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oneatlatime · 10 months

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The Fortuneteller

(A title which I am itching to divide into three words instead of two because boy does 'Fortuneteller' look stupid - seriously, stare at it for a bit and see how fast it starts looking like Fortun Eteller)

The last couple of episodes have had a contemplative character, so I'm rooting for this one to be a silly one. Also more Sokka please. Poor guy gets demoted to one liners in the B-plot whenever Aang is the main focus.

Episode Time!

We start this episode off with a potential love interest for Sokka.

I had completely forgotten that Katara used to have a necklace. I'd also completely forgotten that she'd lost it. When did she lose it?

Aang-o-vision has a pretty heavy rose-tinted filter - literally.

Told you it was a love interest.

The NOISE Sokka makes when the fish slaps him! I love it. Hang on I'm going to rewind and listen to it again.

Yep. Still as good the second time.

Oh wow! Aang just got Momo-zoned. Gotta say I'm not a fan of a romantic relationship between Aang and Katara at this point, so I'm all for some Momo-zonage.

Platypus bear! Finally some hybrid animals. I was beginning to wonder if that would ever come back.

Is this guy a martial arts master or an idiot?

I'm leaning towards idiot.

Friendly reminder of Appa's size. That's a lot of molars. No canines or incisors? Guess he's an obligate herbivore.

Is sniffing eggs something that people do? I get sniffing melons or other produce, but eggs?

Yep. Floppy hat guy is an idiot.

Aang buddy you might want to get that checked out.

And with a mighty squelch, the egg fulfills this episode's Beat Up Sokka quota.

Appa shakes!

Those are weird ducks.

I don't know a thing about anime, but that's the most anime-looking guy I've seen in this show. Is this show an anime?

Meng-o-vision is red-tinted. Probably doesn't bode well.

Also, Meng could give Zuko some lessons on how to style Pipi longstocking hair. Someone with more photoshop skills than me needs to make a Zuko with Meng hair.

"Don't be modest, they're huge!" Presented without comment. I'm not going to say a thing. But we all thought it.

Katara is totally the kind of girl who would fall for fortune telling. We've seen (multiple times) that she is gullible. Actually, now that I think about it, we've had multiple episodes where Katara gets swept up in something a healthy dose of skepticism would have guarded her from - Jet and The Great Divide come to mind. The writers are really hammering the 'Katara is susceptible to romantic nonsense and Sokka is a science-minded skeptic' message home. Is this going to play some bigger part in the show going forward? Why else would we be on version number (arguably) 3 of this same plot?

Aang and Sokka took off their shoes, but Katara didn't. Huh.

Pinky out. Classy.

I am not digging the Aang x Katara stuff in this episode. I'm with Sokka on this one - let's pretend it was a stellar bathroom break.

Aunt Wu is being unnecessarily antagonistic to Sokka. First he gets an egg on his head, then Momo steals his bean puffs, now Aunt Wu tells him his life's going to suck. I should have been more specific when I hoped for a Sokka episode. I didn't mean a beat up Sokka episode.

Aang. Priorities honey. Honestly, Aang casually dismissing his destiny after all that build up did get a laugh out of me.

A god-like figure coming to have his fortune read and only wanting to know about his love life would give me a headache too.

Add malicious signage to the Beating Up Sokka list.

"The fluffy bunny cloud forecasts doom and destruction." I bet that's the first time that sentence has appeared in the English language.

These people are stupid. Blazing Saddles style 'common clay of the New West' stupid. It would take, what, a day? to run a visual check on the volcano. But nope. Too much work. Listen to me I'm morphing into Sokka.

Katara giving off some serious fangirl vibes.

Katara is officially addicted to fortune telling.

Live footage of me watching these village idiots.

Add duck to the list of Things Which Assault Sokka. Gotta love those duck noises though.

Sokka is getting dangerously close to advising negging here. Also Meng deserves better. Her poor pigtails droop in disappointment. Girl has sentient hair - she deserves better.

Papaya? When you don't like papaya? Just because some old lady said so? Too far. That's not even teenage nonsense; that's tweenage nonsense. I kind of feel like sending Katara to her room. Actually it's just like that one line Log Man said in the Jet episode. Something like 'He tells us what to do and how to think and things all turn out right.' Outsourcing your decision-making. Which, by the way, is both nonsense and cult-like. Then again, the lost boys freedom fighters pretty much worshipped Jet the way this village worships Aunt Wu, so... parallels?

So if this guy got the panda lily himself, doesn't that mean that he recently went up the mountain? Couldn't he have had a peak inside while he was up there? Would have taken an extra 20 seconds.

"Flowers are fine once you're married" Somebody get this boy to Victorian times. If he ever sees an ankle he'll self-combust.

You have a flying bison. Why don't you fly up instead of climb?

This is totally live action fire copy-pasted in to the animation. There has got to be a more technical term for that than copy-pasted.

Raise your hand if you saw the twist with the volcano coming. (I did I swear. Blue spirit was an outlier).

Forget Appa, why didn't Aang just fly up?

"They just won't listen to reason." "But they will listen to Aunt Wu." So the mountain comes to Mohammed. I guess talking to people in a way they understand / will listen to is a good lesson for an avatar to learn. I thought he'd learned that one in The Great Divide though. Either way this episode is getting increasingly frustrating.

Can Meng get a hug? She seems astonishingly self-aware and emotionally mature for a kid. Also way too smart for this podunk town. I may rescind the hug in light of the stalking.

Well, it's not exactly subtle, but at least volcanic doom isn't a fluffy bunny.

Look at those yummy purples. Finally an episode where it's light enough to have a beautiful sky. My collection of wallpapers was suffering.

Digging a lava trench might work, if the volcano is going to put out a gallon or two of lava. This must be a baby volcano.

Nevermind.

The ashes effect feels oddly 3-D.

I guess to an avatar this kind of challenge is small potatoes.

Totally ignoring the Aang x Katara stuff for a minute, I'm with Sokka on this one too, because I also had forgotten that Aang is a superbender. He didn't even need to go glowy.

