#Yet it still has a very different folklore compared to the rest of the country

[twrambling]

im cooking a lot of stuff rn but Zulia is such an interesting,, state to make an oc out of.

I think that out of all the venezuelan states he's the most independent and the only one that could rival Caracas and even Lolo himself in terms of importance.

Zulia could probably exist without Venezuela but can Venezuela exist without Zulia?

#Late night thoughts #But it's barely evening #For context #Zulia makes 61% of Venezuela's population #And is where the petroleo activists do their bs #Rn ofc it's in a crisis as most of the country is #But for years it was the gold mine #it's also important in the food industry to i think #And a lot of iconic things are from there #Yet it still has a very different folklore compared to the rest of the country #In fact we've tried to become independent multiple times #Last time was in 2017 lol #It usually happens when shit hits the fan #There's too much stuff to explain to tag but like yeah Zulia is very interesting 🤔 #A Nightmare for Lolo to deal with tbh #Tierra del Sol amada ❤️ #My oc #Meitoswords #Oc tag

[goldenmusicmoments]

Taylor Swift - Folklore (Review):

The 1 - The album starts of with a mellow piano driven track in which the person who’s prospective the song is written from seems to be looking back at a time that once was. It seems like the character is looking back on a relationship and she thinks to herself that if things had been different that person could have been the one and that would have been a pleasant prospect. She is also letting her past lover know that she is doing fine. The track has a nostalgic feel to it which is also emphasised through Taylor’s vocal. The track sets the mood for the rest of the album really well providing the record with a strong beginning.

Cardigan - The rustic feel provides the track with a unique opening moment immediately drawing you in. Here she seems to be singing about what you can either take as a feeling/person where it/they have become older yet to this person they are new and their favourite thing regardless of that. The track lyrically has such a full circle moment taking you on journey with the person who’s prospective it is written through. Her vocal on this track has a dreamy and sensual feel to it. On top of that the production on this track is stellar. Taylor has stated that this song is from the prospective of Betty who track eight on the album is about. Taylor also released the visual for this track on the day of release which compliments the song so well.

The Last Great American Dynasty - Now we get a track with a bit more of a groove to it. The production has a really bright feel to it that lifts the mood from the previous two tracks. Here she is tells the story of the previous owners of the house that she now owns on Rhode Island. It describes the downfall of a family and the outsiders knowing nothing seem to blame the woman and claim that things could have been different if she hadn’t shown up. When Taylor moves in the people around seem to form the same judgement of her. This track doesn’t immediately strike you as you are thrown off by the change in feel from the previous tracks, however do pay attention to everything from the lyrics to the production and you’ll see how great it is. You can really get lost in this track.

Exile (Ft. Bon Iver) - This piano driven track starts of with Bon Iver’s vocal which catches you off guard as you are expecting Taylor to open the track. Here it seems like the relationship has fallen apart after them trying to make it work. You can feel the pain and emotions behind the lyrics through the pairs vocals. The build in the song is stunning making you want to bask in its beauty. Their vocals come together so beautifully here. This track showcases how a duet should be done with its conversational quality. It also seems to have been an immediate favourite of those that listened to the album.

My Tears Ricochet - This self written track begins and ends with these haunting ‘Oooooh’s’. This track seems to be about a relationship that has come to a bitter end. As the person who the prospective character seems to be talking about is dealing with the demise of this relationship in a rage filled mannerism. Death being used metaphorically here to depict that is very fitting. The person of topic doesn’t seem to be past the relationship, as much as they seem to be trying to get rid of the other from their memory, something seems to prevent that from happening in totality. Also their way of dealing with the situation is causing them harm as well. The build in the bridge gives you a sense of urgency particularly through the production. The song completely encapsulated you in its eerie feel. Again this song showcases how great of a songwriter Taylor is and it surely goes down as one of the best in her discography.

Mirrorball - This dreamy track has a very cinematic feel to it. You feel as though you are at a dance where there is mirrorball hanging in the centre. The mirrorball here is metaphorically used to describe how a person tends to vary how they present themselves depending on who they are with. Just like the mirrorball having many faces each of which show something different from the other. It also speaks to an aspect of celebrity. The bridge depicts this desperation we have to impress others or do everything possible to keep people interested in us. This song grips you in its beauty.

Seven - Here the piano opens the track and then is joined by the strings. On this song it seems that she is looking back at her former self when she was seven years old. She is remembering who she was at that age and how that age was a turning point in terms of reaching civility. It is a calm track that has a slight feel of longing which is highlighted through her vocals.

August - The opening of the track draws you in immediately. Here the prospective character seems to be going over memories or moments from her past. She compares the departure of the person of topic to that of how a month goes by. The lyrics touch on how in a relationship you get lost in love, that it makes you forget that at any moment it could fade, and you end up losing the person you thought you’d be with forever. She seems to be putting on a front that she is fine with the relationship ending. Her vocals in particular give you this light and dreamy feel that you seem to get lost in. Then when the bridge hits you are lifted out of that dreamy vibe as the vocal delivery of the lyrics here have a sense of urgency to them. The outro to the track is beautiful and really leaves you lost in your thoughts, kind of like how you’d feel when you get to the end of a memory. 

This Is Me Trying - Here she sings about being in a place of struggle where she isn’t doing so well mentally/that she feels lost in life with all its uncertainty, however she is trying her absolute best to keep herself going and getting through all that she is going through. She more so is letting the ones around her or herself know through her actions that she is trying her best. This track will surely resonate with a lot of people and it shines even brighter in the current state that the world is in right now. It is a beautiful track that will have you feeling emotional and teary. Her vocals have a very airy quality to them here that add to the nature of the track elevating the meaning of the lyrics. 

Illicit Affairs - This song kind of feels like it is giving off a warning of the bad side of having illicit affairs. However here the person who is having these illicit affairs has their doubts, however they have too strong of an attraction to this person for them to end it. Sometimes desire outdoes morality and logic which this song depicts. Plus it showcases the extent people go to in order to cover up their tracks when having an affair. Her vocals are really beautiful and have a sense of remorse to them. In terms of production it does seem a little chaotic, eluding to the nature of the situation.

Invisible String - This track has a bit of a quirky vibe to it. Here she sings about fate through this invisible string that ties her to the person of topic. It seems like this was what was meant to be and she seems to have come to a place where she feels content with life and who she is with. It is a gentle track that holds true to the calm nature of the album both through its production and Taylor’s vocals. 

Mad Woman - This track has a moodier vibe in comparison to the rest of the album. Here she sings about women being labelled as mad and how people seem to have a negative view of a mad woman. However what they don’t realise is that she isn’t mad because she wants to be but more so because someone else is the cause of her being mad. It speaks to the double standards faced by women when defending themselves, where a man defending himself would be him being defensive, yet the opposite the woman would be seen as being mad. 

Epiphany - The opening of this track gives you this feeling of vastness. Then when the vocal kicks in the feel shifts to something ethereal. This song was inspired by her grandfathers experience in the military during the war. She uses that and compares that to what those working at the frontline (doctors, nurses etc.) during this pandemic must be experiencing. Pointing to the similarities. It highlights how tough it is for them and how their short moments of rest are the only moments they seem to find relief or escape from the difficult reality. A stunning track in which the lyrics are complemented so well by the production on both the track and vocal.

Betty - After a long time we get another taste of country from Taylor Swift on this track, particularly through the instrumentation. This is written from the male prospective. Although he confesses to what he has done, he doesn’t actually apologise. He seems to think that him showing up is enough to win her back, in fact his attempt at justifying his actions seems to only dig him a deeper hole. This song also completes the tracks known as the trilogy (Cardigan, August & Betty).

Peace - This track starts with a very intriguing pulse like beat which is eventually joined a by the strings. On this song there is something very somber about her vocals. Lyrically she sings about limitations in how much she can control in terms of what she has to offer in the relationship. Her asking whether it would be enough if she could never give him peace, is her trying to see whether he’d still be interested after knowing that. Her confessing to what she can give to this relationship prior, is what provides this track with a standout moment on the album and showcases that she cares about the other person. A beautiful and somber moment on the album.

Hoax - This piano led track brings the album to an end on a rather sad moment. Here both through the lyrics and vocals you get this feeling as though she feels defeated. However the lyrics ‘Don’t want no other shade of blue, but you’ provide with a small moment of hope. The bridge to this track is one of the standout moments on the album, showcasing her talent for writing a strong bridge. The song closes the album leaving you lost in thought trying to decipher the lyrics.

The Lakes - This bonus track gives the album an alternate ending, this song was inspired by her trip to Lake District and her discovery of artists that moved to live there and create art. Here she fantasies about doing the same and what she imagines it would be like. The song has a romantic and vintage feel to it due to the production style and her vocals emphasis that feel. It brings the album to an end on a very different note to that on the standard edition.

Overall this maybe Taylor Swift’s best project to date. It’s a cohesive record as the album has a cinematic, mellow and moody vibe to it. There is something vintage about the album. The lyrics hold your attention throughout as you try and decipher the lyrics. It also feels like her most mature record. Taylor shows us that she is a versatile artist that isn’t afraid to change things up. Even though this record isn’t her most personal record, as here she writes from the prospective of other people, it still feels personal through her songwriting style. 

#TaylorSwift #Folklore #GRAMMYs #Swifties #AlbumOfTheYear #Cardigan #Betty #August #Peace #Music #Billboard #BonIver #Review #TheLakes #Mirrorball

[magus-of-the-color-pizza]

(Not Quite a) Quick Post: To Kamigawa or not to Kamigawa?

Alright, I’m going to jot down a few of my thoughts here. There is an ongoing discussion, both from the fanbase and, I believe, at WotC, about what to do about the Kamigawa situation. By this, I mean the following: Kamigawa, the Japan-inspired block, was very unpopular. Yet, people sometimes clamor for its return. So the question we need to answer is: do we go back to Kamigawa, or instead try to make a new Japanese-inspired plane so we can be easily rid of the plane’s negative baggage?

Anecdotally speaking, Kamigawa is the plane that Mark Rosewater gets asked if we can/will return to the most. Just a couple days ago, a comment he made in one of his answers spurred a new flurry of asks on the subject, pondering various elements regarding such a return, like whether or not we should reuse the same mechanics, what exactly went wrong, and whether or not the player base would respond positively.

Let’s start with a wider approach. What went wrong? According to Mark Rosewater, the issue was manifold: “The names scored poorly because they were hard to parse and remember. The art scored poorly because too much of it was thought to be not what the audience expected. The world scored poorly because it didn’t resonate with the audience.” In the past, Maro has also said that the block suffered from the over-abundance of Legendaries (every single Rare creature was a legendary (or flipped into one), which is insane) and the fact that we had parasitic mechanics (a mechanic which requires you to have very specific cards at your disposal to be useful) in play (Soulshift, Splice, and Offering). Can we circumnavigate these things and would that be worth it?

Let’s start by addressing the loxodon in the room: the kami.

Kamigawa block has 336 creature cards. Of these, 169 (read: slightly more than half, though the math is not exact due to some flip cards that are counted as both) are Spirits, which in this context means that they are kami. A lot of people may think of Kamigawa as “the Japanese plane”, but the truth is that this block focused on spirits just as much as it focused on Japanese or Japanese-inspired elements. While some Kami are inspired by Japanese folklore (for example, Yuki-Onna and the Kirins), in most cases, people who are not waist-deep in Japanese folklore will have absolutely no idea what they’re looking at (and I believe most people who are folklore junkies will still have a difficult time.)

“A dreamcatcher that looks like a nightmare? Yeah, I preferred the human ones”- My Japanese friend, upon viewing some of the Kamigawan spirits (paraphrased)

I asked people for their opinions regarding the kami, both here on tumblr and in person in a few groupchats (plus, my friends’ opinions). I don’t have enough evidence to present convincing market research, but so far no one has argued for maintaining this high a number of Spirit cards, and a majority of people explicitly said they think the number would have to be reduced drastically, in a return.

Reducing the number of Kami cards (and the number of Legendaries, because dear lord), would help address all of Maro’s concerns. Less weird art, less difficult names (both proper, like Mannichi, Oyobi...Tomorrow???, and non, like Zubera, Akuba, Shinen etc), more space to focus on elements that can resonate with different audiences, and less parasitic mechanics (though to be fair, this last problem can be eliminated even without scaling back the kami, just by not re-using the problematic mechanics).

Alright, seems like the idea of lowering the amount of kami is positive so far, but is it realistic? What would we fill the void with? And, again, should we instead start from scratch?

Luckily for us, from a Lore perspective, we’re right where we want to be for such an operation. O-Kagachi, the supreme kami that controlled the barrier between the spirit world and the human world (and who removed in order to start the war to retrieve its child. That’s why there were so many kami in the physical world!), is dead, replaced by The Sisters of Flesh and Spirit (the union of Michiko and Kyodai, aka the offspring of Lord Konda and O-Kagachi respectively), who have restored the barrier. This means that less Spirits would be able to manifest in the physical world. So, what do we focus on instead?

Kamigawa has already given us plenty of humanoid tribes to work with: Akki (goblins), Ogres/Demons, Soratami (moonfolk), Orochi (snakefolk), Nezumi (ratfolk), and Kitsune (foxfolk), plus humans of course. We have a solid foundation of tribes and culture, not to mention that the events of the first block took place almost a millennia ago! Because of that time span, the Creative Design team should feel like they have the ability to introduce the necessary changes to partially reshape the plane’s culture/society as they see fit. 

Of course, we should also remember that there is plenty of good in the plane, that the players would like to see again. Ninjas were very well received, Samurai (not Bushido) are usually liked, Moonfolk are also well-liked, and we have the species of Nezumi and Orochi which add to the uniqueness of the plane. And we don’t have to abandon Kami all-together! They can still be felt throughout the set, perhaps as patrons/guides of different tribes/communities (for example, the Orochi would follow some nature-minded kami, the Moonfolk would probably opt for spirits more devoted to knowledge and air).

Also, Feudal Japan is a pretty popular source of inspiration for media and is generally well-liked by fans. Scrapping Kamigawa entirely would mean abandoning a feudal-Japanese plane, and since, at least in the mainstream, that is the generally-known Japanese historical era, it might mean fully abandoning our chance at another block set in a Japanese-inspired era. Sure we can always have other Asian-inspired planes, and we should (props to Tarkir for giving us a taste of that!), but for obvious reasons, that’s not the same thing. Remember, we can’t use guns in Mtg, so the Feudal era of Japan is pretty much all we have from that country, due to its historical isolation and slow-changing society (up until it opened up to the rest of the world).

And finally, before I wrap up this post, allow me to advance one final reason why I believe we will eventually go back to Kamigawa. Not only do we sometimes get new cards/characters from the plane in supplemental sets (ex: Kaseto, Yuriko), but we actually have a Planeswalker from this plane. Remember her?

Of course you do! Tamiyo may not be officially part of the “main cast”, but she has seen quite a decent amount of screen time and is a fundamental supporting character, due to her knowledge and her connections to other planeswalkers. 

She is the perfect opportunity to revisit Kamigawa, and I, for one, cannot wait to go back.

Thank you for reading, and remember: hope is the last to die.

“Our bodies are weak compared to those of the kami, our knowledge limited, and our magic poor. Yet we draw breath. That alone is reason to hope.” -Order of the Sacred Bell

#mtg #tamiyo #kamigawa #japan #ninja #samurai #spirit #vorthos

[mymelancholiesblues]

My extensive analysis in why RE4 is the top-tier Aeon game

This will be a long ride (seriously though, this have around 9.453 words), so grab a cup of tea (or coffee, depending on your personal preference, of course), sit comfortably and read through this peacefully because Resident Evil 4 is my favourite game and I plan to finally thoroughly explain why. And, for that, first, I intend to contextualize every single prior point with the proper attention they need.

As we’re already sick to death of knowing, Leon and Ada are introduced on this franchise in Resident Evil 2. This is a game originally from 1998, the very end of the 90s, and despite clearly possessing superior quality if compared to the script of the previous game and first instalment in the franchise, it’s still unquestionably a game of its time, and, particularly, of its genre.

