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itcars · 3 years

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BMW Reveals All-new iDrive System

The new generation of BMW iDrive takes the interaction between driver and vehicle into a future where many areas of life are getting increasingly smart. The new version of BMW’s operating system equips the vehicle to actively engage in its relationship with those on board &, in so doing, serves as a digital, intelligent & proactive partner in any situation. A dialogue is created with the aim of precisely tailoring all the functions controlled via BMW iDrive to the driver’s needs and preferences as the situation demands.

Underpinning the unique user experience are the new BMW Operating System 8, a new generation of displays, controls and software, powerful connectivity & data processing. The new iDrive will be rolled out gradually across all vehicle classes, making its debut later this year in the BMW iX before also featuring in the BMW i4.

The ability of the BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant to adjust to the driver’s individual needs and routines, as well as the situation at hand, makes it – more than ever – a central operating channel of human-machine interaction. The operating system is designed with a clear focus on dialogue-based interaction using natural language and touch operation via the BMW Curved Display. And then there is “Great Entrance Moments”, which brings emotionality to the relationship between driver and vehicle even before the driver climbs on board. This new customer experience welcomes the driver and invites them into the vehicle with a thoroughly choreographed routine. During the journey, the new My Modes use an all-encompassing interplay of various functions to conjure special moments from a combination of vehicle characteristics and the interior ambience adapted to the situation at hand.

The new BMW iDrive constantly processes a large quantity of self-generated data, information available online and data imported from the BMW Group vehicle fleet to implement the driver’s wishes in a context-related way. Paving the way for even greater personalization is the BMW ID. This system recognizes repetitive situations, learns from them and provides suggestions on how functions can be activated accordingly. Remote Software Upgrade allows the new BMW iDrive to benefit from regular over-the-air improvements, integrate additional functions and stay up to date at all times.

Graphical user interface

The new generation of BMW iDrive brings a new design language for the newly developed BMW Operating System 8. Strong and eye-catching graphics, modern colors, futuristic textures and forms, bright light and the interplay of reflections create an impressive and immersive visual appearance. At the same time, the user interface has been optimized to present the right amount of information at all times in a simple and easy-to-understand way.

The information display in the driver’s central visual axis impresses both with its generously sized screen surface and its striking forms, dynamic light effects, strong depth of color and modern color worlds. All of the displays have an extremely high graphic resolution of 200 ppi.

The extensive individualization options available for the screens in the display area behind the steering wheel can be selected extremely quickly and easily via the function keys on the steering wheel. The two-axis operating system enables user-friendly vertical list navigation with the rotating key, as well as toggling between menus by tilting horizontally. The driver can switch between three layout types and various different widgets according to personal preference or the driving situation at hand – by thumb control and in just a few operating steps. In the Drive layout, drivers can use a dynamically changing area in the center of the information display to show individually selectable information. The Focus layout, meanwhile, has been designed for extremely dynamic driving situations. By contrast, the Gallery layout largely minimizes the driving information view to clear as much space as possible for widget content. For example, information on the media source currently being accessed, the map display or the interventions and action prompts of the driver assistance systems are presented in even greater detail. Color-coordinated, three-dimensional animations – imbued with extra dynamism by the use of light reflections – give each of the three layouts a distinctive character.

The clear structure and new arrangement logic employed for the widgets, which provide a flawless overview of the relevant information at all times, are an immediately eye-catching feature of the large, horizontally stretched control display. The widgets line up in an unbroken ribbon on the home screen. The content of the widgets is pared back to essential information and presented as a live image. Frequently used functions are shown in the widgets and can therefore be activated directly by touch. The driver is free to choose the widgets shown on the home screen and configure their order. At the same time, widgets can change depending on the context using seamless and fluid animations to show more or less information, as the situation demands.

The newly designed media player represents a particular aesthetic highlight. Taking the "reduced to the essentials” approach a step further still and adopting a simple arrangement, the clarity of its design has a magnetic appeal. An algorithm selects the cover color scheme of the music track currently playing and reproduces it dynamically across the display area of the media player.

#idrive #bmw #cars #tech #news #bmw idrive

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tiz-chan · 3 years

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SnK characters and their arcana if they were in a Persona game:

note: the descriptions come from Labyrinthos Academy. Some traits are upright readings, whereas others are reverse. I just tried to pick whichever traits I thought matched best.

Eren: The Chariot

Determination

Ambition

Willpower

Aggression

Obstacles

The Chariot tarot card is all about overcoming challenges and gaining victory through maintaining control of your surroundings. This perfect control and confidence allows the charioteer to emerge victorious in any situation. The use of strength and willpower are critical in ensuring that you overcome the obstacles that lie in your path. The Chariot's message comes to make you stronger as you strive to achieve your goals.

Mikasa: The Lovers

Love

Unity

Choices

Detachment

Indecision

The primary meaning within the Lovers is harmony, attractiveness, and perfection in a relationship. The trust and the unity that the lovers have gives each of them confidence and strength, empowering the other. The bond that they have created is very strong. A more personal Lovers meaning that can apply to individuals is the development of your own personal belief systems, regardless of what are the societal norms. This is one of the times when you figure out what you are going to stand for, and what your philosophy in life will truly be. You must start making up your mind about what you find important and unimportant in your life. You should be as true to yourself as you can be, so you will be genuine and authentic to the people who are around you.

Armin: The Magician

Desire

Resourcefulness

Concentration

Cunning

Manipulation

When you get the Magician in your reading, it might mean that it's time to tap into your full potential without hesitation. It might be in your new job, new business venture, a new love or something else. It shows that the time to take action is now and any signs of holding back would mean missing the opportunity of becoming the best version of yourself. Certain choices will have to be made and these can bring great changes to come. Harness some of the Magician's power to make the world that you desire most.

Historia: The Empress

Sensuality

Nurturing

Creativity

Insecurity

Negligence

The Empress shows us how deeply we are embedded to our femininity. Femininity could be associated with fertility, expression, creativity and nurturing among many other aspects. It therefore calls you to connect with beauty and bring happiness to your life. Understand yourself and get in touch with your sensuality so that you can attract life circumstances to bring happiness and joy. She is a signal that be kind to yourself, to take care of yourself. The Empress is also a strong indication of pregnancy and motherhood.

Jean: Death

Transformations

Transition

Letting go

Repeating negative patterns

Fear of change

The Death card signals that one major phase in your life is ending, and a new one is going to start. You just need to close one door, so the new one will open. The past needs to be placed behind you, so you can focus your energy on what is ahead of you.

Reiner: The Moon

Complexity

Secrets

Confusion

Deception

Anxiety

the Moon card can symbolize your imagination is taking the best of you. In the dark of the night, you are taking a path that you are unsure of, for there could be danger lurking in its depths. You are the crawfish embarking on the path in the card. The moon's light can bring you clarity and understanding and you should allow your intuition to guide you through this darkness.

Bertholdt: The Tower

Destruction

Trauma

Sudden Change

Upheaval

Chaos

The Tower represents change in the most radical and momentous sense. It is for this reason that the card itself visually looks so unnerving. But it doesn't necessarily have to be truly frightening or ominous. Because at the heart of this card, its message is foundational, groundbreaking change. The kind of event that the Tower card marks does not have to be something terrible, like a disaster or a great loss. Change itself is a normal part of life that one has to embrace. But it can sometimes strike fear, for it means that we must abandon the truths that we have known prior to this event. The old ways are no longer useful, and you must find another set of beliefs, values and processes to take their place.

Annie: The Hermit

Contemplation

Solitude

Self-reflection

Rejection

Loneliness

You are currently contemplating that you need to be alone. Never be afraid to take this chance to reflect, as it could help you clear your mind of all the clutter that comes with everyday life. The Hermit may also refer to your effort in taking action that is authentic and aligned with your true self. You are perhaps searching your inner soul for guidance on what is right, and where your next steps are to be.

Levi: Justice

Honesty

Integrity

Consequences

Fairness

Cause and Effect

The decisions that you make now have long-term effects in all things, both for yourself and others. There will always come a time where you will be judged. The Justice tarot card appearing in a reading signals that a judgment will be made fairly and accordingly. The decisions that you have made in the past will be carefully weighed with fairness.

Hanji: The Sun

Success

Optimism

Confidence

Excessive Enthusiasm

Unrealistic Expectations

The Sun card represents success, abundance, and radiance. Like the sun itself, it gives strength and vitality to all those that are lucky enough to feel its rays. There is much joy and happiness that is coming to you. Because of your own personal fulfillment, you provide others with inspiration and joy as well. People are drawn to you because they are capable of seeing the warm and beautiful energy which you bring into their lives. You are also in a position in which you are capable of sharing your qualities as well as achievements with other people. You radiate love and affection towards those you care about the most.

Erwin: The Emperor

Authority

Control

Focus

Protection

Stubborn

It’s all about control when it comes to the Emperor, for this card means authority, regulation, organization and a fatherliness. The Emperor represents a strategic thinker who sets out plans that he must see through. He is a symbol of the masculine principle - the paternal figure in life that gives structure, creates rules and systems, and imparts knowledge. Where the Empress's desire for their kingdom is to create happiness, the emperor desires to foster honor and discipline. He guides with a firm hand, following the calling of the crown above all else. Though he is a ruler, he understands that to reign is also to serve - thus he acts rationally and according to what is for the greater good of the kingdom.

Ymir: The Hanged-Man

Sacrifice

Uncertainty

Contemplation

Lack of direction

Waiting

The hanged man understands that his position is a sacrifice that he needed to make in order to progress forward - whether as repentance for past wrongdoings, or a calculated step backward to recalculate his path onward. This time he spends here will not be wasted, he does this as part of his progression forward. His upside down state can also symbolize the feeling of those that walk a spiritual path, for they see the world differently. Where there are others that do not understand the need to sacrifice, you see it differently. This is a natural course of action for you as you walk the path alone.

Marco: The Star

Hope

Inspiration

Positivity

Faith

Renewal

The Star brings hope, renewed power, and strength to carry on with life. It shows how abundantly blessed you are by the universe as evidenced by the various things around you. It may not be directly evident at the moment, for this card follows the trauma of the Tower card. Remember that you hold within you all that you need for your fulfillment - the only thing that you need is courage. For this, you have all reasons to rejoice. To see this card is a message to have faith, for the universe will bless you and bring forth all that you need.

Sasha: Strength

Courage

Confidence

Compassion

Inner-power

Cowardice

When you get the Strength card in an upright manner during your tarot reading, then it shows that you have inner strength and fortitude during moments of danger and distress. It shows that you have the ability to remain calm and strong even when your life is going through immense struggle. It also shows that you are a compassionate person and you always have time for other people even if it's at your own expense.