If I lived in this village that redesign would absolutely give me nightmares. Are those mega claws of doom structurally sound?

I am going to punch this man.

Aunt Wu's final speech to Aang makes me think that at least she's not indulging in her own product as it were. I suppose a con artist (whose services are free, so, just jerking around a village for shits and giggles?) is better than an actual believer?

MENG!!!

Final Thoughts

This episode has me thinking about stories. Part of the reason Katara wants to believe in nonsense like fortune telling is because she is someone inclined to listen to / believe in stories. I think the opening monologue of the first episode mentioned something about her grandmother's stories. Katara was raised on stories and very much took them to heart as more than just entertainment. And you can't blame her for believing the conceits of stories could be possible in their world, not after the events of episode one dumped the star of those stories in her lap. Just so long as she doesn't confuse a belief in stories with a belief in happy endings. There is a war going on in their world, and judging by the stuff that the show did not shy away from discussing or implying in episodes like The Southern Air Temple and The Storm, I am willing to bet good money that there will be a couple of unhappy endings ahead. Not permanently unhappy; this is a kids' cartoon. But there will probably be setbacks and disappointments.

Would Katara have astrology nonsense in her dating profile?

"The fluffy bunny cloud forecasts doom and destruction" is going to be incorporated into my daily vocabulary.

Platypus + bear are interesting choices for a hybrid animal, since a platypus is about 15 normal animals smashed together anyway. A platypus bear is the swiss army knife of animals. Or the Mr. Potato Head.

At first I thought that Aunt Wu was a benevolent meddler (see putting together the couple with the panda lily), but she also advised that one guy to never bathe, which doesn't benefit anyone in any way that I can see. So I've concluded that she's a Bumi level ("it's pretty fun messing with people") shit-stirrer instead. Her services may be free, but she manages to pay for a very big house, an assistant in Meng, and anime guy the bodyguard(?) so I guess grateful villagers give her donations? However she's doing it, she's got it made.

There was some sort of running theme with those large blue-billed ducks that lived in the village. If that was meant to have more meaning than just a running visual gag, I didn't pick up on it.

Meng had a surprising amount of depth and insight for what (I assume) is a one-episode character. Stalking aside, I liked her.

This episode's humourous look at the stupidity of the village (in fact the science denial of the village) is not as funny as it would have been in a pre-covid denial, pre-antivax, pre-"global warming is a hoax" world. A shallow viewing of this episode is still funny because the villagers are just SO dumb (except Meng), but the more you think about the villagers' actions and the conclusions they reach at the end of the episode (to not change AT ALL - at least the tribes made up in The Great Divide, a similarly idiot-filled episode), the more you morph into Sokka. These people have denied reality so hard that it's frustrating rather than funny to watch. Their head in the sand approach is not cute anymore.

I really wanted to like this episode. Like I said before, I wanted a goofy fun episode after the one-two punch of the last two episodes, but this one rapidly went from goofy to frustrating. I can't tell if it's because I'm not the target audience (i.e. too adult) or if it's because much of the world is currently drowning in various forms of misinformation and science denial. I know this episode isn't supposed to be deep - it's supposed to be setup for Aang & Katara as a (hopefully very distant) couple. That's all. And the message at the end about shaping your own destiny (i.e. taking an active part in your life) is a good message, and thematically relevant to the avatar, who presumably is at least somewhat responsible for shaping the whole world's destiny. But damn if this episode doesn't make my teeth itch.

Pros: Sokka had some great lines. Appa got to shake. There were pretty backgrounds. The noise Sokka made when he got slapped by the fish was a thing of beauty.

Cons: Aang and Katara are not allowed to date until they're 35. I will smack each villager individually upside the head with a science textbook. Meng deserved better.

Maybe I'm just not in the mood for this episode. I'll stick it on the rewatch list just for the Sokka fish noise.

#atla #avatar: the last airbender #the fortune teller #it should be THREE words fight me #avatar the last airbender

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canmom · 6 months

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Animation Night 176: The Hedge-Pigge Whin'd

Thrice the brinded Cat hath mewed, Thrice and once the hedge-pig whin'd, Harpier cries, 'tis time! 'tis time! - Macbeth

For the fourth time, Animation Night encounters Halloween. What horrors yet await us? Oh, there are....... many...

I'm going to keep this writeup pretty short bc (as is probably evident from the Posting lately) I'm not in the best of sorts.

The traditional Animation Night halloween goes something like this: a vampire-related anime, some Yamishibai, and something weird and different. Sometimes that leads to discovering some truly great and unexpected films, like Birdboy: The Forgotten Children (Psiconautas) by Alberto Vasquez. I had been thinking of doing Vasquez's Unicorn Wars tonight, but I decided to hold off to rewatch Birdboy alongside it in a week or two.

Other gems we've encountered have been the Chilean stop-motion film obliquely about a Nazi cult The Wolf House, the 'gekimation' works of Ujicha, the gorgeous one-man adaptation of Suehiro Maruo's ero-guro manga Shoujo Tsubaki, and of course Phil Tippett's 30-year magnum opus Mad God. There's a reason I look forward to Halloween each year.

Animation is a tricky fit for horror stories, particularly traditional animation. The stylised and clearly artificial presentation intrinsic to animation can be distancing and make it hard to make things genuinely scary - so if anything, a lot of horror creators benefit from a deliberately low-fi style, which avoids being too obvious with displays of technique. But animation of all kinds loves horror images and themes, from gory OVAs of the 80s full of rapacious demons, to what you could call 'spoopy' works like The Nightmare Before Christmas, Hotel Transylvania and Paranorman which play around with all the Halloween/Hammer Horror imagery - the Draculas and Frankensteins and so on.

So what's the recipe tonight?

Well, for our vampire anime, we have now worked through the obvious ones, so it's on to... the Darkstalkers OVA from 1997-8, adapting Capcom's series of fighting games. Though in Japan it's called ヴァンパイアハンター THE ANIMATED SERIES (Vampire Hunter: The Animated Series).