We’re talking about the B science fiction and horror hybrid genre: zombies. This is the sort of horror that is frequently campier than the rest since – and let’s all agree over this – zombies per se are not that terrifying. It’s actually their effect on mankind, on human reaction and on how human beings will deal with the gore and all the fairly specific situations this type of horror puts them in that really terrifies us – it’s different from ghosts or demons, for instance. That’s why, inevitably, every exercise of fiction on this genre will ultimately focus on conflicts between non-infected human beings, their greed, how they’re capable of displaying their most monstrous side in these circumstances, and so forth. You can have a read on the “zombie culture” subject and its origins here.

Moreover, Resident Evil is a Japanese game, which is significant, since we should know that cultural repertoire can greatly modify the way storytelling explicits itself, the way it unfolds and develops towards its conclusion, and especially which messages it chooses to prioritize and how those messages are decided to be delivered to the audience. Therefore, even though Resident Evil has fallen upon the clichès its genre generally falls onto (the main plot conflict focus now is much more on how bioterrorism is one of the worst products of the capitalist regime and the endless greed of imperialist countries), the narrative dramatic throughline of the franchise continues to be that of ending in a hopeful, optimistic note.

Back to RE2 OG being a product of its time, however, and characters like Leon, Claire, Ada and Sherry being introduced there: on characterization terms, while these early franchise games weren’t necessarily weak and incompetent in presenting those characters, they were definitely quite limited on how they could do so.

Furthermore, on the account of a not yet established videogames voice-acting trade, and primarily on the rough Japanese-to-English translation efforts that weren’t as easy and accessible as they are today, nor was the “entry” of Japanese entertainment production into the North-American market a normalized matter as globalization wasn’t such a stable and clear concept then as it is today, many typical Japanese storytelling devices, such as certain scenes originally carrying a heavy significance to them and meanings that we couldn’t even presume if we weren’t already part of their culture or had some degree of introduction to it, – eg, a man promising to protect a woman plot-situation: in Japanese storytelling, this is a trope that has more clear romantic undertones than it would have in the West (check here and here), just like childhood friendships carry different implications for their cultural baggage (it’s a typical romantic trope for them; take a look here and here) – were lost in translation and could easily come off as “corny” to the western public if the translator (and the voice actor) wasn’t careful in conveying the originally intended text and subtext messages. And they rarely were.

Leon wasn’t a complex or even a “complete” character back then as he is today. At the time of his introduction, in RE2 OG, he was a more straight play of The Paragon trope. Are you familiar with those more simplified and basic characterizations of, say, Captain America and Superman? Leon was like that! In fact, Leon was the first attempt of an entirely Japanese crew in making a North-American blond police officer, an idealist and overall nice guy that didn’t have behavioural issues like Chris did. So, Leon was an “upright” and “altruistic” guy. That’s what his character comes down to in his introduction. Those two words.

On the other end, we had Claire, who was an “independent” and “brave” young woman (let’s keep those describing terms in mind because they are important!). In her scenario, we would have a journey companion, Sherry, and in Leon’s, it would be Ada.

It’s really important to point out here that when they were developing these characters, coming up with their design and everything, the staff tried to make Ada’s colour palette contrast and complement Leon’s one, and Sherry’s was also thought out to do the same to Claire’s. So much so that we can see that in contrast to Claire’s fuchsia/magenta and black, we have Sherry’s cobalt blue and white. And to Ada’s deep red we have Leon’s navy blue (check this).

Now, about those “describing terms” I mentioned earlier. Similarly to the colour palettes case, staff’s primary purpose while characterizing the two extra journey characters was so that they would offer some sort of “disfigurement” of the basic traits that directed the main characters. Claire is brave and independent even though she is barely nineteen years old and grew up as an orphan, thanks mainly to her older brother’s affection and dedication, whom she actually happens to be looking for in this game. Sherry, however, has to survive independently in Raccoon because she has been neglected by her remarkably still alive scientist parents and has to be brave because she always had to fend off for herself. It’s just like Claire, but upside down.

Leon, on the other hand, upright and altruistic, meets Ada, who seems to have shady means to achieve her goals, and shows a skeptical, cynical demeanor on how she regards others. She’s Leon’s upside down as well.

In the original script, there’s a lot of “mamoru” being used – from Claire to Sherry, who later becomes a maternal figure to the girl (and forms a solid bond with her), and from Leon to Ada (and here is where we should remember that the “promise to protect” trope can oftentimes have romantic connotations in Japanese culture if it’s used in a given context and combination of circumstances).

As I’ve already said, the original game, a product of its time, relied more on “soap drama” writing than on a more organic text development, since it needed to be concise, delivering the message without losing its dramatic appeal to the plot. Thus, everything escalates too fast – the in-game time is short and the script needs to be on par with its pace.

We get to know the characters we have to know, the text then assumes we’re sufficiently familiar with the basic paradigms associated with fiction and storytelling so we should unconsciously recognize what certain parts will mean without needing anyone to babysit us through it. It’s clear, then, that the independent and brave young woman will be accompanied by the neglected and frightened little girl and they’ll form an adoptive mother-and-daughter bond, just like it’s obvious that the upright and altruistic guy will be glued by the shady and cynical woman’s side and they’ll team up and eventually fall in love.

However, the translation process was unpolished, as I said, so the dialogue lines, especially, came off a bit silly and occasionally somewhat unnatural to the audience – quite cheesy indeed. Nonetheless, as I also stated previously, all of those dialogue lines made sense within their own context since the game’s pacing isn’t bad and the events that transpire within it accompany said rhythm, are dictated by it. Within the plot, Leon and Ada, in addition to being attracted to each other, just spent the last almost 4 to 7 hours together, surviving together, helping each other, so of course they’ll fall in love. Just as it’s expected that Claire will feel responsible for Sherry’s life and Sherry will start seeing her as an adoptive mother figure. This little girl was neglected by her parents! And Claire saved her!

We can see those two dynamics as mirrored reflections (in which those two pairs of mirrors – Leon and Ada, Claire and Sherry – function extremely well as they contrast and complement each other), but also as a journey in which the sidekick is the “shadow” (I’d like to thank @madamoftime​ for her incredible analysis on this subject and for providing me with the sources to quote on this topic: here and here) of the protagonist. Ada is Leon’s shadow because he needs to “kill the boy and let the man be born” (as Maester Aemon advised Jon in ASoIaF — A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 7, Jon II) for this new world he’ll be entering after surviving Raccoon. He needs to be a little more like Ada.

But Ada also needs to be a bit more like Leon, so he’s her mirrored reflection / shadow as well. She needs to start believing in mankind a little more again if she wants to continue in this franchise narrative and make individual progress within it.

Oh, and mirrors are quite important imagery in Japanese folklore (check here), its mythology, etc. RE2 OG does a stupendous job in making use of that.

“The mirror hides nothing. It shines without a selfish mind. Everything good and bad, right and wrong is reflected without fail.”

We have a game story with two sets of characters that manage to tick all the boxes of what should be a complete and comprehensive narrative for them. Complete and that provides closure in itself. We didn’t need a sequel to presume that Leon and Ada would probably meet again, since following Ada’s apparent “death”, the audience knows that she’s helping him against the final boss and in a fashion that he’s also led to suspect it. Claire and Sherry too: we know they’ll take care of each other.

Even so, RE: CV serves to settle Claire’s saga and tie up her journey’s loose ends. In it, she finds her disappeared brother. (And this is precisely why I have my criticisms on the fandom’s constant vehemence in always demanding that she should come back for another cameo: Claire is one of the few characters that had the privilege of having her story thoroughly resolved.)

But then, Leon remained a pending mystery: what happened to him? Had he ever got the chance to confirm his (and ours) suspicions on Ada’s status? Plus: how did it happen? Have they ever met again?

you’ve haunted me all my life through endless days and countless nights there was a storm when I was just a kid stripped the last coat of innocence   you’ve haunted me all my life you’re always out of reach when I’m in pursuit long-winded then suddenly mute and there’s a flaw in my heart’s design for I keep trying to make you mine

(You’ve Haunted Me All My Life – Death Cab For Cutie)

RE4 comes out under this excellent reason: answering those questions. In addition to providing a new chapter to this famous and profitable franchise, it would also serve to solve Leon’s pending matters, something that Claire, his companion protagonist in the game that he was introduced on, got, but he didn’t. And look: this unresolved conflict is precisely what drives RE4’s dramatic throughline – so much so that if we think about the main saga plot to which these two games should be supposedly subordinate to, both RE:CV and RE4 seem a little… isolated? Because they are journey conclusions for these two specific characters.

Anyway, Leon is now a government agent (a career unkindly imposed onto him by the actual government, by the way, who wouldn’t just accept that the man simply moved on with his life while possessing the knowledge to what really happened in Raccoon) on a rescue mission six years after surviving Raccoon City’s incident. He’s now more cynical and is taking advantage of somewhat questionable means: being a secret agent for a corrupt government so he can achieve his own goals: put an end to bioterrorism and companies like Umbrella. He’s a little more like Ada.

And from the beginning of RE4 all plot aspects are set in a way that build our expectations over Leon and Ada’s reunion: the church bell that mysteriously rings in a suitable timing and saves Leon’s life at the very beginning of the game. The silhouette in red that appears outside the window and fires twice against the guy who is stomping his chest and prompts Leon’s to comment on how familiar the stranger figure felt (“Woman in red… Somehow so familiar.”). Everything, EVERYTHING that happens in RE4 is a carefully thought slow-burn set-up for us to wait and expect for their encounter.

Let’s not forget that the Anonymous Letter that he finds after passing out in that hut after the fight against Del Lago it’s hers (in the Japanese script, the personal pronouns are feminine, which prevents it to be a note written by Luis; source). In Project Umbrella’s translation of said file, we notice that she laments the fact that Leon is infected beyond her current capability to help him. Oh, and there’s also Salazar stating that he needs to deal with two rats before properly worrying about Leon, and Leon then wondering who’s the other intruder besides himself and Luis – which serves to further increase the audience’s expectations.

see her come down through the clouds I feel like a fool I ain’t got nothing left to give nothing to lose   so come on love draw your swords shoot me to the ground you are mine I am yours let’s not fuck around

(Draw Your Swords – Angus & Julia Stone)

When they do finally meet again (after we, the audience, already suspect that for at least three different situations Ada’s been watching and helping him) is this tension-charged scene. The scene backdrop, thoughtfully designed, is a monarchy style couple’s bedroom; as part of its decoration, there’s a painting, a gigantic and impossible-not-to-see one, that turns out to be Sandro Botticelli’s Primavera (check here); and even the mysterious woman’s dress, evoking a Chinese red qipao, has butterflies prints (check here). This is essentially the perfect setting fans have unconsciously hoped for: we’re internally screaming “finally! they’re going to solve their U.S.T. and consummate their feelings!” After all, it’s a couple’s bedroom decorated with a purposefully noticeable painting (the only one large enough to be undoubtedly identifiable in a cutscene) which its symbolism and analogies are famously related to love and sex, and even the woman’s dress carries references to a Chinese romantic allegory that, curiously enough, strongly fits with them.

Ada enters the scene laying her gun barrel against Leon’s back – close, too close, in a staggeringly explicit intimacy imagery, one that we’d normally expect from a 007 movie, for instance –, and the subsequent dialogue follows the same tone: with her ordering him to surrender in a voice of velvet (“Put your hands where I can see them.”) and him throwing back a provoking bluff – also full of sexual innuendo – that serves only to advance their competition for dominance (“Sorry, but following a lady’s lead just isn’t my style.”). Oh Leon, you’re so full of shit and you’re well aware of it, as well as Ada is (“Put them up now.”). For them, this is all foreplay. (And that’s why Leon’s first response in this scene doesn’t bother me. I find it to be consistent with his characterization, he understands what’s going on in this situation and decides to join in the game.)

After their own little – and slightly anticipated – dance, and Leon’s little tip (“Bit of advice – try using knives next time. Works better for close encounters.”) – that uncoincidentally will come in hand later on in this game in another scene charged with this same unresolved sexual tension, and in which our expectations get likewise subverted –, Ada raises the curtains, folds her cards (“Leon. Long time, no see.”).

We all hold our breaths.

But Leon… Well, Leon is resentful, bitter, angry.

Naturally, since, for 1) although he, like us, certainly had a hunch for the identity of whoever put a gun on his back, he couldn’t be quite sure yet, and 2) this is the woman he has spent the past 6 years obsessing about to which end she came off to (later, a spin-off in the franchise will confirm his obsession for us, but nevertheless, one of Leon’s next lines in-game is already enough for us to deduce it), only to find out that the latest news pointing at her happened to be related “just” to the most infamous figure in the recent history of bioterrorism.

Ah, and also he spent the past 6 years dealing with the guilt and trauma of she possibly being dead, which he certainly considered to be his personal failure in preventing. So, there’s that. 

Therefore, Leon ruins the atmosphere – and all of our previous expectations together with it – and confronts her (“Ada… So it is true.”) Feeling hurt, betrayed, pissed off. But resigned too. Even when she pretends she doesn’t know what he’s talking about, clearly dismissive of how long it has been since their last exchange (“True? About what?”), his tone is huffy, sullen, when he states to her (doesn’t question, rather, chooses to assert) that it’s true, she’s affiliated with Wesker (“You, working with Wesker.”) And how does he know that? Did something in his investigations also lead him to presume that she’d probably appear in Spain to get something for Wesker? Then we weren’t the only ones hoping for this reunion, holding our breaths for it? See, we don’t even need a spin-off game to assume that yes, he’s been indeed obsessing about her for the past 6 years. 

When Leon throws this accusation, it comes from a sore spot, a particular personal ache, almost as if this Wesker issue was a betrayal aimed specifically against him. If we didn’t know any better, this scene would almost feel like it’s a couple washing their dirty laundry over the fact that of them is having an extra-marital affair. 

Ada drops her sly, disingenuous facade (“I see you’ve been doing your homework.”) – it looks like he learned the hard way that he should be a little more like her instead of simply diving in blind after all. 

Then, shrinking a bit, in a lower tone, he demands a reason (“Why, Ada?”), and she tosses it back since this is a question that can have a myriad of answers (“What’s it to you?”) to which he finally asks what he wants to know with indisputable clarity (“Why are you here? Why’d you show up like this?”), and something in his tone, the non-verbal stress in his words, gives us the impression of emphasis on “here” and “like this”, almost as if what he really wants to say is “Why not before (way earlier)? Under different circumstances (as a friend, as he wanted her to be)?” After a wry chuckle, it’s her turn to break with our expectations, – since Leon’s question steers the mood of the scene back to one of impending emotional and physical resolution – evading the emotional escalation with a dramatic stunt, but not without promising him that they’ll meet again. 

By the way, resorting to a ruse to get out of there, having thrown her timer flash bomb glasses so she could have a good pretext to withdraw without major impediments – it’s also a writing device to subvert the audience’s expectations here, since they’re naturally placed upon betting that if Ada tries to leave in a conventional, non-theatrical and unconvincing style, Leon is definitely going to make her stay, even if he has to beg her for it.

the angel came to Jacob the room began to glow Jacob asked the angel are you friend or are you foe?   the angel never answered but smote him on the thigh they wrestled through the darkness ‘til morning filled the sky   this thing between us has wings, it has teeth it has got horns and feathers and sinews beneath angel or demon to the truth I am bound and so this thing between us must be wrestled down

(Jacob and the Angel – Suzanne Vega)

We play RE4’s main campaign entirely in Leon’s shoes. It’s only after finishing it and unlocking the extra content that we’ll have access to how Ada reacted after their re-encounter: in a mix of anxiety and concern as Wesker now suspects that she went to meet with Leon and, because of it, is ordering her to kill him so there won’t be any disruptions in her mission (“And that US government lapdog… Leon… if you do happen to encounter him, put him out of commission. We can’t let him interfere with our plans.”). She tries from the get-go to bargain with Wesker that Leon doesn’t have a clue to what’s really happening, claiming that he’s there solely to save Ashley so he shouldn’t disturb, etc. (“He has no idea what’s going on. He’s nothing we need to worry about.”), but well, Wesker isn’t exactly inclined to be convinced (“He’s a survivor of Raccoon City. We can do without the extra distraction. Take him out.”).

So we see her apprehensively sighing his name after Wesker finalizes contact. We even have a brief scene where she observes Leon from afar using a machine-gun to contain another horde of Ganados, whispering to herself an apology to him and explaining why she can’t be helping him (“Leon… I’m sorry, but I can’t be seen with you..”) and if you, the player, try to disregard this by nevertheless attempting to run to where Leon is, the game will stop you with the phrase “If Leon sees me now, I would have to finish him off.”. The game enforces you to respect her decision: she won’t follow Wesker’s orders. 