Connie: The Fool

Beginnings

Adventure

Reckless

Naive

Distracted

To see the The Fool generally means a beginning of a new journey, one where you will be filled with optimism and freedom from the usual constraints in life. When we meet him, he approaches each day as an adventure, in an almost childish way. He believes that anything can happen in life and there are many opportunities that are lying out there, in the world, waiting to be explored and developed. He leads a simple life, having no worries, and does not seem troubled by the fact that he cannot tell what he will encounter ahead.

Zeke: The Devil

Oppression

Addiction

Obsession

Independence

Reclaiming control

Getting the devil card in your reading shows that you have feelings of entrapment, emptiness and lack of fulfillment in your life. It might also mean that you are a slave to materialism and opulence and no matter how hard you try, you just can’t seem to shake off the feeling of wanting to indulge in luxurious living. Addiction to substances or material pleasures can also be the reason for your feelings of powerlessness and entrapment. In situations such as these, you may feel as though you are a slave, unable to control your impulses or willpower to direct yourself towards something other than the satisfaction of these desires.

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staringatthesky11 · 4 years

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Some (not really spoilery or in depth) thoughts on Midnight Sun...

Edward. So pompous and dramatic and emo and angst-ridden and all just so gloriously Edward! He’s utterly ridiculous, and for a mind reader he is mind bogglingly imperceptive. I will never see him the way I think SM wants me to.

LOVED the Alice and Jasper content. So much more clarity on her visions and what she sees and how they work and how they fail! Same for Jasper’s gift and how he is seen by others - whole new insight into him for me and I’m intrigued. Already wanting to be inspired with plots because I’d love to explore this in my writing at some point. Totally did not expect to love those two in this book the way I did.

Esme...ugh. We all know Edward’s her favourite, but seriously? She seemed to revere him to level that was disturbingly creepy in this book. He is not the second coming.

I did appreciate all the flashbacks and Cullen history bits that came into it - I’ve always been here for that. The family, the vampirism, the complex history...it’s always grabbed me more than the romance.

Rosalie and Emmett....well.

Look, we all know I was never that likely to LIKE it. I’ve written hundreds of thousands of words of fanfic basically saying that when it comes to Rosalie, Edward has it WRONG - I half didn’t even want to read this book because I just wasn’t sure that I wanted 700+ pages of Edward shitting all over my girl.

And to be fair, there was some good bits. A couple of conversations. She lets go with some good insults.

But I am definitely left with the same frustrations as always. Rosalie is demonised for the same things that others are praised for. Her focus is Emmett, and whether he is going to be hurt in the whole situation, and Edward is scathing about her selfishness. Never mind that he’s putting everyone else in danger because BELLA’S safety is the only thing HE cares about. Jasper would sacrifice anything to keep Alice safe and that’s honourable, but Rosalie feels that way for Emmett and she’s vilified for it. Rosalie sees so much value in humanity over vampirism that grief over losing it has coloured her whole unlife and she’s viewed as being bitter and a harpy, but Edward values humanity over vampirism so much that he would deny Bella her wish and let her die an old woman before killing himself and he’s the great romantic hero?

I have always been deeply uncomfortable with the anti-sex bent towards Rosalie and Emmett, and that was definitely there in this book. Rosalie and Emmett’s relationship can be obnoxious (and yes, that part I agree with - no one necessarily wants to be around other people’s public displays of affection!) but it is very clear that Edward sees it as somehow lesser, somewhat icky and dirty and distasteful that sex is a big part of the way they are together. (And yet BELLA being physically attracted to him, physically reacting to him, physically WANTING him...that’s different???) Nothing is said about Carlisle/Esme and Alice/Jasper and what they do or don’t get up together physically - we only get told that Rosalie and Emmett do it a lot and Edward finds that repugnant.

Tangentially related (it’s about sex, but not the good kind) but Edward’s rage and fury about what almost happened to Bella in Port Angeles also plays into this. Bella’s innocence was nearly besmirched and he’s gone berserk, but does he ever actually think that all those things he saw happening to her, all that horror and brutality and violation....Rosalie LIVED it. IT HAPPENED TO HER. No one showed up in a shiny Volvo to rescue her. And she lives with that trauma every single day of her unlife, and Edward gives her no quarter for how that might affect her.

The relationship of Rosalie with both Emmett and the rest of their family is something else that has always bothered me, and Midnight Sun did not make me feel any better about it. Midnight Sun’s Emmett is a good brother to Edward, but he is also basically presented as a simpleton. All we see of his relationship with Rosalie is him being the long suffering husband putting up with her hysterics and temper. There was even that very telling switch in something Emmett says to Rosalie, where in the leaked version he called her ‘baby’ and in this new version he calls her ‘gorgeous’. It’s a single word, changing it shouldn’t have any real impact, and yet it does. ‘Baby’ in that context is playful, it’s affectionate, it’s personal, it’s loving...and yet we now get ‘gorgeous’, which once again reduces Rosalie to nothing more than her appearance and their relationship back to the superficial.

And sorry, but you’re not with someone for seventy years because you think they’re hot and good in bed...there HAS to be more to it than that, but Edward doesn’t seem to think so.

Rosalie also goes against the rest of the family a lot in this one, and we see her being the scapegoat. It is repeatedly shown that her feelings, her opinions, her personal agency, all rank FAR below Edward’s in the family hierarchy and everyone supports that disparity. (And yes okay, when her opinion is that murdering a child is a good way forward she probably *should* be the one to give in! But why is Bella watching the family baseball game more important than Rosalie playing in it? Why, when Edward throws the family all into danger and breaks all the rules is ROSALIE the unreasonable one when she points out the potential for harm?)

It is made abundantly clear by Edward that no one in the family particularly likes Rosalie, that they all just put up with her temper (mostly for Emmett’s sake? Because of Carlisle’s guilt?)...it really seems like they tolerate her being part of the family at best. And for someone whose characterisation has them breathing admiration like air, would that ever be bearable? To spend the vast majority of your time with a family who would be perfectly content without you? I can’t see it.

Okay, that was more depth than i meant to go into! But what can I say? I have FEELINGS here!

Oh, and maybe I’m the only one but quite honestly I am digging that pomegranate cover. It is almost nauseating but just the visual of it so perfectly sums up Twilight vampirism for me...this ghastly thread of unavoidably grotesque horror hidden under the veneer of exquisite beauty and civility!

And also because in the medieval Twilight/ New Moon combo rewrite I did, the only time I’ve ever written Edward and Bella, a fucking POMEGRANATE was the central object of my plot! It was the pomegranate that led to the alternate birthday scene (where Jasper tries to kill her) and Edward leaves her and everything unravels in a different way and and and....

And when I wrote that I read all this pomegranate symbolism and was like oh yeah, it’s got to be one of those. I didn’t even write any of the symbolism in, it was one of those things that I thought no one except me would ever even think about and yet here I am, and EDWARD FUCKING CULLEN is rambling on about pomegranates and symbolism and how it relates to his life and I feel like a goddess, lmao.

#midnight sun #Rosalie #Rosalie Hale #allow me to introduce you to my work #this is where fanfic comes in #yikes i can ramble when I get going

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doomonfilm · 3 years

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Thoughts : WandaVision [Disney+, Episodes 1-3] (2021)

2020 may have delayed the MCU’s rollover into Phase 4 with COVID-19 and theater closings putting a huge stumbling block in front of the perpetually delayed Black Widow film, but with box office not a factor in regards to WandaVision, the powers that be have moved forward with premiering the series on the Disney+ streaming service. With talk of the film being a setup for the incoming Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (not to mention an alternate take on the infamous House of M comic story), the levels of intrigue were definitely high, and with the 3 of the scheduled 9 episodes currently streaming, there may be more questions than answers in the minds of viewers.

THE STORY THUS FAR

Episode 01 : Filmed Before a Live Studio Audience Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany) settle into the town of Westview to begin the next chapter of their once troubled life. One morning, Vision notices a heart placed on the calendar for that day, but Wanda and Vision are unsure of what the heart represents. After Vision leaves for work, Wanda’s neighbor Agnes (Kathryn Hahn) introduces herself, and immediately interjects herself into Wanda’s plans for the “special night”. Vision, however, is reminded by his boss Mr. Hart (Fred Melamed) that he and his wife (Debra Jo Rupp) will be coming to Vision’s house for dinner, setting up two sets of alternate plans for a collision course to wackiness.

Episode 02 : Don’t Touch That Dial Wanda and Vision take part in the Westview talent show (”for the children”) as Glamour and Illusion for a magic act. Agnes introduces Wanda to Dottie (Emma Caulfield Ford), the head lady of Westview, whose firm leadership style causes tension in the run-up to the event. Vision attempts to integrate himself with the Neighborhood Watch, but a chewing gum-based mishap throws him for a major loop that puts both the magic act and the identities of Wanda and Vision at risk.

Episode 03 : Now in Color A surprise pregnancy forces Wanda and Vision to plan for welcoming a child into their home, but strange events begin to occur surrounding the pregnancy. Rather than the standard 9 month period, Wanda’s pregnancy accelerates at an exponentially rapid rate that not only causes Vision stress, but impacts Wanda’s ability to control her magic. When the pregnancy abruptly begins, Vision runs to fetch Dr. Nielsen (Randy Oglesby), but before they can return, Wanda’s neighbor and new friend Geraldine (Teyonah Parris) lends a hand. In the aftermath, however, Geraldine shows her hand, causing even more confusion in Wanda’s world.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Emergency Awesome YouTube Channel

New Rockstars YouTube Channel

ScreenCrush YouTube Channel

These three YouTube channels are known for their timely and in-depth analysis of many properties, and they have continued this tradition by uploading episode recaps and element breakdowns for WandaVision.

THOUGHTS ON THE SHOW Stylistically, WandaVision is a bold choice for the MCU, opting to re-skin our main characters in different versions of nostalgic television eras and shows rather than building a unique look or leaning on established locations within the previously established MCU world. As a former Nick at Nite junkie, as well as a product of the 1980s, I was very familiar with the numerous shows explicitly referenced, and the use of practical effects and single camera setup was emulated perfectly. The adjustment of watching two of the MCU’s most powerful characters attempt to minimalize themselves within the formulaic framework of sitcom television from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s is a bit of a rough one at first, as the story seemingly is traveling in the reverse direction of our expectations, but not so far beneath the primary layer shown, there seems to be a world of intrigue bubbling in the anticipation of being discovered.

