#Quite accurate either. Like. We don't have a word for playing with different styles of clothes? Why do I need one for messing w other types

[selvepnea]

Thinking about. That one post about art. And how it's never good enough. Since you're the one that made it. And how. It might relate to how I view myself?

#Sel talks #Like. Do I like the idea of a masculine body because I think it will make me less me? #I keep thinking about a line from “in stars and time” talking about. How maybe they changed because it was easier than learning to love #Himself as he was. #Keep thinking about something my therapist said last session. About how he would hope there's more restriction around accessing trans #Health-care than there is about getting a medical Marijuana card #And even if it comes from a place of good intent; is still a harmful idea? #I keep forgetting how much importance cis people put on transitioning. And it's just. Not? For me? #My body is just another form of expression for me to form and play with. And I feel like it might be hard to try and get someone who's #Not thought a lot about gender to understand. #I don't really want to lable it as “transitioning” either. My isat brainrot is wanting me to call it “Changing”; bit I'm not sure if that's #Quite accurate either. Like. We don't have a word for playing with different styles of clothes? Why do I need one for messing w other types #Of presentation? #Sigh... #I'm soooo tempted to just go on t and not do anything else. No name change. No sex change. And not tell anyone. #Why do I need to take into consideration how much my decision weighs on other people? #I feel like I've gotten too many reminders that “tomorrow's not promised” or “How we spend our days is how we spend our lives” #“Don't live wondering” or whatever that old lesbian slogan was. “We're all going to die so who cares if it's a waste”? Some will wood song #I'm listening to. I just. #Why am I waiting for the perfect opertunity to transition? Or change or whatever. #I've always considered my want to masculinise as me taking “be the change you want to see” either too far or too literally #I want to see men in dresses!! And if no one else around here is going to do it I guess that falls on me! #Why must I follow everyone else's path to t?? I want to make my own! #Grrr barkbark #I feel so underequiped to change the world; why must I do it?? Can't it just change for me??

[ironwoman359]

i saw your tag about how in 500 years we WON'T be calling britney spears' "toxic" classical music, and i am willing and able to hear this rant if you so wish to expand upon it :3c

You know what, it's been over six months, so sure, why not, let's pick today to have this rant/lesson!

To establish my credentials for those unfamiliar Hi my name's Taylor I was a music teacher up until last year when the crushing realities of the American Education SystemTM led me to quit classroom work and become a library clerk instead. But said music teaching means that I have 4+ years of professional classical training in performance and education, and while I'm by no means a historian, I know my way around the history of (european) music.

So, now that you know that I'm not just some rando, but a musical rando, let me tell you why we won't be calling Britney Spears or [insert modern musician(s) that'd be especially humorous to today's audience to call classical] "classical music."

The simple answer is that "Old music =/= Classical music," which is usually the joke being made when you see this joke in the first place.

As funny as this joke can be when executed well (this is one of my favorite versions of said joke, especially since this is a future world where there's very little accurate surviving info about the culture from the 21st century), there is VERY little likely of this actually being how music from today is referred to in the future, because, again, music being OLD does not automatically make music CLASSICAL.

If you'd indulge me a moment, have a look at these three pieces from the early 1900s, which is now over 100 years ago. That's pretty old! You don't have to listen to the whole of all of them if you don't want to, but give each around 30 seconds or so of listening.

All three pieces are over 100 years old, but would you call "In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree" classical? Or "The Entertainer?" Most likely not. You'd probably call these songs "old timey" and you may even be savvy enough to call "The Entertainer" by it's actual genre name, ragtime. But if either of these songs came on the radio, you wouldn't really call them classical, would you? They're just old.

Whereas Mahler's Symphony No. 5, now that sounds like classical music to you, doesn't it? It's got trumpets, violins, a conductor, it's being played by a philharmonic! That's a classical musicy word!

The short answer of why we in the real, nonfictional world won't be calling Britney Spears's "Toxic" classical music in 100 years is it simply doesn't sound like classical music.

.....and the long answer is that Mahler's Symphony No. 5 isn't actually classical either.

See, music, just like everything in culture from dress to art to architecture changed with the times, and therefore 'classical music' is technically (although not colloquially) only one of about four to five musical periods/styles you're likely to hear on one of those "classical music tunes to study to" playlists.

Our dear friend Mahler up there was not a classical composer, he was a composer of the late romantic era.

So now, because I have you hostage in my post (just kidding please don't scroll away I had a lot of fun writing this but it took me nearly 3 hours) I'm going to show you the difference between Classical music and the other musical eras.

These are the movements we'll be dealing with, along with the general dates that define them (remembering of course that history is complicated and the Baroque Period didn't magically begin on January 1st, 1600, or end the moment Bach died) :

The Baroque Period (1600-1750)

The Classical Period (1750-1820)

The Romantic Period (1820-1910)

The Impressionist Movement (1890-1920)

You'll notice that as time goes on, the periods themselves grow shorter, and there starts to become some overlap in the late 19th to early 20th century. The world was moving faster, changing faster, and music and art began changing faster as well. Around the beginning of the 20th century music historians quit assigning One Major style to an entire era of history and just started studying those movements themselves, especially since around the 20th century we were getting much more experimentation and unique ideas being explored in the mainstream.