Actually, even before she re-encountered Leon, from the very BEGINNING of her campaign when she discovers that he’s in this place as well (and murmurs his name when she sees and recognises him), she already realises that she can’t be seen with him or there’ll be trouble. So, when she nevertheless reveals herself to him, what she’s really doing is going against her best judgment and putting them both in danger because she genuinely wants to see him and let him know that she’s there too.

Additionally, this is the most probable reason for her not going after him in the past 6 years. Besides obviously wishing him to have emotional distance to move forward while she herself tried to do it, there was the possibility that she could put him in danger if she went after him. 

Mere seconds after Saddler kills Luis, Wesker comes in contact with her and spares no time in querying if she already had the opportunity to execute Leon (“Have you had a chance to eliminate Leon?”). We know that she did despite her dismissive reply (“Not yet”). She saw him quite a few times after their reunion at the castle. Plus, she knows that he’s right there in the exact same place that she’s now – the castle’s concourse level –, with dead Luis in his arms. She’s well aware of the fact that she could exploit Leon’s shock and vulnerable moment over Luis death to easily kill him undisturbed. 

Wesker realizes this is going to be an arm wrestle with her, so, instead, he proposes that she starts “taking advantage of Leon’s fortuitousness” (“If that’s the case, then maybe we can capitalize on his little lucky streak and take advantage of the distraction he’s causing for Saddler and his followers to retrieve the sample.”). But even this recommended scheme visibly disturbs Ada, as we can notice from her reaction just afterwards. 

Ada, of course, doesn’t cease to aid Leon and advice him in order to make his odyssey easier (even if she can’t accompany him as she did in Raccoon), nor does she stop worrying about the advancing of the Las Plagas infection stage on his body, leaving him a letter (again) over that topic, one signed with an affectionate lipstick mark (source).

The next time they see each other in-game is when, once again, Ada chooses to disregard her own best judgment and assessment of the situation by offering him a boat-ride to the island. A scene also packed with sexual tension, in which even a pun brimming with innuendo is allowed (“Need a ride, handsome?”), but still a much lighter in tone than their first shared one. In this one, Leon is finally close to her physically and, as a result of that, spends the whole trip fidgeting where he’s sitting, blatantly staring at her – to which she furtively glances back and sneakily smiles at him. 

All of it only for our expectations to be shattered a second time: she abruptly halts their short little cruise, given that they already arrived at their set destiny – and the fact that she really needs to go, otherwise Wesker will kill them both –, but not without first flashing her entire thigh to him (a privileged view he doesn’t refuse to savour) and nearly shoving her butt all over his face, as to show us and him that “look, I’m definitely interested, but this isn’t the right place nor the right time”. 

After Leon manages to briefly get Ashley back for the first time on the island, we see a small paper plane flying in through the window. Another note sent by Ada, lovingly identified again, offering tips for Leon’s itinerary to escape (source). 

Krauser’s first question when we see him talking to Ada for the first time is on Leon’s status (“What’s the news on our friend Leon?”), to which Ada’s answer (“He’s not making it easy.”) it’s a blatant and near hilarious lie to the audience. Yeah, it mustn’t be easy being forced to deal with that sort of demand: to kill the guy you love more than your own sense of self-preservation and safety. 

Everything that follows the lift she gave Leon and her exchange with Krauser is to showcase her desperation and the lengths she’s willing to go to keep Leon alive, since Wesker, whom just now seemed possibly satisfied with Leon’s participation in the most recent set of events (“Quite a jolly mess he’s made, that Leon. But all for the better. Saddler’s people have fallen into a panic. Their destruction is only a matter of time now!”) and in spite of her reiterated effort to try to convince him that after Leon rescues Ashley he wouldn’t pose any more threats to the ex-S.T.A.R.S. Alpha Team captain’s plans (“Once he gets Ashley back, his job will be finished. He’ll no longer be a factor.”), sent in another agent to assassinate him (“No, I’m leaving Leon to Krauser.”). 

The pronouncement is enough to unsettle Ada and suspend her walk. The urgency to save Leon from Krauser is so high that we see her running after Wesker’s briefing – his order was for her to rush to retrieve the sample (“Hurry up and retrieve the sample.”), but Ada’ hurry is for Leon’s life (“Maybe you’ve forgotten, Wesker… I don’t always play by your rules.”). 

She succeeds in saving him from Krauser, and Leon’s reaction, naturally, is to shout her name, while Krauser is unsurprised by the betrayal (“Well, if it isn’t the bitch in the red dress!”). Ada unceremoniously gives away which side she on in this contest (“Looks like we have the upper hand here.”), and I really enjoy how the scene in which she lowers her gun after Leon dares her to shoot him in RE2R also seems like a visual echo to this one scene in RE4, since Ada chooses him again here – even if that will irreversibly mean trouble for her much sooner than she was prepared for. 

And then, Leon, expressing the enthusiasm of someone who’s already prepared for a hard pass, appeals in a frustrated tone for a resume on their earlier and systematically unfinished conversation – so that they can, at last, have the pending resolution they’re in need (“Maybe it’s about time you told me the reason why you’re here?”), and she rebuffs exactly as he expected her to (“Maybe some other time…”) before leaving him for his own solitary path once again; oh, and this nice detail of having Ada always promising to Leon something for “the next time”, though, is definitely something worth pointing out every time it occurs. By the second time Leon is confronted by Krauser, we have the latter vocalizing what anyone could and would reasonably deduce regarding Leon’s relationship with Ada (“So, you two are all hooked up now, is that it?”). 

Btw, it’s about time that I point out that I prefer the original Japanese version of Ada’s Report #4 (you can access Project Umbrella’s translation here), since its discourse feels more in character for Ada: for example, it’s relevant to emphasize how in this version she pretty much chooses to describe Leon repeating what Wesker suggested about his role in all that’s been happening, almost as if she were taking advantage of the things Wesker said so she can justify in her own assignment reports the help she continuously gives Leon throughout her mission in Spain and why it’s so important for her that he stays alive. What better way of combining business with personal contentment, huh? 

But when we see her interacting with Wesker as he reckons precisely those things she allegedly “thinks” of Leon (his resilience, his luck, the opportunity to take advantage of his protagonism in the ongoing events on the Island and so forth), her following reactions are always of explicitly and adamant indisposition. Which makes me firmly believe that no, Ada never intended to use Leon for anything there in Spain. 

Moreover, if we, as the audience, have paid attention to the story so far, we should know that actually, she’s been only delaying her goals thanks to Leon’s direct and indirect interferences. After all, it’s because of him that Luis takes a detour: in order to deliver the pills that would slow down the effects of Las Plagas on his body; something that ultimately leads Luis to die by Saddler’s hands, once again preventing Ada from putting her hands on the sample and concluding her mission. 

It is Ada who kills Krauser, but that was yet to happen when she reports it as a fact to Wesker (“Krauser is dead.”). There’s a hint of satisfaction and triumph in her voice, even though the guy isn’t dead yet. Wesker goes on to suggest that he’s hoping for Leon to die in the dispute against Saddler, then (“Really… Hmmmmm… Leon doesn’t die easily. That’s fine, we can use him to clean up Saddler for us. We’ll let them fight it out. Neither one of them will manage to come out unharmed.”), and everything in Ada’s body-language and facial expressions indicates her discomfort and impatience with this insistence on this particular subject – Leon’s demise (“Easier said than done.”). 

If she really was using Leon all the time, there wouldn’t be a reason for her to be so clearly annoyed at Wesker’s line of thinking (“Either way, it’s your job to clean up what’s left of them when the fight is over. Don’t forget who is running the show. Whatever happens, we can’t let either of them live to see tomorrow. Our goal is to retrieve the sample. Take out anything that might interfere with our plans.”), to the point that Wesker doesn’t even wait for her response before terminating their conversation. Ada is not complying in this specific topic and this infuriates him; she’ll, actually, – as we know – even go out of her way to intervene in Wesker’s last ideal scenario on this matter: Saddler killing Leon. 

The next scene where we see them together is the one where Leon is stumbling and squirming for some reason that Ada surely has a pretty good guess on which is it, but is hoping to be mistaken (“Leon, you okay?”), while he, on his end, also insists on ignoring what’s truly going on, guaranteeing that of course, everything’s just fine. 

Here we have another subtextual echo to RE2 OG that RE2R also uses to some extent in honour of those who’ve been accompanying the franchise for so long: the calm before the storm – the oddly unagitated moment before we see them saying goodbye and parting ways again –, even if this calm is, in fact, nothing but an illusion they’re briefly sharing. The audience gets anxious without knowing how to pinpoint what’s causing it. 

When Leon comes closer, although everything seems so strange, so out of place, we can see Ada reacting as if anticipating (and welcoming) a kiss. She lowers her guard almost completely, raises her hand gently towards his face and tilts her head slightly to the opposite direction so she can lean onto the upcoming contact. But he’s being controlled by the parasite in his body. For a quick millisecond, she thought she could touch him, kiss him, have that closeness once again – a resolution for emotional and sexual tension in sight. Perhaps they’d even help each other on their path through the island from that point on? 

When she kisses him in RE2R more so he’ll stop arguing and pointing out holes in her just newly-improvised plan than anything else, we have Leon reacting in a kind of dazed and stuporous state – going stiff and not entirely knowing what exactly he should do, looking not only surprised and confused but also hesitant, uneasy. Still, we can notice him adjusting his own weight so he can angle his head better and enjoy the kiss. It’s subtle, but it’s there (take a look). If we think about this in comparison, seeing Ada’s reaction to his approximation while being controlled in RE4 leaves a more bittersweet taste – realizing how much these two truly long for each other’s touch, but how the circumstances only seem to work against them when providing the opportunity to it in a distorted fashion (and observe how much care the producers placed into RE2R so it would be a consistent experience juxtaposed with RE4, RE6 and the rest of the franchise). 

But, well… Mind-controlled Leon almost strangles her and she has to follow that advice he gave her the first time we, the audience, expected them to address the elephant in the room in this game (their much-needed resolution): his tip to preferring knives in such close encounters. Despite the attack not being intentionally his fault and the fact that he just got kicked in the balls for it, Leon immediately asks her to forgive him (“Sorry, Ada…”), and Ada – with her throat still hurting and her voice hoarse – while seeing him swallowing all those pills, immediately urges him so they get rid of the virus in his body. Although she alerted him about the low chances of surviving the surgical intervention that’s needed to remove Las Plagas in a letter she sent prior to this unfortunately awkward meeting, she presses that they both take action (“We have to get that parasite out of your body!”), emphasizing the “we”. Oh, Ada. It’s not like she’ll just accept that his fate is dying a victim of this without trying to fight against it, right? 

Leon’s response, of course, is to prioritize someone else’s well-being and his own mission in helping them (“Yeah… But before that I gotta save Ashley!”) – he’ll do it again for Helena in RE6 under analogous circumstances: following Ada (his recurring element of personal need) vs his sense of duty (everything he believes and stands for) –, and this serves as a reminder to Ada about her own (“Fine… let’s split up…”). For a moment, perhaps, she thought it would be like that night in Raccoon, the two together against anything that threatens their way. As she goes ahead of him and walks out the door, we have a slightly longer focus on Leon’s face looking at the door she just gone through with a wistful expression. Leon’s own expectations weren’t that disparate from Ada’s, but both watched it slipping through their fingers again. 

Her last confrontation with Krauser has a great dialogue as well. She mocks him from the start (“Oh, Krauser. I’m sorry, I jumped the gun when I reported you dead to Wesker.”) since she couldn’t wait to put an end to him with her own hands so Wesker wouldn’t dare using this against her anymore (“Hum…. Think of all the paperwork I’ll have to fill out if you were to show up alive.”) We know that this isn’t just about convenience, but also a matter of self-preservation. Oh, and safeguarding Leon’s life. 

After killing Krauser, her comment is also loaded with double meaning, (“That’s a large thing you have there… But I don’t like it when men play rough…”) a remark that references directly her last run-in with Leon. The man she’s in love with just tried to strangle her (albeit under mind-control) and destroyed the mood that could’ve led them to have some physical closeness after years. 

Afterwards, Ada’s new goal, once again, involves providing help to Leon’s journey – helping him get rid of the parasite in his body and aiding him in completing his mission. That way she can complete her own in peace. 

She assists him in rescuing Ashley from Saddler’s hands – firing against the cult leader a hail of bullets and urging Leon to take Ashley outta the chair she’s imprisoned in and to immediately move out of there with the girl, leaving Saddler to her. All of this not without a cost: Saddler has the upper hand in the confrontation that ensues, and captures Ada. Again, helping Leon proves to be a disadvantageous choice to her agenda: helping him literally turns her into the cult leader’s new hostage. And Ada nearly thought her mission was over when she saw Saddler fall – almost put her hands on the sample. She’d finally be able to help Leon and still complete her own mission without major headaches… but, things are never simple for both of them, are they? 

On Leon’s side, having already removed the parasite off his body and with Ashley safe and sound under his guarding, the conclusion seems obvious: it’s time to go home, right? But he suspects there’s something missing (“Something’s not right.”), and orders Ashley to wait for him exactly where she is – where he knows it’s clear of threats. I particularly enjoy how he doesn’t still know for sure that Ada is being held hostage, but it’s like he catches this sense of foreboding hanging in the air that alerts his instincts about the oddity in the absence of a detail which he cares deeply about, one relevant enough to dissuade him in feeling confident to straightaway leave that place. “The ties that bind” (as per their theme song in RE6), hnm? Their connection is so strong that it’s like a sixth sense warning them whenever one or the other is under risk. As I thought, Capcom’s zeal in writing and developing their recurring plot themes and overall romantic subplot airtightly is infallible. 

And that’s how the cult’s leader baits Leon’s interest: hanging Ada well-tied on a clear view. Of course Leon will go up there to save her, even if he’s already vaccinated against the virus these crazy people injected on him and finally has the girl he should save and bring back home under his care, right? Obviously. He screams Ada’s name in what must be the fifth time in this game, and when Saddler approaches him still trying to exploit the control Las Plagas had over his body, he doesn’t waste any time in playing the cocky hero and provoking his adversary (“Better try a new trick, ‘cause that one’s getting old!”). 

Leon suspends time again, just like he did that dawn in Raccoon on RE2R when he confronted her about her lies and challenged her to shoot him while everything was falling apart around them – now, he does it with the enemy dangerously near them: he stops to check if she’s alright (“You okay?”) and she responds in a teasing but gentle tone (“I’ve been better…”)¹ – it’s really like they’ve stopped time and forgot space again. And that’s why Saddler laughs. 

Leon looks annoyed to be remembered of the presence of the antagonist (“What’s so funny?!”), to which Saddler sees then the opportunity to deliver the obligatory villain’s speech as an elucidation on what’s amusing him (“Oh, I think you know… The American prevailing is a cliché that only happens in your Hollywood movies! Oh, Mr. Kennedy! You entertain me! To show my appreciation, I’ll help you awaken from your world of clichés!!!”). I like how Saddler explicitly mocks Leon and Ada’s little moment since Leon seems to be so overconfident regarding his victory at the end of this long journey precisely because he just saved the woman he’s in love with (something that even makes him forget about time and space for a minute). It really is similar to the Hollywood clichés: the hero achieves ultimate victory when he gets to save his romantic interest – the end. 

Everything that follows from here is just as good: Leon making sure to warn Ada to step aside when Saddler starts mutating (“Ada, stand back!”) and Ada rushing to help him in her own manner, then throwing a Rocket Launcher for him and prompting him to put an end to the confrontation (“Use this!”) – an unmistakable echo to RE2 OG. I’ll harp on the same string again here: I don’t like for one bit that the writers chose to change the circumstances in which she helps Leon with this exact same matter in RE2R so that Leon wouldn’t have had any suspicion on whom might have thrown him that Rocket Launcher to finish Mr. X off; it bothers me a lot since this was a consolidated tradition on the franchise – this specific dynamic between them and Leon being conscious about it. Welp. 