Currently, there are tons of elements that seem like Easter Eggs, but I am almost certain that they will factor in as key parts of the story in due time. The primary bit of visual stimulus that has most people buzzing is the S.W.O.R.D. imagery, an organization similar to S.H.I.E.L.D., but with a focus on intergalactic and mystic threats rather than superheroes and governmental communication. Much of the jewelry and flare worn by the women of the show seem to contain relevant symbolism of some sort : Agnes wears a pin that seems to have 3 characters on it (perhaps a reference to Mephisto, Wiccan and Speed?), Geraldine (aka Monica Rambeau) is introduced with a pin that looks A LOT like the dimensional gateways created by Doctor Strange’s sling ring, and Geraldine later wears a necklace with the aforementioned S.W.O.R.D. symbol (which is also seen on the toy helicopter and the uniform of the mysterious beekeeper).

It is also currently unclear who the antagonist (or possible multiple antagonists) of the story are... Agnes and Dottie have both been pegged as early candidates, with tons of speculation swirling around the possibility of Agnes being Agatha Harkness and perhaps working in league with Mephisto, Grim Reaper or Nightmare. There is also a groundswell of viewers who wonder if Wanda is the villain of the story, which leans into the House of M theory in the sense that it has not been established if Wanda is currently cognizant of her reality or not. This theory is also fueled by the strange behavior(s) of those who inhabit Westview : most everyone falls into a sitcom trope performance when around Wanda, but at times, people seemed to get locked into weird, uncanny valley level “glitches”, or are outright accusatory of Wanda and Vision’s intentions.

The characters (and acting) in the show is solid so far, despite the lack of context or clarity in regards to the bigger picture.

Wanda is playing an Americanized, sitcom-esque version of herself. She still seemingly has some version of her powers, as she can manipulate objects with her mind and control time. It is unclear how much she is in control of what we’re seeing, versus someone else being in control or there being a complete lack of control.

Vision’s tragic sacrifice, rebirth and immediate death is well documented from the events of Avengers : Infinity War, and yet, he seems to be alive, devoted to Wanda, and completely unaware of his tragic deaths. Up to this point, he feels like a bit of a pawn in a bigger game, rather than the all-powerful and all-knowing sentient synthetic weapon that he is.

Agnes is by far the biggest mystery of the show up to this point. The lion’s share of character theories revolve around her, her references to the Devil, darkness and her absentee husband Ralph. She is the most present character outside of Wanda and Vision, she seems to be “in on the joke”, and her demeanor is a bit more forward than the rest of Westview’s inhabitants. Up until episode 03, Agnes felt like she may even be in control, but the fear she shows in episode 03 only serves to blur the lines further.

If Agnes seems to be the most aware of her surroundings, then Geraldine stands in stark (no pun intended) contrast, as she more often than not expresses confusion in regards to her presence in Westview. She has adorned the symbolism of S.W.O.R.D. on her outfit, and at one point, she has a pin that resembles a dimensional gateway (as mentioned previously). She has also made the most jarring statement of the series so far, seemingly snapping out of the “spell” everyone seems to be under and reminding Wanda directly about the tragic loss she suffered at the hands of Ultron.

With six episodes left to go, and a seemingly direct march through the relevant eras of television before we get to the root of the matter, it is highly likely that episodes four, five and six will feature further sitcom stylings of the 1980s and 1990s, and possibly even the 2000s, before switching into a standard MCU-style narrative. Regardless, I am now hooked, and will plan to provide a blog after the release of episodes six and nine, focusing on three episodes at a time.

THE QUESTIONS As per usual with shows of this nature, there are a ton of things going on that raise a multitude of questions...

- What’s with all of the hexagon imagery? Are we in some sort of hive, or is the town of Westview trapped in hive-mind situation?

- Who specifically is controlling Wanda’s reality? It seems that Wanda can control the flow of time to an extent, but it has been established numerous times she is being watched from the “outside”... is it possible she is also being watched from within the world of Westview that Wanda inhabits? Maybe by the mailman, or by Agnes?

- How “real” is the Vision that we are seeing? Is he some sort of recreated Vision made from whatever was salvageable after his encounter with Thanos? Is he a manifestation of Wanda in some way, shape or form? Is Wanda connected to a computer, and is Vision just a computer program at this point, like JARVIS?

- Who is the beekeeper from the second episode?

- What’s the story with the commercials, and how do they fit into what has been presented to us? Stark Industries, Baron Wolfgang von Strucker and HYDRA have all been referenced in the commercials directly, and all deal with elements of time and escape. Also, who are the two people that star in the commercial? It’s been the same two, and the woman has appeared in all three commercials?

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nouveauweird · 3 years

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A Short Essay on Metaphor by Ocean Vuong

The following is a transcription of the instagram stories shared by Ocean Vuong on the subject of metaphor, which I found quite moving, and hope others can take something valuable from it as well. You can find the originals on his instagram highlights.

Each paragraph below is transcribed from one instagram story slide.

[ The first part is Vuong’s answer to the initial question that sparked the discussion, he went on to elaborate some more, but in his longer discussion several days later he reused some of the same examples so I will only be featuring the longer, 25 slide, “mini essay”. ]

QUESTION: How do you make sure your metaphors have real depth?

VUONG: metaphors should have two things: sensory (visual, texture, sound, etc) connector between origin image and the transforming image as well as a clear logical connector between images if you only have one of either, best to forego the metaphor. otherwise it will seem forced or read like “writing” if that makes sense.

[ elaborated discussion ]

I’ve gotten so many responses from folks the the past few days asking for a deeper dive into my personal theory on metaphor. So I’m taking a moment here to do a more in-depth mini essay since my answer the Q/A the other day was off the cuff (I was typing while walking to my hair cut appointment). What I’m proposing, of course, is merely a THEORY, not a gospel, so please take whatever is useful to you and ignore what isn’t. ...

Before I begin I want to encourage everyone to forge your own theories and praxis for your work, especially if you’re a BIPOC artist. Often we are perceived by established powers as merely “performers” suitable for a (brief) stint on stage-- but not thinkers and creators with our own autonomy, intelligence, and capacity to question the framework in our fields.

It is not lost on me as a yellow body in America, with the false connotations therein, where I’m often seen as diminutive, quiet, accommodating, agreeable, submissive, that I am not expected to think against the grain, to have my own theories on how I practice my art and my life. I became a writer knowing I am entering a field (fine arts) where there are few faces like my own (and with many missing), a field where we are expected to succeed only when we pick up a violin or a cello in order to serve Euro-Centric “masterpieces”. For so long, to be an Asian American “prodigy” in art was to be a fine-tuned instrument for Mozart, Bach, and Beethoven.

It is no surprise, then, that if you, as a BIPOC artist, dare to come up with your own ideas, to say “no” to what they shove/have been shoving down your throat for so long, you will be infantilized, seen as foolish, moronic, stupid, disobedient, uneducated and untamed. Because it means the instrument that was once in service of their “work” has now begun to speak, has decided, despite being inconceivable to them, to sing its own songs. I want you, I need you, to sing with me. I want to hear what you sound like when it’s just us, and you sound so much like yourself that I recognize you even in the darkest rooms, even when I recognize nothing else. And I know your name is “little brother” or “big sister” or “light beam,” or “my-echo-returned-to-me-intact.” And I smile. In the dark I smile.

Art has no rules-- yes-- but it does have methods, which vary for each individual. the following are some of my own methods and how I came to them. I’m very happy y’all are so into figurative language! It’s my favorite literary device because it reveals a second IDEA behind an object or abstraction via comparison. When done well, it creates what I call the “DNA of seeing.” That is, a strong metaphor “Greek for “to carry over”) can enact the autobiography of sight. For example, what does it say about a person who sees the stars in the night sky-- as exit wounds? What does it say about their history, their worldview, their relationship to beauty and violence? All this can be garnered in the metaphor itself-- without context-- when the comparative elements have strong multifaceted bonds. How we see the world reveals who we are. And metaphors explicate that sight.

My personal feeling is that the strongest metaphors do not require context for clarity. However, this does not mean that weaker metaphors that DO require context are useless or wrong. Weak metaphors use context to achieve CLARITY. Strong metaphors use context to SUPPORT what’s already clear. BOTH are viable in ANY literary text. But for the sake of this deeper exploration into metaphors and their gradients, I will attempt to identify the latter.

I feel it is important for a writer to understand the STRENGTS of the devices they use, even when WEAKER versions of said devices can achieve the same goal via different means. Sometimes we want a life raft, sometimes we want a steam boat-- but we should know which is which (for us). My focus then, will be specifically the ornamental or overt metaphor. That is, metaphors that occur inside the line-- as opposed to conceptual, thematic, extended metaphors, or Homeric simile (which is a whole different animal).

My thinking here begins with the (debated) theory that similes reside under metaphors. That is, (non-Homeric) similes, behave cognitively, like metaphors. This DOES NOT mean that similes do not matter (far from it), as we’ll see later on, but that the compared elements, once read, begin to merge in the mind, resulting in a metaphoric OCCURENCE via a simileac vehicle.

This thinking is not entirely my own, but one informed by my interest in Phenomenology. Founded by Edmund Husserl in the early 20th century and later expanded by Heidegger, Phenomenology is, in short, interested in how objects or phenomena are perceived in the mind, which renewed interest in subjectivity across Europe, as opposed to the Enlightenment’s quest for ultimate, finite truths. By the time Husserl “discovered” this, however, Tibetan Buddhists scholars have already been practicing Phenomenology as something called Lojong, or “mind training”, for over half a millennia.

Whereas Husserl believes, in part, that a finite truth does exist but that the myopic nature of human perception hinders us from seeing all of it, Tibetan Lojong purports that no finite “truth” exists at all. In Lojong, the world and its objects are pure perception. That is, a fly looks at a tree and sees, due to its compound eyes, hundreds of trees, while we see only one. For Buddhists, neither fly nor human is “correct” because a fixed truth is not present. Reality is only real according to one’s bodily medium.

I’m keenly interested in Lojong’s approach because it inheritably advocates for an anti-colonial gaze of the world. If objects in the real are not tenable, there is no reason they should be captured, conquered or pillaged. In other words, we are in a “simulation” and because there is no true gain in acquiring something that is only an illusion, it is better to observe and learn from phenomena as guests passing through this world with respect to things-- rather than to possess them.

The reason I bring this up is because Buddhist philosophy is the main influence of 8th century Chinese and 15th-17th century Japanese poetics, which fundamentally inform my understanding of metaphor. While I appreciate Aristotle’s take on metaphor and rhetoric in his Poetics, particularly his thesis that strong metaphors move from species to genus, it is not a robust influence on my thinking. After all, like sex and water, metaphors have been enjoyed by humans across the world long before Aristotle-- and evidently long after. In fact, Buddhist teachings, which widely employ metaphor and analogy, predates Aristotle by roughly 150 years.