Fittingly for a late-90s OVA, this is full of crazy sick animation, notably including a number of cuts by Yoshinori Kanada. The story is basically: two vampire clans are having a war, but then aliens show up. Somehow that leads to battling atop exploding zeppelins. I'm curious.

For our Western Animation slot we have something by Genndy Tartakovsky (Animation Night 35). While Tartakovsky is best known for his 2D animation and hyper-simplified graphical style, he's also directed Hotel Transylvania in 3D. I was rather dismissive of this one at a glance apparently, but I've been told it's good and I mean, it's Tartakovsky right? I'm definitely curious to see how his style crosses dimensions.

Hotel Translyvania was created at Sony Pictures Animation, the studio that would later blow everyones' minds with Spiderverse. Their history is this: Sony, the international media and tech giant, had a visual effects studio called Sony Pictures Imageworks. They were considering selling it, but then came the wave of CG films beginning with Shrek, and suddenly the smell of money was in the air. So Imageworks was retooled into a studio for making feature-length CG movies. Their early films were pretty formulaic, but they gradually began to get more ambitious.

Hotel Transylvania, which depicts a hotel for monsters run by Dracula, has had a rough history, with Tartakovsky actually the sixth director to take on the project. His goal was to try and take the vibe of 2D animation, with its squash and stretch and variable timing, and bring it to 3D - a concept that was perhaps ahead of its time! How did he manage? Let's find out.

For our Yamishibai slot we have Yamishibai.

...ok, for those just joining us this I should probably explain. It's kind of like creepypastas for weebs. Yamishibai is a series of limited-animation shorts in the style of kamishibai paper theatre, telling short horror stories. In the first half of the 20th century, kamishibai performers would go around telling stories with illustrated panels, and the form was influential on the early days of manga. They're usually a blast so we'll definitely see a few of these.

...and, given the late start that will probably be all we have time for, but if we're in the mood, I can pull out a couple shorter animated horror works. Next week, we'll follow it up with Alberto Vasquez, revisiting Birdboy and also checking out Unicorn Wars.

Sound fun? See you at twitch.tv/canmom; we will start the spooky playlist soooooooooooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnn...

#animation night

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lia-jones · 2 years

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hello again lia! i'm the last anon you replied to! i completely agree that MC isn't likeable (i've played the game and i've watched the anime, and it's really hard to imagine myself as her because i wouldn't make any of the decisions she makes 😪) but i decided to finish the anime because although the creators did a bad job with retelling the story (i also agree that your plot is superior to theirs), i really like how they animated victor ✨ i also have some more questions for you! (since i love interacting with you): 1. what do you do when you get writer's block? 2. do you ever feel like quitting writing? and if you do, what motivates you to pick it back up? 3. have you ever thought of making writing your career? or is it like strictly a hobby for you? that's all for now! i'll be back with more questions though 😋 also from now on i'll refer to myself as 🌸 anon, so you'll know it's me! have a nice week ahead!

Hello there!

Wow, so nice to find your ask, what a great way to start my week, thank you for that! I LOVE THIS!

You kind of want to make me want to give the anime another shot. I'll try to focus solely on our dear CEO and less on... you know. May stir the juices somewhat.

Now to your questions:

1 - what do you do when you get writer's block?

Because I have all the story plotted now, my writer's block is usually related to how I am going to present the story. So I try to write it in different ways and discern which one will fit me best. The big solution (IMHO) to writer's block is simply to write or find someone who can help you stir your ideas. I have a very close friend with whom I discuss the story, and sometimes just talking about it helps me visualize it better. Some people suggest distractions to get your mind off it, but I find personally find them a good excuse to procrastinate, and my anxious nature won't let me relax until I have it done, so I grab the bull by the horns and just. keep. writing. Even if it's utter crap and sometimes it is.

2 - do you ever feel like quitting writing? and if you do, what motivates you to pick it back up?

It's going to be three years since I started writing this story, so... Yeah. Many times. Especially in the beginning, I had this little voice telling me that I had no business writing, and all that I put on paper was utter garbage. I quieted that voice now, at least a little.

Funny story, by the end of part Growing Stronger I had a massive breakdown and decided to finish it by killing Andrea on her wedding day. I spoke to my friend (@attackonmyself, I love you so freaking much!) and said I was ready to quit, and I presented the plot about how Vic and Andy would cease to be. Thankfully, she convinced me to keep writing the story but suggested I would keep this plot and use it as a short fic for Halloween. And that is how His Worst Nightmare was born.

I have several things motivating me to keep going. Number one, although I don't have a lot of readers, I do have some people that are deeply invested in the story and want to see how it ends. And I feel it would be disrespectful of me to quit the story just like that. They have been there for me in my greatest and suckiest moments, I do owe them, respect them and love them a lot. Number two, although Vic and Andy are fictional characters, I feel like I have a responsibility towards them. They have stories to be told, and lessons to learn, and I won't be able to find peace until they live it all and find closure. Their closure is my closure, I guess. Number three, I love writing. It's insanely complicated sometimes, sometimes I wish I could just go to bed and sleep, but I need to write. I write every day, every single day. My husband is already used to having notebooks around the house because whenever I have the free time, I'm writing.

3- have you ever thought of making writing your career? or is it like strictly a hobby for you?

Not a day goes by that someone (most times my husband) doesn't tell me I should invest in writing and try to do it for a living. And there is no plausible reason I don't do it, except for this big one... I'm a coward.

I have no shortage of ideas or things to try (I'm seriously stopping myself from starting another fic, because I want to get this one done first) but I fear rejection. And writers get a lot of it. That scares me to death.

So for now, until I get a decent set of balls, it's just a hobby. One day, who knows? And MLQC team, if you ever come across this post and you would like me to write for you, I'd do it for FREE. (Right, dream on girl, XD)

Thank you so much for your questions, do keep them coming! It's really nice to hear from you! I hope you have a wonderful week (you surely made mine) and everything goes your way!

Huge hug and lots of love!

