Norwegian Emma. It was all part of his heterosexual facade, it was a performance he had done many times, and there was a noticeable contrast between how he had acted with Even in the last episode (shy, vulnerable, gradually becoming more open and unguarded, silly, comfortable). In fact, you could even see a huge difference with him seconds before with Vilde, when he was flustered and unable to get out of hosting the party even though he absolutely doesn’t want to, and how he sees Emma and takes a moment to consider and re-calibrate, so that he’s in fuckboy mode when he talks to Emma. It’s so artificial that it’s alarming and builds up dread. Martino seems newer to this. He’s a lot more genial; he’s cute but his attitude is honestly not that far off from what we see of him in other contexts. Sure, he’s flirting with a girl, but there’s so little sign of discomfort, or any indication that he has to switch into a “mode” to flirt with a girl, that it again lowers the level of narrative tension and inner conflict. He pretty much went from hanging with the guys -> seeing Emma -> going over and talking to Emma seemingly effortlessly, not showing that there was any kind of debate in his mind about what he should do, or psyching himself up to speak to her. He just does it. 

Again ... I’m sort of like, what is the point of having Martino take a gay test and make move on Emma when there are so few indicators that this is causing any sort of stress for him? I mean, I think they want us to read stress into the situation, but the way the scenes are being staged, they’re drastically minimizing that effect. 

Emma gets a text from the radio group, asking for a bluetooth mic for the party on Friday. Emma wants to go and wants Martino to go with her. He seems happy, Emma seems happy, she’s no longer mad. For now.

Giovanni seems proud of Martino for making a move on her, though we don’t hear him say anything.

If they wanted some actual narrative tension in this scene other than what was in the original clip, then they could have had the boys spot Emma and ask Martino if he was going to go apologize or talk to her, putting him in an awkward spot where he felt like he had to, and where we could see some heteronormative pressure at work with the boys egging him on, feeling like he couldn’t say no. 

Clip 4 - Boys watching girls in the gym

This fucking scene. First of all, I heard that the actress playing the Argentinian is apparently like 14 or 15 in real life?????? Is that fucking true?? Can someone please confirm that? Because if that’s true, that’s creepy as fuck. It means we have all these 21- to 26- year-old actors cast in a show celebrated for casting actual teens, except for this one girl who’s getting objectified and perved on by the male characters (played by actors in their 20s) Great! Fuck off! 

Even if that’s not the case ... blech. I can’t fault Skam Italia entirely for male gaze here, because this scene exists in the original and showcases girls’ bodies. And well … male gaze is the point of this scene. But I will point out that the original scene did not show any stationary close-ups of a girl’s ass. Gross.

The straight dudes drool over the girls. Luca’s filming it because of course he is, Boys Will Be Boys. Nothing weird about a guy filming girls without their consent!

There’s like … one shot of Martino looking mildly not into it, so uh, maaaaybe they should have emphasized that more? Just a thought. Isak looked completely out of it, bored out of his mind, very clear in his body language and facial expression. Plus the boys are watching a sports game, them watching and cheering has a different context (rather than just applauding hot girls for being hot, more or less). Martino is even shown cheering, so this is at least somewhat engaging to him, even if not because the girls are hot. 

I mean, the point of this scene was to demonstrate Isak’s lack of interest in the girls compared to his friends. This scene is filmed in a way more straight-forward cheesecake-y way, like Bessegato didn’t get that the original wasn’t celebrating those lithe female bodies and actually had a purpose in establishing the main character’s mindset.

I saw an idea that maybe they should have been watching a men’s sports team with like, sweaty shirtless dudes, and have the camera compare the neutral/bored reactions of the other boys to Martino clearly thirsting, and I like that twist on the scene. Especially if the comment about the dance teacher being too gay (or whatever it would be) comes as a result of trying to make up for checking out the dudes, hoping his friends didn’t notice, or even just checking himself for letting himself stare when he’s supposed to be attempting heterosexuality at this point in the narrative.

The gym teacher comes up and is like, hmmm, so you just happen to like volleyball, huh? He roasts them a bit, which makes him my new favorite character.

He pats Giovanni on the stomach and is like, you’re flabby, you gotta get in shape because girls like fit guys. It’s a friendly casual interaction and Giovanni is amused.

So the gym teacher is gay, as it turns out from dialogue. Which is pretty cool! The boys know him and his boyfriend.

Then Martino is like, you should press charges against him, he comes up here and touches your belly. Giovanni is like, WTF.

There is a persistent, horrific stereotype about gay men being sexual predators and pedophiles, which is awful. Completely. It’s a great idea to dismantle that belief and to educate the audience. But Martino’s comment doesn’t have much to do with his personal journey. We have not seem him struggle with being seen as a creep, or thinking gay men are predatory, or anything. I guess there’s when he thinks Filippo might be trying to pick him up? But overall, not a concern of his. If there’s something I forgot, let me know. Isak’s comment about the dance teacher flowed directly from the gay test (and his internalized homophobia) which was all about judging gay stereotypes and non-masculine behavior. 

Now I do think you could say that’s why he’s reluctant to sleep in the same bed as Giovanni, and has some kind of reaction to hugging him, but the problem is that this reaction is conflated with his actual unrequited romantic feelings for Giovanni - like there are multiple reasons why Martino might react that way and not want to sleep in the same bed as him, and not all of them have to do with a fear of being seen as predatory. Sometimes it’s about getting distance from a crush who doesn’t like you back, or even just being afraid to give away his crush/sexuality without it specifically being about interpreted as predatory. But OK, I will accept this explanation even if I think they could have expressed this more clearly - maybe it would’ve been illustrated better if Martino also didn’t want to touch Elia or Luca, two guys he isn’t shown to be attracted to. In any case, they should have drawn a clear link between the gay test or whatever Martino found online (like instead of the gay test, they showed him looking at some kind of website or forum or social media where guys talked about feeling uncomfortable with gay men touching them, or thinking gay guys are pervs/molesters, or something relevant to this conversation) since that was the impetus for Isak/Martino saying dumb shit in this scene. It also would have been amazing to build up Martino’s insecurity about touching his friends as part of his anxiety over coming out, especially how that manifests in a more physically affectionate culture, and then to have his comment about the teacher clearly be a form of massive projection.

There actually WAS a conversation in season 1 at the cabin, where Elia made a joke about Martino not getting any ideas and touching him, and Martino saying that he was the last person he’d have sex with. That would have been very good to include in this season, or a similar moment, to build into Martino’s mindset and where he pulled out that comment. Because it doesn’t surprise me that he would have that idea about a gay dude being predatory, since it’s unfortunately a commonplace stereotype, but because this is a fictional narrative, you need to build up those themes and ideas.

To heap on some more unpopular opinions, I didn’t feel like Giovanni demonstrated himself as a Woke King after this scene, not that he said anything wrong, but that what he said didn’t seem to have much to do with his core values and more with personal relationships. It’s hard to explain, but it relies more on this one gay dude being an OK person rather than challenging a stereotype at its core. Giovanni is defending him because Mr. Boccia is okay and didn’t do anything wrong, rather than because he thinks gay men should not be labeled as predators just for touching their students. Like Jonas wasn’t all, “Who, the dance instructor? Fred? I know him, he’s my cousin’s boyfriend. He’s cool, he bought me some beer one time.” He was like, “Why are you dissing people for being gay? Are you just pointing out people are gay? WTF?” That cuts to the heart of Isak’s problem rather than singling out one counterexample. Giovanni doesn’t have to be a perfectly educated mouthpiece, either, I just wanted to explain the difference in how I viewed him and Jonas in these scenes. I mean, I’m sure he’ll be kind and supportive once Martino comes out to him. However, it’s less an indicator of Giovanni having some core non-homophobic principles and more like he’s fine with this one particular guy who is gay. Hopefully that makes sense.

But to be more positive, on that note, I think it is good that there’s at least one gay man who Giovanni is OK with and seems to like and respect, and that Martino can see that. There are obviously differences between how teenagers view gay peers vs gay teachers, because the adult would be “safe” and wouldn’t/shouldn’t be pursuing him, whereas teenage boys might think their friends have gay cooties and are coming on to them, but Giovanni isn’t a total 100% homophobe based on this encounter. (I don’t think Giovanni will have a problem with Martino being gay at all, to be clear, just speaking hypothetically.)