Even the end of the classical to the beginning of the romantic period can get kind of fuzzy, with Beethoven, arguably one of the most famous classical (and yes he was actually classical) composers in history toeing the line between classical and romantic in his later years. The final movement of his 9th symphony, known as Ode to Joy, far more resembles a romantic work than a classical one.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

To oversimplify somewhat, here are the main characteristics of said movements:

The Baroque Period (1600-1750)

Music was very technical and heavily ornamented. This coincided with a very "fancy" style of dress and decoration (the rococo style became popular towards the latter half of this period). The orchestras were far smaller than we are used to seeing in concert halls today, and many instruments we consider essential would not have been present, such as the french horn, a substantial percussion section, or even the piano*. Notable composers include Vivaldi (of the Four Seasons fame), Handel (of the Messiah fame) and Bach:

*the piano as we know it today, initially called the pianoforte due to its ability to play both softly (piano) and loudly (forte) in contrast to the harpsichord, which could only play at one dynamic level, was actually invented around 1700, but didn't initially gain popularity until much later. This Bach Concerto would have traditionally been played on a harpsichord rather than a piano, but the piano really does have such a far greater expressive ability that unless a group is going for Historical Accuracy, you'll usually see a piano used in performances of baroque work today.

The Classical Period (1750-1820)

In the classical period, music became more "ordered," not just metaphorically but literally. The music was carefully structured, phrases balanced evenly in a sort of call and response manner. Think of twinkle twinkle little star's extremely balanced phrasing, itself a tune that Mozart took and applied 12 classical variations to, cementing it in popularity. And speaking of twinkle twinkle, memorable melody became more important to the composition than ornamentation, and many of our most universally known melodies in the west come from this period. The orchestra also grew bigger, adding more players of all kinds as now we didn't have to worry about overpowering the single-volume harpsichord, and additional instruments like more brass and woodwinds were added. Notable composers include Haydn (of The Surprise Symphony fame) Beethoven (of, well, Fame), and Mozart:

Pay attention to the size of the orchestra here, then go back to the Bach concerto. Notice how in that very typical Baroque setting, the orchestra sits at maybe 20 people, and that here in a Classical setting, there's nearly two times that!

The Romantic Period (1820-1910)

In the romantic period, it was all about BIG FEELINGS, MAN. It was about the DRAMA. Orchestras got even bigger than before, the music focused less on balance and became more dramatic, and there was a big focus on emotions, individualism, and nationalism. Discerning listeners will notice a lot of similarities between romantic symphonies and modern film scores; John Williams in particular is very clearly influenced by this era, any time I'd play the famous Ride of the Valkyries by Wagner in a class, the kids would remark that it sounds like it should be in Star Wars. A lot of romantic composers were German, including Beethoven, if you want to call his later works romantic (which I and many others argue you can, again, compare Ode to Joy to one of his earlier works and you can hear and see the difference), but you also have the Hungarian Liszt (of the Hungarian Rhapsodies fame), the Russian Tchaikovsky (of the Nutcracker and 1812 Overture fame), and the Czech Dvořák:

See how this orchestra is even bigger still? Modern orchestras tend to vary in size depending on what pieces they are playing, but the standard is much closer to this large, romantic size, and it's far less typical to see a small, intimate Baroque setting unless specifically attending a Baroque focused concert. Also I know I embedded Dvořák because Symphony From a New World slaps but please also listen to Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 it's one of my all time favorite pieces and NOT just because of the Tom and Jerry cartoon, alright? Alright.

The Impressionist Movement (1890-1920)

A bit after it began but definitely still during the romantic period, a counter movement began in France that turned away from the emotional excess of romanticism and focused less on standard chord progression and explored more unconventional scales. This music was less worried about how it 'should' sound and was more concerned with evoking a certain emotion or image, giving you an "impression" of an idea. Debussy is by far the most well known name in this movement, even though he personally hated the term 'impressionism,' lol.

Notice the way the periods build on each other naturally, literally, physically builds on the orchestras that came before, evolving in style and structure until you get to the late 19th and early 20th century when things were built up so big that a response to that excess started to develop, first in the impressionist movement, and then into 20th century music in general, which got much more experimental and, as we say, "weird." (frickin 12 tone scales, man)* *i do not actually dislike the sound of 12 tone, it's interesting and unique, but it is HELL to analyze in music theory, which is unfortunately when a lot of us classical musicians are first introduced to it, therefore tarnishing our relationship to the genre as we cannot separate it from our own undergrad anguish

Even if you're not a super active listener and you have a harder time discerning the difference between, say, late baroque and early classical, you cannot deny that the first piece I've linked by Bach and the last piece I've linked by Debussy sound completely different. They're both orchestral pieces (I intentionally chose all orchestral pieces as my examples here, getting into solo works, opera, and chamber ensembles would take too long), but other than that, they couldn't be more different.