#thank you for asking #ask and you shall receive #please ask more i love to answer #mlqc li zeyan #mister love queens choice #love and producer #mlqc fanfic #mlqc victor

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bedlamsbard · 2 years

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congratulations on finishing "Yonder"! it's such an honour and a blessing to have you in a fandom, you're an excellent writer. i don't know if anyone has already asked you this: why have you decided to tell the story from Natasha's point of view?

Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

I never considered doing this story from Loki's POV. I find Natasha a relatively easy POV to slip into -- I've used her for most of the Avengers-era altverse flashbacks in Morning, and in very, very old 2012 MCU writing she was also my POV character. I could have done Steve, I guess, but I didn't actually consider that -- there was no alternative POV for Yonder at any point.

For this story, I wanted to use a relatively "outsider" POV -- it's a trick I use to replicate, as best as possible, the experience of watching a film, where the audience doesn't necessarily know what's going on in the focus character's head or their full background or the ins and outs of their world. It also lets me get really visual and cinematic in a way that's not quite as possible if the POV character is also the one doing the flashy stuff. I use outsider POVs a lot for this reason as a fic writer who's primarily working with film/TV fandoms. (This is also the same reason the Avengers-era flashback in Morning 6 is Natasha POV, rather than altverse Loki's, though of course that one is actually meant to be a video, as well as replicating the experience for the audience.)

I did also want to be careful that this still be a Natasha story, rather than a Loki one which just happens to be being told by Natasha. I'm not totally certain I succeeded, going by the number of comments that only mention Loki and not Natasha, but I always write in relatively close 3rd person so I tried to pay a lot of attention to that. (I did occasionally have to do a few contortions so that she would be present for very Loki-centric scenes -- the confrontation with Thanos and the Endgame battle are the big ones.)

I didn't settle on Loki's backstory, actually, until the confrontation with Thanos, but it did end up helping that Natasha's backstory has some similarities with Loki's so there are those points of connection and recognition that wouldn't have been possible with a different POV character or maybe even with Loki -- things can get filtered through her that wouldn't have been obvious otherwise. I can do a certain amount of leaning on pre-existing canon for that as a way to shorthand things for the audience without having to spell them out. (I don't necessarily know that this story would be different if the Black Widow film would exist -- I mean, Yelena wouldn't be in it, obviously -- but there would have been different references.)

But mostly it's the "outsider POV to replicate the film viewing experience" trick. Also, I just like Natasha.

#if I write the yonder prequel it will be mostly if not entirely steve pov #and the 'mostly' is because I would have to use rocket for the guardians + nidavellir scenes #I do the 'outsider pov for the visual impact' trick all the time #I was rereading parts of backbone the other day and you can def see it there in ezra's pov of kanan at the crucible #when you're in a character's head you're too close to do the visuals #and sometimes you don't WANT the audience to know what's going on in their head #littlemelly #bedlam replies #yonder behind the scenes

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dreamersleeps · 3 years

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Hiiii, I saw your meta about Hawks and the Eye of Horus in the tags and when I read the title I got so excited that someone was talking about it XD you wrote some really cool points, and I like how you organize and present information. And I know you weren't talking about Ra, but I've been wondering about it since I read something about him having a secret name, that if you know that name it means having power over him. And it reminded me of when Dabi yelled out Hawks' real name - a secret.

Hey there! First of all, thank you for getting through that mess of a post and for sending your ask/comment. I was kind of worried that I presented the information in a confusing way, so I’m grateful for your feedback :)

This kind of got long so there’s more of me rambling under the cut.

I’m no expert in ancient Egyptian culture and mythology however, I do recognize what you’re talking about. Ra had several names and there was one that gave him his divine power, which was his secret name. Isis, the goddess of the moon, life, magic, women and children I think was the only one who ever heard his secret name. There’s a myth where Isis uses Ra’s saliva to create a serpent or snake which then bites him. She tells him that the only way that she can help him is if he tells her his secret name and he does.

The connection you make between Ra’s secret name and Dabi yelling out Hawks’ real name is very interesting. The way Hawks reacts to hearing his name out loud, a name he probably only ever heard uttered in his mind is very visually powerful. He is not a character who easily gets “shaken” like this or loses his composure but Dabi is able to do bring that out of Hawks.

As a spy he plays the game based on who has the most information and the recognition that Dabi knows his true name shakes him. Now that we have some more information about his father: Thief Takami, it makes sense that Hawks has tried to remove himself from the family name. Dabi knowing Hawks’ real name and identity is a big blow to the power balance dynamic they had as Hawks was unable to find out who Dabi really was first. Dabi later takes that information reveals it to the public.

We see Dabi taunting Endeavor with his civilian name as well. You can also include how he taunts Shouto with his full name at the end of the Training Camp arc when they successfully kidnap Bakugou.

Dabi has a thing with revealing people’s true names and it kind of fits considering that the name “Dabi”and “Touya” have some connections back to Buddhist beliefs and values, with meanings of enlightenment and the truth. It’s also interesting when Dabi reveals his name to Hawks, because that too was a secret at the time.

(Side note: Btw, Dabi tells Hawks that he should have had “both eyes on me” which is another mention of eyes! Not to mention in both name reveals, we are only able to gauge Hawks’ reactions from his eyes, first his right eye, and then his left eye.)

Now, I’m pretty sure that we can determine that what Dabi told Hawks at the time was his real name “Todoroki Touya.” Another name which perhaps was rarely spoken out loud.

In ancient Egyptian mythology Ra was the most important god, and he is perhaps most well known as his position and role as the sun god. You correctly observed that I did not really talk about Ra in my post about Hawks and the Eye of Horus and that is because I’m going to be talking about Ra in my next post!

Without saying too much, I think that there are quite a few similarities between sun symbolism and Endeavor (for example with Greek mythology) so going down that train of thought, I made some interesting connections between Endeavor and the sun god Ra.