Niccolò comes up, obviously. The look he gives to Martino is good. Tension, wahoo!

He gives Martino back his earbuds and says he left them on the bus. I’m legit baffled that the boys are so suspicious of this? Martino took the bus to go home from school, after he left the boy squad, so he could have left the earbuds on the bus then. Or him being like “I was on the bus with my mom” - not that unreasonable? All he told them was that he had a fight with his mom, he didn’t say where that fight happened (Isak was wearing the hat when they left school so it made no sense to say he left it in the cafeteria, and Jonas realized this). I guess Martino and Niccolò were just acting weird enough to notice?

Giovanni sized up Niccolò so he probably suspects shit is up.

Luca gets bonked on the head by the volleyball, and the gym teacher is delighted. More of this guy, please? I like him. I wouldn’t mind if Martino has a heart to heart with him instead of the doctor. Except Martino has not been shown to have insomnia so either he’ll develop it midway through the season or the meeting will be about something else.

Clip 5 - '80s party

The girl squad is doing karaoke. Emma is singing along. Martino is sitting there not having a good time, staring blankly at something. Not singing.

He does have a pair of very small sunglasses. I don’t think Martino tried at all with the theme except for those sunglasses. Those look just like his regular clothes.

Martino and Emma talk about music briefly, and it turns out Emma likes the same kind of music Martino does - she mentions Apparat, and there was an Apparat poster-art-thing in Martino’s room. So unlike Isak and Emma, who outside of sexual orientation were also just like … not on the same page as people, Martino and Emma seem like they could fit together, were it not for the little fact that Martino is gay. I’m not sure there’s been a big indication that Italian Emma is that bad (until like a minute or two from now, with her comment about gay people). They could have played this moment a little more so Martino’s reaction is more wistful, like … oh, here’s this beautiful girl who shares some of my interests. If I were just into girls, this would be so easy.

Martino sneaks a glance over Emma as Niccolò walks in. Niccolò looks like he dressed up for the theme, at least? No version of Even is not going to dress up for a costume party. Not on my watch.

I don’t recognize his burgers shirt, is that a reference to something and I’m just blanking?

Lmao Martino just launches at Emma the second Niccolò turns around to look at him, he’s ridiculous.

I do like the part where she’s like either you’re underestimating me or you’re shy, and when she asks him if he’s shy, that’s when he kisses her. Even though he didn’t hear a word she said.

Niccolò comes over right away and places himself right between Martino and Emma, so there’s at least one way he has out-desperated Even. He slings an arm around both of them. Bold!

“Elio” is not a reference to Call Me By Your Name (well, I guess it could be that, too) but to Elio Germano, an actor - I looked up that guy and I can kind of see the resemblance? Not a big one, but in some pictures, I get it.

Martino, stop being a buzzkill and go sing a shitty song with Niccolò. The point of karaoke is to make an ass of yourself, no one cares.

In response to Martino not wanting to do karaoke, Niccolò asks, “Are you afraid of showing your hidden homosexuality?” - yeeeeeah, I’m kind of like, WTF, why did he mention it there? If Martino is closeted, then why bring it up when they’re not alone? Since Niccolò has a strong suspicion that he is gay, isn’t he just putting Martino on the spot? But Martino seems unfazed, I guess.

Now we have the famous educational moment where Niccolò calls out Emma for generalizing. Niccolò takes his arms away from Martino and Emma when he’s getting serious.

The focus of this scene is more on Niccolò and Emma than how Martino reacts. In Skam, this scene was really fucking important for Isak because Isak had ideas about how Gay People were supposed to be. That they were all a certain thing. That “gay” had a definition besides being attracted to only the same gender - that’s why he complains about why the dance teacher has to be so gay. The dance guy isn’t “so gay” because he’s showing attraction to men, but because he’s displaying a set of mannerisms associated with gay men. (I mean, it’s completely beside the point, but “so gay” dance teacher could have turned out to be banging half the dance chicks since Isak’s statement is based purely on stereotypes.) The gay test he took earlier in the week fed into these notions that Isak had because it was based entirely on generalizations. Not only is that how gay men act, but it’s how other people see men if you like certain things and act a certain way; if you act like that, they assume you are gay, and if you’re gay, they assume you act like that. So Isak hearing about how wrong it is to generalize, especially from Even, the guy he likes, is really goddamn important. It’s Even is throwing him a lifeline. Gay people are not all one thing and we shouldn’t think about them in stereotypes, even when they’re “nice” ones. That’s why the focus of that scene has a lot to do with Isak’s rapt attention, because this scene plays a specific counterpart to how we saw Isak behave that week.

However, this scene here? It’s a nice lesson for the audience to hear, but what does it have to do with Martino’s mindset that they’ve set up in this episode? At this point, Martino has not been shown to have any of these beliefs about gay men, as far as I can recall. The most is him wondering why gay people always assume everyone is gay in the scene with Filippo, but that has little to do with mannerisms. Not only that, they explicitly changed the dialogue in the dance chicks/volleyball scene to be different - it’s not Martino being like “Does that gym teacher have to be so gay?” It’s him basically accusing the gym teacher of being a pervert for touching a high school boy in a friendly way. Sooo … why didn’t they change this dialogue to reflect that? This is a clunky version of how it might play out, but what if, after Niccolò sits down and has his arm around Martino, and makes his latent homosexuality comment, Emma made a joke like, “Haha, you better not get too close, Niccolò!” And Niccolò was like, “What’s that all about?” Emma could say something like, “You know, because he’ll try to make a move on you,” and Niccolò replied, “Errrr, just because a gay dude gets close to another guy doesn’t make it inappropriate.” Then that would actually tie in to an earlier scene. But that’s obviously not the only way it could have played out. My point is, why didn’t they follow through this scene with something consistent to Martino’s story thus far? 

Then again, this whole thread during the episode feels inconsistent. It’s easy to follow the story logic with Isak: takes a gay test revolving around generalizations about gay men’s personalities -> tries to distance himself from those generalizations about gay men’s personalities -> hears that it’s wrong to make generalizations about gay people’s personalities. Martino this week: takes a gay test with some generalizations (I think they were present but not as blatant as in the test Isak took?) -> makes a comment about the gym teacher basically calling him a molester -> hears that it is wrong to make generalizations about gay people’s personalities. I guess he learns not to generalize gay men as molesters? But really, vastly different, it’s not very cohesive, and Martino was not shown to be very affected by Niccolò’s dialogue. So again ... why is it here?

Also, there’s something kind of … weird about Niccolò lecturing Emma on making generalizations, because Niccolò just did the same thing, sort of? He joked that Martino didn’t want to do karaoke because he was afraid of showing his latent homosexuality, the generalization being that karaoke is a thing that gay guys do. And I get that it’s a tongue-in-cheek comment, ha ha Martino, get over yourself (and a loaded statement about his own suspicions about Martino), buuut is there a reason why, on the surface, Niccolò can make a joke about what gay people like or do or are (ha ha, liking karaoke is a sign of homosexuality!) but then Emma can make another statement generalizing about gay people and he’s like … excuse me? Yes, obviously there is a difference between them in that Emma is a straight girl (from what we know) and Niccolò is a guy who likes guys (although I’m going to assume he’s pan like Even for now), and I’m not defending what she said, but it’s a sloppy juxtaposition to have in the same scene. One’s more “neutral” and one’s “positive” but they’re both generalizations. 

One thing you could get from this scene is that Niccolò has feelings about defending gay people and may be not straight himself … which should be blindingly obvious at this point. 

Then Niccolò is like, “I know pretty boring gays,” which is kind of funny in the sense that he’s teasing Martino, but also, still putting Martino on the spot. Martino is nowhere near as receptive to that comment as the latent homosexuality one. I guess Niccolò just went too far.

Emma thinks this topic is boring and has Martino go dance with her. At least they show Niccolò sitting alone looking dejected when they get up, which is a dead giveaway, but a nice little moment. 