He saves Ada, finally defeats Saddler, and… picks up the Las Plagas sample from the cult’s leader body. Ada’s mission goal. The sole reason for her to be there in the first place.

we fight every night for something when the sun sets we’re both the same half in the shadows half burned in flames we can’t look back for nothing take what you need say your goodbyes I gave you everything and it’s a beautiful crime

(Beautiful Crime – Tamer)

If she doesn’t get her hands on this damn thing right now they’re both going to die, that much she’s certain about. So she points her gun to the back of his head, asks him to forgive her and presses him to hand her the sample (“Sorry, Leon. Hand it over.”) and look, he knows she won’t shoot.

He’s not a fool to infer that she’ll because she just spent at least the last 48 or 72 hours helping him and saving his ass again, and again and again. Come on, think with me: Leon blacks out and spends six hours in that abandoned shack after fighting Del Lago, only regaining consciousness when it’s already dark; it’s dawn when he teams up with Luis in that hut just before he and Ashley follow their way to the castle; he gets stuck inside the castle practically the entire day because when he goes through the mines and the ruins at the back of the castle area it’s almost night again, which means that the amount of time he takes to finally leave the castle after facing Salazar and take Ada’s lift to the island fits the period of dusk to dawn; in the island his journey takes long enough for us to see the sunset again when the Ganados horde destroy the reinforcement helicopter U. S. sent him and he confronts Krauser without Ada’s help; it’s morning when Ada runs off after pointing her gun at his head and taking the sample, leaping into the air so the helicopter picks her up. Therefore, the game implies that we spend a day in each map: the village, the castle and the island – that’s 72 hours. In any case, it’s at least 48 hours.

So, he surrenders the sample to her because deep down he knows she’s bluffing and he also suspects that she must have her reasons.

In addition, let us not forget that their first reunion scene in this game has a slow-motion sequence to show us – amongst other things – that Leon is able to quickly disarm her even when she’s pointing her gun to his back at a distance of maybe less than two inches. As he was forced to become a secret agent to the government, he most certainly went through intensive training over the last six years, so, apart from knowing that Ada would never pull the trigger against him, we also know that Leon, if he genuinely wanted to, could easily disarm her. But he doesn’t. He chooses to give up the sample to her, he chooses her.

RE4 bluntly suggests that Leon is willing to brush aside his principles, ignore his sense of duty and ethics and even possibly betray his country – for her, to choose her. It’s fairly likely that hadn’t they been forced to follow different paths in RE2 OG and RE2R, he would’ve done the same. At the end of the day, that threat of “taking her in”, arresting her, was just bravado. This is clearer for him now, of course – six years after Raccoon, Leon had the distance of time and space to hone his wisdom and balance regarding this inner moral struggle he faces between what he feels for Ada and his consciousness, his integrity; although we all are well aware that at the decision-making time, romanticism would topple rationalism, that he’d let idealism speak louder than his sense of pragmatism. That he’d let her win.

This is how much he trusts her – it could be nothing more than a passionate impulse motivated by a gut feeling, an unexplainable instinct, it may not even be something he consciously desires, but it’s what he always comes down to – and that’s why he took that leap of faith six years ago in defying her to shoot, that’s why now, again, he takes a leap of faith passing her the sample without putting up a fight, because he KNOWS that she won’t shoot, he doesn’t need to challenge her once again so he can prove it to her and to himself. Thus, this is another mirror scene: that’s what he was going to do in RE2 OG and RE2R hadn’t she “died” – they don’t need her pointing a gun at him, that’s just a pretext for both of them. But, back to the story climax in Spain, his only reaction then, is to ensure, as much to himself as to her, that she knows what she’s going for (“Ada, you do know what this is.”). Yes, of course she knows. And he knows she does.

She goes on her way, reassuring him about the fate of the sample (“Don’t worry. I’ll take good care of it.”), perhaps to reinforce that he didn’t make the wrong call. Leon’s sixth loud cry for her name is answered with a curt goodbye and a bit of quippy advice (“Gotta go. If I were you, I’d get off this island too.”). And I love how baffled he is to see her pressing the detonator button (“She really pushed it!”). Oh, Leon. He really only gave her the sample because he wanted to, didn’t he? So his bewilderment in seeing her activating the detonator isn’t only adequate but natural. This disappointment doesn’t last long, however, since Ada obviously won’t leave without granting him the key to his escape (“Here, catch.”), rush him to take his path outta that damned place and promise, in her own way, that they will eventually see each other again (“Better get a move on. See you around.”).

Leon’s reaction to the gift she throws him, a sneery remark, expresses his frustration and reveals a bit of his wounded ego (“Very cute.”). Yeah, Leon… this isn’t the moment for you two to have a resolution to all the emotional and physical hangings you still have. “Maybe some other time.”

shadows follow me but she is always out of reach but she’s my favourite thing to see her hook is my escape a reflection of my fate and she is everything I need, yeah

(Fangs – Night Riots)

Ashley embodies all of us, the audience, when she inquiries about Ada’s identity and her connection with Leon (“So, who was that woman anyway?”), and although he sounds intrigued by her curiosity, he looks as he might have been expecting it (“Why do you ask?”), to which Ashley proceeds reflecting the audience’s expectations and insists (“Come on. Tell me.”). Leon’s answer, strikingly brilliant and unforgettable (“She’s like a part of me I can’t let go. Let’s leave it at that.”), is one that RE2R without any kind of reservation or shame makes visual and textual echo in that scene where Leon complains missing her (“I can’t believe I actually miss her…”) and smiles wistfully – that’s why you miss her, Leon. It’s only at the end of RE4, then, that this 27-year-old Leon finally finds the answer to something that has been haunting him since he was 21.

In Ada’s scenario ending, we can see her exhaling, understandably relieved as the helicopter flies off that hell island: Leon’s alive! And she didn’t have to “die” this time to accomplish both: keep him alive and complete her mission. Everything worked! Everything’s alright.

Another detail that pleases me a lot – and that RE2R ALSO echoed – is that, after seeing him driving the jet-ski with Ashley towards the sunset, knowing that they’re going home, we have one last broadcast with Hunnigan, in which Leon reports to her about succeeding in rescuing Ashley and how he’s currently taking the young woman back home.

Hunnigan congratulates him, cheerfully, (“You did it, Leon!”), and Leon doesn’t dismiss it as a good excuse to flirt with her (“Thanks. You know, you’re kinda cute without those glasses. Gimme your number when I get back.”). Hunnigan’s answer, firm and composed, is point-blank and carries more than one meaning to the audience (“May I remind you that you’re still on duty?”). Remember Claire flirting with him after Sherry’s question offers an opening for that (“That would’ve been one helluva first date, though.”)? And how Leon, visibly embarrassed, trails off in a bland and ambiguous comment that it’s more to himself than to Claire or Sherry (“Yeah, you have no idea…”) at the end of RE2R? His body-language betraying what – actually, who – we know that surely just crossed his thoughts? RE4 had already done that much earlier! When Hunnigan reminds him how he’s still at work detail – thus he shouldn’t be thinking nor saying these kinds of things –, his reaction is to lament how this seems to be his karma (“Story of my life…”), because really, it’s primarily his job and his sense of duty that keeps him from having what he wants most, isn’t it?

We got a pay-off with this game. RE4 delivers everything the audience wanted with each and every scene and concludes Leon’s plot. Just like Claire reunited with her brother in RE: CV, Leon reunites with Ada in RE4 and, at last, finds an answer as to why he couldn’t, why he wasn’t able to move on in the past six years. Also, RE4’s ending promises us that they will meet again, so we didn’t really need RE6 to play its part as a “pay-off” entry. But, since we did get RE6… We carry on with one more satisfying addition concerning them and their relationship, the only difference being that now, according to their body-language throughout the game, they’re more physically intimate (without even weighing in RE: Damn, which implies it more directly).

I think RE2 OG (and now RE2R) and RE4 both do a great job in showing us Leon and Ada going through all the steps in the chemical process of falling in love with each other, while RE6 shows them at a more comfortable stage of “compassionate love” – the everlasting kind of love that no longer is as euphoric, restless and anxious as it was at the beginning (it’s worth taking a look at this biological process I am talking about and its scientific basis here, here, here, here, here and here). Furthermore, this makes me feel confident that Capcom’s writers working on the franchise’s big instalment numbers know really well what they are doing with these two (at least so far) when they have to present further development for them (amen):

“[…] Levels of the stress hormone cortisol increase during the initial phase of romantic love, marshaling our bodies to cope with the “crisis” at hand. As cortisol levels rise, levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin become depleted. Low levels of serotonin precipitate what’s described as the “intrusive, maddeningly preoccupying thoughts, hopes, terrors of early love”—the obsessive-compulsive behaviors associated with infatuation. If love lasts, this rollercoaster of emotions, and, sometimes, angst, calms within [the years]. […] The passion is still there, but the stress of it is gone […]. Cortisol and serotonin levels return to normal. Love, which began as a stressor (to our brains and bodies, at least), becomes a buffer against stress. Brain areas associated with reward and pleasure are still activated as loving relationships proceed, but the constant craving and desire that are inherent in romantic love often lessen. […] there is an inevitable change over time from passionate love to what is typically called compassionate love—love that is deep but not as euphoric as that experienced during the early stages of romance. That does not, however, mean that the spark of romance is quenched […] […] the excitement of romance can remain while the apprehension is lost. For those whose long-term [relationship] has transitioned from passionate, romantic love to a more compassionate, routine type of love, […] it is possible to rekindle the flame that characterized the relationship’s early days. “We call it the rustiness phenomenon.” […] That alone […] may be enough to bring some couples back to those earlier, exhilarating days, when all they could think about was their newfound love.”

Anyway, that’s why I think that all this “aloof RE4 Leon” talk is nonsense. This is the game that was originally thought as a resolution for Leon’s plot in the franchise – that’s why it ends with the “She’s like a part of me I can’t let go.” line (and that’s why this is my forever favourite OTP quote for them). So much so that RE6 really does seems “extra”: we know that by that point they already are more physically intimate, that they see each other occasionally, etc. But Capcom does a good job in exploiting RE6’s potential, since Leon and Ada’s issue was never only attaining physical intimacy nor sorting out their complex emotional connection and feelings for each other, but the seemingly impossibility of them staying together or, at least, finding peace in their own status-quo – a transition to the final, most mature, peaceful and fructiferous phase of romantic love.

Leon can resign himself and, technically speaking, betray his country… But can Ada simply turn her back on everything she’s involved with without this implicating putting Leon’s entire life at risk? Like it happened throughout RE4? This remains their main dilemma, and one that Capcom continues to exploit spectacularly since it’s a structure that doesn’t bore the audience – and no, I’m not contemplating the haters when I say this, I’m referring to the general audience.

My wish for RE8 – or whatever it is the next entry that features them? A resolution to this last major hanging between the two.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk, I can only hope this was an interesting, worthwhile and satisfying read. 💓

¹ Also, have you guys seen that DMC5 blatantly makes a reference to this Aeon dialogue with Trish and Dante? (here)

#Aeon #Leon x Ada #Ada x Leon #Ada Wong #Leon Kennedy #Leon S Kennedy #Leon Scott Kennedy #OTP: like a part of me I can't let go #[meta] #[mine] #// #(very) long post #Aeon fandom #Aeon metas

[delicatelythoughtfulpatrol]

How Pop Music’s Teenage Dream Ended

A decade ago, Katy Perry’s sound was ubiquitous. Today, it’s niche. How did a genre defined by popularity become unpopular?

Story by Spencer Kornhaber

“I am a walking cartoon most days,” Katy Perry told Billboard in 2010, and anyone who lived through the reign of Teenage Dream—Perry’s smash album that turned 10 years old on August 24—knows what she meant. Everywhere you looked or clicked back then, there was Perry, wrapped in candy-cane stripes, firing whipped cream from her breasts, wearing a toothpaste-blue wig, and grinning like an emoji. She titled one world tour “Hello Katy,” a nod to the Japanese cat character on gel pens worldwide. She made her voice-acting debut, in 2011, by playing Smurfette.

Perry’s music was cartoonish too: simple, silly, with lyrics stringing together caricature-like images of high-school parties, seductive aliens, and girls in Daisy Dukes with bikinis on top. Kids loved the stuff, and adults, bopping along at karaoke or Starbucks, enjoyed it too. (Maybe that’s because, like with so much classic Disney and Looney Tunes animation, the cuteness barely disguised a ton of raunch.) Teenage Dream generated five No. 1 singles in the United States—a feat previously accomplished only by Michael Jackson’s Bad—and it went platinum eight times.

Perry wasn’t alone in achieving domination through colorful looks and stomping songs. Teenage Dream arrived amid a wave of female pop singers selling their own costumed fictions: Lady Gaga, a walking Gaudí cathedral, roared EDM operas. Beyoncé shimmied in the guise of her alter ego, Sasha Fierce. Nicki Minaj flipped through personalities while wearing anime silhouettes and fuchsia patterns. Kesha, glitter-strewn and studded, babbled her battle cries. Taylor Swift trundled around in horse-drawn carriages. Each singer achieved impressive things, though arguably none of their albums so purely epitomized pop—in commercial, aesthetic, or sociological terms—like Perry’s Teenage Dream did.

A decade later, that early-2010s fantasy has ended, and Perry and her peers have seemed to switch gears. Rihanna has put her music career on pause while building a fashion and makeup empire. Beyoncé has turned her focus to richly textured visual albums that don’t necessarily spawn monster singles. Gaga, after a long detour away from dance floors, has returned to sounds and looks comparable to those of her early days, but she cannot bank on mass listenership for doing so. Swift keeps reinventing herself with greater seriousness, and little about her latest best seller, Folklore, scans as pop. Perry’s latest album, Smile, came out Friday. Regarding her new music’s likelihood of world domination, Perry told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, “My expectations are very managed right now.”

For the younger class of today’s stars, Teenage Dream seems like a faint influence. The Billboard Hot 100 is largely the terrain of raunchy rap, political rap, and emo rap, with a smattering of country drinking songs thrown in. Ultra-hummable singers such as Halsey and Billie Eilish are still on the radio, but they cut their catchiness with a sad, sleepy edge. A light disco resurgence may be brewing—BTS just strutted to No. 1 on the American charts while capitalizing on it—but that doesn’t change the overall mood of the moment. Almost nothing creates the sucrose high of Teenage Dream; almost nothing sounds as if Smurfette might sing it.

The recent state of commercial music has led to much commentary arguing that pop is dying, dead, or dormant. That’s a funny concept to consider—isn’t popular music, definitionally, whatever’s popular? In one sense, yes. But pop also refers to a compositional tradition, one with go-to chords, structures, and tropes. This type of pop prizes easily enjoyed melodies and sentiments; it moves but does not challenge the hips and the feet. It is omnivorous, and will spangle itself with elements of rock, rap, country, or whatever else it wants without losing its essential pop-ness. 

The early-2010s strain of it seemed like the height of irresistibility, and yet it’s mostly faded away. There are many reasons for that, but they can all be reduced to what Perry’s journey over the past decade has shown: Life and listening have become too complex for 2-D.

Pop has seemed to die and be reborn many times. When the 21st century arrived, the music industry was near the historical peak of its profitability—in part because of slick sing-alongs catering to teenagers and written by grown-up Swedes.

 But over the first few years of the 2000s, CD sales crashed thanks to the internet, boy bands such as ’NSync began to splinter, and Britney Spears’s long-running confrontation with the paparazzi reached an ugly culmination. 

Around the same time, women such as Pink, Kelly Clarkson, Ashlee Simpson, and Avril Lavigne began scoring hits inspired by mosh pits but more appropriate for malls. Gwen Stefani moved from rock-band frontwoman to dance-floor diva during this period as well. Such performers, though often assisted by the same producers and songwriters who helped mold Spears, flaunted unruly personalities to a reality-TV-guzzling public hungry for a kind of curated grit.

Katy Perry capped off this rock-pop boomlet. The California-born Katheryn Hudson had kicked around the music industry for years, first as a Christian singer—her parents were traveling evangelists—and then as an Alanis Morissette–worshipping songwriter.

She finally hit on a winning combo of sounds for One of the Boys, her delicious 2008 major-label debut, whose spiky rhythms, crunching guitars, sneering vocals, and juvenile gender politics earned her a spot on the Warped Tour, a punk institution. But the gooey, sassy hooks of “I Kissed a Girl,” “Waking Up in Vegas,” and “Hot n Cold” really made her a household name. 