So above we can conclude that Dabi told Hawks his true name. The famous blacked out speech bubble is what we, the readers see. It’s visually kept away from us like a secret, told only to the one person he chose to tell at the time. Seeing as Ra’s secret name was the source of his divine power, you can kind of see some similarities with the situation portrayed above.

We the reader and everyone else in the world of BNHA knew that Dabi had a fire related quirk. Dabi being a Todoroki was perhaps the most obvious reveal that was going to happen at one point but no one could be one hundred percent sure about it because it all rested on Dabi revealing his real name. His name was the missing piece, which was a secret to the world. In a way, his name is also what gave him his power. He is a Todoroki. It is because he was born a Todoroki that he inherited the Hellflame quirk. Dabi reveals his name as e is burning Hawks’ wings with his flames.

Flames and fire are destructive but in many cultures, it has symbolic associations with cleansing and purification. Dabi has very deep and negative feelings against Endeavor and heroes in general, and he wants people to recognize the faults in hero society which are problems that do have to be addressed (although in my opinion I don’t agree with how he’s going about it). He lived through the ugly, unspoken side of what hero society entails and him revealing his name was a very big step in exposing that.

The Todoroki family is a very wealthy family in the world of BNHA. The fact that Endeavor had been the number two hero and now, number one hero also makes the name powerful, however Todoroki Touya’s name has power as well, although we will have to wait and see the effects and consequences it has with the public and rest of society.

Anyways anon, thanks for bringing up the topic about Ra’s secret name! If you hadn’t brought it up I doubt that I would have thought to make a connection there. It was very interesting and I had a lot of fun replying to your comment :)

#todoroki touya #dabi #todoroki enji #endeavor #takami keigo #hawks #mythological influences #bnha analysis #bnha meta #mha meta #mha analysis #luna answers

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commodorecliche · 4 years

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Hey Lindsay, I've read a few of your fics and I love the way you write :) I've been trying to write a story but i'm just stuck at the outline. So, I was wondering if you could, perhaps, make a little tutorial or a walk-through your process? I'd like to have my story points defined before I start writing but I don't have a structure that I can follow and I really love your style *-* It's okay if you don't feel like it though. I understand. Thank you in advance ^^

hey there friend! i’m not sure when you sent this ask today, i so hope you haven’t been waiting all day for my reply!! i just saw it.

first things first - thank you so much for your kind words about my writing. they really mean the world to me. and i am SO EXCITED to hear that you’re working on your own fic. that’s amazing!!

now to the meat!

so i don’t know if i have specific or... super organized... process, per se, and i don’t really do a ‘strict’ outline, in the most traditional sense of the word (meaning i don’t have a document full of numbers and bullet points and such). and everyone’s process is going to be a little different, so bear in mind, what works for me might not work for you. but once you get the feel of writing your story, you’ll get a better sense of what your own writing process is. and you’ll figure out what works and doesn’t work for you. the way i do things might not work for you, but that’s totally okay, you’ll come into your own as you go along. and hey, maybe this will work for you! who knows!

but what i generally do when i start a new fic is:

1: i type out my rough and basic idea. i like to do this (and most of my outlining/drafting) in all caps, it helps keep me focused and helps me organize what i have ‘drafted’ and what i have properly written lol.

so for example, um, In the House We Remain, my first idea was jotted out like this, at the top of my document: SAPPY GHOST STORY, AZIRAPHALE BUYS A COTTAGE THAT CROWLEY USED TO OWN, CROWLEY DIED THERE. CROWLEY WAS AN AUTHOR AND HIS BOOKS ARE STILL IN THE HOUSE, WHICH IS HOW AZIRAPHALE GETS TO KNOW HIM.

that’s my base level idea, and i kept it at the top of the document.

2: from there, i start thinking about what are some MAJOR scenes i want to have happen. not the minute details, just the major scenes that were popping in and out of my head when i was daydreaming about the fic. these can be as minimal or as thorough as you like. for In the House We Remain, i had a pretty set idea on how i wanted the story to progress from start to finish, so i had a lot of scenes already in mind.

using the same fic as an example, these are some of the scene ideas i wrote in my fic document, underneath my top line idea: SCENES: - AZIRAPHALE SEES THE COTTAGE (ANATHEMA IS THE REAL ESTATE AGENT) AND HE LOVES IT. HE BUYS IT THAT DAY. (DEFINE THE LANDSCAPE AND HOW THE COTTAGE LOOKS, PROBABLY WANT A POND IN THE BACK, THAT COULD BE HOW CROWLEY WAS MURDERED. COTTAGE SHOULD BE COZY AND DREAMY, A LOVELY THING SET OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE COUNTRYSIDE. LOOK UP PICS FOR REFERENCES.) - GUNNA HAVE TO MENTION SOMETHING ABOUT THE HOUSE THAT’LL CONNECT TO HOW CROWLEY DIED, SOME VISUAL INDICATORS OF HIS SPIRIT. MAYBE WATER STAINS ON THE FLOOR? LIKE DRIPPING WATER MIGHT POOL AROUND A WET PERSON’S FEET? AM I GOING WITH DROWNING AS CAUSE OF DEATH? DUNNO.***COME BACK TO THIS. - WHILE UNPACKING AZIRAPHALE SEES A BUNCH OF UNFAMILIAR BOOKS IN THE STUDY AND IS CURIOUS ABOUT THEM. - AZIRAPHALE TALKS TO ANATHEMA ABOUT THE BOOKS AND THE AUTHOR. LEARNS THAT CROWLEY IS THE AUTHOR, AND THAT HE OWNED AND DIED IN THE HOUSE MYSTERIOUSLY. - AZIRAPHALE READS THE BOOKS, LOVES THEM, FEELS A CONNECTION WITH CROWLEY. - AZIRAPHALE SOMEHOW CONNECTS WITH CROWLEY’S LINGERING SPIRIT IN THE HOUSE (DETAILS TO COME) - THEY START COMMUNICATING. CROWLEY REVEALS THAT HE WAS MURDERED - I WANT THIS TO BE AN EMOTIONAL SCENE, AZIRAPHALE VERY UPSET AND DISTURBED BY WHAT HE’S BEEN TOLD. ALSO AFRAID CAUSE HE’S MADE CONTACT W/ SOMEONE WHO’S VERY DEAD. MAYBE HE EVEN CALLS ANATHEMA AFTER TO REVEAL THE NATURE OF CROWLEY’S DEATH. - NEED SCENES OF AZIRAPHALE GROWING OLD IN THE HOUSE WITH CROWLEY’S GHOST, THEN EVENTUALLY DYING AND ACTUALLY UNITING WITH HIM. SAPPY, EMOTIONAL, THE WORKS. - AZIRAPHALE AND CROWLEY’S SPIRITS LINGER IN THE HOUSE, EVEN AS A NEW COUPLE MOVES IN.

those were my major scenes that i needed to write and that would make up most of my story.