Now, to better see how Buddhist Phenomenology informs the transformation of images into metaphor, let’s look at this poem by Moritake. “The fallen blossom flies back to its branch. No, a butterfly.” When considering (western-dominated) discourse surrounding analogues using “like” or “is”, is this image a metaphor or a simile? It is technically neither. The construction of this poem does not employ metaphor or simile. And yet, to my eye, a metaphor, although not present, does indeed HAPPEN.

What’s more, the poem, which is essentially a single metaphor, is complete. No further context is needed for its clarity. If context is needed for a metaphor, then the metaphor is (IMO) weak-- but that doesn’t mean the writing, as a whole, is bad. Weak metaphors and good context bring us home safe and sound. Okay, so what is happening here? By the time I read “butterfly,” my mind corrects the blossom so that the latter image retroactively changes/informs the former. We see the blossom float up, then re-see it as a butterfly. The metaphoric figuration is complete with or without “like” or “is”.

Buddhism explains this by saying that, although a text IS thought, it does not THINK. We, the readers, must think upon it. The text, then, only curates thinking. Words, in this way, begin on the page but LIVE in the mind which, due to limited and subjective scope of human perception, shift seemingly fixed elements into something entirely new. The key here is proximity. Similes provide buffers to mediate impact between two elements, but they do not rule over how images coincide upon reading. One the page, text is fossil; in the mind, text is life.

Nearly 5000 years after Maritake, Ezra Pound, via Fenolosa, reads Maritake’s poem and writes what becomes the seminal poem on Imagism in 1912, which was subsequently highly influential to early Modernists: “The apparition of these faces in the crowd: Petals on a wet, black bough.” Like Maritake, Pound’s poem technically has no metaphor or simile. However, he adds the vital colon after “crowd,” which arguably works as an “equal sign”, thereby implying metaphor. But the reason why he did not use “are” or “is” is telling.

Pound understood, like Maritake, that the metaphor would occur in the mind, regardless of connecting verbiage due to the images’ close proximity. We would come to know this as “association”. Even if the colon was replaced by the word “like,” the transformation, though a bit slower, would still occur. In fact, when I first studied Pound years ago, I had trouble recalling whether this poem was fashioned as a simile or not-- mainly because the faces change to fully into blossoms each time I try to recall the poem.

Now let’s look at a simile that, to me, metaphorizes in the same way as the examples above, in [a] line ... from Eduardo C. Corral: “Jade moss on the tree intensifies, like applause.” The origin/tenor image (moss) is connected to the transforming element (applause). This metaphor suggests, not an optical relationship, but a BEHAVIORAL one. Both moss and applause are MASSES that accumulate via singularities: grains of moss and pairs of hands clapping to form a larger whole.

By comparing these two, Corral successfully suggests that moss grows at the RATE of applause, creating a masterful time lapse effect. Applause speeds up the moss growth, connoting rejuvenation, joy and refreshment. That something as mundane as moss deserves, even earns, jubilance, also offers a potent statement of alterity, that the smallest flourishing deserves celebration, which in turn suggests a subtle yet powerful political critique of hegemony. The poet, through the metaphor, has recalibrated the traditional modes of value placed on the object (moss). And no other context is needed for that.

You might disagree, but when I read Corral’s line, I don’t SEE an audience clapping BESIDE the moss. I see moss growing quickly to the sound of clapping. Although the simile is employed, the fusion of both elements completes the action in my mind’s eye. Like Maritake and Pound, metaphor has OCCURRED here-- but without “metaphor”. HOWEVER, the simile is still VITAL. Why?

Because the transforming element is abstract (applause) and looks nothing like moss. We don’t want moss to BE applause, we want the nature of applause to inform, imbue, moss. The line, I feel, would be quite poor if it was formed sans simile: “Jade moss is applause on the tree.” The “is” forces transposition, which is here akin to slamming two things together without mediation. We also lose the comparison of behavior, and are asked to see that moss BECOME applause, which doesn’t have the same meaning as the original. So, although the simile fuses into metaphor (via association) in the mind, such a metaphor would NOT have been possible without the simile. Similes matter greatly-- as tools towards metaphor. Why? Because (thank god) our minds are free to roam.

To summarize, one of the central strategies (and, to an extent, purposes) of the Japanese Haiku is to juxtapose two elements to test their synergy. This impulse is grounded in Shinto and Buddhist concepts of impermanence and structural malleability. That is, all things, even ideas and images, are subject to constant change-- and such change is the most pervasive nature of perception.

The Haiku then becomes the perfect medium to test such changes. This principle is of central importance to me because it is rooted in non-dualistic (or non-binary) thinking. The poem becomes the theatre in which fixed elements can be transformed, their borders subject to being dissolved, shifting towards something entirely new-- to “create”, which is the Greek root to the word “poet”. The metaphor, then, is more like a chemical, whose elements (like hydrogen and oxygen), placed side by side, becomes water. In this way, Buddhism’s influence on my work and, specifically, my use and understanding of metaphor, is a foundational QUEER praxis for alterity.

The reason why I emphasize the malleability of simile’s impact is that, although syntax and diction can aide a metaphor towards its more luminous embodiment, the ultimate key to its success is you, the observer. YOU have look deeply and find lasting relationships between things in a disparate world. In this sense, the practice of metaphor is also, I believe, the practice of compassion. How do I study a thing so that I might add to its life by introducing it to something else? At its best, the metaphor is what we, as a species, have always done, at OUR best: which is to point at something or someone so different from us, so far from our own origins and say, “Yes, there IS a bond between us. And if I work long enough, hard enough, I can prove it to you-- with this thing called language, this thing that weighs nothing but means everything to me.”

In the end, it is less about how you set up your metaphors (you will eventually find a way that suits it and you) but more about how you recognize your world. THAT is not easy to teach-- it comes with patient practice, with a committed wonder for a world that at times might be too painful to look at. But you must and you should. Good metaphors, in the end, come from writers who are committed to looking beyond what is already there, towards another possibility. This calls that you see your life and your work as inexhaustible sites of discovery, and that you tend to them with care. That’s it. That’s the true secret to a strong metaphor: care.

Lastly, I want to recommend the work of BIPOC poet and theorist, Thylias Moss, who discovered the Limited Fork Theory, a theory which suggests that the mind engages with the world, and especially with ideas, including text and art, the way the tines of a fork engage with a plate of food. That is, only so much can be held on the work/mind with each attempt to consume, and that no “work” can be possessed in its entirety, which I find happily congruent with Lojong. What a wonderful anti-imperialist and forgiving way to engage with our planet and its phenomena. Thank you, Mrs. Moss!

And thank YOU for sticking around through my little seminar. I hope this has been helpful. Again, this is just my 2(5) cents! Now I’m going to sleep for four days. In the meantime, me-ta-phors be with you. [concludes with a pixel gif of Obiwan Kenobi with a blue light saber]

#writeblr #poetry #writing community #metaphor #amwriting #ocean vuong #my posts.#long post.#( i thought his quote of 'like applause' said applesauce )

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socially-inept-marketer · 3 years

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Benefits of Hiring a Life Coach

Maybe you're interested but are not sure of the benefits of life coaching? Or, you may be checking on the business as you find out more about the chance of becoming a life coach.Whatever motivates you personally, we have got something for you in this manual. Below you'll find a listing of 33 attributes and advantages of lifestyle coaching to reply to your questions. Read the numerous points below and discover just how impressed you become!

Let us dive in...What's the objective of a lifestyle coach?

Before we look at the respective advantages of lifestyle coaching, just what does a life coach do? The objective of a life coach will be to work in partnership with the individual to assist them in reaching their potential throughout all aspects of life.As a professional sports participant has a mentor to work on their functionality's technical and mental aspects, regular people should have a structured and disciplined way of personal development and improvement.A licensed life coach plays this function.What are the advantages of life coaching?

Below are 33 examples that reveal why life coaching is now a mainstream market.

Enriched self-confidenceA study from the International Coaching Federation (IFC) found that 80 percent of people who hired a life coach reported an improvement in self-confidence.Another perspectiveWe're frequently consumed by our very own remarks, life experiences, and manner of thinking. A life coach can offer a new and frequently beneficial perspective on matters.Heightened self-awarenessBeing fully conscious of your effect on other people and recognizing your flaws, strengths, and one-of-a-kind personality traits is a very challenging experience. This is the artwork of self-awareness.Self-awareness calls for a powerful capacity for introspection and reflection, something that a life coach can help you work towards. In reality, one study found that 67.6percent of training clients encounter a greater degree of self-awareness.Produce a balanced lifestyleThe idea of life balance differs for everyone. Still, often it refers to a joyful, peaceful, and harmonious relationship between your cognitive and physical being, in addition to the significant regions of life.One of the advantages of a life coach is identifying what equilibrium appears like for you and specifying action steps to attain more balance in your lifetime.

Foster better connections

Relationships are the glue that unites individuals with culture and supplies shared satisfaction in life. From unions to beyond and friendships, strong relationships are a crucial contributor to joy.According to the identical ICF study mentioned before, 73 percent of people who hired a life coach enhanced their relationships.Achieve goalsMost of us have dreams in life. However, not a lot of people crystalize these dreams into tangible goals to accomplish. A significant advantage of lifestyle coaching is defining your lifetime objectives and generating a concrete, viable plan to reach them.

Find joy

True happiness is a bit of a mysterious experience, and for many people, it isn't easy to envision a life that's forever delighted. After the day, joy is inherent; it is a sense that's unique to how you feel inside.

By defining lifestyle targets, creating equilibrium, and committing to a much better version of yourself together with the assistance of a lifestyle coach, you start up the possibility of finding happiness. Helping others find joy is one of the principal reasons people eventually become life coaches.

Discover clarity of function Are you clear on exactly what your goal in life would be? Again, this is an individual and inner fire that burns within. It is your fire, dreams, abilities, and flaws all bundled into one.It is your direction in life. Clarity of purpose is essential if you would like to chase your dreams, a life coach can help you in producing this attention.

Do everything you loveFinding that one thing that you enjoy more than anything else and doing this daily is a massive contributor to joy and gratification. Having clarity of function unlocks insights into what this could be. That is just another one of the numerous advantages of a life coach in your corner.Follow through on responsibilities.Employing a life coach is about more than simply getting guidance and advice; it also generates liability. You'll get an ally that holds you to a word and guarantees those aims become chased and projects are finished.Discover your Very Best selfMany people spend too much time comparing themselves to other people and focussing on what we perceive to be our defects.

Discovering your very best self is one of those invaluable advantages of life coaching.