People dance. This red light is very striking and all but the downside is that it’s hard to see Martino’s face (or most faces in the crowd). That might have worked if they wanted to inject some ambiguity into the scene, like did Niccolò look over to Martino while kissing his girlfriend, or was that unintentional? Is Martino imagining it? But it’s pretty clear they want it to be straightforward, so I wish we could have seen their emotions more clearly. (I feel like the lighting on this show is often a disservice to the actors, but that’s something to talk about at another juncture.)

I do like the song, though (“Self Control” by Raf) and the lyrics seem pretty fitting, about losing self control to someone. Martino is kissing Emma but can’t control himself from looking over to Niccolò. There’s also the comparison between the day and the night, perhaps related to how Martino is living for the “night” aka these moments he gets to be in Niccolò’s vicinity. Also it’s an ‘80s song, so it’s appropriate to the theme of the party, obviously.

Eva does seem to notice Martino making out with Emma and isn’t totally cool with that, like I think she’s going WTF in her head? I know his secret? Does not compute???

Federica is also sad because Martino is kissing another girl. Aww, poor girl. She came so close, or so she thought! Don’t worry, hopefully Kasper is coming.

Fede sees Silvia’s phone ringing. It’s Silvia’s mom, so they put the music on pause as Silvia talks to her mom. Silvia is adorable when she greets her mom, lol.

There’s a part where Silvia tells her mom she’s with Fede and Eva, which I thought was interesting as it excluded Sana. So maybe her parents have an issue with Sana (or rather, Silvia having a Muslim friend)? Eva looks at Sana after that, but it might just be “holy shit what’s happening?” rather than “why didn’t she mention you?”

I’m too lazy to check but is that one girl with the glasses standing behind Eva and Sana one of the theater kids from the first season?

I do like seeing Eva go into action mode and tell people what to do! What a boss.

There’s the blue haired girl from the earlier clips again, dressed like Madonna. WHOOOO ARE YOU, WHO WHO, WHO WHO (no really who is this girl)

The sudden cleanup is the means of getting Martino and Niccolò alone together, to take out the trash.

Is Niccolò dressed as Marty McFly? Did he read my post?? (don’t take that too seriously, lmao) Or is that another character/celebrity? Or just generic ‘80s style?

Their chemistry in this scene is the strongest it’s been yet. Them just standing there before the conversation starts is a really good moment. (Surprise, having a smidge of tension and some variety in their interaction does a lot for their dynamic!)

Niccolò has the nickname “Colino” based on something from middle school, so he and Maddalena go back a while. They got together when they were 16, and supposedly they’re like siblings. So it seems like they might have a foundation of friendship, and could go back to being pals after they break up, maybe? Or perhaps they’re just growing too different for that, even.

Niccolò is like JUST SO YOU KNOW WE’RE LIKE SIBLINGS. WE HAVEN’T HAD SEX IN TWO MONTHS. I mean, I get what he’s trying to say, but “I haven’t had sex with my sister in two months” is not a thing I would expect to hear from people with normal sibling relationships.

Also, two months would be the beginning of school, no? When he saw Martino?

The motive behind Niccolò’s story about Maddalena’s medical condition is very different from Even’s. Isak was very closed off and not really having it when Even started talking to him about dating Sonja for years and not being able to break up with her. He was shutting him out. That’s why Even started spinning that story about her aluminum leg, to get a reaction out of Isak and to find an opening. Martino, on the other hand, is very receptive to Niccolò from the beginning of this conversation, smiling and laughing, giving eye contact. Even when Niccolò mentions Maddalena, it’s not like Martino totally shuts down; he seems amused or perhaps reassured when Niccolò says they haven’t been having sex. So Niccolò making up this shit about his girlfriend comes across as a lot more random. Like he’s doing it just to fuck with Martino for a laugh. And he keeps going even when Martino tells him he’s full of shit (this scene goes on for about two minutes, twice the length of Even’s story). It’s not inherently wrong to change to tone of the scene, but it does make it much less fraught because there aren’t as many stakes with this conversation. They’re already more or less on the same page, or at least Martino is willing to be.

Even also had so much more vulnerability when talking about this, like … we actually saw that he felt hurt or upset talking about how he couldn’t dump Sonja. Niccolò felt so much more casual and matter of fact, which is fine, but it all feels at odds with his probable situation, because so far we’ve seen he really wants Martino and is putting himself out there. He’s not subtle. Here he’s just like, yeah, can’t dump her! 

I do think that there’s some of the same subtext here as in the OG, with Sonja’s fake leg standing in for Even’s bipolar disorder; Maddalena’s hairy condition is meant to be Niccolò’s mental illness. Now she keeps it under control, she’s getting experimental treatment, etc. All things that could apply to Niccolò, perhaps.

It’d be something if Maddalena was in med school because Niccolò’s mental illness made her want to help others, or research bipolar disorder, or something like that. It’s different from Sonja seemingly being bored with her life (and perhaps channeling her energies into taking care of Even), but a nice adaptation. Even if Niccolò wasn’t her motivating factor for going to med school, it’s a potentially interesting way to show that she feels the need to “fix” people.

Skam Italia keeps doing this thing where they pull back the damn camera in a scene, away from the characters, far enough or from an angle so we can’t really see their faces (and in a way that doesn’t reveal anything compelling about their body language). They do it here and it isn’t the most egregious example, but having seen it happen in later episodes, I’m more alert to it, and a lot of times it undercuts the emotions of a scene - again, a disservice to the actors. There are some times where it really took me out, to be discussed when they pop up. I guess they do it just to add some contrast to the closeups of the characters? And I’m all for more contrast, but that’s not really what I wanted, lmao.

The pinky touching moment is great! It’s a thing that’s theirs rather than Evak’s (I guess it might be subbing in for the great hole in the sock moment from the script, but it’s still different). They’re smiling and looking at each other as they lean again, very unlike Isak and Even (when Isak couldn’t even look at Even) but it is consistent with the general vibe of their relationship so far. (Although it is kinda ehhhh that they just ... dropped all of the tension from inside the party, Niccolò’s comments on the couch, staring at each other across the room while kissing girls, and then went back to the comfortable friendly vibe almost immediately, as if none of that mattered too much in the narrative.)

Ohhhhh my God they’re interrupted by the WHOLE PARTY running out and like, that is amazing. Instead of Noora it’s fucking eeeeeverybody.

Although they’re smiling at each other as they run off and it’s cute and all but WHERE IS THE TENSION. Even from the perspective of them being friendlier and more smiley at each other, 1) they almost got caught by other people, and not just anyone, but people they know, including their girlfriends (well, Niccolò’s girlfriend and Martino’s date) and people who could talk or gossip about them, so why does this not cause any kind of alarm 2) this has changed things. They almost kissed. Show that it was some kind of big deal, like even something as small as Martino lingering a moment behind the rest of them, needing a moment to process what just happened, taking a deep breath? Smiling to himself, if you want to keep it lighter? What’s the actual difference in tone or Martino’s reaction in this scene to something like the boy squad running from the police in episode 1? Except he actually seemed concerned about getting caught by the police.

General Comments/Social Media

Emma and Martino have way more of a rapport in their texts than Isak and Emma did. She actually seems to have a sense of humor. 

She says she’s found his look-a-like, and Martino is like, “Don’t say Ron Weasley,” and ahaha THAT one I do not see at all. At least not if we’re talking Rupert Grint/movie Ron. I could maaaaaybe see movie Fred and George, though. Maybe. If I squint.

Martino was also open about going to Silvia’s party, which makes sense, but also he didn’t have to hide it like Isak did. Isak was just lying all over the place in his season.

Martino also names the Luca/Silvia ship “Lulvia.” I don’t know if that will actually happen. If it does, I think it’ll be like a random Chris/Kasper-esque makeout at the end of the season. 

Tbh my favorite thing from this episode might have been Silvia searching for her cat before the party on Instagram. I crave that sweet sweet Margot content.

I’ve seen all the episodes aired so far, and there are some elements that I think have been handled decently, others not so much. Later episodes have some parts that I like better. Unfortunately, this episode showcased of the weaknesses of this season, which would be, in a nutshell: lack of tension, weak depiction of internal conflict, lack of focus for Martino’s POV and character trajectory. 