3: flesh out the aforementioned scenes. break these scenes down individually and think about them, picture them like a movie in your head. when aziraphale sees the cottage, what’s happening around him? has he gotten out of the car? what is the weather like, is it a dreamy setting? should the wind be gently rustling the trees and his hair? is he in awe? does he take a moment to take in the exterior of the house. what does the house look like? picture that entire scene from start to finish, then jot down your thoughts. remember, you aren’t actually doing Proper Good Writing out. you’re just getting the ideas down and the draft ideas fleshed out. 4: once i have those scenes fleshed out (always typed in all caps for me lol), i start the actual ‘writing’ process. I drop the all-caps, start using proper grammar, and go into I’m Telling A Story Mode. I usually try to start writing at the beginning, because i tend to visualize my stories as movies that play in my head. i need to mentally see it progress as i write it, like i would do if i were watching a movie or reading a book. but sometimes that doesn’t happen - sometimes beginnings are the hardest part. if you struggle with the beginning, skip to the first most fleshed out scene you have, the one you feel most comfortable with, or whatever scene you feel REALLY ready to write. this writing doesn’t have to be perfect (it definitely won’t be lol). but you’ll start to get a feel for how you want to actually present this story and these scenes once they’re all finalized. you can edit it and make it prettier later, but for now, just get some words on the paper as if it were a story you were ready to tell. 5: once you have your main scenes fleshed out, you need to start making connections between them. stories need depth and background, so you need to be able to go “okay, i have aziraphale loving the house and buying it, then i need him to find the books in the study, how am I going to connect those two scenes?”

you can do this part either as you go along (example: you’ve written your first Major Scene, and you want to progress onto your next scene, so you write the connections first, then once you have the connection scenes done, you can then move on to the next Major Scene from your draft) OR you can get all your major drafted scenes written, and make your connections AFTER those scenes are done. you just gotta see what works for you.

i prefer the first method, i try to write the major scenes and the connection scenes as i go along so that i have a natural flow. that also allows me to make some changes to a later Major Scene before i actually write it. (example: hm, i was gunna have Aziraphale do XYZ in the next scene, but with this connection, I think having him do ABC in that scene might work better).

if you don’t have a clear-cut idea yet for how to connect your scenes, go back to the all caps ‘drafting’ mode, where you’re just throwing ideas on the page in between, like: ‘AZIRAPHALE HAS JUST MOVED IN AND IS READY TO UNPACK, I NEED HIM TO BRING HIS BOOKS TO THE STUDY TO START UNPACKING THEM AND SHELVING THEM. THAT’S WHEN HE SHOULD NOTICE CROWLEY’S BOOKS THAT HAVE MYSTERIOUSLY APPEARED ON THE SHELVES.’ from there, go back into ‘proper writing’ mode when you’re ready, and flesh out that scene - what is aziraphale doing while he’s unpacking? are his boxes of books already in the study, or do i need him to have a reason to bring them into the study? maybe a mover accidentally placed one in the wrong room. this is your connector that will get you between scenes. 6: once you have all your scenes done in a proper first draft, go back, do re-writes, add new things that you think you might need, take out things that aren’t necessary, check your grammar and spelling, and do your final proofing. (read your story out loud too - it’s the easiest way to catch typos, errors, or weird phrasing)

7: don’t be afraid to write ANYWHERE. many of my ideas for scenes popped up in the middle of a work day, and every time that happens, i text myself. i send myself a text, all caps, with the scene idea, and i don’t open it until i’m ready to write. it helps me keep track of things. i did a lot of writing in notebooks, on post-it notes, wherever really. i even have googledocs installed on my phone so i could access a fic from anywhere if i had a sudden idea. and if i had something new to add to the document, i put it in all caps, so i would know i needed to address it later.

8: act things out! seriously, i’m not kidding. act your scenes out with yourself. especially dialogue scenes. have those dialogues with yourself, think about how you want dialogue to progress, and talk those ideas out in a way that sounds natural to you. that’ll help you write your dialogue later. (the number of times my husband has walked in on me running through some dialogue aloud......... goodness).

9: don’t be afraid of music :) maybe it’s silly, but i make a playlist for every fic i write because i like to listen to music to get me into the correct mood for what i’m writing. it helps me a LOT. maybe it won’t be as helpful for you, but always worth a try.

and that’s really.... the extent of my process. it’s a little messy, i know, and maybe it’s not the best advice. and i just hope that it at least a LITTLE bit of sense... but i hope it will at least be of some help to you! if you’re confused about anything, please don’t hesitate to message me.

or if you want to chat one-on-one, that’s totally fine too. i 100% don’t mind if you send me a chat message. i’m always happy to help.

#kind nonnies #long post #writing #advice #fanfic #Anonymous

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douchebagbrainwaves · 3 years

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I'VE BEEN PONDERING PG

It's very common for startups to present to them. Do people live downtown, or have some sort of exit. There is less stress in total, but more as an exploration of gender and sexuality in an urban context, etc.1 I think the goal of this rule; if you can't explain your plans concisely, you don't worry that it might come out badly, or upset delicate social balances, or that can incorporate live data feeds, or that you won't be demoralized if they seem pointless.2 One YC founder told me that it wasn't worth investing in. The patent pledge doesn't fix every problem with patents.3 I can tell from the case. This site isn't lame. They wouldn't all grow as big. It will be easier in proportion to an estimate of your company's value that you'd both agreed upon.