Some of those songs benefited from the touch of Max Martin and Dr. Luke, songwriters-slash-producers of 2000s pop legend. (In 2014, Kesha filed a lawsuit accusing Dr. Luke, her producer and manager, of rape and abuse; he denied her claims and eventually prevailed in a years-long, very-public court battle over Kesha’s record contract.)

By late 2009, when Perry set out to record her follow-up to One of the Boys, the musical landscape had shifted again thanks to the arrival of Lady Gaga, a former cabaret singer with mystique-infused visuals and an electro-dance sound. What made Gaga different was not only her thundering Euro-club beats, but also her persona, or lack thereof. 

Gaga’s work overflowed with camp fun while keeping the singer’s true nature hidden under outrageous headpieces. By forgoing any attempts at banal relatability, Gaga seemed deep. In this way, she updated the glam antics of Prince, Madonna, and David Bowie for the YouTube era. Many of her peers took note, including Perry. 

Teenage Dream was lighter and happier than anything Gaga did, but it was electronic and fanciful in a manner that Perry’s previous work had not been. The cartoon Perry was born.

The conceit of Teenage Dream’s title track—“you make me feel like I’m living a teenage dream”—really boils down pop’s appeal to its essence: indulging a preposterous rush while also reveling in its preposterousness. “It is Perry’s self-consciousness—her awareness of herself as a complete package—that makes her interesting,” went one line in an NPR rave about the album. Even skeptical reviewers gave credit to standout singles such as “California Gurls” and “Firework” for being effective earworms. Perry had laid out her intended sound by sending a mixtape of the Cardigans and ABBA to Dr. Luke, who was part of a production team that pushed for perfection. 

“People on the management side and label side were pretty much telling me that we were done, before we had ‘Teenage Dream’ or ‘California Gurls,’” Luke told Billboard in 2010. “And I said, ‘No, we’re not done.’”

Such efforts ensured Teenage Dream’s incredible staying power on the charts through early 2012. The album’s deluxe reissue that year then generated a sixth No. 1 single, “Part of Me,” which also provided the title of a self-produced documentary that Perry released around the same time. Much of the footage showcases the stagecraft behind her 2011–12 world tour, a pageant of dancing gingerbread men and poofy pink clouds that would presage her hallucinatory 2015 Super Bowl halftime show. Perry comes off as charming and willful, and the film currently sits as the 11th-highest-grossing documentary in U.S. box-office history.

Yet the movie is best remembered today not for the way it shored up Perry’s shiny image, but for the way it complicated it. Over the course of the tour, Perry’s marriage to the comedian Russell Brand dissolved, and the cameras captured her sobbing just before getting on stage in São Paulo. It’s a wrenching, now-legendary scene. But elsewhere in the film, the viewer can’t help but experience cognitive dissonance as the singer’s personal dramas are synced up to concert footage of grin-inducing costumes and schoolyard sing-alongs. By hitching Teenage Dream’s whimsy to real-life struggle, the movie seemed to subvert exactly what had made the album successful: the feeling that Perry’s music was made to escape, not amplify, one’s problems.

Perry released her next album in 2013, a year that now seems pivotal in mainstream music’s trajectory. That’s the year Gaga pushed her meta-superficial shtick until it broke on the bombastic Artpop, which earned mixed reviews and soft sales.

 It’s also the year Lorde, a New Zealand teenager whose confessional lyrics and glum sonic sensibility would be copied for the rest of the decade, released her debut. Then in December, Beyoncé surprise-dropped a self-titled album whose opening track, “Pretty Hurts,” convincingly critiqued the way society asks women to construct beauty-pageant versions of themselves.

Later on the album, Beyoncé sang in shockingly explicit detail about her marriage to Jay-Z. Tropes of drunken hookups, simmering jealousy, and near-breakups were reinvigorated as specific and biographical, thanks in part to Beyoncé’s fluency with rap’s and R&B’s storytelling methods. She ended up seeming more glamorous than ever for the appearance of honesty.

The title of Perry’s album, Prism, not-so-subtly advertised her trying, too, to show more dimension. But the songs’ greeting-card empowerment messages, hokey spirituality, and awkward genre hopping made it seem as if Perry had simply changed costumes rather than had a true breakthrough. 

Still, both the cliché-parade of “Roar” and the trap-appropriating “Dark Horse” hit No. 1., and Prism’s track list includes a few examples of expert, big-budget songcraft. 

The album would turn out to be Perry’s last outing with a key collaborator, Dr. Luke. While she has maintained that she’s had only positive experiences with the producer, Perry hasn’t recorded a song with him since Kesha filed her 2014 lawsuit.

The Kesha-versus-Luke chapter added to a brewing sense that the carefree pop of the early 2010s was built on dark realities: Perry and Gaga have both described their most profitable years as personally torturous. Broader social and political developments—Black Lives Matter, the #MeToo movement, and the election of Donald Trump—also proved impossible to ignore for even the most frivolous-seeming entertainers. 

“When I first came out, we were living in a different mindset in the world,” Perry said in a recent Rolling Stone interview. “We were flying high off of, like, life. We weren’t struggling like we are. 

There wasn’t so much of a divide. All of the inequality was kind of underneath the mat. It was unspoken. It wasn’t facing us. And now it’s really facing us. I just feel like I can’t just put an escapist record out: Like, let’s go to Disneyland in our mind for 45 minutes.”

If that point of view sounds blinkered by privilege—who wasn’t struggling before, Katy?—Perry probably wouldn’t disagree. Her 2017 album, Witness, arrived with a blitz of publicity about how the star had become politically awakened and had decided to strip back her Katy Perry character to show more of the real Katheryn Hudson. A multiday live-stream in which fans watched her sleep, wake up, have fun, and go to therapy certainly conveyed that she didn’t want to seem like a posterized picture anymore. 

Yet neither Witness’s attempts at light sloganeering (the anti-apathy “Chained to the Rhythm”) nor its sillier side (the charmingly odd “Swish Swish”) 

connected with the public. It’s hard to say whether the problem was more temperamental or technological: By 2017, streaming had fully upended the radio-centric monoculture that stars like Perry once thrived in.

Her new album, Smile, is an explicit reaction to the commercial and critical disappointment of the Witness phase. Over jaunty arrangements, song after song talks about perking up after, per Smile’s title track, an “ego check.” There are also clear nods to her personal life. “Never Really Over” ruminates on a dead-then-revived relationship much like the one she has had with Orlando Bloom. “What Makes a Woman,” Perry has said, is a letter to her daughter, who was born on Wednesday. But she’s still mostly communicating in generic terms—lyrics depict flowers growing through pavement and frowns turned around—and with interchangeable songs. The explosive optimism of Teenage Dream has been replaced by ambivalence and resolve, yet the musical mode hasn’t really changed to match.

This leaves Perry tending to longtime fans but unlikely to mint many new ones. That’s because pure pop, the kind that thrives on doing simplicity really well, is largely a niche art form now. The delightful Carly Rae Jepsen will still sell out venues despite not having had a true hit in years. Today’s most acclaimed indie acts include the likes of 100 Gecs and Sophie, who create parodic, deadpan pastiches of pop clichés. Fixtures such as Lady Gaga do still have enough heft to ripple the charts (and thank God—her sense of spectacle saved the VMAs on Sunday). But her recent No. 1 single, “Rain on Me,” benefited from Ariana Grande, whose ongoing success comes from smartly channeling R&B. 

The current status of Dr. Luke, who has retreated from the public eye but still works with lesser-known talents and while using pseudonyms, seems telling too. He can’t land a hit with Kim Petras, a dance diva in the Katy Perry lineage. But he can land a hit with a rapper: He’s behind Doja Cat’s recent smash “Say So.”

Streaming, now the dominant form of music consumption, does not reward bright and insistent sing-alongs that demand attention but offer little depth. It instead works well for vibey background music, like the kind made by Post Malone, who’s maybe the most cartoonish figure of the present zeitgeist. It also works well for hip-hop with an obsession-worthy interplay of slangy lyrics, syncopated rhythms, and complex personas, all of which are presented in a context that feels like it has something to do with real life. 

Last week’s No. 1 song in the country, “WAP,” by Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion, radiates some of the fantastical thrill of the 2010 charts. But it delivers that thrill as part of a lewd verbal onslaught by women whom the public has come to know on an alarmingly personal level. The video for “WAP” is bright and pink, yes, but also immersive. 

It’s not a cartoon—it’s virtual reality.

[virovac]

Create a Kaiju Contest Entry 4

Hagayag

Date discovered: September 1st,1954.

Place of origin :  Hagayag’s Garden:  near the Thuringian Forest of Germany.

Height: 65 feet

Powers:

Super Strength

An enhanced healing factor

Immunity to radiation

“Tobacco” like gunk spit, which also seems to assist in preventing immune response when grafting tree parts together

Flare loogie

Can exhale various kinds of flammable gas, able to precisely control composition to the extent she can can choose what color it will burn.

Powerfupl jumper

Ventriloquism (more of a skill than a power)

Biology/Combat capabilities

This unnervingly humanoid like kaiju looks nothing less than a warty-skinned gray organgutan with the face of an elderly woman and a overall build like that of Tweedle-dee or Tweedle-dum, except for the fact her narrow shoulder contrast comically with the rest of her bulk. Her physique has been compared to a mountain, broad for most of its build only to suddenly narrow at the to. Many have stated they are thankful for her coverings of  dark gray fur and hair obscuring the more .. “indecent” parts of her body. Her nostrils are sunken,and arranged in the shape of the letter “v”.

Hagayag’s guts are a vast chemical factory. She can secrete gunk from glands in her gums that gives a sicky tobacco like spit. While not able to produce this gunk in quantities capable of immobilizing kaiju opponents, it can be useful for blinding an eye or two.The same goop is also used by her in her gardening efforts, to assist in performing grafts on the yamaneon mutated plant life she tends to. Some scientists studying its composition believe it may have use in suppressing allergic reactions.

Her “flare loogie” is a hocked projection of bright but not very hot flame. While it can’t harm other kaiju with heat, the bright flash can render them  (and humans) blind for several minutes. After the projectile has collided with an object it dims but is still on fire.

Hagayag may chose to grab what she can of the flaming slime and spread it on her fingers or face. She then uses it to ignite the various gases she belches to make colorful fireworks threat displays. She can generally only use three loogies per combat.

With her foes disoriented from flashing lights, Hagayag may then make use of her most unusual ability: ventriloquism. After she has blinded a foe with a hit from a her brightly glowing mucus fire, she will misdirect and and dance around an opponent, mocking them the whole time while she gets her licks in.

Personality and home

At the base of mountains of the Thuringian forest lays a unique Yamaneon cavern  While mostly barren, under the care of its guardian over millennia i has been developing into a well managed forest or park.The caretaker of this garden is the bizarre yet reserved  Hagayag. It is not known exactly what induced Hagayag to leave the Yamaneon tunnel systems (as her home was quite isolated from most of the megaquakes heralding the beginning of the Age of Monster) but her purpose is clear: to find new and interesting forms of plants from the surface to add to her garden

Multiple kaiju have shown to be tool users, Hagayage is rare in that she is a tool crafter, though most of the tools she creates are storage containers for the vegetation to collect and add to her garden, or tools to assist in making the containers. Such containers are generally crude bowls crafted from stone or fallen trees. She does not lack at using improvised tools either. When first battling armed forces, she was fascinated at how her foes exploded when destroye. In later encounters has captured military vehicles intact, to carry around and crush when wants she wants to set something on fire more easily than using her natural abilities. Thankfully she generally encourages the driver to leave the vehicle before doing so, but this is not guaranteed.

The  garden may be the first yamaneon ecosystem intentionally created by another kaiju. In many ways the garden would resemble a grove if not for its diversity and the amount of undergrowth.  While much of it is still barren (it is a cavern about the size of Tyrantis’s home and she seems incredibly selective about she adds to it) she has been seen planting vegetation  she has collected in her travels through Europe and  much  of already present vegetation (which is quite diverse) may have come from other yamaneon caverns. Sometimes Hagayag will even  bury a yamaneon crystal next to newly planted prizes, but the purpose of this is unknown. It is possible these crystals are dug up and reused once a certain level of growth is achieved, but it has not been witnessed, The garden contains a spring of water and various hydrothermal vents that Hagayag uses to make sure new specimens are watered. Though of course like many Yamaneon ecosystems, the cavern is large enough to have its own weather system so the plants do not require elaborate channel systems.  she has also been seen performing plant grafts on yamaneon mutated plants in her garden; while her attempts are arguably too crude to possibly work on less hardy plants, with yamaneon boosted regeneration abilities they have been successful. Unfortunately discovery of her garden has led to a black market for yamaneon based fertilizer, which will likely cause all sorts of problems in the future.

While most of the vegetation she collects have been fruit tree, Hagayag has also been known to collect grains, vegetables, or trees that she just likes the looks of. Of most interest to botanists though may be plants that have been described as “flowering ferns” and may offer a better understanding of the evolution of modern plants. Hagayag’s collections seem often well planned in advance she almost never collects specimens on her first trip to an area, since she can only carry so many home at a time. No other kaiju are confirmed to inhabit the cavern as of now, but rumors have spread of of giant insects (though still on the small side of kaiju) watching intruders from the cover of vegetation.

When travelling, she tends to taken one pot and  bag or two, the bags likely made from the hides of other kaiju.  Given the fact she seems to have no access to tanning facilities, one researcher suggested they may have been gifts from a hominid kaiju that is either undiscovered or long dead.  Many researchers are convinced Hagayag is sapient and of near-human level intelligence, pointing out how some of the plants in her care have had their growth carefully manipulated to be like kaiju sized bonsais.  

Towards humans, Hagayag has been consistently non hostile except when attacked by the military, gently shooing out human intruders from her cavern. Many of the plants she cultivates do not appear easily edible to  a primate, giving rise to the possibility she cultivated them them just for the enjoyment

In combat, Hagayag mostly relies on misdirection and trickery, and intimidation. While she is an expert at utilizing her modest (by kaiju standards) bulk to wrestle foes into submission she prefers to keep things from escalating to that point, attempting to drive off challengers with her flaming threat displays or by being incredibly annoying. With more curious opponents she has successfully used her trickery to resolve situations peacefully. She has ended several fights with intelligent kaiju by performing a magic trick, and then showing the former foe step by step how they accomplished it. However, if any of the precious plants she is transporting back to her garden are damaged in a fight, her opponent will likely wish they had never been born.

While mainly ambivalent towards most creatures, any organism with a cry similar to that of a child primate throws her into a state of heroism. This is not always appreciated, as she has appeared before settlements looking for the distressed child, not leaving until she sees they are being attended to by their parents, or she is driven off by military aircraft.  This protection of children has brought her into conflict with other kaiju and helped gain her public support in some regions. In her home territory she pays little mind to human intruders unless they cause trouble or approach her bag of tools. If the latter occurs , she will gently shoo them out of her cave,

As Hagayag’s wanderings grow farther and longer in length, more and more countries are starting to collaborate on the question of what to do about her. Ever since she emerged from her home, Hagayag has been a public nuisance. While seems to have enough respect for human’ territory to stick to the outskirt of crop fields when travelling to minimize trampling, her activities have been known to scare off tourists (though her home in Germany has actually seen increased tourism) or interrupt trade. Despite her benevolence she shows little restraint when fighting off armed forces. The current strategy by most governments is to only engage her with aircraft that can fly high enough to avoid her leaping abilities.

Inspiration:

Loosely inspired the trolls of myth that were big as mountains, as well witches like Baba Yaga. In all honesty though, she has as much link to real life legends as Calvin’s from Calvin and Hobbes Tracer Bullet persona (as in barely any). I placed her in Germany because it's bordered or close to so many other countrie, giving her a lot of different governments to interact with in her wanderings, which would lead to a lot of complicated feelings and politics.

A big idea of this was to create a benevolent kaiju that can still cause problems for humanity, if only because she’s a scary giant whose presence can impede trade relations even if its a boon for some tourism.

Flowering ferns are part of  slavic folklore,granting magic powers. Even nonmagical flowering fers and would be a huge boon as a botanial missing link. Technically they arent ferns but fernlike flowering plants.