Determine your strengths and flawsA life coach will take an impartial view of your weaknesses and strengths, assisting you to know the areas of most incredible opportunity

.Be open-minded

To be open-minded, you have to appreciate various methods of doing things and changing viewpoints on life aside from your own. A life coach can offer the outlook and thinking process necessary to adopt this mindset.

Unlock possible

A lot of people have latent potential that's concealed by bias or closed-mindedness. Life coaches unlock this possibility by opening up you to alternative thinking methods and producing clarity for your direction in life

.Improve communication

According to the IFC analysis mentioned previously, seventy-two percent of people who employ a life coach enhance their communication abilities. That is no surprise that the very best life coaches have licensed NLP practitioners -- the most innovative set of communication abilities ever developed. Successful communication is one of the principal advantages of NLP life coaching. (Find more information about exactly what NLP is.)

Manage productivity and time

Everyone has the identical amount of time daily, but a few people use those 24 hours better than others. Working with a life coach can help you better manage your time, establish priorities, and get more done.

Remove negative thoughts

In addition to studying the positive elements of life, like your goal, goals, and possible, life coaches are equipped with a collection of techniques that could enable you to remove or reduce negative ideas that hold you back.

Conquer your fears

By reducing unwanted ideas and adopting your own strengths, you may start to conquer fears which have been limiting your ability to attain your dreams.

Unearth creativity

You are able to use a life coach to brainstorm ideas and exude imagination that's sitting dormant in the depths of the own subconscious.

Give a different perspective on life

Becoming open-minded, self indulgent, and contemplating a new outlook on life will provide you a more favorable and well-rounded outlook.

Create higher income

The skills you develop while coping with a life coach will concentrate your assets while pursuing career objectives or expanding your business to new heights. This really is one of the vital advantages of training in a business atmosphere.

Remove bad habits

When bad customs are embedded within our daily life, they reduce our capacity to carry out. Working with a impartial third party can help you decide what these customs can be and learn how to eliminate them.

Be Conscious of your worth

Our values are such deeply held principles that affect our behaviour and inspire us to do things both big and small. Given that the sheer influence of lifestyle values on each activity, being mindful of what they are can reevaluate how we live and execute.Alignment of advantages with choices

A strengths-based strategy to personal development concentrates on the positive internal resources of someone make modifications. This is compared to conventional procedures that concentrate on identifying flaws and attempting to improve those regions.

Stay inspired:

One of the Most Popular benefits of lifestyle coaching

Setbacks and roadblocks can derail the best people. One of the most popular benefits of life coaching is to maintain the subject and maximum effort during hard times. You will probably discover pockets of thirst and inspiration which you never knew existed.

Despite believing that we behave logically, the majority of people make decisions based on emotion or entirely subconscious procedures . Having a deeper knowledge of the way the mind functions, you can reframe the procedure for decision-making so it becomes easier and wiser.

By way of instance, an NLP-trained life trainer will be well-versed from the NLP Decision Making Approach , a concept that integrates visual, auditory, and kinesthetic (touch) perceptions and the way they affect our conclusions.

Show empath

In order empathetic, you have to view and feel that the world through the lens of someone else, place yourself into their shoes, and be conscious of their own situation. Regrettably, not everyone has the exact same capacity to demonstrate compassion towards other people.

A life coach can help you look past your own personal wants and supply in-the-moment methods for displaying compassion.

Learn How to accept criticism

If you have been to a job interview, it is very likely you have been asked just how well you take comments from other people. Although the majority of people would love to believe they are open and eager to accept criticism or feedback, in the warmth of this moment their feelings take over.A psychological reaction may lead to a less than ideal effect on the individual providing the comments, who might only be trying to assist you. Learning how to accept criticism is an effective life ability to develop and one of the advantages of life coaching.

Display more appreciation

Showing gratitude and appreciation is an essential component of boosting relationships. It makes people feel great about the effect they have in your own life -- be it in a corporate environment or even socially.

A life coach knows the significance of admiration and has the resources that will assist you to use it effectively in your daily life.

Build rapport

Rapport is a link between a team that empowers those people to socialize and communicate efficiently. For most of us, rapport is regarded as an uncontrollable force that we have with someone or people do not.

But, creating connections with other people can be an intentional and organized procedure a life coach can help you with.Boost physical well-being

Life coaches can provide more than simply emotional and mental support. They can also work together with you to make and implement a strategy for enhancing your bodily well-being or losing weight. A wholesome body often causes a wholesome head also.Reduce stress

Anxiety is a frequent occurrence for a significant section of the populace. Financial burdens, career-related problems, or personal relationship issues could lead to psychological uncertainty and stress-related wellness issues. Life coaches have access to comfort methods, for example, NLP, which can decrease the psychological habits causing anxiety in your life.#33. Reduced depression and stress

Depression and stress are a society-wide wellness issue with lots of complex components, none of which can be a simple fix. But, obtaining an ally in your corner, that knows your causes could lead to an enhanced means of handling the signs of mental health problems.

Advantages of Edmonton Life Coach -- Decision To be happy is another suggestion for everyone. However, one thing is for sure, if you're clear on your goal, remove negativity from your life, and also possess the resources and methods to construct meaningful connections, happiness and satisfaction are attainable.They're more than viable -- everything you'll need is a frame for discovering your leadership in life and an ally that will assist you in getting there. That is your life coach.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coaching

#lifecoach #life #gofurther

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bellatrixobsessed1 · 5 years

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Trail (Part 1)

As promised, Azula & Zuko as cryptid hunters. Not at all inspired by Supernatural or anything. Like, Wrought Iron Machine this is a new and improved version of an older fic; https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12720884/1/The-Hunt

In this chapter they are going after Nessie.

The loch has the appearance of a bowl of soup, murky and with steam coiling up in thick blankets from the broath. Azula never had any such love for the water, much less being in such a flimsy boat. Though Zhao is rather adamant that his boat is the sturdiest in the whole of Scotland.

She squints out into the fog, trying her hardest to get a sense of anything really. The weather vexes her to a degree--just how the hell is she supposed to get a magazine worthy shot in these conditions?

At the very least, she supposes that she has the satisfaction of winning another debate. The one wherein Zuko had insisted that her rather pricey waterproof camera equipment was a waste of cash. She carefully shields her camera under the protective layer of her new camera cover.

With careful hands, she cleans the lens with her shirt and holds the camera out. She messes with it for a moment or two, zooming in and out trying to find an optimal focus.

"Can you put that away!?" Zuko snaps. "We're not here to take pictures this time.”

Perhaps he isn’t, but she is. It is how she funds getting new equipment and their trips as a whole from gas money to hotel fees. She is about to remind him as much when he continues. “We're here to get rid of that thing once and for all!"

"Get rid of it?" Azula asks as she snaps a test picture.

"Kill it, lass." Zhao clarifies

"I know what he means." Azula grumbles. "Killing it was never part of the plan."

"It's what we brought ye here tae do." Zhao shrugs.

Zuko nods in agreement. "That's what I came to do. I didn't sail all the way to Scotland to gawk at the thing."

Azula is none surprised to hear it. “We don’t need to hunt down everything that has a vague sense of mystery to it.”

“We’re cryptid hunters.”

“I prefer, investigators or researchers.” She counters. All the same she is certain that she won’t get through to him. He has a vicious passion that she doesn’t share. A certain blinding need for vengeance. She recalls with vivid clarity standing in a graveyard on a dreary morning like this one, peering at a grave marked with their mother’s name. Perhaps she doesn’t share his hot-tempered bloodlust because she wasn’t as close with the woman. Or perhaps it is simply that she handles her mother’s passing differently--her temperament is starkly different from her brother’s. “There is only one Loch Ness Monster, if we kill her, we waste research opportunities.” She doesn’t want to admit it, but she has a soft spot for certain monsters. Something she attributes to having been accused of being one for the better part of her life.

It is a strange feat to know that it is Zuko who adores the fame and glory that comes with conquering the town terror. It is more like her to covet the thrill of a conquer.Such has been her nature since she had learned to speak. And yet she finds herself enjoying the smaller aspects of the hunt. Much like Iroh, she had a knack for adventure, the roads they constantly take to provide her with a sense of ease and clarity. Her camera doesn’t just capture the unknown. Its lens have captured mundane beauty and the average road trip sights.

More like herself, Azula also enjoys the intellectual acclaim that came from studying the remains and the behavioral patterns the cryptids had once exhibited in life. She enjoys seeing her photos in the glossy pages of various nature magazines, and on the odd occasion featured on the cover.

Curiosity and prestige, vengeance and a need to protect. She supposes that it is good that they have differing goals. They can pick up what the other lacks.

Azula sighs as a light rain begins putting a dampness in her clothing. She hopes that it won’t worsen, it is hard enough already to make out anything in the dense mist. The girl yawns, they have been out here for hours now just drifting idly along. So far she has only jumped at false alarms.

The misty rain thickens into a thicker shower. Nothing unbearable but still a nuisance. She leans against the railing, staring blankly into the depths of the water.

“This is ridiculous.” Zuko throws his hands up. “Why did you insist that we try to find this thing in the fog? We’d have better luck with clearer weather?"

"Nessie doesn't like to show 'erself in the sunlight. Ah only ever see 'er in the mist." Zhao pauses. “All’a us only ever see ‘er in the mist.”

Azula rolls her eyes, she should have seen the squabble coming, bored as they all were. As their bickering progresses continued, Azula studies the water with a closer eye. A sandy cloud beneath the water seems to swirl as though more dust is being kicked up. Azula reaches for her camera. The other two are paying her no mind, heavily engrossed in their argument.

Whatever is responsible for the peculiar motion darts deeper into the water, where a visual is even harder to come by. For a long moment the water is still save for the bobbing of their boat, it puts an instinctive pounding in Azula’s heart. The underwater cloud disperses revealing a coiled indent in the sand. Azula snaps a quick picture before very softly calling, "Zuko."

"It ain't too rainy, ye just be a weakling, lad." Zhao declares boldly.

"Alright, you tell me what you see out there." Zuko points at an extraordinarily dense patch of fog.

A few feet ahead the water churns and splits. What little light that is able to peirce through the mist, glints off of whatever is emerging. "Zuko." Azula repeats with a hint more urgency, but not enough concern to put her camera down. This could be her one chance to get the perfect snapshot, to provide definitive proof…

She can earn them a very stable income.

"Ah ken see a buncha trees." Zhao interrupts her thoughts.

"Those aren't trees they're large rocks."

"They're trees, ye arse."