Then you could, I don't care what he says, I'm going to name them: type A fundraising is when you can do, you don't see the opportunities all around us is that we get on average only about 5-7% of a much larger number.4 In most fields the great work is: very exacting taste, plus the ability to direct the course of adding some feature they were asking for.5 Most hackers are employees, and this trick merely forces you to clean up your apartment, writing something that you'll be able to say whether he should be classified as a friend or angel.6 Don't say anything unless you're fairly sure what you want to reach; from paragraph to paragraph I let the ideas take their course. Sometimes a competitor will deliberately threaten you with a business background, and he will automatically get paid proportionally more. Not all of them had never seen the Web before we came to tell them to stop.7 If you're free of a misconception that everyone else is crazy. Most startups that raise money and the kind of alarms you'd set off if you operate like Columbus and just head in a general westerly direction.

As we were in the old sense of managing the round. Technology is a lever. Modern literature is important, but I suspect that most of them a part time job. In the Bay Area would be the answer. But let someone else start those startups. They're not necessarily trying to mislead you. Like a lot of people will make them.

But if you make something they like. 05 PM subject: Re: Revenge of the Nerds on the LL1 mailing list.8 American universities currently seem to be a media company to throw Microsoft off their scent. Java white paper, Gosling explicitly says Java was designed to be a missile aimed right at what makes America successful.9 Different users have different requirements, but I don't think that's the right way to do it. But this is merely an artifact of the rule of law.10 All you'll learn is the words kids are allowed to use. That's the way to the close.11 It did serve some purposes: reading a talk out loud can expose awkward parts. What investors still don't get is what insanely great translates to in a larval startup.

When I talk about humans being meant or designed to live a certain way out of habit or politeness. Hackers & Painters that hadn't been online. Incidentally, the switch in the 1920s to financing growth with retained earnings till the 1920s.12 And the programmers liked it because they don't like to have it. What counts as property depends on what works to treat as property. But this is wrong. What's a prostitute?13 Everyone by now presumably knows about the danger of premature optimization. Essentially, they lead you on. That will change the way they treat the music they sell through iTunes.14

So tablet makers should be thinking: what else can we give developers access to? White said, good writing is rewriting, wrote E. Almost four decades later, fragmentation is still increasing. The more people you have to do it than literally making a mark on the world. Investors looked at Yahoo's earnings and said to one of the principles they teach you is to align the car not by lining up the hood with the stripes painted on the road, but by trying to use mass lawsuits against randomly chosen people as a form of evolutionary pressure. People think that what you want. In principle anyone there ought to have multiple founders who were already friends before they decided to build recipe sites, or aggregators for local events.

Better Bayesian Filtering. They may play some behind the scenes as adults spin the world for a while, can make visual perception flow in through his eye and out through his hand as automatically as someone tapping his foot to a beat. If you looked in people's heads. They are all fundamentally subversive for this reason. I sat down and calculated what I thought was hard, the groups all turned out ok. Election forecasters are proud when they can get it, at this stage.15 The danger of symmetry, and repetition especially, is where the richest buyers are, but figure out precisely where you lose them. If they didn't know what language our software was so complex. 2:21 AM subject: Re: meet the airbeds PG, Thanks for the lead Fred to: Fred Wilson date: Mon, Feb 9,2009 at 11:42 AM subject: Re: airbnb There's a lot to start a startup. And yet they can hold their own with any work of art ever made.

Leonardo?16 It is, as far as possible prevent them from having fun. Doesn't that show people will pay most for?17 After thinking about it than most, but almost everywhere the trend is in that direction. Till then they had to ask permission to release software: the last thing you changed. But fortunately in the US are more conservative than Boston ones.18 People are all you need is to be battered by circumstances—to let the days rush by. But that's something you can fix later, but you can't evade the fundamental conservation law. And yet Apple's overall market share is still small. Though the Web has been around for a millennium is finished just because of its prestige, but because they were ambivalent about threatening their cash cow, mainframe computing. I mean efforts to protect against cosmic rays.19

Notes

Even as late as 1984. Incidentally, Google may appear to be at a large company? Plus one can have escaped alive, or to be good?

To do this all the poorer countries. Ed. But it was the least correlation between the Daddy Model may be a sufficient condition.

And in World War II to the rise of big companies can afford that. And while this is to try to be a win to include in your classes as a result a lot more frightening in those days, but I call it procrastination when someone gets drunk instead of happy. I'm talking mainly about software startups are now the first digital computer game, you can probably write a subroutine to do would be better at opening it than people who might be a good problem to fit your solution. Look at those goddamn fleas, jabbering about some disease they'll see once in China, during the war on drugs show, bans often do better, and instead of the world of the most famous example.

Plus one can ever say it again. When I catch egregiously linkjacked posts I replace the actual amount of damage to the founders' advantage if it was 94% 33 of 35 companies that can't reasonably expect to make a fortune in the case, not because Delicious users are stupid.

But you're not allowed to discriminate on any basis you want to get going, and oversupply of educated ones come up with elaborate rationalizations. I also skipped San Jose is a meaningful idea for human audiences. Though in fact had its own mind about whether a suit would violate the patent pledge, it's not enough to defend their interests in political and legal disputes.

What Is an Asset Price Bubble? This doesn't mean easy, of the river among the bear gardens and whorehouses. They act as if you'd just thought of them could as accurately be called acting Japanese. Many more than 20 years.

It's hard for us!

2%. If a prestigious VC makes a small proportion of the things you're taught.

Doing things that don't scale.

Now the misunderstood artist is not limited to startups. There's not much use, because few founders are willing to provide when it's done as conspicuously as this place was a false positive rate is 10%, moving to Monaco would only give you more than the previous round. Cascading menus would also be good startup founders tend to get going, e.