I know I sound cranky and overly negative in this recap. Part of it is that I’m somewhat exasperated because I feel like this episode showed that to a degree, Bessegato doesn’t like … either get what Isak’s struggle was about, or he doesn’t have a clear vision for Martino’s struggle, or he does but the storytelling is not tight enough to make every scene count. Isak and Martino don’t have to have the exact same internal conflicts, but there needs to be some consistency, and so far Martino’s arc is a weird mix of stuff that doesn’t always fit what we see of him, but is there because it happened to Isak. Either just do a straight-up close recreation of Isak’s struggle, or figure out exactly what Martino’s different conflict is and write a more focused story guided by that.

The other part is that there’s ~problematic stuff in this show that’s getting on my nerves, and constantly hearing that people need to suck it up because IT’S REALISTIC is wearing down my patience. I don’t expect characters to be perfect. The original Skam characters are not perfect. The remake characters are not perfect. But there’s a difference between (for example) racism and sexism that are included intentionally as part of a narrative to make a point, and racism and sexism that seem to be unintentional and go unremarked. And when racism and sexism repeatedly go unremarked, it starts to feel like the show is normalizing it.

Particularly about the boy squad’s behavior, including videotaping Argentina and the later catfishing, because there has been a lot of debate recently about that ... I would love for there to be a point to all of that? It would be great if their creepy-ass behavior was called out later in the season, and if this turned out to have been a point about toxic masculinity and shitty straight boy behavior. If it was all building up to something, awesome, I will give Skamit the respect it’s due. But right now? I don’t get why I should give the show the benefit of the doubt. It’s already shown its ass on racism, and there have been scenes that have jumped out at me in terms of male gaze, some of the more blatant feminism in S1 was watered down from what I remember, etc. So I can’t actually assume that the boy squad will totally be called out in the end. 

Honestly, if you’d asked me to guess what some of the potential weaknesses of this season could be, I would not have guessed a lack of tension.

I believe part of the objective was to show a gay teenager in Italy falling in love with a boy and not having it be the end of the world. And that is absolutely a noble goal, and something many Italian teens can benefit from. But I have to say - I never thought Isak’s season was like, emotional torture porn just because it had conflict? It balanced the fluffy romantic content with the angsty sad stuff and was better for it. The fluff was more valuable because we saw what a triumph it was compared to the angst, and the angst was more valuable because we saw exactly how much we were losing when the fluff was gone. Isak’s severe internal struggle made every little bit of character growth that much more powerful. I’m not saying the story has to be an emotional roller coaster from clip to clip, but yes, stakes matter, especially when you’re doling out a story in 3-5 minute increments every day or two. 

I do think they’ve somewhat increased tension in this episode, some of it with the boy squad, and some of it with Martino’s mom not being great, but there’s also the matter of internal conflict that is supposed to be fueling many of these scenes, and that’s where it’s falling flat. Skam’s a character-focused show - I mean, each season is about living in a different character’s head - so frankly, they should be milking the f u c k out of his inner struggles. 

I’ll also say I definitely didn’t have this problem with S1 of Skam Italia. I thought Eva’s story set up her clear struggles from the beginning and kept some tension going throughout the season. She and Martino have different problems, certainly, but it’s not a case of Skam Italia being “softer” overall. 

I've heard counterarguments in the tags about the lack of tension, suggesting that there is tension inherent in the story due to it being about a gay teenage in Italy, but respectfully, I can’t agree with that? Then this storyline makes even less sense, like if the level of tension due to homophobia in Italy is so great that it’s embedded that deeply, how do you explain Martino’s unfazed or casual reactions to events, such as almost being caught kissing Niccolò (multiple times, if you include later episodes)? It feels contradictory. But overall, it’s a constructed fictional narrative; some of the responsibility does fall on the show itself to establish its stakes.

Anyway, if there is cultural context I missed, feel free to let me know!

If you got this far, thank you for reading!

#skamit reactions #skam italia reactions

[aion-rsa]

Best Horror Anime To Watch on Crunchyroll

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

One of the best things about October is how every content provider gets infected with Halloween madness and succumbs to horror-centric programming. Some networks even curate a full 31 days of scary content to prove just how gung ho they are about this spooky holiday. At this point you’ve likely already made a checklist for all of the big horror films that are on the horizon and all of the older classics that you need to catch up on. However, if you’re still starved for even more horror-based content, then look no further than Crunchyroll and their catalogue of frightening anime. 

Whether you’re a committed member of the anime streaming service or you’ve never checked out the site before, it’s likely that the service will have something that catches your eye. It can sometimes be rather overwhelming to sift through a whole collection of anime, especially when you have no idea what’s supposed to be good or not, let alone a series that’s actually scary. In order to make your Halloween a little less frightening, we’ve streamlined a list of some of Crunchyroll’s most notable anime series—both in terms of horror shows that go straight for the jugular as well as lighter fare that centers around a supernatural premise—to make the experience as easy as possible for you.

Yamishibai: Japanese Ghost Stories 

How Many Episodes: 72

Sub Only

Yamishibai has steadily been trucking along for over six seasons and it’s turned into one of the more traditional horror anime staples in Japan. The series gets its inspiration from classic urban legends and ghost stories from Asian culture and distills them into brief four-minute bursts of horror. A lot of Yamishibai’s charm comes from its creepy atmosphere and short stories, but the anime’s quality wildly fluctuates over the show’s six seasons. Some episodes are more uncomfortable or strange than terrifying, and the show’s low production values may deter some viewers, but it’s a great source to learn about all kinds of creepy new stories.

Kagewani

How Many Episodes: 13

Sub Only

Kagewani looks at a desperate video blogger who attempts to find success by faking the appearance of cryptids and monsters in his videos. Before he knows it, there are real monsters that are loose on the city and a growing epidemic begins to sweep the community. This hapless blogger, Sousuke, attempts to eliminate these creatures, but the mystery he’s put himself in continues to deepen. Kagewani is easy viewing with its short seven-minute episodes and even though the art style leaves plenty to be desired, it features creative monsters designs and a mystery that holds up until the end. Dedicated fans can also check out the show’s sequel series, Kagewani: Shou.

Angels of Death

How Many Episodes: 12

Sub and Dub

Angels of Deathis a boiled down psychological horror title that throws its characters and audience into a high concept premise. A young girl named Rachel wakes up in the basement of an abandoned building and has no idea how she got there. It’s not long until she encounters Zack, a man who’s completely covered in bandages and has a penchant for waving a sickle around. Angels of Death explores the unconventional friendship between these two as they try to figure out where they are and how to get out. The prison that Rachel and Zack find themselves trapped in is full of unusual horror-friendly characters and the series understands how to make this action-packed mystery engrossing rather than draw out the adventure and withhold answers.

GeGeGe no Kitaro (Kitaro of the Graveyard) (2018) 

How Many Episodes: 97 (and still running)

Sub Only

GeGeGe no Kitaro is an anime series that’s actually been around since the 1960s, but every decade has featured some fresh attempt at remaking the series. 2018’s rendition of GeGeGe no Kitaro seems to have learned much from its predecessors and feels like the most polished execution of the anime yet. The series focuses on a number of yokai that are determined to keep the world safe from the more dangerous spirits that are out there. Each episode features a “yokai of the week” that must be handled, but a larger serialized story also courses in the background. GeGeGe no Kitaro has a wide cast of weird, enjoyable characters and even though it skews younger, it still manages to surprise. The basic premise behind the series may sound played out, but incredible art design and addictive storytelling help keep this anime on top.

Another

How Many Episodes: 12

Sub Only

Anothertells an unnerving mystery that sees class 3-3 in a middle school turn into a hotbed for supernatural activity after a popular girl passes away in the ’70s. Now in the present, a new transfer student enters class 3-3 and he’s the only one that’s able to see Misaki, the girl who passed away over 20 years ago. Mysteries continue to grow and this transfer student forms an unexpected alliance with the mysterious Misaki to figure out what evil forces have ahold of their school. Another plays up the mystery and suspense angle over pure horror, but it still knows when to turn up the blood and guts when it’s appropriate. Another benefits from a concise 12-episode story and even though the series’ central mystery changes in some major ways in the second half of the season, it’s always engrossing. You truly want to see Kouichi, the transfer student, find some peace and hopefully be able to give Masaki’s soul some rest, too.