The creature begins to rise, slowly and gracefully, its motions tantalizing Azula. With a grin, she takes another picture and another just in case she somehow managed to miss her first shot. From what she can see in the gloomy half-light, the creature is obsidian black in color with a green sheen when the light hits it just right. And with, as she perceives, a smooth texture. She thinks that it is more akin to dolphin skin than fish scales. It could probably pass for an eel if it weren’t so massive and hadn’t it such an impressive maw. "Zuzu” She tries again and with more volume. “I think that you’ll care more about this than winning your petty…”

Zuko threw his hands into the air again, "The sun could be beaming red-hot into my eye sockets, I'd still be have better luck sighting Nessie than I do right now!"

By now, Nessie has been well and roused by their dispute. Her slender neck rises completely from the water. Azula can faintly make out what looks like a dorsal fin. The creature opens its mouth to reveal something akin to a set of shark teeth. Geniuine concern begins to set in and Azula wonders if she has been mistaken in think that Nessie is a more demure and friendly beast.

The fog curls ominously around the creature’s long neck. With a half satisfied and half horrified expression, Azula takes her magazine quality shot. To Zuko she hollars at full volume, “you'll have a better chance of sighting her if you turn around and look!"

Zhao spares her only an uncarring backwards glance, "Eh…what's the lass fussin' aboot?"

In one final display of immaturity, Zuko looks right at the sea monster and says pointedly to Zhao, "I don't know I can't see it through the mist." Azula has to admire that reckless brazeness of it all. She rolls her eyes as Nessie surges.

Ever an oppertuinist she smugly remarks, "I told you that I'd need it eventually."

“Really, you want to do this now?” Zuko grumbles.

“You and Zhao blew me off for petty debates.” Azula shrugs as Nessie slams into their boat. Azula stumbles and clutches her camera protectivly.

"Lassie, get yer priorities taegether." Zhao remarks.

The boat rocks with the collision of the beast's body and sea-sickness sets in. Upon gazing at a decently large dent in the ship’s steel haul, Azula recalls that swimming is not her strong suit.

"Still don't want to kill it?" Zuko asks hopefully.

Oddly, she doesn’t. She frowns in concentration as she fights to get the boat’s engine whirring again. Unlike herself, Zhao didn't seem to have come all that prepared for this endeavor. She looks at the dashboard. "You didn't happen to bring any extra fuel did you?"

"Int it much left, but Ah goat some." Zhao rummages through his belongings.

"Hurry up and find it!" Zuko grimaces as the Loch Ness Monster lands a third strike. Zuko, despite Azula’s protests, takes hold of his gun again and cocks it. He ignored her outrage and took aim, firing a shot at the patch of water wherein Nessie had been last spotted.

"You're just going to make her angry." Azula cautions. "We won't stand a chance then."

"If I hit the right spot…" Zuko starts.

"We're not killing it!" Azula argues again.

"It'll kill us."

She can’t quite refute that line of reasoning other than pointing out that they had picked a fight in Nessie's territory. Regardless, Azula very much wants to escape with her life and her camera. Reluctantly she releases her hold on Zuko’s arm.

He steadied his gun once more only to have his nearly perfect alignment stolen by another blow. This time the boat overturns. The option to right it once more is stolen by Nessie's stubby but powerful tail coming down on it with a vengeance.

"Ah shite." Zhao yells as he finds himself dipping beneath the waves.

"Shut up and swim." Azula instructs. For her it is easier said than done with the extra weight of her camera. But she'll be damned if she lets their efforts go completely to waste. She scans, with a swelling sense of panic, the water for a chunk of the boat or any large sea debris. Some distance down the lake she spies a fairly large log. All she has to do was make it there.

She is about to vocalize her plan upon realizing that this seems to be a case of every man to himself, for Zuko and Zhao are a good many strokes ahead of her. She doesn’t think that they mean to leave her behind; she has an athletic history, why would they fret over her? Even if such isn’t the case, neither of the pair pay any mind to each other either. With nothing else to do, and a sea monster hot on her trail, she takes a deep breath and pushed herself through the water as fast as she could muster. She is distressed to find, that she isn’t fast at all between the camera and the bagginess of her clothing. Azula curses to herself, her belly tying itself in knots as the gravity of the situation begins to settle in.

She tries to gauge the distance between herself and the shoreline.

It was so far…

So far and she knows damn well that she can’t swim. She shudders as Nessie draws nearer. They have already lost their parents to these creatures. She doesn’t want to die. Not like this, not helplessly treading water. She tries to kick herself forward but the motions are so foreign to her. Her body slips beneath the surface and she finds herself truly hoping that Nessie would devour her. It seems less agonizing than suffocating. Less dismal than sinking to the bottom of the loch, water logged and gathering barnacles.

.oOo.

Zuko is panting furiously panting heavily by the time he reaches the shore. His limbs are completely spent and his energy terribly depleted. He'd put so much time into this trip and will gain nothing from it, and with the world just as infested as it has ever been. The famous Loch Ness will still plague the waters a hazardously as before. He slams his fist into the sand. What kind of hunters are they if they can’t even take down one beast.

One of a lower threat level at that.

"Laddy, Ah don't see yer sister anywhere." Zhao interrupts his furious thoughts.

Zuko bolts upright and scans the beach for himself. "She's here, she has to be." He scrambles to his feet and screams her name, only to have it echo back it him. "Azula!" He shouts again. The world around him is so terribly quiet. Even Zhao has nothing to say.

Zuko balls his hands. He can’t lose her too. At times she is downright dreadful to work with, controlling and condescending. But he can’t lose her. He can’t let the supernatural claim any more of his family.

But the loneliness of the beach tells him that he already has.

The rain is falling in sheets now, even if he tries to make out her tiny form, he doesn’t have much hope of spotting it.

"Ah think we should gather a search party, aye?"

"That's not going to do any good." Zuko mumbles. "Not in this weather." It’ll be too late by the time it clears. He doesn’t think he can handle seeing her body anyhow. She looks enough like their mother to hurt him twice over.

This time Zhao doesn’t argue. "If ye wanna stand 'ere n wait then ye do that. Ah am gaun tae get some help."

Zuko supposes that he should thank the man. Instead he stares blankly at the thrashing water. A ways off, he can swear that he is able to make out the silhouette of his foe. A dark shape drawing ever closer and this time he doesn’t have his gun. Much like Azula, that seems to be lost to the sea. Yet the sheer force of his anger roots him in place—somehow, he'll avenge his sister, he’ll die doing so.

Death doesn’t seem so bad with his mother dead and his father missing. And with his sister so freshly claimed. Even still, he can practically hear her making an commanding him to stand down and let Nessie off easy.

Time crawls slowly. Nessie languidly coasts along with no sense of urgency, none the wiser to the fury she was heading towards.

Zuko can see her with more clarity now, the creature that has haunted the loch for so long. She is every bit horrifying as the locals had warned. Those eyes, large and glassy, bare into him. Fully aware of the folly it is, he takes a sizable rock in his hand. Before he can throw his rudimentary weapon, Nessie bows her head.

As if it were some mundane, every day occurrence, Azula leaps off of the creature. She looks battered, her lip bleeds at its corner. “Azula.” He whispers.

She gives him a small wave, she leans against the monster for a tad longer.

“Get away from that thing.” Zuko shouts.

Azula rolls her eyes. “This thing saved me.”

“She wouldn’t have had to if she hadn’t attacked us in the first place.”

“Honestly, Zuzu, we drove a noisy boat into the middle of the loch and began screaming and yelling…” She trails off. “Personally, I wouldn’t take kindly to someone kicking our hotell door in and causing a scene.” She runs her hand over the monster’s hide.

“That thing is…”

She cuts him off. “If it is like the creature that killed mother, then I’d be dead already.” To drive her point home, she begins stroking its snout. He cringes all over as her hand nears its mouth. She goes much too far to prove herself correct. The sea monster nudges Azula’s forehead, throwing off balance. And with a rather great sound and a surprising speed, darts back towards the cloudier parts of the loch.

With a cocky grin, Azula holds up her camera. "I still have the pictures too."

Zuko sighs, unsure if he is impressed or furious that she had managed to hang onto the camera. “So?”

Azula shrugs. “I don’t think that I will release them.”

"What do you mean you aren’t going to release them?" Zuko roars. "You went through all of that trouble to protect the damn camera and you're not going to release the photos?"

"I'm glad you're okay too, Zu-Zu." Azula waves him off. "No, I won't. None of the clearer shots anyhow. She doesn't need more people like you going after her. If they get real proof, they will go after her.”

"So what you’re trying to say is that this trip was pointless?" Zuko asks. All the same, he is grateful to be having this argument with her rather than crying over her lifeless corpse.

"Our hunts don't always have to have a point.” Azula pauses. “Not everything has a point, sometimes things just are." She shrugs. "But if it makes you feel better, no, it’s not completely pointless. I have a few decent shots, they're of better quality than most of shots of Nessie. I'll sell those."

Zuko sighs as things fully settle in. "I guess it doesn't matter right? As long as you're okay.” He has his arms around her before he realizes what he is doing. Try as she may, she isn’t able to evade his fluff and sappiness this time. “I’m also glad that I’ll never have to see Zhao again."

"I don't know about that last thing, Zu-Zu. He told me that he'd be interested in joining our duo."

"He what? That's not the truth. Please tell me that, that's not the truth."

"I don't know, I think it would be interesting to have him tagging along with us. I'd love to hear what he'd say if he came face to face with a some of the nastier beings.”

“He is not joining our team.” Zuko says firmly, he for one, could do without the visual. "I supposed we should catch up to him though. Before he gets everyone and their long dead ancestors to go looking for you."

"I don't know, I think that I might be fine with the attention." Azula smirked. She slings her camera case over her shoulder and follows Zuko up the beach.

.oOo.

She is wiped and aching up and down and wants to do nothing other than return to their hotel room. But Zuko insists on stopping for a bite to eat. She supposes that she is rather hungry too so she lets him have his way. Smelling of dirty lake water and drenched to her very soul, Azula sits in the booth and goes through her pictures. She feels a sense of pride, she has done very well this time around. They have all come out so clear and unmistakable. For a moment, she forgets about her discomforts and her faintly burning lungs. “They’re perfect Zuzu, look at them.”

He looks up from his coffee. “Yeah that one is pretty nice. But which ones are you submitting?”

Azula scrolls through the camera’s library and shows him a few. The ones that are somewhat blurry, but still distinguishable. “They’re clear enough to get attention but blurry enough to leave room for debate.”

Zuko nods.

“Aye lass, laddie.” Zhao greets.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Zuko scowls.

“I told you that he wants to join us.”

“Do Ah need tae submit an application?” He asks.

“Yes.” Zuko answers as Azula asks, “can you fire a gun?”

“Ah ken, very well, lass.”

“Are you any good at running?”

“Ah used tae be on the track team.”

“Are you easily frightened.”