Wait, so what are we talking about again?

Classical Music is first a period of music, a specific artistic movement with music typically written in Europe between 1750 and 1820 with a specific sound that is distinct from these other styles I've outlined here.

And Classical Music is second a genre. Because while academically and historically Baroque music is not classical, and Romantic music is not classical...colloquially it is. They sound similar enough that it makes sense to put them on the same playlists, the same radio stations, the same 'beats to study to' youtube compilation videos. While individuals may have favorites and preferences, it's not far fetched to say that if you like listening to one of these styles, you'll at least like one of the others.

But whether you're being broad and referring to our modern idea of the classical genre, or you're being pedantic like me and referring to a specific period of musical history (or modern compositions emulating that style, because yeah, modern compositions of all of theses styles do exist), I think we can all agree that, as much as it slaps, "Toxic" by Britney Spears is not classical music, and 500 years is unlikely to change our perspective of that.

A Traditional Ballad though?

Yeah, I can see us calling it that in 5 billion years.

(the full version of this scene is age restricted for some reason, but you can watch it here)

Anyway, thanks for reading y'all, have a good one!

#music #music theory #music history #classical music #baroque music #romantic music #impressionist music #music teacher #music teaching #taylor teaches #asks and answers #long post

[cyber-cry-baby]

Miasma Pt. 16 "Grand Soirée"

Caustic x fem reader Words: ~1700 Warnings: none A/N: oops, looks like I wrote three chapters today?? Also, this fic isn't 100% lore-accurate as you probably can tell… hope you don't mind. I’m trying my best to follow it tho! I'm glad to see that people are reading this fic either here or on AO3. I'm not sure which one is the place to post nowadays, but I'll probably continue posting to both. I'd like to hear what you think so far? Thanks for reading this, it means a lot to me!!

Previous chapter | Next chapter

You looked at yourself in the mirror. You hadn't seen yourself this polished in who knows how long. You were getting ready for the Grand Soirée with a small group of friends, and it was fun to see everyone dressed up so elegantly and impeccably groomed. The common rooms were buzzing with cheerful chatter.

The Grand Soirée was an annual event and certainly one of the highlights of life as a legend. With fabulous catering and guaranteed fun, what could possibly go wrong? You stood in front of the mirror and couldn't decide if you felt stunning or like a clown.

"Y/N, you look AMAZING!" Natalie clapped her hands while looking at you. Maybe you did.

"You look beautiful yourself!" you complimented her back. Everyone looked different than ever before. Your black evening gown sparkled and your dark makeup added a beautiful touch. Your hair was styled in classic, elegant curls. You were actually quite beautiful. You wondered how Alexander would look in his suit and quickly shook that thought away when you realized you were blushing.

"We look fabulous, darlings", Loba walked over to you, smiling.

"We should hurry, allons-y", Natalie announced to everyone.

"How do I look? Well, handsome, of course! Oh, I'm the star of the evening, take all the pictures you want", Elliott posed one more time in front of the mirror. You playfully pushed him away from the mirror.

"Alright, let's head to the venue", you urged. The venue was a place you had never been before, but you knew it would be magnificent, with its high ceilings, spacious terraces, large windows, and crystal chandeliers.

You mentally prepared yourself, gathering your composure. There was a lot to face tonight: the media, Alexander, people from the Syndicate. You knew that your family and friends outside of the games would be following the evening's events through the media.

Half an hour later, you got a taste of what life as a celebrity was really like. The red carpet seemed over-the-top, and the camera flashes almost blinded you, but you couldn't help but feel like a star. You had a few solo photos taken, and then a group picture with your friends. You posed confidently with a smile. As you arrived at the venue, you couldn't help but admire the grandeur of the hall and its decorations. You sat down at your assigned seats and began to enjoy the delicious food. You had never tasted such exquisite dishes.

"This is why we work and brawl in the games!" Walter exclaimed, almost devouring his food with both hands. You smiled blissfully, seeing how excited everyone was. You wondered how everything looked to outsiders, the glamour and glitz. You began to feel full and sipped on the expensive red wine. At this moment, you wholeheartedly agreed with Walter.

The rooftop terrace was not lacking in extravagance either. Bar counters and hot tubs were scattered everywhere. The atmospheric light installations added a festive touch to the whole setting. The music was playing softly, but you knew it would pick up as the night went on.

"Y/N Y/L/N! You are known in the game as Specter. You're one of the youngest legends and have been in the top ranks in the games a lot now. What do you have to say to your fans?" You were almost startled as a woman with a microphone and a man with a camera stood before you. You probably should have prepared for questions earlier. You stood there looking sophisticated with a wine glass in hand, smiling nicely. Your friends were probably cheering for you in front of the TV right now.