Parasyte: The Maxim

How Many Episodes: 24

Sub and Dub

Parasyte: The Maxim hits the ground running and is bonkers from its very first frame. The series revolves around a number of alien parasites that have landed on Earth and start possessing hosts. Shinichi Izumi is a mild-mannered high school student whose life drastically changes when one of these parasites possesses his right hand. This sets Shinichi on a dangerous journey to wipe out the other parasites that have landed on Earth, as well as figure out how to work alongside his new alien host, and if there’s a way to rid himself of this threat. Parasyte: The Maximoperates like a superhero series at times as Shinichi acclimates to the new strength and powers that his parasite gives him. The series also navigates tricky moral territory as Shinichi, who’s now a human-alien hybrid, must fight against the aliens that are now part of his biology (think Tokyo Ghoul, but with aliens instead of vampire demons). 

The path that Shinichi finds himself on gives the anime a strong narrative drive, but honestly, this is just a beautiful show to watch in motion. The fluid, bewildering effects that Shinichi’s parasitic hand puts to use are ridiculous and it’s just crazy to watch a boy partner up with an alien version of his hand for an entire series. H.P. Lovecraft would give this madness his full stamp of approval.

Junji Ito Collection

How Many Episodes: 12

Sub and Dub

If Yamishibai is the tame horror anthology that you can watch before going to bed, then Junji Ito Collection is pure nightmare fuel. This is not a series that should be watched with the lights turned off or even with a large amount of shade in the room. The series adapts some of the most disturbing stories from renowned horror manga artist, Junji Ito. Junji Ito Collection packs two sordid stories into each episode and the subject matter ranges from supernatural curses, to deranged killers, to some of the most extreme body horror you’ll ever see in an anime (can David Cronenberg please take on a live-action adaptation of “Honored Ancestors”?). Ito conjures up unbelievable ideas that are truly a rarity for horror and stories like “Greased,” “Long Dreams,” “Slug Girl,” and “Blood-Bubble Bushes” are all behemoths of horror.

Unfortunately, not all of the Ito stories that the anime chooses to adapt are winners, but the series’ unsettling art design still helps the weaker tales carry a strong punch. With any justice a second season of this will soon be announced to terrify anime fans well into 2019.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Erased

How Many Episodes: 12 

Sub Only

Erased is a tight psychological thriller that feels like what would happen if David Fincher had written and directed Back to the Future. The anime centers around the pursuit of a child killer who’s been on the loose for decades while someone else has wrongfully taken the blame. This compelling serial killer mystery also throws in supernatural elements with how the central character experiences a phenomenon known as “Revival” that sends him back in time a few minutes to prevent incidents. The 29 year-old suddenly finds himself sent back 19 years and in his 10 year-old self with the opportunity to stop and catch the child murderer before his initial crimes take place. It’s an incredible mix of genres with a villain that’s genuinely scary and phenomenal characters that you want to see survive. Erased is only 12 episodes and not a single one is wasted as this mystery plays out and goes to dark places.

The Promised Neverland

How Many Episodes: 12 

Sub Only

The Promised Neverland is the kind of anime that M. Night Shyamalan would absolutely fall in love with. It’s a masterstroke of storytelling and it builds tension in amazing ways as it keeps the characters and the audience in the dark about so much. It makes all of the series’ payoffs become absolutely incredible. The anime is set in a dystopic vision of 2045 within an orphanage where an 11 year-old named Emma and dozens of other young children are given a cushy existence at the cost of never leaving the grounds and venturing to the outside world. Emma and company soon learn of the horrific truth of the world and the real reason that they’re being kept at this orphanage. It’s truly chilling and The Promised Neverland tells a gripping story where these children have no one to trust and are in way over their heads. A second season of The Promised Neverland is set to hit in 2021, so it’s the perfect time to jump into this series.

Death Note

How Many Episodes: 37

Sub and Dub

Death Note is a series that’s turned into a colossal hit and even though various live-action versions of it exist, there are none that compare to what the anime accomplishes. Death Note succeeds in taking something as outlandish as a magical killing notebook and an apple loving devil shinigami and tie it with a hard-boiled cat and mouse crime saga. Light Yagami’s plummet into darkness and L’s pursuit to apprehend him and keep the blast radius from increasing is really great stuff. It digs into the inherently scary nature of what misdirected rage can make people do. It’s such a different take on a serial killer and the anime remains unpredictable until the end, even though it takes a major turn after the halfway point that isn’t for everyone.

Other horror-centric or monster-based anime titles to check out on Crunchyroll when you’ve scared yourself stiff off of everything else: Jin Roh, The Laughing Salesman NEW, The Garden of Sinners, Interviews With Monster Girls, and Attack on Titan

The post Best Horror Anime To Watch on Crunchyroll appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3m9I8RR

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

[artpsychotherapy]

The double sided coin of empathy

Considering Babbette Rothschild’s Paper ‘The Dangers of Empathy’ and diving a little deeper into the subject of vicarious trauma.

INTRO

This workshops aims to emphasis that working with people can cause a response like trauma in the body and that this is normal because no matter who we are we remain human and with biology that is affect by various prompts (psychology is biology). The workshops aims to tool the participants with seven keys that will help them to be aware they are experience heightened susceptibility to becoming vicariously traumatised, or to notice the signs that they are beginning to experience an arousal of their body’s trauma and threat response biology. The workshop hopes to aid the participants in gaining some insight into how they can practically respond when they notice themselves becoming affected. However more than any specific response the workshop aims to emphasises and normalise taking action, and recognises that what may help sooth one person may not help another. Lastly the paper is not saying empathy is wrong or that we ‘should’ or ‘shouldn’t’ do certain things. The point is more to recognise that these things which often help us in work have another side to them. One which we need to be aware of and take seriously in order to have longevity in frontline work while minimising the impact it has on our well being.

In the vignettes (imaginary cases), the participants will be asked to see if they can identify any of the seven keys. They’ll then be asked to suggest ways the people within the vignette might want to respond.

The six keys are

1Prosessing information (imagination)

2Interactions(physically and verbally in the room)

3Past Experiences

4Body (including feelings) as information

5Inner narratives/thought patterns

6OverlapOverlap/ allowing identification

7Current Life

Biology versus ‘I should/n’t be…’

While we know it is normal to be impacted by the situations we face when working with others we’re often still surprised when it happens to us. Here it is useful to remind ourselves that psychology is biology. Every thought or emotion is happening in the body. Every action and word from others enters our system and sets off a variety of internal responses before we can even be consciously aware. So take the no judgement approach to feelings, no one is a lesser person for experiencing these kinds of thing. There is no shame in experiencing an arousal from the body’s response systems. It does not mean that anyone is not good at their job.

Instead imagine your body is like a computing machine responding to a mixture of imputes going into the hardware and software that have previously been uploaded. The morality drops from ‘should’ be doing/feeling something different, to this is simply what it does. In this session we’ll be suggesting we all may need some new software updates rather than need to feel guilty or useless when our hardware and software do what they are meant to do when triggered.

Body Check In

One of the main learning points from this session is to get the hang of using the body as information carrier. That necessitates actually noticing our bodies, where they are at the start and how they change over time. Practise helps. So let’s shake out the body now, enjoy a bit of moving about, see how it feels and let’s see if it any changes happen to us as we go.

The Set Reading

There were three keys that the consultant supervisor focused on to unpack the vicarious trauma, what were they?

1How someone is processing information (imagination, in the mind)

2How one interacts with the other person (physically and verbally)

3Triggers from someone’s past

1

1Key: Processing by seeing/entering into the persons experience  

“As a helper, she was long accustomed to picturing her clients’ experiences, conjuring up vivid images of their struggles as she listened to them–almost, in effect, recreating their traumas in her mind.”

1 Response: Creating distance, empathy as believing someone rather than ‘walk in their shoes’, or at least never loosing the ‘as if’ in their shoes for in their shoes. Visualisation is very powerful, and affects the brain. This can be really useful for people preparing the shoot a basket ball or penalty. It works at times for helping people who experience inhibiting levels of anxiety while working with a therapists or psychologist to get ready for things like sitting driving tests.