A big inspiration for her was that  guy who performed a card trick at a zoo to the shock of a baboon. The idea of a kaiju magician started to come from that.

The proposed explanation for the origin of her bag, while possibly true is based partially in human chauvinism, presuming that a primate closer to humanity must have been the one to create the bag. This explanation also neglects the possibility that just because she doesn’t have tanning facilities in her current home doesn’t mean she didn’t always have acess to such materials. But in all honesty, the bags may come from the Lost Epoch and just been preserved by yamaneon glow (though losing whatever mystical abiliteis they may have ever once had)

@tyrantisterror

#atomic time of monsters #ATOM Create a Kaiju Contest

[gravityofforteana]

(from the article...Monday, November 21, 2011)

It has been about a week and a half since I've been able to post something here, and I apologize. Life has been crowded with certain unusually stressful family care situations, increased UFO book editing pressures, some rare book purchasing, selling the old family house, and generally being gassed. This Little People topic, also, has not lent itself to easy, off-the-top-of-the-head posting. But, one hundred of my case file encounters have now been logged, and I guess, ready or not, I'll unload them. I can't make any good sense out of this topic yet folks, so it's going to be: let it fly, and it's up to you to see if it's of any value to you.

Let's get the boring preliminaries out of the way first. As said, this material comes from my case files collected from published encounter claims over several years of "collecting". As with my UFO files, these cases were not collected systematically, but merely as I ran into them and thought them interesting. The sources are quite varied. About a quarter of this particular hundred were taken off one internet site where people write in their "fairy" claims. About a like number were taken from my "UFO" files, and picked out because they didn't ring particularly true as UFO cases. Others come from books and magazine articles. The only things that they have in common is 1). they struck me as interesting potentially-true encounters; and 2). they seemed to have a "folkloric entity" feeling to them. So, this is entirely idiosyncratic to me and as such hardly "scientific" to start.

The crude data arrays are to the left. The majority of these characters are "smalls" [1 1/2--4 1/2 feet tall]. They are the "Little People" we expect. About a quarter of these are "tinies". They are almost the only critters said to be winged. "Tinkerbells", if you will. They come almost entirely from the internet site "Fairy Encounters", which seems to attract mostly young girls who want to see fairies. I waded through a very large number of these claims some time ago, and weeded out a couple dozen which were reported by adults and seemed to have some redeeming characteristics. There were very few normal sized creatures in this list, and just one, I believe, extremely large one. Perhaps the folkloric big entities are all masquerading as Bigfoot or Nessy-like creatures. Normal-sized humanoids may be shunted off into the "apparitions" category and not make the Faerie listings. There were a few fairyish things which had no entity seen but included for other reasons. [fairy music, etc.]

The files for this hundred are almost entirely 20th-21st century, which is of some interest to me, as it may be saying that the phenomenon continues to today, regardless of being ignored. Had it been true that I had just collected material out of WY Evans-Wentz, Wirth Sikes, or even much of Janet Bord, the previous centuries would have been more widely represented.

As usual, with my language-constricted reading ability, all the citations are in english, and as a consequence, mostly US and UK, in about equal amounts. There are 16% European citations, though, mainly from UFO files. Ireland has very few cites as yet. There should be a few more of those in a second hundred if I ever get it done.

A general comment [therefore not universally true] about states of consciousness: Many cases of Faerie claims occur, as reported, at bedtime, lying down, dreamily staring at something, etc. This phenomenology [in these cases reported upon here] tend to concentrate heavily in the Tinkerbell-type tiny winged fairy reports. Reports of "small" dwarf, leprechaun, gnome, etc sized denizens of Faerie typically do NOT occur in these states of consciousness, but rather "normal" consciousness at least as far as the reports indicate. What this says about reality, I will leave up to you.

Despite my comment about states-of-consciousness and the Fairy Encounters site that I made above, there still were quite a few reports that I found interesting. In VERY truncated form, I'll describe some of them. They will be a selection picked to illustrate a wide range of possible experience. All of these were from the 1970s through to circa 2005. Almost all are from the US with as sprinkling of UK, and one Belgium and Germany. Almost all these stories were written in by the observers when they were much older.

1). Four young girls find tiny footprints in rural Colorado. They make a fairy house to encourage activity. Only a glowing silhouette is seen, and an arrangement of sticks like a person.

2). Three teenage girls were in countryside in Wales to paint landscapes. Saw slim thread with something riding on it. It was a very tiny "egg" within which was a "man" with a purple-colored dwarf's hat apparently joy-riding the "egg" as a minicraft. Two of the girls drew the same thing separately.

3). Two girls were playing in the backyard at night. A "firefly" showed up. It turned out to look like Tinkerbell and it stayed briefly, smiling, and assuring the girls not to be afraid.

4). One girl used to sit out in nature a lot, and built fairy houses. Nothing for a very long time. One day she saw a rainbow-colored glowing tiny winged creature flying around where she usually sat. It stayed there a while, the two looking at one another.

5). A girl and her brother were out to play in nearby woods. He ran off to pick apples. She just sat, not going after him, picking flowers. In one flower a flutterbye [I refuse to use the modern degradation "butterfly"] flew out and danced away. It appeared as a tiny fairy. It led her on until disappearing. There was her brother fallen from a tree and unconscious. She stopped the bleeding in his head. They rested and got back home safely.

6). Two guys decided to go fairy-hunting in a place deemed likely by others [one of the reasons that I am particularly suspicious of this one]. They go to a rural cemetery just as dusk falls. This reminds me of knuckleheads looking for trouble, but OK. There they are hiding behind cover in order not to be spotted by police when they saw a rapidly dancing 5" high person. It danced continuously for 5 minutes and disappeared. Making ready to leave, they found that somehow they were at the very opposite end of the cemetery with no recollection of having gotten there [this is the element of this that I found interesting enough to include this one]. This constituted a ten minute run to get back to where their car was. There are plenty of reasons to discard things like this, but the reporter didn't make himself sound too flattering in his tale, and the spatial slip is reminiscent of the Irish concept of the "Stray Sod".

7). A woman told of constantly finding that things were "going missing" and then reappearing later exactly where they should have been and where she had looked for them [thoroughly] . She attributed this to fairy-tricksters of some kind [never saw them] and finally began to just say "Come on you guys this isn't funny anymore!" and the item would pop up soon thereafter. "Fairy" or not, this phenomenon is all over the literature [usually buried under Poltergeist phenomena] and I have a sister who is burdened with these same sorts of temporary diversions.

8). A girl living in the English countryside regularly visited a friend and experienced the beautiful garden there. She began to sketch a flower when a flutterbye landed on it. But it wasn't a flutterbye afterall but rather a golden miniature person [female] with wings. It left the flower and flew up and posed a few inches from her face. Then it flew up and away. No one believed her, but she returned often hoping to see another, which she never did.

9). Two girls used to play in the woods when they began to tell one another that they thought they were seeing creatures out of the corners of their eyes and then retreating behind the trees when the girls would turn on them. Unlike other claims on this site, these were "smalls", and the girls compared them to "Santa's Elves" in size. While this would go on, the environment would be like a dreamy, fuzzy state, which would snap back to "hard reality" only once they got back home and inside.

10). A teenage girl [16] was walking down a country lane when she saw a flutterbye-sized tiny girl with wings singing beautifully while seated on a hedge. She flew up and beyond the hedge not to be seen again. The 21-year-old reporter never told anyone of this due to not wanting to be mocked.

11). An 11 year old girl was upstairs in her home while her parents held a party downstairs. Watching the raindrops on her window, she saw within one a tiny almost see-through female playing inside the drop. After a while, she decided to try to get her Mom to see it too, but the fairy disappeared. The reporter was 38 at the time of the telling.

12). A woman was sitting on the edge of her bed in a dimly lit room. Then time/action seemed to slow down and small half-inch diameter balls of light of different colors began manifesting. She was able to concentrate on one which was quite nearby. It was a tiny winged creature fluttering so rapidly that you could not resolve exactly its appearance, and whose motions gave it the more distant impression of being a ball-of-light. She felt that this went on for perhaps twenty seconds, but the rate of time made it seem much longer.

13). A young man was walking his girl in a "romantic" forest setting. They heard a strange language-like cry, and suddenly were no longer on their forest path. The environment was wrong, now featuring water-sounds burbling on rocks. They turned and were confronted by a beautiful normal-sized girl all dressed in green. She then turned into a green ball-of-light and flew off. They had to walk a ways to get back to the path leading to their house.

14). Four people in a temporary house [a camper] were outside watching a meteor shower, when two retired to bed. The other two, mother and daughter, stayed up with the family dog. The dog began barking at the back gate. Mother and daughter turned to see a large ball of white light about 20 feet from the gate. It disappeared while they ran in to wake up the father. They interpreted this as a fairy lightball.

15). Two boys and their dog were in the woods camping. The dog ran off. One boy followed. He heard beautiful music and looked to see two-inch tall men and women with wings doing the singing and partying. Shortly thereafter his friend arrived and watched too. Then after ten minutes of this, the dog came romping out of the woods barking. The fairies immediately disappeared. The next morning the friend described everything he had seen, but said that it happened in his dream.

16). Two young women [sisters] were home alone baking cookies. As they looked out their window, a small man looking like a "leprechaun" but not dressed in green, floated up over their neighbor's fence riding on what looked like a motorcycle. It raced across their yard and floated up over the next fence and away.

17). A young man and woman were driving in a scenic hilly area. They saw a large ball of white light, which disappeared into the woods. They got out and looked for it in vain. All they heard was some giggling. They continued their drive and there again was the light; this time in the middle of the road. He couldn't stop and went right over it. They stopped and jumped out. Looking under their truck, there was the ball of light making giggling noises. Apparently it then went safely away, as the young woman expressed her relief that the playful fairy/lightball was unharmed.

18). A young man at a time just prior to Halloween, had heard some tiny playful giggling in his garden which he couldn't locate. Then just on or right after Halloween, he and a friend saw two bluish glittering winged figures. They were nearly transparent as if made of gas. These two experiences tripped off memories of him having a childhood "imaginary playmate" whom he hadn't remembered in years. The imaginary playmate had been a fairy.

19). A girl was in her bedroom on a full Moon night staring out the window. Into the yard came a fuzzy figure made of light. It was a woman in a silvery long gown with bright golden hair and a crown. She was winged with glittering diaphanous silver. She stopped, looked at the Moon, turned into a ball of silvery light, and disappeared. The woman, in her thirties when she reported this, stated that she didn't know whether to call her encounter as being with a fairy, a ghost, or an angel.

20). A young person [sex not determinable from the report] was unable to sleep one night, and had an odd urging to get up and go outside. Once there, the urge continued and the witness was almost put to the ground without willing it. Immediately, Alice-in-Wonderland-like, the grass seemed growing tall all around [as the person shrunk]. A large group of fairy personages came talking and smiling and circling about. They then suddenly scattered away [the person had a blade of grass laid over one hand completely covering it]. Increasing to normal size, the witness wondered if it was just a dream. In that hand was grasped a small blade of grass. Once back in the bedroom, the brother said that he had watched it all from the window.

So be it to give you a largish dose of modern alleged fairy sightings. Note that there is quite a bit of scope phenomenologically here, but not far outside the expectations of a Fairylore sighting. I, as a UFO researcher, find the frequency of Ball-of-Light phenomena interesting, especially as many of these things found in UFO files don't sound very UFO-like. Also, though this is a "Fairy" website, one expects "Tinkerbells" but one also gets several larger critters. The majority of these things happen outside in woods or garden settings, or looking out one's window into a yard or garden. The changed environment cases smack of various forms of the OZ Effect in UFOlogy. Poltergeist phenomena and apparitional things seem to crop up. The Realm of Fairy, in fact, threatens to expand to potentially contain many other paranormal claims. These cases as presented also have a very powerful gender slant to them, which speaks to a strong sociological filter. Doubtless it is OK for girls to report fairies but not guys. Guys of course can make up for this by reporting Bigfoot.

#faeries

[foxhenki-blog]

The Wine-Dark King

The jazz arrangement of the forest is a counterpoint to the symphony of the garden, and mushrooms are the common elements of entropy, efficiency, and opportunism linking the two. Mushrooms have, do and will bring life to all of those that seek out their company.

Anna Tsing states that mushroom picking is a ‘preindustrial livelihood’ that is often overlooked by those that track these things because it does not contribute to progress (Tsing, 22). It contributes directly to the living of the humans that engage in it, to their sustenance and wealth. Mushrooming does not contribute to the capitalist paradigm, yet it benefits from its structure.

I think a lot about community in my day job, it is how I define a lot of what I do and who I work with and the dynamics that I exploit. In speaking of these preindustrial livelihoods, Tsing introduced me to the ecological term, assemblage. She states that:

“Ecologists turned to assemblages to get around the sometimes fixed and bounded connotations of ecological ‘community.’ The question of how the varied species in a species assemblage influence each other — if at all — is never settled: some thwart (or eat) each other; others work together to make life possible; still others just happen to find themselves in the same place. Assemblages are open-ended gatherings. They allow us to ask about communal effects without assuming them. They show us potential histories in the making.” (Tsing, 23)

I am still getting my head around this concept. I understand ecological niches and niche construction. Are assemblages a collection of ecological niches? Do niches exist within assemblages? Are assemblages limited by niches? Can niches be wider and exist (or influence) beyond an assemblage. Is niche construction (perhaps primarily) concerned with friction while assemblages (I think) are concerned with (perhaps [yes certainly] incidental) harmony? Tsing continues, pulling in the mushroom forager again, stating that:

“Foraging for mushrooms is a way of life — but not a common characteristic of all humans. The issue is the same for other species. Pines find mushrooms to help them use human-made open spaces. Assemblages don’t just gather lifeways; they make them. Thinking through assemblage urges us to ask: How do gatherings sometimes become ‘happenings’…?”

Assemblages don’t just gather lifeways, they make them. Some entities in an assemblage work to help each other and others just find themselves in the same place. I feel that my global community of chaos magicians possesses similar dynamics, and perhaps chaos magic itself is the cause. We all use different techniques and those techniques change (or should) as we find strategies to be ineffective. Sometimes we come together to put out fires and other times (most times) we just exist within the same magical space — but our existing within this same reality often translates beyond a gathering into a more synergistic power. The pines that Tsing is referencing are a species that take advantage of the aftermath of fires and the mushrooms both take advantage of the pines and work to bring nutrients to them. Then humans come in and collect the mushrooms to bolster their own sustenance and to trade their labor and expertise in finding them into wealth.

Tsing’s cohort, Donna Haraway, speaks of assemblages as well when she states:

“I use holobiont to mean symbiotic assemblages, at whatever scale of space or time, which are more like knots of diverse intra-active relatings in dynamic complex systems, than like the entities of a biology made up of preexisting bounded units… in interactions that can only be conceived as competitive or cooperative… all the players are symbionts to each other… with varying degrees of openness to attachments and assemblages…” (Haraway, 60)

Knots of intra-active relatings (is that a noun or a verb? Probably both knowing Haraway), in a complex system — so assemblages are clusters of niches but also the empty space in between them. Assemblages can probably only be attached to the chaos magician then, as other traditions are more focused on community, certainly any initiatory tradition is. Community is a group that work together for the groups benefit. Assemblages are a group that can exist in a matrix of symbiosis and empty space — only when the (certainly incidental) symbiosis occurs within the gathering and the assemblage is lifted out of its boundaries to something greater, does the gathering become a happening. (Haraway, 60)

Mushrooms just exist. They have their own agendas, which include propagation of self (a very diverse sense of the word ‘self’, a thousand similar yet completely different selves) and the selfless recycling and exploitation of their immediate environment. They assist the higher lifeforms around them. In our analogy, think of the magician assisting the local dead to find their way to peace and power as ancestors, without asking for anything in return. This assistance optimizes the environment so that the mushrooms have a place for their many selves to live and grow and propagate and die.

Mushrooms just exist. Take these Toothed Cups that I found among my wormwood seedlings today.

I did not propagate them, I had to investigate them as I didn’t know what they were. Tarzetta cupalaris — little inedible spirit-forms that had been part of the soil or the recycled seedling pots I am using — I provided the light and water they needed without knowing they needed it. They grew. They just are. Their agenda and mine have nothing to do with one another, yet we exist in the same space. They exist in a micro-niche that I (in a very human way, with a mind towards progress [an anti-capitalist progress towards food security]) created. We are, together, an assemblage of spirits.