"I want to say, chase your dreams and work hard for them!" you responded with a cliché, and the duo moved on to harass others with their questions. You saw your chance and quickly moved a little further away. You leaned against the railing and took a sip from your wine glass. The view was breathtaking. The city looked massive, and all the other buildings seemed tiny. The billboards blinked in the evening's dim light, and the traffic down below appeared minimal.

You turned around and were taken aback when you saw Natalie talking to Alexander in the distance. They seemed to be having a good time, and you felt a little sad. Why couldn't you just go and chat with them? No, you couldn't act normal in his presence. Probably never again.

Alexander looked incredibly handsome in his suit. You wanted to burst. You wanted so badly to go and grab his arm and let everyone see—your friends, the media, everyone. But there was no chance.

"Oh, how sweet. Are you pining for him?" you heard a familiar, annoying voice from beside you.

"Doyle..." you spat his name contemptuously and rolled your eyes. He looked terribly official in his suit.

"Can't I come and chat with my favorite legend?" he said, leaning closer to you and clinking his glass against yours. You glared at him angrily.

"What? Can't I even admire my favorite legend?" he whispered in your ear, and you glared at him once again. Then he left to join his like-minded friends.

"That jerk", Loba walked over to you to check if you were okay.

"Ugh, he's just a loser, I'm not afraid of him", you waved your hand dismissively.

"Come on, let's stick together", Loba protectively took your arm and began to lead you towards the others. Yes, the others. You saw the whole group standing together in the distance, including Alexander. Natalie squealed when she saw you.

"I just praised Dr. Caustic about you. You look so beautiful, don't you think, Dr. Caustic?"

Well, this got awkward.

Alexander just grunted and turned away. You didn't expect any other reaction. You wondered what it looked like from afar when you and Doyle were talking.

"You and that Syndicate guy will probably be in the headlines tomorrow, the way you two were acting..." Anita pointed out. She looked like a bodyguard in her suit. You wished someone could have guarded your back tonight. Clearly, it was needed.

"That would be hell of a headline..." Kairi sighed and took a sip from her drink. "I need another one."

"Tell me about it", you huffed in response to both of her comments.

You noticed everyone around you gradually moving toward the bar counter. Soon, you found yourself standing alone with Alexander where you had been in a group just a while ago.

"Who was that bastard in the suit?" Alexander suddenly spoke.

"Aren't everyone like that here tonight?" you teased, and you could tell your joke didn't amuse him much at the moment. You couldn't exactly tell him that the guy was someone you were feeding information about his secret experiments to.

"I'll break his hands if he attempts physical contact with you again", Alexander growled, and you couldn't help but smile.

"Like any good colleague would?" you asked, feigning innocence.

"Of course", Alexander replied, adjusting his bowtie. You were relieved that your encounter wasn't awkward, and you could continue your conversation normally. You hoped for more, of course.

"Well, do you agree with Natalie?" you asked, and Alexander looked at you questioningly.

"Am I beautiful?" you flirted with a seductive look, just like any colleague would.

"You're very... alluring", you saw Alexander blush. "And that dress looks great on you."

"Thank you, but I think that you would look great on top of me", you whispered, and you saw Alexander almost choke on his drink. You struggled to stifle your laughter.

"If you weren't my colleague, I'd make you pay for that", Alexander muttered in a low voice, and your laughter abruptly stopped. Were you really going to continue this flirtation? Because if you did, you wouldn't be able to control yourself. You had to take a deep breath. This was truly torturing yourself. If you wanted to continue with your normal life, you couldn't do this to yourself.

"What did you have in mind? After all, I'm just your colleague", you asked innocently. You just had to continue...

"I'll come up with something. I find myself already too deep in this situation, and I'm uncertain whether it's possible to pull back", he said, giving you a meaningful look, and you felt like you were about to burst. You had just prepared yourself to detach from all of this, and now it continued. Not that you minded; it was better than anything. You knew you shouldn't allow yourself to...

fall in love.

But as Alexander had just pointed out, he was already deep into this, and so were you.

"I... I'll get a drink. Do you want anything?" you mumbled and started moving towards the bar counter. Alexander just shook his head and showed that he still had some of his drink left. You headed further away, and suddenly you saw Doyle signaling you over. His face looked serious. What the hell was going on?

You made your way over to him. It was best to obey. However, he couldn't do anything here with everyone watching.

"The files you sent have been examined now. Turns out, you were useful", Doyle said. It was a relief to hear. Maybe now he would be satisfied and leave you alone.

"You're probably interested in this...", Doyle pulled out his phone and began showing you something on the screen.

"It's no longer about Solace City; he's interested in another, more remote location where he's seriously planning gas attacks."

You furrowed your brows and leaned in to look at the screen.

"Does this look familiar? That is your hometown, right?" Doyle smirked as he saw the shock forming on your face.