2

2 Key: Interactions

“Like most helping professionals, Ruth would either go on site or see clients in her office. Often, she placed a client’s chair close to hers or at the side of her desk, so they could, almost literally, “put their heads together.” She tended to lean toward clients. As a way of communicating empathy, she’d mirror their facial expressions and gestures. When a client conveyed a pained or sad expression, Ruth responded with the same countenance. Part of this behavior was conscious (she wanted to communicate that she understood and was moved), but part had become second nature, as automatic as breathing.”

2 Response: Sometimes we need to find distance in the room. Ruth found changing her chair to be behind the desk, taking a moment to lean out, take a deep ground breath mid flow.

Mirror neurons fire in our brain when we track the expressions of others. We can experience some of the emotion of other’s. The brain is amazing in these kinds of powers. When watching sports for example they can show the same activity in the brain as when doing the sport, without there being much difference when it is actually doing the sport. Choose what’s useful for what you need to do rather than feeling obliged to sink in. Notice if there’s any resistance in you to putting in distance, remember this doesn’t need to be all the time. This is giving permission to pace ourselves.

3

3 Past Experience

“In fact, Ruth realized, her fervor for her profession had roots in her cousin’s misfortunes.

Seeing the abused client, she’d suddenly , and without knowing what was happening, ceased being a competent, self-contained, helping professional, and had begun re-experiencing herself as a 10-year-old girl, seeing her beloved cousin being tormented and unable to do anything about it.”

----

There were two other keys covered but the paper covered but didn’t specify in the list, any guesses? We’ve already covered them indirectly, but they’re worth dwelling on.

4

4 Using the body as information, accepting we are all susceptible, noticing our biology in action. NOTICE THE BODY, NOTICE THE SUBLTE CHANGES IN FEELINGS, use these as information, be the consultant to yourself. Trying by sheer will power to ignore the body as if we ‘should’ be able to make ourselves be fine means we miss out on all the practical responses we could take. While we teach the kids about how to respond to themselves we can often think we should just be fine, as if becoming an adult or a professional means we are no longer biology.

4 Response: Think instead that it is wise to have a body response for a body problem. The use of movement in a variety of ways has a lot of support from neuroscience but its difficult to remember when our own biology has been triggered. There’s many examples from everyday life, even the cup of tea has neurological affect. There’s a certain speed and length of a stroking which fires a certain part of the brain that doesn’t fire off at any other prompt. Similar to the brain activity of monkeys when they preen each other. If you notice your body, growing stiff, try to move it, do a light version of a dog shaking off water. Have a ritual in the class which helps you ground. Certain activities and movements can help signal to the brain ‘you’re ok, this is not a flight or fight moment’ ‘there may be threats around but I’ve got you’.

Important to note we might not feel like moving, shaking or what ever else. What seems so possible when we’re relaxed can easily seem ridiculous or unnecessary when we’re shutting into tension and holding.

An example was raised that after dealing with difficult child behaviour someone might be offered to take five minutes out, but they don’t feel like it, so they go straight to class with ‘I’m fine’, and then find themselves feeling off a little later in class. Think of the chemicals/hormones that might be on the go in the brain and body when dealing with behaviour. Possibly some adrenaline which naturally wants to keep going, and doesn’t want us to stop and chill for a moment. So notice the context your body and brain have been in, you might need some reasoning to over ride what they ‘feel’ like doing. Similarly the fight or flight response system flips the body from its relaxed normal processes like food digestion into ‘go go go!’, anxiety wants us doing something or resisting something. Which can mean its hard to contemplate ‘having a moment out’. It also means that it might be better to do some kind of movement during that moment out rather than forced to sit and feel edgy or feel stuck in freeze mode.

The affects in our bodies can linger so that we’re still triggered when home, we’ll not go further into this now, but this is some of the biological reason we need to be ready and intentional with self care. While a duvet food and sofa might be great at some points, at others even if we feel like doing that we may well need to force ourselves to respond with more movement like getting into nature.

5

5 Self narratives/thought patterns/tendencies

“What’s happening to me?” she sobbed. “I used to be able to handle much more than this!”

5 Response: Try and unpick our own expectations of ourselves and reassess whether there’s a better narrative for it. Do we feel like we ‘should’ be able to do more, be different. Do we find ourselves imagining the future for things kids and feeling obliged to save them. Perhaps our whole reason for getting into this kind of work was to be there for the children. Now our actual experience is feeling like we’re also neglecting the ones we think are neglected at home as we’re driven into a corner to have to shout at the ones we’re worried are getting shouted at at home. Where does reality chaffed against our hope and expectation. Again notice any heightened emotional or body sensation for clues. Everyone’s narratives are slightly different, the point here is to notice and unpick our own. While doing this, always comes back to the foundation of its ok to feel that way, there are no wrong feelings. Whether it’s powerless, deskilled, irritated or whatever else. Also, noticing which emotions we are more or less ok with feeling, will help unpick our own narratives. One person may feel extremely sad for this kids and this lead into an ‘I should do all I can for them’ and lead to not feeling allowed to take the space they need. Someone else may feel anger of ‘it shouldn’t be this way!’ and find themselves gradually feeling exhausted and ragged as running on that kind of energy wears at their internal biology. Can they imagine still caring for the kids while learning how to take the foot off the passion at times to allow their body to rest.

Next is a key that the paper did not cover.

6

6 Overlaps: When one’s own situation overlaps or compares with the person their working with, all the more potent if its a current overlap. This will be particularly relevant to us over the next phase. Corona and lock down are clearly one. When something comes up where your brain can see a correlation there’s a chance for personally identifying. Again consider it in the biology, this means we’re more susceptible to the same parts of the brain which are causing distress for the child or adult we’re working with, to be firing off in us as well. Have they experienced bereavement and we fear it, have they struggled to be lock in and we’ve struggled to be locked in. Are they a child of seven and we have a child around seven. Those are the similar overlaps, the contrasting overlaps could be something like, I’m moving house while I know this child doesn’t have a house or a safe home, I’ve had a lovely birthday while I know this child hardly got anything, my partner took me out for dinner last week while this kid’s parent hit the other one. Lots of space for the mind to create some guilt. Note someone else having a bad time does not mean you’re not allowed to have a good time.

6 Response: Notice it, acknowledge it internally, notice how you tend to respond. For example, when something overlaps between two people the person aware of it has a choice of whether to mention their own story or whether to leave it out and go with the other persons narrative. and when we leave it unsaid. There are often two types of conversation, turn taking or going deeper into one’s person side. Person A said my kids bla, bla, bla, Person B replies my kids… Person A says oh and my cousin… Person B say yes my cousin… and so on in taking turns to tell each other things. The other conversation leaves aside one person’s stories and instead goes deeper into the others story. Neither is right or wrong, just be really aware of how a conversation turns when we bring ourselves into it. On one hand a turn taking style of conversation might leave a person feeling unheard thinking ‘I try to tell them about what I’m struggling with and they always turn it back to their world’. On the other hand we might want to create connection, a bridge to them by sharing something in common. Question need to arise like: Do we want to maintain distance to care for them? Are we merging our situation and there? Is this the moment to self reveal for more closeness?

Which ever is right for the other person be aware that every time we talk (or think) about our personal worlds it affects the biology that is going on in our brain. We have lots of overlaps with the people we work with because we’re all human. This is more relevant than ever when we are all going through the pandemic. So remember these overlaps can create a larger susceptibility to triggering our own potential to experience vicarious trauma. It can help to learn to leave our own experience out of the room so we are selves aren’t leaning into to that experience. However as with the other keys this is not a rule, just a note to be aware of the affects it can have on us. The other side of this coin of course being that sometimes its incredibly helpful to have colleagues for example know what’s going on for us.

7

7 Current Life: Where am I at?

Lastly our own point of resilience will make a difference too. If I am unwell or under strain from elsewhere, I am therefore more susceptible to the arousal of my emotional and threat systems and in its full blown form vicarious trauma. Again this is not to say you are weak, but to say this is normal, and something to be aware of and respond to without self judgement.

7 Response: At this point I’ll not go into this one as we are generally aware of this one, other than to be aware of it, and be reassured that its ok to need to look after ourselves at times. 