Phil Hine, in his work Condensed Chaos, has some relevant thoughts here when he states:

“Magic is a two-way process: you use it to change yourself and in return, it changes you. Letting yourself enter a magic reality is not about creating an enclave of magic beyond your everyday life, but of allowing magic in — allowing for the intrusion of the weird, the irrational, the things you can’t explain… Encounters with strange lights, half-glimpsed figures, rushing presences… these are very much associated with the wilderness…” (Hine, 37)

The sense of creating a ‘space away’ from reality, that enclave of magic Hine references, that is the perspective of the niche constructor and, frankly, one we cannot avoid. We will always have this sense of defense, of protection, of exploitation, when we do magic — it is our human (read: animal) nature. What Hine is saying here, however, is that the reality is that our niche exists within an assemblage of spirit-forms and the empty space between them. He is suggesting that we shift our animal perspective to that of the mushroom. A mushroom lets it all in, exploits what it can, and either observes or works with other entities to change the rest. When Hine states that:

“A magician is constantly aware of his inner structures and that which is around him. He constantly strives to extend his possibilities for action — patient, yet aware of the necessity, sometimes, of going too far in all directions. Magic, in some senses, is the science of extremes…” (Hine, 40)

He is describing the magician as a being with this mushroom nature, sending her network in all directions until the tendrils die of malnourishment. She finds the boundaries and reaches past them in the chthonic realm, above ground her spore-sigils are carried on the wind landing where chaos takes them, exploiting only those new areas with the optimum conditions for growth.

Let us return, for a short time, to the principle spirit-form of the Myconomicon, Baba Yaga. The old woman of the woods is old and tough, with evidence suggesting that she existed well into antiquity. Take the following statement from the article, ‘Baba Yaga and the Mushrooms’:

“Written documentation for Baba Yaga extends only to late 17th — early 18th centuries, but philological studies and comparative folklore suggest her presence in folk belief considerably before then, plausibly originating from Baltic, Uric and/or other non-Slavic sources. Linguistic and ethnographic analyses firmly link ‘baba’ and ‘witch’ to various mushrooms in Baltic and Slavic countries… Baltic myth contains a ‘Mother of Mushrooms.’ Pre-Slavic Balkan… artifacts include figurines of bird-women, and mushrooms sculpted from rock crystal.” (Dugan, Abstract)

So our analogy of the magician-as-mushroom is not a new one, it is a very old form, indeed. The article goes on to state that:

“‘Baba’ may even connote a specific kind of “mushroom,” e.g., Boletus edulis (an eminently edible species) in Polish babka… In Slovak, ježibaba is the equivalent of Russian Baba jaga (yaga, iaga)… [and when systematically reviewed there are] multiple interpretations of “baba” and “iaga” [with] connections to "certain kinds of mushroom." (Dugan, 10)

In Tsarist Russia, the (lower-case ‘i’) inquisition of magic-kin was much less covert in its imperialist motivations. Take the following examples:

“witchcraft trial of mushroom powder used to bewitch crops. In 1671, a woman was accused of trying to poison the Tsar's wife with a mushroom, and tortured on suspicion of magic; possession of herbs (a mushroom in this case) was a frequent attribute of those accused of being a witch ("female magician … midwife … baba”)” (Dugan, 10)

This is evidence of class-based mycophobia, where the upper-class, not understanding (or rejecting) the ways of the lower-class, vilify the possession of mushrooms as magic. The mushroom, therefore, should act as a firebrand for the magician, Those among us that count ourselves in that out-group should relish and cultivate (both in the imaginal and in-the-real) the association with these spirit-forms.

The associations do not stop there either. The article goes one to describe:

“a Russian forest spirit (and sometimes associate of Baba Yaga), the leshii, [that] would assume the likeness of a mushroom or alter the appearance of mushrooms with a whip; in the north, such spirits were associated with storm winds… the Slovenes had a ritual of rolling on the ground at ‘first thunder’… to promote an abundant harvest of… mushrooms. The first mushrooms found during a mushroom harvest (‘first fruits’) might be offered as a sacrifice to a forest spirit… with addition of Christian prayer…” (Dugan, 10)

Offering us some solid mushroom-mage tech to be put into practice during our journey through the Myconomicon. The magician-as-mushroom analogy goes both ways, there is evidence of the mushroom-as-magician in the historical record as well:

“in some Russian tales there is a villainous wizard, Mukhomor, sometimes equated with the equally bad Koshchei the Deathless… Mukhomor "means 'Poison Mushroom’… Koshchei and Baba Yaga can appear in the same tale. Baba Yaga is either his aunt or his mother” (Dugan, 12)

Before moving on to our spirit-form for the week, I’d like to pay homage (and set the stage for the next scene in our investigation) to our principle spirit by offering this arrangement of Mussorgsky’s ‘The Hut on Hen’s Legs’ by Sir Henry Wood:

Our spirit-form for this week is the Stropharia rugosoannulata. The Japanese call him Saketsubatake, which possibly means Bursting Mushroom or, more interestingly, Warding Mushroom (from the Japanese word ‘sakeru’)— but probably means Salmon Mushroom (or Salmon Bamboo Mushroom) in reference to the mushroom’s coloration. In English we call him either the Wine-Cap Stropharia or the King Stropharia. He is edible and widely cultivated as a food source.

Our Wine-dark King, while being popular as food, is still quite a mystery when it comes to the magic hidden in his flesh. Researchers have discovered proteins (called lectins) that have shown anti-fungal (paradoxically), anti-tumor, immunomodulatory, anti-insect and anti-viral properties, although the mechanisms they work through (like most magic) are still not known (Zhang et al, 19881). Other properties of our Wine-dark King are mechanisms that suppress stress to the endoplasmic reticulum and the formation of osteoclasts. (Wu et al, 2013, 1779) Osteoclasts play a role in bone resorption and the acceleration of osteoclasts are one of the principle causes of osteoporosis. The Endoplasmic reticulum is a network inside cells that is charged with the absorption of proteins and fats. In essence, it is the super-highway where fuel is delivered to cells. In neural cells, stress and degradation of this super-highway is a cause of the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease (Wu et al, 2011. 1631). Our Wine-dark King’s magic, then, stands between us and some of the more pernicious ravages of age.

He does not only use his abilities to serve humankind. In the wild, he is found individually or in large groups from forests into our lawns and gardens.

He is equally at home at the jazz club, the symphony, or the dead monotone of the Western lawn (Cortez and da Silveira, 52). His presence is impressive wherever he is found above ground, but beneath the soil, a bloody battle rages. Stropharia rugosoannulata (and to a lesser extent, all Stropharia mushrooms) posses a type of hyphae (individual branching filaments that make up the whole of a mushroom’s mycelium) called an acanthocyte (Cortez and da Silveira, 37). The acanthocyte is, in essence, a brutal morning star. The Wine-dark King has thousands upon thousands, depending on the size of his mycelial net. Acanthocyte’s, these Chthonic Beholders, exist (for as much as we can tell) sole to trap, lacerate, kill and digest nematodes in the soil.

Nematodes, also known as roundworms, are known carriers of plant viruses and certain species have been the cause of massive crop failures. They are known as ‘free-living’ organisms, which means that they do not contribute to the decomposition of organic matter but rather feed on living plants. Wine-cap Stropharia are one of the only known predators of nematodes. S. rugosoannulata has been observed immobilizing and killing nematodes within hours of their introduction to a controlled environment (dish of agar inoculated with S. rugosoannulata mycelium) and decomposing the roundworms in as little as twelve hours (Lou et al, 2982). It has been reported that:

“some acanthae resemble a sharp sword causing damage to the nematode cuticle, resulting in leakage of nematode inner materials. This indicates that mechanical force is an important factor in the immobilization and killing of nematodes. On the basis of our observations, we are convinced that the acanthocytes are more than an antifeedant structure for protection. They function as a nematode-attacking device that helps the fungus to obtain nutritional supplementation.” (Lou et al, 2983)

This feeds the symbolism for King Stropharia as an aggressive defensive archetype, a chaos shield, protecting the magician from those malignant creeping influences that seek to sap off her strength and sources of nourishment. Similarly, this archetype derives sustenance from the very act of violently defending his territory. This king is a vampire hunter that draws power from each one of his kills, Highlander style.

The Wine-dark King is known to be very easy to cultivate. You can easily obtain a culture of S. rugosoannulata [https://amzn.to/2GJikZP] and innoculate wheat straw [https://amzn.to/2XSWMR8] or sawdust after pasteurization. Following this initial colonization, the straw or sawdust can be mixed with alder chips (Klemm, 2). While it has been shown that our Highlander will fruit indoors, his feral nature means that he prefers an outdoor environment, either in full sun or in ‘garden shade’ (Cornell University, 1). Given his crusade against the nematode orc hordes of the planet, giving him a home in your garden can only be of a benefit to both you and the soil your plant allies call home.

His sigil is tight and covered in spikes, like his signature weapon.

The Wine-dark King’s sigil can be used for rituals that are designed to stave off the influence of age-related diseases such as osteoporosis and Alzheimer’s. Similarly, as mentioned above, it can also be utilized as a ward against parasitic influences (either spirit or human-based) in one’s life and the more parasites that come up against the power of this ward, the more magical sustenance is returned to the magic-user that casts it.

Sigil courtesy of Ghostly Harmless’ Sigilizer

References

Cornell University (2016) Method for Cultivating Stropharia Mushrooms. CornellMushrooms.org pp 1-2

Cortez V G and da Silveira R M B (2008) The agaric genus Stropharia (Strophariaceae, Agaricales) in Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. Fungal Diversity (32) pp 31-57.

Dugan F M (2017) Baba Yaga and the Mushrooms. Fungi (10, 2). pp 6-18

Haraway, D. J. (2016). Staying with the trouble: Making kin in the Chthulucene. Duke University Press.

Hine, P., & Carroll, P. J. (2010). Condensed chaos: An introduction to chaos magic. Original Falcon Press.

Klemm T (2015) A King in the Garden. Fungifama (18, 2) pp 1-14

Lou H, Li X, Li G, Pan Y and Zhang K (2006) Acanthocytes of Stropparna rugosoannulata Function as a Nematode-Attacking Device. Applied and Environmental Microbiology (72, 4) pp 2982-2987.

Tsing, A. L. (2017). The mushroom at the end of the world: On the possibility of life in capitalist ruins. Princeton (New Jersey) Princeton University.

Wu J, Fushimi K, Tokuyama S, Ohno M, Miwa T, Toyama T, Yazawa K, Nagai K, Matsumoto T, Hirai H and Kawagishi H (2011) Functional-Food Constituents in the Fruiting Bodies of Stropharia rugosoannulata. Biosci (75, 8) pp 1631-1634

Wu J, Koori H, Kawaide M, Suzuki T, Choi J, Yasuda N, Noguchi K, Matsumoto T, Hirai H and Kawagishi H (2013) Isolation of Bioactive Steroids from the Stropharia rugosoannulata Mushroom and Absolute Configuration of Strophasterol B. Biosci (77, 8) pp. 1779-1781

Zhang W, Tian G, Geng X, Zhao Y, Ng T B, Zhao L and Wang H (2014) Isolation and characterization of a novel lectin from the edible mushroom Stropharia rugosoannulata. Molecules (19) pp 19880-19891

Mushroom Images are from cmy610 and are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

#Stropharia rugosoannulata

[jan-mohammad-baloch-blog]

Before 1839, the unjust demarcation of Balochistan in predominant three regions Balochistan in Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, the Baloch land actual possession in term of geography is stretched up to 528975 square kilometers. The Baloch nation which shares a similar culture, norms, ethos, and folklores in all three parts of occupied Balochistan and it shares seashores of up to 1046 Kilometres which connects the Baloch land to the Arabian Sea, the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean. The total population of the Baloch nation is approximately 15.932 million comparatively. The France size country of Baloch people is enriched with natural resources and hydrocarbons. Since the time of empires and imperialists, several expeditions were sent by different powers to conquer Balochistan and plunder her resources, but Baloch nation never compromised on their land and national interests – “fight, die and save Baloch motherland” has always been the manifesto of Baloch traditional and current political and military strategy. The concept of “Divide and rule”, excessive use of power and Sandman thought of empowering Nawabs and sardars and introducing a ‘Sardari System’ went in vain because of the Baloch struggle for freedom. When the British were left with no option, they drew artificial bourrides to weaken the Baloch nation, despite this, the artificial demarcations never left optimistic approach for the occupier to deter the Baloch from their freedom struggle. Firdausi in his “Shahnama” called Baloch with following wordings, for their bravery and courage in 935-1025 as; “Next after Gustaham came shrewd Askash endowed with prudent heart and ready brain, his troop was from the wanderers of the Koch and Baloch wearing exalted cocks comb crests very rams. o fight, no one had seen their backs in the battle or one of their fingers bare of armor, their banner was a part with claws projecting.” In the 15th century, the Portuguese with their expansionist policies planned to proceed annexation of the coastal area of Makran Balochistan. The Portuguese attacked Makran under the leadership of Vasco de Gama but were repulsed by forces under the command of Mir Ismail. The Portuguese looted and set coastal villages on fire, but failed to capture the area of Makran. Cannons of the Portuguese army were found abandoned, lying near the central jail of Gwadar. Ismail’s grave is situated near the Mountain of Batail Gwadar, constructed by himself during his life time. He died in 1468. After Ismail’s regime, his nephew Mir Hammal (Hoth) Baloch, son of Jihand Khan(Hoth) Baloch, became the ruler of Makran. During his rule, the Portuguese initiated several attacks under the command of Lowess Dee Almia, but they were repelled each time, eventually agreeing to a truce wherein the Portuguese agreed not to attack the Makran coastal area. However, when Hammal was at sea with some companions, the Portuguese attacked his ship and took Hammal captive. History is evident that the king of Portuguese empire offered Hammal Hoth to marry his daughter because of Hammal’s bravery, it was a widespread concept at that time that marrying brave men, breeds brave generation for any empire or Royal family, but rather being part of a big empire Hammal Hoth preferred to die for his nation’s dignity and freedom against the intruder. A statue of Hammal resides in a museum on the island of Goa in India. The Portuguese constructed and erected it in his honor. During this time, the Portuguese also attacked Tehs Bandar (western portion of Balochistan), which was under the command of Kareem Dad, who died in the attack along with 44 of his soldiers. The 15th century proved to be a harassment for Portuguese empire because of their humiliating defeat by the ideologically determined and Patriot Baloch. The 19th and 20th centuries are remembered in the history of both Balochistan and Britain as, ‘Baloch consecutive war for the sovereignty of Balochistan’ which dates back to 1840,1880 and 1917 – the three Anglo-Marri wars. The location of these wars is north-eastern part of Balochistan, where Baloch rejected British loyalty against Balochistan’s sovereignty and freedom. Sardar Doda Khan Marri in and freedom fighters confronted Sir John Keane in 1840 CE, Brigadier-General Macgregor in 1880 CE, in first Anglo-Marri war the Marri Baloch won the battle against the British imperialism which is a part of the battle against Baloch in British history. In 1880, second Anglo-Marri war, Marri tribesmen made frequent raids on the British. A force of 3070 British troops under Brigadier-General Macgregor marched through the country, a fierce battle went on for several months which ultimately ended with diplomatic efforts. During World War 1, the British forces were facing a shortage of recruits and started a campaign to enlist the Marri, who refused to join the British ranks. As a result, clashes broke out in large areas of the Marri land, under the leadership of General Mir Khuda e Dad Khan Marri, with both sides suffering hundreds of casualties. Ultimately Khuda e Dad Khan Marri embraced martyrdom with two of his younger brothers. In the end, the Marri tribe agreed to support Britain, despite this, they still refused to send their youth to join the war. This proves that Baloch nation in their history has never become a proxy for any other country or cause. Today, Balochistan’s 347190 sq.km is under the occupation of Pakistan and approximately 181785 sq.km is occupied by Iran, where the population of Baloch on both sides is 15.935 million, that is facing harassment, brutality and being killed and dumped with new military strategy and changing terror tactics. Once again Pakistan and Iran are offering China to be their partner on the seashores of Balochistan, which is another tactic to engage Baloch nation with China – another would be memory of Portuguese and British imperialism because Pakistan and Iran are now tired and hopeless to confine and control Baloch struggle for freedom. Both countries have applied the policy of genocide of Baloch nation by force or by drugs, but their every effort is failed and obsolete before Baloch nation’s committed nature and willpower. The agony is that in the standing scenario the world and global media are silent about the barbarism of Iran and Pakistan against Baloch nation. The desolate states of Pakistan and Iran are rampant in their conducts against Baloch nation, but despite this Baloch nation is invincible and fighting for the cause of freedom of Balochistan. Today like the predecessors of classical Baloch leaders Mr. Hyrbyair Marri has successfully maintained the chain of thoughts of Baloch veterans who never let an inch of Baloch land to be occupied by any intruder, whether Iran, Pakistan or China. It is clearly evident in the history of the world that continuation of national interest’s policy leads to the success of a nation in the political arena of the world. Likewise, the policies of Mr. Hyrbyair Marri have made the Baloch land invincible hitherto, the success of which can be judged on the basis that yet the world sees Balochistan as a divided land, worthy of solution. The Baloch nation under the leadership of Mr. Hyrbyair Marri is continuously gaining acknowledgment regarding the historical boundaries of Balochistan. The Free Balochistan Movement headed by Mr Marri demonstrated and represented the Baloch aspirations in their rallies and protests in USA, Canada, and Germany, Sweden, Norway, London and other European countries in which Baloch from eastern and western occupied Balochistan echoed their voices for freedom of Balochistan from Iran and Pakistan, where slogans of “China hands off Balochistan” were raised to show that the Baloch demand is clear which is freedom of Balochistan. Today, the world should accept the reality that peace process in the Middle East and South Asia cannot be completed without the endorsement of Balochistan as a free state. Frequent ignorance of Baloch nation by global powers and rest of the civilized world has led the political scenario in such a phase that country like Pakistan and Iran are regulating terrorism as a tool of their foreign policies, while secular Baloch are pushed to the wall. The civilised world committed mistakes in the past that led to the division and occupation of Balochistan but now it is their responsibility to rectify those mistakes before the situation deteriorates. The ratification of such mistakes in only possible when the world starts pondering on freedom of Balochistan from Iran and Pakistan.