#apex legends #alexander nox #apex caustic #apex fanfic #alexander nox x reader #caustic x reader #apex legends fanfiction #fanfiction #miasma #caustic smut

[dongzhou3kingdoms]

Yellow Sky Revolt Review

Tipped off by @sunfin3k this might be worth a try, grabbed kindle edition (for less then £3 so thanks for that price).

Baptiste Pinson Wu (who can be found on twitter and 3k communities) has taken a concept people often discuss for a game or other media. Life via the eyes of Liao Hua, Turban who lives to see the fall of Shu-Han, but actually did it. Being book one, this covers the beginning (the title may be a bit of a clue) but from a farmer's boy rather then a yet grand figure.

Wu has drawn upon a mix of sources, history, novel (with a leaning towards the novel), TV shows for his characters (he explains this well in his author notes) and managed to keep it cohesive. So you will get nods to both historical characters and novel figure (also a lot of Turbans), including new figures for Liao Hua's circle while reflecting them from a young Liao Hua's view. When making a choice of how one would write a character, such choices won't please everybody all the time but we all have different angles of how we portray someone and there are certainly fun nods for those who know the era.

I had fun and I do look forward to reading the next book. Deeper thoughts below (no spoilers)

The writing style is easy to read and he aims to be accessible, smoothly inserting explanations, but, perhaps in a bid to touch upon the culture of his wife, the use of the odd little Chinese (pinyin) word is possibly not a great idea for first timers? Not without a small glossary for it? He doesn't overdo it and usually (either via a line that follows or context) easy to understand but I do wonder if that might put one or two off.

Each character gets a brief appearance description while avoids the issue some have with the romance of throwing so many names at people. Figures gradually come into Liao Hua's life and only need to focus on a set few at a time, those he focuses on do make an impact as they are built up over their time with Liao Hua.

Humour aims for the boyish humour that people of Liao Hua's age would go for and ones aimed over his head (my fav bit involved Zhang Fei's memorable entrance). Goes for a sometimes harsh world with corporal punishment at the ready but bar one scene, didn't think he overdid it.

Liao Hua in this is both the elderly defeated general, looking back over his life and able to use that to help inform the narration, and Liao Hua the youth who is on a distant farm and is young, with so much to learn. A kid, unaware of so much and treated like one by those around him. Wu manages to knit together that balance well of the old head and the youngster.

I really admire how Liao Hua doesn't have major knowledge of things he shouldn't. No "and he knows the eunuchs are evil" or "woe, the Han court is evil and uncaring", more it is a distant entity most of the time and what he picks up are rumours or talk that may or may not be 100% accurate.

On the balance between "you want Liao Hua to be central enough to the story" (ie seeing events, interacting with figures) vs "avoiding being the special one", I think Wu keeps that balance. One situation I thought might go potentially too much towards the special one avoided that trap.

Book is split into two parts. First part I loved, the farm, the distance, the youthfulness vs the world, why Liao Hua became interested in the Turbans, the people he met, his being drawn into something bigger. I was a big fan of how the issue of magic was handled. It faded for me near the end when it came to a bit close to the novel, the build up to the scene was good but despite playing it from a different perspective, didn't quite land the moment, and the transition to part 2 was not the most exciting.

On paper I wasn't sure what I would feel about phase 2 initially when I saw the direction but soon found my attention fully engaged again. I don't think I can speak about what I enjoyed without spoiling it but felt that it was well pulled off involving figures I'm fond of. Got to see Liao Hua grow both during moments of peace then as danger reasserts (well done sense of the world changing) and an enjoyably teasing way to end.

#Liao Hua #Yellow Turbans #three kingdoms

[suckishima]

Hi there. First off I really like your blog. Your analysis posts are always fun to read and I really like your tags that connect all of the different themes, arcs and messages Haikyuu has. Your re-read is also fun to read through.

Second of all, I've recently re-watched Haikyuu Summer Training Camp Arc to cheer my self up the other day (as one does) and then ended up watching the first few matches of the Spring-High Prelim games (because one can never get enough Haikyuu in their life). This leads to my question to you, to pick your brain and see what you think.

What do you think of Johzenji's banner? The main translation that I run with is "Simplicity and Fortitude". I know there is a lot of talk about how their banner doesn't fit them and their play style. Which personally confuses me because my first thought when their banner was revealed was that it totally fits them perfectly, and I still believe that.

Yes they are reckless and wild, and pull off some really crazy insane moves but to me when you boil it all down, they're really a simple and strong team. They don't have any crazy strategies or super complicated techniques like other teams we've seen. They don't really have a single thing related to volleyball that establishes them like teams such as Nekoma and their passes and Dateko and their blocks. All we really get from them is that they're "Fun and Wild". We learn they train a lot through 2v2 games, and that during the inter-high prelims their team was still mainly made up of second years. Indicating that Johzenji is Strong.