Caveats

Ok so before we do the vignettes let’s put one caveat on this. The point of this paper or this workshop is not to say its wrong to empathise. Or that it is better to be cold and detached. We’re just trying to notice the building blocks so that we have more ways to notice when we’re being impacted and be tooled up on how to turn the situation around if we find ourselves slipping down a hole. Attunement, mirroring, chiming in, creating raport, seeing that we feel that too, listening well, all of these things are great parts of our work, which motivate us and help us help people.

There’s a suggestion that people will tend to go in two directions when emotionally flooded or overwhelmed by working with distressed people. One direction is crumpling, merging, like the experience of the social worker Ruth. The other way is to grow more cold, distant as a way to cut off from the overwhelming emotion. Our aim is to learn how not to end up stuck in either end but how to use the tools from both ends as we snake along the middle and try to look after ourselves. The cold and detached person has the ability to do boundaries even when the other person doesn’t want them to, the crumpled person has great skills in empathy. Neither is wrong, learn from both while trying not to get stuck in either end.

One last caveat, when ever we learn more about psychology its a good idea not to use it to diagnose what we think it going wrong for each other. Its ok to respectfully offer something up for someone consideration, but it is also ethical to recognise everyone as the experts in their own lives and not to presume we know what’s going on for them. 

Part 2

When listening to the following vignettes

1 Identify: use the six keys to note where there’s more potential for impact on the professional’s well being, signs that there’s possibly some current impact

2 Response: what they might want to do to help themselves out, do they need to notice something could be a warning signal for doing something in the future, or do they need to so something about it now.

Note. These vignettes are fictional, while trying to be relevant. Going forward its best we don’t overly diagnose each other and always respect that each of us are our experts in our own lives.

Seven keys summary

1Processing (imagination)

2Interactions (physically and verbally in the room)

3Past Experiences

4Body (including feelings) as information

5Inner narratives/thought patterns

6Current Overlap/ allowed identification

7Current Life

Jasmin

Jasmin has been been teaching for two years, starting the course two years after her son was born. In her first year she had p6 and now she’s teaching p2. Its been tough to leave her kids to study and work because she loves them and loves being a mum but though it’s tiring she also loves teaching. And likes to put in some extra time prepping things that the kids can make and then take home with them.

By November Jasmin isn’t quite where she was at the beginning of term but she puts it down to the fatigue that everyone’s feeling at this point. She often finds herself thinking she could have done a bit more, and that wasn’t enough. She’s aware of two children in her class turning up often without the right clothing, the kids look tired and pale. She’s aware there’s possible issues around whether the kids have very much at home or have a settled situation there. She makes sure and gives these kids extra time, sitting with and slowing things down.

Its hard in the busy class but this is why she’s at this job she wants to be here for these kinds of kids. She can’t let them down too just because she’s tired. She pushes forward and works at getting the resources the work on and take home just right.

Christmas break goes by and she finds herself thinking of them as her own family does their presents and food. When term returns things at home carry on as ever, but she finds she’s not as keen to settle with her kids, she’s getting tearful with them without really knowing why. One day she realises she’s pushed her child away, noticing it she feels shocked at herself and useless. But she struggles to soften to them even after realising it.

What’s going on for Jasmin, if you were her what might you imagine doing in response.

Jess

Jess was friendly, she was great on reception. Despite having been surprised at herself for deciding to go for a job at school as she had hated it there in her own youth mostly because of some girls in her year. Then she was even more surprised when she got the job and then found she liked it. 

She knew how to get what she needed to get done done, and leave what she didn’t need to get done. She loved getting the wee chats here and there with the kids and having the chat with the parents through the glass. But gradually a couple of situations were getting at her. 

Two of the parents tended to come in and stand leaning in while she sat at the desk. They asked various questions most of which she could answer fine but they didn’t tend to smile much of give much away. They’d look at each other sometimes and it was hard to read what they were not-saying. At another point in the day she’d see the kids getting picked up late and could read their faces faces. Her mind would float off with them. 

Today she had seen one of these kids at lunch, it seemed like one of the other kids had been being mean from a distance at her. By the time she looked that way she couldn’t see what the other kid had been doing, so she didn’t think she could say anything. ‘Are you alright’ she asked ‘yeah’ replied the kid.’Well she would say that’ Jess thought and felt worried for her and didn’t feel like she could do anything to help. Later at home she wondered if she should have said more. And wondered about telling her that she was bullied when she was younger.

Harry

Harry’s in his fifties and he’s in the management team. It’s been a busy few weeks coming back to work after social distancing. It’s the end of another week and he’s home with his wife.

‘Hey love, I’ll get that’ say’s Harry as he comes over to help make dinner.

‘Alright then, you can chop!’ She busy’s around him prepping things as he pulls the carrots over to the chopping board.

They chat about things, clips from the telly, who's gonna walk the dog and gradually things go over to talking about work.

‘I guess it’ll have been busy.’

‘Auch its been alright. They’re all doing a great job. Some ups and downs but the routine is slowly coming back.’ He replied

‘That sounds better than you were worrying about.’

‘Yes, there’s been parents in talking to me, some you don’t see that often.’

Harry’s wife hadn’t been watching Harry much but realised his voice had dropped to a little lower. She looked up

‘That’s good isn’t it, you’re always wanting to see more of them.’

‘Yes he replied this is just what we need, everyone coming together.’ Harry was still looking at the carrots, but he seemed to be struggling to hold the pieces together, somehow the task had become trickier.

‘Everyone’s working together to figure out how to sort out pick up and drop offs.’

‘That’s good…’ His wife thought for a moment.

‘And pick up and drop offs are trickier than there were before?’ Questioned his wife.

She noticed his fingers tense around the pice of carols he’d started moving into various piles.

‘Well yes, there’s less people to do them now. So everyone’s working to sort it out.’

His wife was about to ask him if he was ok when a pot started to boil over. She was about to ask him more when Harry cut in.

‘I was thinking about the dog, I know its your turn to take him out, but maybe its best if we just use the back garden for now. We’re back, but we can’t be too careful.’

Joe and Sally

Joe the teacher and Sally the support for learning worker are having a full on week. In fact it’s been full on for a while. Several of the kids in class can really wind each other up. They’re edgy and they’d irritate someone else in the class than go to the calm corner.  It goes from a mild on the escalation scale to max really fast. 

Joe found himself having to leap across the class to intercept one of the children who’d climbed on top of the desks in order to run over them and them attack another child on the other side. On the way there he knocked other children out of the way. Sally then had to choose between helping out the children who were looking stunned by Joe’s movement and helping Joe. Joe had become  stuck in a stand off between the various kids and the child on top of the table. Joe signalled to Sally to get the kids evacuated into the hallway while he stayed with the ones in the room. Via strong words Sally managed to get them out of the class. She noticed several of them were wide eyed moving their heads around like little birds. But had to strongly keep telling them what to do for safety’s sake. The child on the table sat down there, folded his arms and refused to interact. Joe sat down too and they waited it out. While Sally engaged the kids outside in one of the songs they had been learning.

Later Joe and Sally were in a meeting with other staff members when the situation came up. Quickly the conversation rose in tempo and temperature. Joe’s colleagues wondered if he was annoyed because he started to speak less, looked mostly down and sit stiffer in his chair. Sally on the other hand spoke quickly answering any comments that came up, while maintaining eye contact with whoever it feel on in the room. Sally said ‘that they were meant to be doing things for these kids amongst other things’ and trailed off. Joe then agreed ‘that they were there to do things for the kids’. At that there was a silence in the room for a few moments. While sympathetic in their heads the colleagues were worried about saying the wrong thing.

[mredwinsmith]

Win an Original Thomas Schaller Watercolor!

Introducing The #WinSchaller Sweepstakes

When reflecting on the most influential watercolor artists of today, Thomas Schaller ALWAYS comes to mind. There is no question his use of color, ability to capture atmospheric qualities, and his entrancing cityscapes and landscapes will be celebrated for decades to come.

So, artists and art lovers alike, if you are in awe of Schaller as much as we are, then you’re going to LOVE this. Schaller has offered to give away his original watercolor painting, Angles of Light – Rome. Are you going to be the lucky person who gets to hang it up in your home? Read on to learn how easy it is to enter for your chance to win. Good luck!