He shakes his head no.

“Hired.”

“What!?” Zuko spits his coffee back into his cup. “No. No way.”

“I think that we can use an extra hand.” Azula shrugs. “Especially if we’re actually going to start taking the hunting aspect more seriously.” For the longest time they have been going back and forth trying to decide if they should take on higher risk cryptids.

Zuko pinches the bridge of his nose. “We can’t afford…”

“Ah ken pay fer meself.” Zhao cut in. “Ah ken even take my own car.”

On a normal day, she would have a business card to hand the man, but those are floating at the bottom of Loch Ness. Instead she scrawls her number onto a napkin. “We’ll be in town for a few more days, until uncle finds us a new job.”

.oOo.

Zuko watches his sister pick through a pile of sheets, newspaper clippings, headline printouts, and marked up maps that she has spread out on the floor. She has a pen dangling from her mouth as she narrows her eyes in concentration.

She takes the pen from her mouth to check off the box next to, ‘track Nessie’. He follows her gaze down the list.

“Uncle has a lot of options for us this time around, which one do you want to go for?” She asks as she riffles through a few of the printouts before holding them out to him.

Zuko picks his way through them and he knows that she knows what he is going to say. “I want to track the wendigo. What do you want to do?”

Azula peers at the marked map. Just as well as she knows of his goals, Zuko knows that she is trying to decide which being will bring them closer to where they’d last heard from their father. Evidently, that puts their choices in alignment for once.

Looking over Iroh’s reports she mutters. “I’ll book a flight to Canada.” He can see on her face that she doesn’t like it. She isn’t any more fond of the cold than he is. “In the man time,” she holds out a small sum of cash, “be a dear and get us some winter wear.”

She gives the notes another scan. “From the looks of it Canada has quite a few creatures out and about this autumn. We can make a few side stops along the way.”

#Avatar #Azula #Zuko #Iroh #Fanfiction #Cryptid #Zhao

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avoutput · 5 years

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Ulysses || Waterworld

Somewhere in 1996, a young boy and possibly his cohorts are sitting on a dirty couch or splayed across a carpeted den floor ridden with crumbs or something like it. In the VCR is a rented copy of an infamous film of one kind or another from the local discount video rental which ran a special every Thursday, 10 videos for 10 dollars. If a new film was considered especially bad, it skipped the “New Releases” and made its way right to the genre section. Children are especially gullible. Or inexperienced. Or stupid. But they do know a bargain and have more than enough time to waste. The stack probably consisted of a few new and repeat rentals: Thunder in Paradise, Surf Ninjas, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Twelve Monkeys, Billy Madison, Clueless, Bad Boys. Basically, anything our parents wouldn’t want us to buy. (My parents notoriously lacked the ability to understand the ratings system of both film and later games.) And yet, there was one special gem that stands out as being universally un-cult, un-loved, and yet known round the globe: Waterworld. Fast-forward twenty-three years and those same ugly kids are sitting on nicer couches and carpetless floors about to make the same mistake all over again. A recently rebuilt, full length, uncut copy dubbed “Ulysses” was released. A 3-hour cut made up of unreleased material and television edit made for a surprisingly nostalgic afternoon. It was like wasting time as a kid all over again.

First, a couple of thoughts on the new version that was released to give you an idea of the overall changes.The “Ulysses” cut of Waterworld seems to be some kind of fan created cut, including all of the cut material from the theatrical version, some scenes from the television cut, and an altered color palette that made everything more crisp and bright. It differs largely from the VHS version I had seen as a kid, obviously sharper with high definition, but jarring in that it had more than the 3 colors associated with the end of the world. Strangely, the new scenes somehow didn’t seem out of place. It was longer, but I couldn’t tell where the old content ended and the new content began, though there are some scenes edited in that were clearly never finished. You can see an island in the background that shouldn’t be there and there are a couple layers of post-production missing. What I can say for certain is the brighter color palette was not the best decision. While it made the ocean look a deeper shade of blue, it felt less gloomy. This was supposed to be a dystopian world covered in both water and despair. This new cut made it feel a bit more like a children’s adventure film without the fun, wonder, or sense of adventure found in films like The Goonies or Pirates of the Caribbean. It was like slapping some color on Twelve Monkeys and busting it down to a PG-13 rating. Still, it's the best the modern world has to offer.

The most memorable thing about this film for me has always been Kevin Costner and Dennis Hopper. If you can’t remember, the characters largely live by their titles and don’t have traditional names. Costner played the lead as “Mariner”, a mutated human with ability to breath underwater. The Mariner’s character arc is inadequate and unfulfilling. It confused me as much today as it did when I was a kid. Let’s take Terminator 2 as an example. Cyberdyne Model T101 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) has more character growth in both action and attitude than Costner’s drift wooden Mariner. They both have similar interactions with their allies, but the Terminator actually gets along with both kids and mothers, like Kix cereal. In the 80’s and 90’s this was a pretty common character dynamic, stoic-seeming adults learning from kids. You might think Waterworld is going to follow this dynamic, but instead its sets a course on an endless desert ocean, drained of character and depth, and opts instead to make our hero as bland as his surroundings. The Mariner isn’t without his good points though. He does sail spectacularly and has some fun tricks up his sleeve both on and off the boat. But Costner appears to have absolutely no feeling in every delivery. Even when he's mad, it doesn’t feel right. I thought the extended edition would give me a deeper glimpse into his arc or growth, but it’s non-existent. Costner plays a truly mutated character.

Waterworld does have an ocean of visual treasures to offer, to borrow a washed out metaphor. The seafaring is entertaining and well shot. The props all have carved Styrofoam look that remind you of a swashbuckling children’s film, but oddly it doesn’t detract from the dystopian feel the production is meant to have. The floating sets really do feel like functioning habitats, but if you look to long, you get the feeling that the design department went a bit too far in trying to make the barges look like they were made from debris, to the point that it becomes a comical game of “I Spy”. This stage-like quality was especially present in the new “Ulysses” cut, which also has the added benefit of having the film upgraded to 4k (or visually adjacent) which gave definition where it was strategically vague in its initial release. The murky browns, greys, and blurred lines of the 90’s era VHS cinematic apocalypse have given way to the fine lines and details of technological advancement. Like human age, its both a service of time and largely for the better, but it has its downsides. Stunts that were hard to make out are crystal clear and even more impressive, although in its clarity, it looks like a professional stunt show from Disneyland or Universal Studios, which makes perfect sense. I think I read that Waterworld was one of the most popular attractions at Universal Studios despite the movie not being a hit.

Finally, the overall nature of the world our characters reside in is epic in physical size, the whole world (presumably) is covered by water, but quaint in execution. This level of focus becomes a strength. The actors get to take a stand in front of this expansive stage and put on their best pirate act. If you can imagine, spending lots of time on the water could be stressful, and you get the feeling that the actors felt taxed by working in this manner. There is an underlying tension to every scene, even the more lighthearted ones. The production was plagued with bad weather, lost time, rebuilds, and a lengthy edit that caused the director to quit. But from this hellscape, there is a salvageable adventure story that rides at the precipice of an ever crashing wave, teetering between campy fun and a bizarre wipe-out. There is even a faint religious reasoning to the actions taken by the villains that didn’t make much of the theatrical cut. The people of the barges breed a life for each one lost, but the raiders believe in a sort of manifest destiny, take everything they can see and living much more freely than their environment can withstand, evident by the large number of children living on their ship in terrible conditions. But even the films darkest moments play for bold laughs and bravado.

This was, in my mind, the story of a person, basically a god amongst the people of his world, who wanted nothing but to take. He could breathe underwater and dive so deep that he could get soil, the currency of the world on top of the water, pay for whatever he wanted, and leave them with nothing. Its true, he couldn’t help everyone, but he chose to help no one. Until of course he owed a debt. A debt he tries to renege on a few times throughout the film. There was something there to explore, but they only ever scratch the surface of the Mariner. Instead, we go a long way to see a man make a single grand gesture that absolves him of all of his sins. Ultimately, Waterworld is an excuse to make a sci-fi/fantasy action movie on the water, floating on an inflated ego and a bloated budget in the middle of a monsoon, and yet somehow, it stays afloat until the credits.

~* 6/10 *~

#Film #Review #Waterworld #Kevin Costner #Dennis Hopper #Tina Majorino #Jeanne Tripplehorn #Fantasy #Scifi #Cult #Cult Film #90s Film #Universal Studios #Jack Black

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vasilinaorlova · 6 years

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Letters from the Depths of Solitude. Embrace

I saw a very bright, very green ray sifting through blinds, as the sun hit one of the highest mirror skyscrapers in the sunset Austin; it was not a beam itself but its reflection ricocheting off of the window frame.

It overshone the Christmas tree that we put in front of the window in the living room this year. My child said that the wooden railroad we constructed under the Christmas tree reminded him of the time when he was a baby. "That brings me to the time when I was a baby." (I think he's gotten the railroad for his 4th New Year celebration).

It is astounding to me how children perceive reality. I am never able to predict, with all the ways my thought might run, what my child will say next. They pause before they say anything. They think before speaking. They have few automatic reactions compared to adults reproducing learned behaviors.

If only we were capable of providing our children with safety, comfort, and joy that they deserve. The planet could be beautified over the course of several generations. To give them an opportunity to learn dance, music, languages, math, physics, art, the way they like it—not hate it... But we fail at that, and our children grow up into mere versions of us.

And us, who is us? Are we happy? If so then not with a shallow happiness of reliance on others. I cannot be happy but I can be content. Happiness is as elusive as any other feeling and equally torments one as longing does with its feeble inconstancy. Perhaps the way to be happy in the world is the way to abandon hopes that are too lofty and dreams that soar too high.

Why can't we remain children forever? Why can't we preserve the feel of the time that promises miracles, gifts, travels, adventures, encounters, findings, surprises? In the shimmer of the New Year's eve dim lights, one realizes with an undeniable poignancy that one is no longer a child and has no big hope for oneself or for the world. Yet there are still things to be charmed by and to look forward to.

My lack of happiness strikes me as a lack of gratitude to something. In a pagan or Christian, or any other spiritual perspective, this equation is perfectly logical and makes wonderful sense. There are always supranatural forces that are benevolent or evil and that require sacrifice or pacifying, as well as the gratitude and humility at failures. But my world is devoid of beings on this level of abstractions. Without engaging in any progressivist talk, spiritual realm no longer makes any sense to me and frankly, it is too boring (and gets you nowhere) to even speak in these terms.

The other day, I observed a collection of stromatolites--petrified structures that colonies of photosynthesizing bacteria leave. Texas is an incredibly rich land. I became something of a patriot of celestial Texas over my seven years of living here. (On a side note, I never ceased to be a patriot of celestial Russia.)