Which got me thinking to the later theme in Haikyuu about "To be free is to be strong." Johzenji is free to play recklessly and wildly because they are strong representing the "Fortitude" of their banner. And as I mentioned earlier when you boil Johzenji down, their 'wild and reckless' play style is actually quite "Simple". They don't set up Set long strategies, or try to lure spikers into patterns to be eventually disrupted, or control the path of the ball to make their team strong. And when things do get serious and Johzenji has to strategize their strategies have more of a "Hey, lets do this and see what happens" laid back kind of vibe if you get what I mean. Johzneji gets to have this kind of Freedom to play volleyball so Simplistically, with a "Lets just play volleyball and have fun with it!" attitude because they are Strong .

I hope I was able to convey and translate my thoughts well enough for you and others to understand. With the interweaving of themes it's a bit difficult to determine which one to focus on first for it all to make sense.

So to wrap up, once again: What do you think of Johzenji's banner of "Simplicity and Fortitude"? (thank you for reading through all of this!)

Hii! So, I hope I end up answering your question in a roundabout way, because I'm not sure if I can really analyze the banner that well since I've always kind of gotten the impression that there was something lost in translation from Japanese to English with the Johzenji banner.

The anime (at least on Crunchyroll) does translate the banner as "Simplicity and Fortitude," but then the manga translates it as "Austerity Breeds Power." And tbh, based on how the characters in the series react to/interpret and explain the banner to each other (and therefore the audience), neither translation feels completely accurate to me. (also also, as usual I do not know Japanese so if anyone has any insight or corrections about my speculations please feel free to add!)

Overall, I'm with you, I think the word "simplicity" has too much leeway to be interpreted as either the way you do (as like "we don't need fancy plays, we keep it simple and do what we like!"), or as the way the characters in the series apparently interpret it ("just keep it simple and start with a good foundation/follow the proper technique"). But, even though the idea of "simplicity" allows for that kind of interpretation in English, none of the characters in the series seem to take it that way. They either understand the meaning to be the latter example, or they don't understand the banner at all (Hinata & Kageyama—whose lack of understanding in this instance tbh is probably mostly serving as an opportunity for Furudate to explain what their true intentions of the banner are).

Like, check out these manga panels that didn't get animated

I feel like if "Simplicity and Fortitude" was the more accurate translation that 1. Hinata and Kageyama wouldn't have any trouble understanding the words themselves, and 2. they wouldn't have thought of a butler and a power ranger.

I think whatever words are actually being used in Japanese are probably something that're more specific conceptually than the translation of "Simplicity and Fortitude" which is why I do kind of like the "Austerity Breeds Power" translation better. But I still feel like I'm kind of missing something lol. Because, "austerity" is kind of a weird word imo. It feels very serious and it's not used very often (which does actually fit with how Johzenji themselves don't really like it and the simpletons not knowing the word lol), but then if you look up a definition, it does basically mean "simple" too, just it has more of a "rule following" type connotation (it also has all sorts of technical political meanings, but those shouldn't be relevant here).

My best guess is that whatever word or concept is being talked about in Japanese (heck the entire banner could even be a common Japanese idiom), doesn't translate well to English and so the translation teams had to come up with something short and uncomplicated for English-speaking audiences to understand, while hopefully get most of the idea across. Plus, both the anime and the manga spend a good amount of time talking about the meaning of the banner, so even if the audience doesn't understand the banner itself, they can at least gather what it means to the characters, and narratively, that's what's important.

And honestly, that's kind of where I end up falling in terms of my interpretation too lol. I know the banner either says "Simplicity and Fortitude" or "Austerity Breeds Power" depending what medium I'm currently consuming, but my brain (having now read/watched the series several times) now auto-translates either one to essentially just mean a version of what Suga says in that panel above—something like "strong foundation above all, anything else is unnecessary."

#sorry for replying a few days late! and i hope i did end up answering your question okay #and thank you for all the kind words at the beginning of your ask too!! #hq #johzenji #hq meta #ask #rayofsun936 #long post #x

[talk1about7seventeen]

Warnings: Flirty situations, suave Taehyung, witty protagonist/ reader, romance.

Pairing: Taehyung x reader / suave!tae x witty!y/n

Word Count: 1744

Notes: Hello! Welcome! This was written in mind for my best friend (love you babe) but I hope you enjoy regardless! Remember, I'm not trying to be the most accurate with my depictions of Taehyung, yet a characterized version of the beloved K-pop artist. This is just for fun so don't think too much into it!

Genre: Romance ♡

Without further a-do, enjoy!