  Angles of Light – Rome by Thomas Schaller, 2017, watercolor, 22 x 15 inches

SWEEPSTAKES OVERVIEW:

To enter, first: Follow us on Instagram @artistsnetwork. Then: Share a picture of your original artwork of a landscape, cityscape or seascape on Instagram using the tag, #WinSchaller. It’s really THAT easy.

SWEEPSTAKES ELIGIBILITY:

The Sweepstakes is open to all U.S. residents, 18 years or older. A participant must submit his or her artwork to the #WinSchaller Sweepstakes between Aug. 16 to Sept. 13, 2017, to be eligible to win. (Only one entry per person)

SWEEPSTAKES WINNER:

The winner of Schaller’s Angles of Light – Rome will be randomly selected on Sept. 20, 2017. Once the winner has been notified, he or she will also get a celebratory shout out on ArtistsNetwork’s Instagram. Be sure to check your DMs on Instagram Sept. 20 to see if you are the lucky winner!

Please note: The winning participant must have a valid email address to be notified, which ArtistsNetwork will request via direct message on Instagram. If no valid address is supplied, another entrant will be selected as the winner.

You can read the full #WinSchaller Sweepstakes Official Rules here.

      If the chance to win a Schaller original wasn’t enough, be sure to check out the step-by-step watercolor demonstration below from the watercolor celeb himself. Enjoy!

A Lesson in Watercolor from Thomas Schaller

The World Was Quiet (watercolor on paper, 22×15) is inspired by memories of my years in New York City and by a poem by Wallace Stevens. It’s about the almost-universal desire to find a quiet place in a chaotic world.

  Narrative always has played a 
major role in all of my work, including paintings with great atmosphere. Creating a compelling idea for each of my paintings is, in fact, my chief aim. All other elements — composition, values and color — must be in service to the overarching idea that frames everything I do.

Over time, I’ve found that the approach that works best for me is the establishment of a network of dichotomies — complements — within my work. Light vs. dark is, of course, 
a consistent theme. But so, too, 
are others: vertical vs. horizontal, warm vs. cool, man-made vs. natural, real vs. imagined, and the past vs. present vs. future.

Introduce such opposing forces within a work, and the viewer will see the tensions as well as the connections that exist between all parts of a painting.

  Time Travelers (watercolor on paper, 30×22) is derived wholly from my imagination; the passage of time is the theme. The distant sky dissolves into mist, and the uncertain bridge carries the two figures on their journey over space and time—from wherever they were to wherever they may arrive.

How To Build Atmosphere, Step-by-Step

When painting skies and water, connect similar and opposing elements to create a realistic sense of atmosphere. Read on for a step-by-step demonstration for how I paint atmosphere in watercolor for gorgeous skies and water.

My Toolkit:

Sketchbook: Stillman & Birn Beta Series

Sketch Pencils: Faber-Castell 9000 4B; Palomino Blackwing 602

Paper: Arches 140-lb. rough

Brushes: Escoda Aquario Series Nos. 14 and 16; Escoda Perla Series Nos. 8, 10 and 12

Paint: Daniel Smith: French ochre, permanent orange, Venetian red, burnt sienna light, burnt sienna, cobalt teal blue, cobalt blue, ultramarine blue, lavender, imperial purple, lunar violet

Misc.: Holbein atomizer bottle

Finding the Perfect Subject

Walking along the Tiber River with friends one evening, the air suddenly chilled, and great banks of fog rolled in to cover the water and Rome’s iconic Ponte Sant’Angelo. The effect was majestic and intimate.

The great structure and the historic castle beyond seemed to hover in space — as if removed from time. The fog had the effect of connecting everything; sky became water, and the earthbound seemed to float. It was much too late and dark to paint, so I went back the following day.

Sketching the Scene

Fortunately, the lighting and fog of the previous night were still fresh in my mind as I sketched the scene. I often counsel my workshop students to avoid describing their subjects and instead try to interpret them. In other words: Don’t paint what you see; paint how what you see makes you feel.

That’s what I tried to do here. The elements of site observation are much the same, but the lighting, atmosphere, feeling and story are quite different. They’re inspired by my earlier impressions of the place and drawn from memory and imagination.

This sketch helped me plan the painting. I began to design the shapes of the composition — the darks and lights, the verticals and horizontals, the shapes of values that help to imply a sense of depth.

Drawing with Your Brush

  The preliminary site sketch also helped me complete my line drawing more quickly. I knew where the basic shapes needed to go, so I ran a smaller risk of overdrawing.

I find that it’s generally a good idea to draw only a bare minimum. Let the brush do the drawing and allow the viewer to fill in the blanks. Instead of describing with a line, I “draw” with fluid shapes of value and color.

Creating the Sky

  In doing my black-and-white sketch, I designed a color palette for the work. I knew it was about light more than anything else. Hence, the saved white of the paper which would form the fog that connected all things is the primary focus. Actually, everything else is secondary.

Turning the board upside down, I began with the sky in complementary tones of yellows and purple. Knowing the bits of castle and bridge that appear would be darker, I determined that it wasn’t necessary to hold any edges there.

Working on the Water

  Before the sky dried completely, I turned the board upright to lay in the tones of the water. I matched the hues of the sky to enhance the sense of reflection and the idea of connection. I was careful to maintain the pure white of the slanting fog.

Adding the Landmarks

  Before the sky or water areas dried completely, I used more earthy tones for the castle and the bridge. I wanted them to “melt” into the water and sky to enhance the idea of mystery and a sense of connection — and to help imply the effect of distance and perspective.

Applying Value

  I placed in the foreground elements of the bridge and statues. The sky behind was now nearly dry, so I could hold clean edges where needed. I used a water mister to help blend away any unwanted edges before establishing a bold sense of depth, perspective and drama by using darker values.

I used rather theatrical complements of color to imply warm reflections of bounced light under the deep arches against the cooler tones above and below.

Adding the Final Details

  As the painting dried, I created just a hint of a dark foreground. And lastly, I added a few small details here and there. The foggy atmosphere didn’t warrant more.

More importantly, I wanted to engage the viewer’s imagination — trying to conjure what can’t be seen—in Fog on the Tiber, Rome (watercolor on paper, 30×22).

See more of Thomas Schaller’s work, his workshop schedule, his books and more at thomasschaller.com.

And be sure to stay tuned for his new series of video workshops all about designing powerful watercolors, including lessons on perspective, the magic of complements and painting dramatic atmosphere. Coming this September 2017, you can find this series at northlightshop.com and on ArtistsNetwork.tv. In the meantime, be sure to check out his other video workshops streaming now on ArtistsNetwork.tv.

Need more Atmosphere Painting Inspiration?

Below is a quick look at the process of another artist who paints atmosphere so well: Antonio Masi.

In a Fog

Drawn on site in midday, I painted Nocturne, Winter Farmyard—Ohio (watercolor on paper, 18×24) as if at night and in moonlight to tell the bittersweet story of resilient places and forgotten ways of life.

  Painters ask how I paint, or achieve, light in watercolor. The simple answer is that I don’t. The light is already there on the surface of the paper just waiting for me. That’s true for painting fog, too. It’s more in what I don’t paint than in what I do.

Watercolor really is a subtractive medium, in that we don’t add paint to create light. Instead, we add paint to create the shadows that reveal the light. For example, find fog’s effect in what it obscures, not in what it reveals. Take a less-is-more approach.

Fog has a kind of silvery tone. And, like clouds, it can form shapes. Because of this, I’ll often add just a hint of cobalt teal blue and imperial purple to the bottom of fog banks to suggest shape, texture and a subdued atmospheric feel.

  Fragmentation and uncertainty are portrayed in Broken Road (at left; watercolor on paper, 15×20), which is anchored in reinvented reality. Hard edges and negative shapes frame the foreground, but a hopeful destination beckons in the distance.

  *Editorial contributions made by McKenzie Graham and Maria Woodie

The post Win an Original Thomas Schaller Watercolor! appeared first on Artist's Network.

from Artist's Network http://ift.tt/2uGuyzc