[vileart]

Atlantic Dramaturgy: RCS @ Edfringe 2017

From Sondheim’s twist on classic fairy tales to two new works that bring together a transatlantic team, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland students are gearing up for the greatest arts festival in the world.

Atlantic: A Scottish Story

Written by: Scott Gilmour & Claire McKenzie (S&C)

Atlantic: America & The Great War

Written by: Ryan Bernsten, Christopher Anselmo & Desiree Staples (R, C & D)

What was the inspiration for this performance?

R, C & D: The international collaboration has truly been the most inspirational aspect of our process. The entire Atlantic team met for months via multiple overseas phone calls to kick-start the development of this then untitled project. The conversations about our respective countries and our respective experiences allowed for such a ripe beginning to the work. One theme we all kept returning to was the question, ‘is it a curse to stay in, or a curse to leave your homeland?’ For the Scots, their families have been rooted in the same location for centuries. 

For the Americans, quite the opposite. All three of us come from such different backgrounds - even Chris is a first-generation American - and we wanted to find a story that really explored what it means to be American. And, as we believe theatre should in today’s political climate in the States, we put an emphasis on responding to current events through our historical lens.

S&C: As the American team have already mentioned, Atlantic was a collaborative project inspired directly by our differing cultural and family heritage and how that affects us now as individuals in the modern world. 

Our piece, A Scottish Story, looks at the ties we have to home and, in many cases, how difficult it can be to escape them. Is it a curse to stay or to go? What happens if you never leave home - can you still be happy? If you have no need to discover where you’re from, because you’re already there, can you be content not knowing what the rest of the world has to offer? These questions of isolation and identity were fundamental in discovering the world of Atlantic for us.

Is performance still a good space for the public discussion of ideas?

S&C: I think it’s becoming a more sacred space for discussion. We can now experience some of the most powerful and moving stories from the comfort of our own bed. We can communicate, lecture, debate and discuss with whole communities without ever having to leave our room. 

Live performance, however, is something that’s yet to be replicated by technology. As a result, the forum of theatre and music, and the discussion that takes place between a performer and the audience, remains this uncanny thing that is vital to the sharing of ideas and sensibilities for everyone.

R, C & D: We think performance is more vital than ever to discuss ideas and see lives that are different from our own. We have an empathy shortage across the world and allowing to see real people in front of us experience lives that may be in different centuries and different countries that still hit universal notes and themes. 

The unique opportunity to have two writing teams from both Scotland and the United States has allowed us to have discussions on the most important topics: what makes our countries alike? What makes our experiences different? How does heritage fit into our consciousness? Why is beer so much cheaper in Scotland?!

How did you become interested in making performance?

Ryan: I’ve been a part of theatre since I played Captain Hook at the age of eight and there’s something about creating new work for the stage that is more satisfying than any other endeavour. The collaboration of a team of artists, both old and new, creates something that can only come from those particular artists. 

This international team truly has reinvigorated my belief that making live theatre is more worthwhile than ever as we’ve learned from each other not just as writers but as world citizens and general goofballs (we do a lot of impersonations of each other’s accents).

Chris: I got into the performance world through music. I was your typical American garage band kid; playing guitar to impress friends and getting into trouble. I knew I loved telling stories through my music and so musical theatre was such a natural leap. My sophomore year English teacher encouraged me to write my first musical as a book report assignment, and it just clicked and avalanched from there.

Desiree: I personally became interested in making performance in college. I’ve always been in the school of thought of ‘write what you know,’ so in college I became interested in taking the challenges and issues that were on my mind and performing about them (whether it was in song, in comedy or a more serious production). I also think it’s more important now than ever to question, dare and open people’s minds rather than give them a definitive answer of what to believe. I’ve discovered that performance, especially musical theatre, is the ideal forum to risk and tell these kinds of human stories that do just that - which has been very inspiring to me as an actress and writer in this process.

Scott: I always liked reading stories. I tried to become a novelist when I was younger but

failed and ended up working in a Spar … I started at an amateur theatre group on my days

off and that led on to drama school. After that I met Claire and we formed our partnership company, Noisemaker. I still like stories just as much. But now I get to make them.

Claire: I originally found music through a love of dance as a child. I think my parents noticed I had some sense of rhythm and thought it might not be a complete waste of money to send me to recorder lessons. Quite a few years and instruments later I ended up studying classical composition at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, followed by a Masters in Musical Direction in their drama school. 

It was this degree that led me to realise that I wanted to use my composition skills to help tell stories, collaborate and create unique pieces of theatre.

Is there any particular approach to the making of the show?

R, C & D: Both teams started with a commitment to community storytelling. Because Atlantic: America & the Great War is set at such a turning point in American history where the U.S. decided to truly join the world stage, we as writers wanted to capture the aspirations of not just our main characters but of the nation as a whole. Therefore we hope the aesthetic of the show resonates with the themes of a nation on the precipice of change, and our main character Annabelle swept up in forces beyond her control as she goes on a journey to find her sister in the war.

S&C: During our initial discussions, both writing teams were drawn to the idea of exploring folkloric traditions, and the differences in storytelling style between our two nations. It was fascinating to discover more about American folklore and how relatively modern their stories are compared to our centuries-old Scottish tales. From these initial discussions, we were keen to find a story with universal themes that also had this timeless quality within it. For this particular production we were lucky to have two development periods, one with the Scottish cast in Glasgow, followed by another with the American cast members in Chicago. Both of these workshops have significantly shaped the piece and allowed us to devise and create characters with and for the young cast playing them.

The Atlantic process has been incredibly collaborative from the outset and has been a unique writing and development experience for all of us involved.

Does the show fit with your usual productions?

S&C: Atlantic: A Scottish Story has been a bit of a departure from our usual style of storytelling, which has made it so enjoyable to make. As our writing partnership, Noisemaker, we have chosen to take the form of musical theatre and push its boundaries to challenge the expectations of an audience. That can be structurally, musically or simply in the style of production. On our last visit to the Fringe we brought our choose-your-own-adventure musical, The Girl Who, a show where the audience made the characters’ decisions resulting in 128 possible permutations of the story and score. A Scottish Story is a little different, as we're returning to the roots of classic musical storytelling, combining Scottish folk music and myth to create a piece that feels of the time but also relevant to our lives today.

R,C & D: What is exciting is that Atlantic is all about home, heritage, adventure, and the relationships you make along the way in discovering who you are - tied in with the tumultuous political, social, and global times of 1917, exactly a hundred years ago. We have always been passionate about telling stories that resonate now, and we think that looking at the past is not only very poignant and important to our lives right now, but can unlock so much about how we want to shape our future.

Chris: For example, this process has been perfect because my style of music, both as a musical theatre composer and as a singer-songwriter, leans heavily towards folk and Americana. I also tend to compose almost exclusively on the guitar, and the texture that comes from that method has really opened up a really interesting soundscape for the piece. It’s something that’s rooted in a Scottish folk tradition, but distinctly American.

Ryan: For me as a playwright, most of the plays I’ve produced have been in the genre of contemporary political satire and drama, so a historical setting presented a challenge upon first impression, but ultimately it was surprising how cyclical history can be. The development of the piece began while I was working as a staffer on the Hillary Clinton campaign, so it really became important in the aftermath that this musical answered to what America’s legacy is and how complicated it can be at times.

Desiree:  For me, currently writing for the LA Fringe and sketch comedy, it’s been an exciting challenge to bring these skills back to the musical theatre genre. I think the relationships in this story are very true to my past work. I've wanted to explore how to tell a family story, a love story, and a story about home in a way we haven’t seen before and Atlantic knocks it out of the park. 

I think our characters are complex, determined and will very much resonate with young people right now who want to be in control of their destiny and change the world for the better. 

Creating an ensemble piece has also always been something I’ve wanted to write, and our ensemble is such a foundation of this show, it’s going to be very thrilling to see it performed.

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

S&C: We hope that the audience will be led to question their own heritage and sense of belonging, by falling into this simple and poignant story of a girl who couldn’t leave her island. Using a rich, folk score with plenty of song, dance and dynamic storytelling we hope Atlantic: A Scottish Story creates a world far from the buzzing streets of Edinburgh - even just for an hour!

R, C & D: The journey across the Atlantic is epic. We’re hoping the audience will become enraptured in that journey with Annabelle but also take the unique opportunity to reflect that the American chapter in Atlantic: America & The Great War is set exactly a century ago from today. During the process, we’ve discovered a terrifying amount of parallels between then and now, from the military industrial complex to fake news to discovering one’s heritage in order to find identity to not having a sense of belonging. 

And though Annabelle’s journey is arduous, we’re really hoping audiences will enjoy the heart and humour of the piece, because it would be impossible to discuss the American identity without these moments that make us human.

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?

R, C & D: Considering the length requirements for the piece and the epic scope of the story we are aiming to tell, we had to experiment with the way our play flows, both musically and lyrically. Building upon ‘story theatre’ techniques such as ensemble narration, object puppetry and movement sequences, we’ve been striving to ensure that the score follows suit and supports the fluid (pun intended) motion of the piece as a whole. 

While traditional American musical theatre favours the ‘song-then-scene’ method, our play opts for a more ‘mosaic’ approach, in which many songs explode into sequences, and sequences shrink into personal moments. We’re really excited about seeing how it plays out with an audience and we hope that it helps tell this massive story in a very personal way.

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S&C: Whilst incorporating many similar techniques to the Americans, we also turned to traditional Scottish storytelling to capture the world we wanted to place our audience in. The music, song, text and movement all flow as one big thing, capturing the pace and motion of a time long forgotten. We look forward to sharing the product of what's been a unique and special collaboration with audiences at this year’s festival!

Musical Theatre Masters students will stage three productions, including two world premieres, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August in what is a milestone year – the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland is celebrating its 170th anniversary in 2017 while the Fringe turns 70.

The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland launches its dedicated Fringe website www.rcsedfest.co.uk  to coincide with the release of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe programme. The website is a hub for all things Fringe-related with information on performances – including alumni – events, reviews, media galleries and ticket details.

Students from across the globe come to study on the Royal Conservatoire’s 12-month MA Musical Theatre programme which culminates in a fully-staged run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which attracts millions of international visitors to the capital every year.

The Royal Conservatoire will present a main stage musical and two new works at the Assembly Hall from Thursday, August 3. The two new works are in partnership with the prestigious American Music Theatre Project (AMTP) at Northwestern University and Noisemaker, the award-winning music theatre company run by Royal Conservatoire of Scotland graduates, Scott Gilmour and Claire McKenzie.

The American Music Theatre Project brings together leading artists in music theatre to work with Northwestern’s faculty, staff and students. AMTP’s goal is to nourish and invigorate American music theatre by developing and producing new musicals, increasing opportunities for education and training with Northwestern’s theatre, music theatre and dance programmes and creating new connections between professional and academic communities. 

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe will play host to:

Into the Woods: main stage musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by James Lapine and directed by the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s Michael Howell.

Atlantic: A Scottish Story: written by Scott Gilmour and Claire McKenzie of Noisemaker. Directed by Scott Gilmour. 

Atlantic: America and the Great War: written by Northwestern University alumni Christopher Anselmo, Ryan Bernsten and Desiree Staples. Directed by David H. Bell, Artistic Director of the American Music Theatre Project at Northwestern University.

Hugh Hodgart, Director of Drama, Dance, Production and Film at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, said: “Creating meaningful professional opportunities is a defining aspect of life at Scotland’s national conservatoire.

“Performing and producing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe – the largest arts festival in the world - is a once-in-a-lifetime student experience. Our Musical Theatre Masters students have a unique and wonderful opportunity to showcase their talents – whether it’s on stage or behind the scenes - to an international audience.”

Professor Andrew Panton, Artistic Director of Musical Theatre at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, said: “The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland has performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for more than a decade and it offers a rich learning experience for our students, where they get to share their passion for performing on a global platform. 

Fairytale characters meet and clash in Into the Woods as they pursue their happily-ever-afters. In the woods, as in life, it’s easy to stray from the path. Into the Woods is a full-length musical at the Assembly Hall, directed by the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s Michael Howell.

Atlantic: A Scottish Story and Atlantic: America and the Great War will explore similar themes from two different national perspectives and will be performed in repertory by students from Northwestern University and the Royal Conservatoire in the Rainy Hall at the Assembly Hall.

Atlantic: A Scottish Story is a new musical from Noisemaker. What if we couldn't travel, leave home and see the world? Would we still be happy? With a soaring score and dynamic storytelling, Atlantic: A Scottish Story is a collaboration between the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, the American Music Theatre Project at Northwestern University and the award-winning musical theatre partnership Noisemaker. 

Atlantic: America and the Great War, an ensemble-driven adventure with a rousing folk score that explores the timely uncertainty of what it means to be American. On the eve of World War One, two African American sisters uncover their complicated European ancestry, but when one disappears while tracing their lineage overseas, the other must leave home for the first time to find her. 

The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s MA Musical Theatre students have been performing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for over a decade and have produced many Scottish premieres. 

For performance dates and tickets, visit: 

http://ift.tt/2tb2uD3 

http://ift.tt/2tTCbhO 

http://ift.tt/2taSF8h 

About the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland is ranked in the world top three for performing arts education (QS World Rankings 2017) and is ranked number one in Scotland for graduate employability (HESA) endorsing its status as a national and international centre of excellence for the performing arts.

The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland is celebrating its 170th anniversary in 2017. During its existence, it has built on its roots as a national academy of music to become one of Europe’s most multi-disciplinary performing arts higher education centres, offering specialised teaching across music, drama, dance, production and film. The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland is encouraging trans-disciplinary learning throughout its innovative curriculum. 

Around 1100 students are currently pursuing degrees at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland across its specialisms. The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland works in partnership with the national companies, including the National Theatre of Scotland, Scottish Opera and BBC Scotland, to provide students with the very best learning experiences the Scottish landscape has to offer.

Based in the heart of Glasgow, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland is also a busy performing arts venue; it hosts more than 500 public performances each year and issues around 64,000 tickets from its box office annually. Additionally, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland teaches over 3000 part-time learners every year through its Junior Conservatoire and Lifelong Learning departments.

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