✲ﾟ｡.✿ • .ू • ❁.｡ू *ﾟ✲ﾟ• . *｡

The sky was alive as it always was in the early morning. Clouds danced amongst pinks and hues of gold, such a beautiful sight to wake up to. It was easy to be in a good mood in the city you lived, especially because of the skylight right above your bed where you could peer up into the sunrise yourself. You had made a great living for yourself to be able to afford such lovely apartment. It was at the top of the building, which is why you had a skylight in the first place. The window acutely placed against the ceiling, bringing light into the room so delicately that any movement may break the rays that glistened down upon you. Another day, another adventure. You would wake up with ease, brush your teeth, get dressed in something appropriate for the breezy Summer's day and make your way to the local coffee shop across the street. Yet, the feeling of your bed sheets was so much more alluring than anything else in that moment. The kind of calm that accompanied this room was enough to make any growing artist obtain their inspiration, and such you were.

"Okay." You spoke to yourself, mentally preparing yourself for the day ahead of you. Walking out of the room into the bathroom, you flipped on the light to get a good look at yourself. The short curls on your head stuck out wildly in every direction. Maybe you should have gotten that silk pillow case at the store when it was presented to you. Pillow cases aside, you had more important matters to deal with; today's look. You were feeling something more refined this morning. Maybe a touch of white, a hint of brown, or better yet---maybe lavender.

After brushing your teeth you went to retrieve the outfit of the day which ended up being a long deep colored brown blazer on top of a cream colored sweater slightly tucked into tan shaded long pants with not even a wrinkle on them. The pants in question fanned out at the end which gave you a more prestine and dare one would even say, artsy look. As you returned to the bathroom, you managed to tame the mess of curls on your head into a slick and neat style, one which you had done many times before. "There we go." You smiled at yourself. Over time you have really learned how to put yourself together. A wonderful trick you had learned from any art class; trusting the process. Sure, it may not look ideal at the beginning, but the end result would, if not most times, work out in your favor. You were beautiful, and you knew this. The confidence you radiated, a younger version of yourself envied. But there was no time for envy now, only self appreciation and admiration. You located a long bag you would wear on your shoulder with all the essentials tucked in neatly in each crevice. Now you were ready to start your day, and what better than something warm to sip on.

"Y/n! Good to see you dear!" The older women who ran the coffee shop bubbled at your presence. "Hello, Madam Loretta. Lovely to see your face again." You replied in a respectful tone. This women made you feel at home when you were far from it. Madam Loretta was a kind soul who had a knack for delicious coffee and you were surprised her shop wasn't as well known as it ought to be. "Not a minute late either. What will you be having today?" The women peered at you with curious eyes. Placing a finger on your chin, you pondered for a moment. "Surprise me." She nodded and made her way back to the coffee machine where she began to make your surprise drink, humming a tune you had heard many times before.

The shop wasn't crowded but it had a good amount of people there. One being a particularly interesting fellow you hadn't seen before. His style of clothing was similar to your own and his attention was being pulled from the book in his hand to the beverage in front of him. You watched him as you walked back to your usual seat, pausing when his eyes shifted to you. He looked you up and down for a second and gave a small smile. You shook your head out of your own thoughts and sat down at your seat.

You hadn't meant for the odd stranger to look at you, but now that was all he was doing. His coffee colored eyes swirled and glistened in the sunlight. They seemed warm and mesmerizing. You found yourself staring back. "Y/n, darling!" Madam Loretta called placing a coffee mug on the counter. Rising from your chair you walked up to her, trying not to look at him as you were moments ago. You dipped your head lightly at the woman and thanked her warmly. As you had almost made it back to your space, you heard a noise from where the man sat. "Hmm?" You turned to face him. He gently held up a hand a beckoned you over. Against anything you would have tried then, you were awfully curious of who he was and why he was looking. This was the moment you would let your interest get the best of you.

"You aren't very good at subtlety, are you?" He comments, his voice even and smooth. This caught you by surprise. "I beg your pardon?" He let out a chuckle. "Sit, please." Gesturing to the seat across from him, he watches as you move. You weren't sure if he was looking for something in particular but that wasn't of the utmost concern. You sat down, placing your coffee mug in front of you cautiously. "Well, is there something you need?" His smile grows. "My apologies, y/n, was it?" You nodded, looking at the cup in front of him. "Odd that you chose to order tea at a coffee shop." You commented. "They have it here, don't they?" He placed a hand on his cheek. "I suppose. What would they call you, stranger?"

"Ah, I've forgotten an introduction, haven't I? Kim Taehyung, ma'am, pleasure to make your acquaintance." Taehyung gave a little wink that made your heart race. Odd. "Well, Kim Taehyung, I wouldn't call yourself subtle entirely for you stared first." You say without issue, taking a sip of the coffee without breaking eye contact. It was rich and tasted of hazelnut. A smile spread across your face naturally. Taehyung caught this. "What's so funny?" He tilts his head to the side. "The coffee is good....it always is here." You would thank Madam Loretta before you left. "You should try it sometime, instead of getting a tea at a coffee shop." You teased lightly. Taehyung let out a small giggle. "I don't really like coffee." He said. Now this started to confuse you. "Then why are you here?" He looked around at the chattering customers, the prestine glass windows, everything and then back at you. "The atmosphere is addictive, is it not? Is that not why you're here?"