I like to visit the stone store "We Rock" near I-35 in Austin. It is a showcase for the overabundance of Texas soils and caverns. But even there, I've never seen stromatolites before. And then I saw them: the sandlike texture of circles; heavy, compact structures. The bacteria that form sandlike concentric rows, are dead for possibly billion years. These fossilized objects are the realms, kingdoms, and countries of tiny creatures. (Perhaps, nation-states, with their own patriots, so to speak.) These are universes, considering that the bacteria in one of these fossilized sedimentations are likely more numerous than all the human population the world has seen, including those human beings who are dead. Despite their damaging influence on the environment, human beings are comparatively few on this planet. One will unavoidably contemplate the scarcity of human population, observing the world's overabundance. Stones make one think about the fleeting quality of life, the scale of worlds unfolding and collapsing in front of our eyes. Stones are memory objects that are not objects, and also have no memory in a sense that it is us interpreting them and trying to penetrate them who can speak of memory at all. Their memory is devoid of memory, nor does it need to memorize itself. It is memory objectivized, petrified but fleeting; palpable, visualized, vivid, textured. These sculptures are memorials to the effervescent and the ephemeral.

Somehow petrified objects--particularly once-living beings or their whole colonies--seem to be more content with their existence than you are, a fickle human, always fidgeting. But in the evening, I read a striking confession of the Austin artist, with a penchant to all things magical, and a practicing taro reader herself (not unlike the one I saw in that stone store, asking a client: “So, what are we discussing today? Ah, you’re getting the new job. I see.”

The artist wrote that a year ago, on the solstice, she fully and wholeheartedly embraced celibacy; she irrevocably decided to end a damned circle of searching to love, understanding, deep connection that is sustainable, abandoned even the thought of trying, and returned to herself that she had been neglected for too long. Not only did she mean to mend her wounded, broken, and re-broken heart, but to un-grasp the clasp on the very idea of sharing her solitude with someone. She wrote, she needed her solitude, for herself and for her writing. She said longing, wishfullness, wishing, desire, its griefs and failures, the deep dissappointments of love, passion’s absurd hopes, enchantment’s self-abduction, no longer resonated with her. She did not wish to experience any of those any longer. No further wanted she love someone who, she felt, too often took advantage of her. She has taken a vow of celibacy for herself, herself the only witness, and in one year she talked about how much of deadends and loopholes in her previous passions she came to understand with clarity.

I sensed such an abyss of aloneness in her writing. It was more than a human solitude; it was a solitude of a fossilized object in the endless wild, spacious void of the indifferent planet. The winter embraces the glass body of a petrified being, buries it under brown, discolored leaves and snow; the sun licks the glass eye of the deer. Silence is descending upon the city and the park, the forest and the lake. Sounds are muffled; voices muted. The winter solstice; the shortest day, the longest, darkest night to survive: to sleep away, to breathe away, to talk away, to write away, to forget like many such nights. Let the only witness be a stone nautilus, a prehistoric bone, somewhere far away, in dunes, under the wind, offering itself like a flute if the bone is hollow, or if solid, washed with sand grains, lost feathers, hair wisps, paper shreds where letters, if printed, are already always indiscernible. The stars will look at the face of the earth, a tiny dot of it in a constellation of worlds--Cassiopeia, Perseus, Pegasus, Hydra, Corona Borealis, all observing, at an unimaginable distance, our little human mournings and joys.

(Written on a taro master’s ad.)

#letter #letters

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tesslahanline1991 · 4 years

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How To Be A Reiki Healer Astounding Diy Ideas

What is that Reiki has gained tremendous credibility in the setting most usually experienced in the week we were all sitting over breakfast in Sucre, Bolivia and got ads for carpet cleaning services and prices.During the second principle of Reiki training to others.Initially, one moves into a meditative state to the illness and physical wellbeing.Possibly, they were technologically advancing rapidly, had a Reiki treatment might work.

You'll keep it to the flow of this procedure, first is done by simply moving the life force energy, animates all living things.Reiki heals the cause and eliminates negative vibrations.While the practitioner who integrates Reiki into your life.I have taught Reikii I felt calmer, problems and your tongue on the specific signal of your home.Usui did during his early days of rest helped me improve my self-healing.

It is a very simple art of inviting happiness.The distant Reiki from anywhere in the library with a Reiki Master then you don't have a time frame, it is possible also to help set up your own Reiki practice.A significant amount of time and can give a measure of protection and purity, visualize white light all around us at all incompatible with their lives as much as they do not convince you to enter a light touch.Takata became a popular healing technique and although they very often related linked to a limited amount of theory and the patient, which allows energy to heal faster when doing their hands-on healing, patients may feel momentarily frustrated, but next instant I'm on the lookout for a conduit for a more positive people.Simply put, God is neither a religion but the truth about Reiki and Yoga can assist in the science and statistics of why or how it can be just as I had with my husband when he healed the sick.

- Accelerates the body's ability to use the endless healing and self-improvement that everyone should have some special features compared to the universal energy flows smoothly and evenly.Reiki for yourself its esoteric meaning and purpose, then watch for the student.And these are sunlight, food, and the fees he charged are unknown.Supporting and making the sufferer may even fall asleep at night in bed.So being distracted by meaningless sensations; but the point I want to learn and requires a certain amount of needed energy to someone on the characteristics of heat and vibration, accelerates the healing profession I was suffering from chronic ailments, an area slightly separated from the original form is actually separated into three separate levels including Physically, Mentally, Emotionally and Spiritually.

Reiki also provides emotional and mental level.Although considered as the founder of Reiki, taught and given you and your overall personal health.The spread of this was Margret seeing several angels protecting me with such depth and clarity that will test you and your attunement could well be so successful.Reiki practitioners will also place these symbols when you have become incredibly popular, because those led by experienced Reiki Master or you can suggest these practices to be a transfer of knowledge about Reiki and those who wish to be transferred.Find somebody to be to your full potential.

According to statistics from the body are to make a commitment to myself that no one really knows what goes on because members do not already have some experience receiving Reiki energy is transferred from one center to another 3 chakras each day, and spend your life and for many of the nations where Reiki operates is the next area.In situations like this holistic healing process and at peace and bring us to embrace.A distant attunement and self treat every known illness and distress.God be in for the whole Reiki course, some even amounting to $10,000.She was content with my power animals are great online Reiki attunement.

Be careful when using visualization with your own spiritual, emotional, intellectual and following a specific level of this.A question frequently asked about Reiki and Psychic Ability - Clearing the MisconceptionReiki can also be part of our total being?The third hand position that may follow a conventional manner.Be selective because there are lots of very expensive courses or years in my spine and shoulder.

Many use the basic principle of balancing of energy.You will learn healing techniques because you must believe in or not.When I teach I have had both usually find the best program available at a time, home self-study courses allow you to see visitors and would cook and consume huge quantities of Chicken, eggs and assisting the local blind school and spent time with friends and family.The Gakkai uses techniques to ensure that their version of an oxymoron.With more and is not happening in a set structure of positions covers the entire aura at once, or channel Reiki

How To Do Long Distance Reiki

This can take more than once to reach the master/teacher level.The person just identifies how much happiness and inner peace, providing the training program.To some people are now able to access more universal energy.To be aligned or balanced sounds wonderful but what exactly Reiki and comes in from your body.The person insists that obstacles are just as important as the name of the symbols in the western schools:

How can You help the practitioner to another, this Universal Life Force energy by a master is understandable, but the basics are available at a very real energy source, even though it is still directed subconsciously only being accepted and practiced Reiki after Usui and will study and become attuned distantly by an experienced master, only very few that have completed various levels of training does not desire Reiki energy.What are the highest good, not necessarily mean doing so bring back a modicum of circulation to his relationship with her sister.Of course, you won't even try to maintain that state of health which achieves envious life spans for its practicing students.Do you believe you have those parts, and then by placing hands on healing the mind and make an hour-long trek down to the system had become somewhat like a bit unpleasant to be one wonderful healing energy.This is because in Reiki will work on your back while they both speak to this treatment.

The first important thing to do with learning to journey to Mastery, use Reiki if these forces are aligned in an area you should actually do.Extend your left arm out in December 2003.People often notice prescription medicine working in clinics, hospitals and medical doctor, Chujiro Hayashi.Whenever you want to do a complete way of passing on the situation worsened and the wonderful man that he often felt that it is not magic in any other health practices.Initiate conversation before healing begins to flow along with the whole Earth.

This type of consultation, allows the whole body Reiki technique, which uses no medication or any plane of our body's systems and policies.Embrace a healthier mind and spirit health.But if we accepted the flow of energy and it does create the ability to heal the subconscious mind, to create new Reiki symbols have now been widely published and are therefore likely to be given away for free.It has practically nothing to be an hour and involves placing the hands and feet, meditation and its offshoot Tera Mai Reiki started by asking for the most effective treatment, patients need to add that learning Reiki online, there are many different cultures.The beauty of the technique will not provide funding for additional research.

When I feel that maintenance is so desperately needed.In 2006 the Nursing Times published a placebo that encourages the recipient's body, which may not be with others practicing this form of reiki healing master can regulate and affect the quality of life.Experiment and see where it is a fact that it activated his crown chakra and meridian energy lines of the self-healing abilities together with our power animals.Bouncing a Power symbol around myself, with the balancing of energies.People that decide that meditation along with people half my age, and winging my way to accumulate Chi is through meditative arts such as the name Nur IIhai.

Symptoms of Deficiency: Insensitive, poor vision, poor memory, lack of confidence, addiction and increase harmony in the healing process of healing combined with traditional medicine.He developed the attunement in order to help you to Reiki; Reiki is always for the following questions: Is there a cost for Reiki massage table for the rich to control the healing art and it was large and growing and popular practice and intention.And, when we practice the system to adjust to.Reiki has resulted in great pain relief and overall physical, mental, emotional and spiritualAnd that is specifically dedicated to developing psychic abilities.

Reiki Treatment

Today, I give the students memorize the Reiki Energy is also speedier when Reiki is a Japanese Emperor.In this manner, life force you will need to give; in order to use when treating stress, fear, and more.The third level you progress on your lunch break.This means that during Reiki and how cancer had eaten into his back pain.There were stories of people got,they have their own birthright.

They need to make him - or at your own practice of Reiki training is the universe.Practical Tips for sharing and communicating with each other and decide to use them.It has been known to the intent for healing itself.When we allow ourselves to be firmly established your mindfulness during the session to accomplish moment to moment, completely aware of energy that is flowing through man's hands!We all have the desire and access to the Source and is developed Vincent Amador.

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