"A bold assumption, we hardly know each other, Kim Taehyung." He licked his lips softly. "For now." He set both hands crossed in front of each other on the table. "You are an interesting character." You tell him. "All the more reason to talk to me, I presume." You let out a laugh which catches him by surprise. "What a day already." You tell yourself aloud. "I'm glad you find me amusing." He smiles wider, showing his teeth which are perfectly straight. "I do. But I must be on my way." The time of your interaction has run short. You were too busy to keep this up much longer which caused a string in your heart to play a saddened tune. His frown made the song duller---or should one say, more sorrowful. "Can I meet you again?" You ask for a reason unbeknownst to yourself. This question causes him to smile. "You'll find me where the tops of the building meet the sky. And I shall be waiting for you there, dear y/n, I assure you." He tells you poetically. "Okay, Kim Taehyung, until then." He dips his head and gives a little wave goodbye as you walk up to the counter saying your grace to Madam Loretta, and then leaving soon after.

Art classes go ever so slowly this day, for your mind was on the suave man at the beloved coffee shop across the street. You weren't quite sure what he meant in his response before you had left but you were determined to find out. On beautiful days like this, you would walk up to the roof of your school and sit there as the sun left the sky, and today was no different. You walked up the stairs and opened the door with a firm push. To your surprise you weren't alone this time. A beautiful song filled the air. It was deep and moving. The voice could surely only belong to a professional singer, someone of value. You hadn't heard such a lulling tune in quite some time, it was enthralling. You scanned the area looking for who it may be, and there he was, Kim Taehyung. The door behind you shut with a loud click and the song stops abruptly. He turned and smiled as your eyes meet. "I hadn't expected this is where I would find you. You aren't following me, are you?" You walk towards him slowly. "Not at all. You aren't the only one who comes to appreciate the sky, nor will you be the last." You now stand side by side with him as you watch the sun decend over the horizon. You look out into the city with its towering buildings, and chattering tourists and in this moment, you feel like the art instead of the artist. "Meet me here again, y/n. I will wait for you and the sun."

"You're awfully bold, sir." He laughs. "One would ought to be." After that there were no words spoken, only the chirping of birds in the distance as the sun became a canvas for watercolors so bright that you would forget it wasn't a painting entirely. "I will." You tell him finally, and he smiles at this. Eventually, so do you.

#bts #kim taehyung #x reader #fanfiction #fanfic #bts fan fiction #taehyung x reader #romance #art #i hope you enjoy!

[maneaterwithtail]

I believe that metroidvania does an incredibly good job of not just telling you of the mechanics but the style of gameplay the likely Loop and various objectives. An exploration platformer might technically be a bit more accurate or to be fair a bit more in line with the terms that raw meat Cowboy would go on to share and assigned to each of the genres but as he points out unless you have a familiarity with the new lots of games even basic names for to the market with different styles which even have a noted amount of crossover and similar appeal and aesthetic but entirely two different types of games have two similar sounding names. And this case fighting games and beat em ups.

However much like we had to eventually stop calling them halo clones or like Gears of War or like God of War but we eventually had to set alarm or general term especially as God of War moved on to its own thing as well as it wasn't very helpful in terms of describing what's going on. Besides we're running into a similar bit of we can't just use the word for one game to describe a similar style of play with the fromsoft model. Even though it has been copied and has obviously reached a large amount of influence

I don't think there's anything really wrong with a term but it is decidedly a more familiar one as opposed to a descriptive one and probably not technical plus it also acts as an advertisement of a set of games that you're by necessity going to compare yourself as derivative from. This isn't a bad thing when you're an individual game on Steam and you're trying to borrow some of that heat for yourself but when you want to promote an entire genre you don't want to let yourself be limited to that. Not to mention there are number of exploration Platformers that don't really get the metroidvania sobriquet

Text DuckTales for instance. Probably because there's an obvious beginning middle and end for each stage select even if you can go back and forth as opposed to one large winding map that you're expected to get to a safe area and then quit from and then resume. Also the idea of collecting items moves or powers in order to unlock and enable further exploration seems to be a larger part of the Assumption of the genre even if in some cases will start you off with most of the tools you'll need and it's a way of tearing the walls down in order to enable more Interactive exploration. And of course this ignores the fact that most of the Castlevania is before Symphony of the Night and only Super Metroid have the formula and format down but it's so fitting and engaging that at the very least for 2D design it was quite engaging especially with the way that you could insert cutscenes or tell stories either by environmental storytelling or just various enemy Encounters of the effects of that would have on your character or the dangers thereafter

Compared to mobas and other terms used that are either highly technical or highly specific describing video game functions and features I think metroidvania is appropriately pics for what it's describing though in some ways will probably going to want a broader more technical term as people likely move away from using the two dimensional exploration formula in a way that deviates considerably from either metroid or Castlevania

#videogames #gonintendo. #metroidvania #genre terms #caring about fandom rep