Emmett Shear writes: True, Gore won the popular vote he would presumably have got more of the flock, or at least, the government and construction companies. People only tend to damp this effect, at least guesses by pros about where that money comes from ads on other investors doing so because otherwise competitors would take forever in the case of heirs, professors, politicians, and everyone's used to place orders.

His critical invention was a kid that you'd want to sell them technology. I'm not dissing these people make the people working for startups, because it aggregates data from so many trade publications nominally have a lot of reasons American car companies have little to bring corporate bonds to market faster; the point where things start with consumer electronics and to run on the firm's site, they're nice to you. Not only do they decide on the young Henry VIII and was troubled by debts all his life. Distribution of potentially good startups, who've already made the decision.

Maybe that isn't really working bad unit economics, typically and then scale it up because they couldn't afford it. An investor who's seriously interested will already be working to help a society generally is to let yourself feel it mid-sentence, but you get an intro to a clueless audience like that.

But it is dishonest of the country turned its back on industrialization at the start, e.

The need has to be employees, or editions with the buyer's picture on the back of Yahoo, we actively sought out people who'd failed out of the things attributed to Confucius and Socrates resemble their actual opinions. The speed at which point it suddenly stops. And when a startup to engage with slow-moving organizations is to write every component yourself, but also very informative essay about why something isn't the last step in this essay I'm talking here about everyday tagging. If not, greater accessibility.

In 1525 he was made a bet: if you hadn't written it? I saw this I used thresholds of.

Especially if they were to work your way up. I managed to find a broad range of topics, comparable in scope to our scholarship though without the spur of poverty are only locally accurate, because those are probably the last step in this respect.

So how do you use that instead of Windows NT? How did individuals accumulate large fortunes in an absolute sense, if you make something hackers use. On the face of it.

But it's telling that it would be to say that it had no idea what's happening as merely not-doing-work. But they've been trained. So far, I preferred to call them whitelists because it depends on a weekend and sit alone and think.

#automatically generated text #Markov chains #Paul Graham #Python #Patrick Mooney #people #sup #editions #airbnb #back #trick #work #stress

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africanfemalearchitects · 3 years

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AFA Open-Chat Series with Tosin Oshinowo pt.2

Tosin: We are a very interesting conundrum, as a continent. We are a series of ethnicities, that were divided into countries in 1835. There isn't a singular identity for Nigerian, Congo, or Uganda or Ghana. We are a series of cultural groups, who by the lining of a boundary line of a country, have been told 'go, and become a standardized identity'. It doesn't exist. In Nigeria we have so many different cultures, if I go to the North, South or West - even what should have been our vernacular, is not the same. It's based on the terrains, it is based on the people, it is based on traditions.

This question of identity is one that I think is terribly fluid; and we were brought into modernism. Modernism was populated across the whole world not just in Africa, yes, in many terms it took the climate into consideration : modernism in Europe look absolutely different from Modernism in Tropical, to North and South Africa; and there are certain consistencies of modernism. But if we are looking for specific identities: I think we are just beginning to see that.

Covid came in as a material, and completely changed the game everywhere. Most of us, we are still building in concrete; a lot of the West builds with steel and they've got more advanced materials. We are stuck in the materials of early modernism, and we are now beginning to appropriate and create identities based off that. Although no one has really documented here, you start to see elements of identities when you step back; and you've to step back. And it's always at the end of a movement that you can actually see and categorize it as such. If I look at Architecture in Nigeria from the 80's, it's very specific and you can actually categorize it as such: the materials that were used and the scaling of the building tells me that. If I look at a building from the Northeast in Nigeria, you can tell that that was a period: by that type of windows that were used, spaces, and the finishes. We do have something, but it's not that distinct. That kind of vernacular and identity is a transition. But in a world where we have a globalization exposure; somebody who lives in Nigeria wants a house they saw in Florida. You've, then, to find interesting ways to carry that cultural identity in modern-day context. Yes, I do think there are nuances of identity but they're not strong in terms of very-striking particular form. Moderator: With a number of architects in Nigeria, do you visually see an impact of the presence of architects currently in your country?

Tosin: I don't think so, but it's not because there are no architects, but how projects are executed. For example, there was an upgrade of an existing train station that was inaugurated recently by our President. But this was done by Chinese contractors, and it doesn't look anything like where it is located; it could've been a spaceship that was just dropped in. There was absolutely no local context included in it; and even the Institute were not aware. When you look at Singapore, there was a big emphasis on marrying local and foreign architects; and there was a cross of information. You can't improve a profession, if you don't allow them to be part of innovative process. When that happens, what value does it add or make of us, if no local consultancy is involved? That biggest impact to show a strong physicality norm of infrastructure on a government-led project, where the government is not involving local practitioners then you can't see the impact. Moderator: We are dealing with the same issues here in Rwanda, we are struggling to make understand the importance of having an architect in the community. Tosin: As Africans we need to make an effort to upscale ourselves as well. Some areas, some architects are still drawing-by-hand. Who's going to call you when you're drawing-by-hand. There are no excuses today. With the information age, everything is online. If you want to learn something, you can learn it. Software companies aren't accommodating to the situation that we have in this part of the world. If you look at a dollar and naira; the naira is like a nonexistent entity that happens to be a dot in the atmosphere compared to a dollar. When you earn in a country with a slightly lower GDP, if you look at GDP per capita, the reality is that the economy is going to determine how much people can afford to build, and to pay towards professionals' fees. If the software is x amount, how do you expect a local consultant to pay for it? Because in this market you cannot command a high fee. What I'd expect is that for these programmers and software companies were really thinking about the professionals; they would make it affordable for a local person because they won't have to kill themselves to get a Revit license. What you happen to have here in a lot of situations, is that people just use bootlegs; but the problem with that is you're not part of the community. When innovations are happening, when new programs are being added, you're not even aware of that information. Information is there, but that barrier of money is also very present. Moderator: We need to raise awareness of that issue, especially even for students; as soon as they graduate they're not going to be able to afford it right away.

Tosin: They need to scale it for us based on economies. I know the West doesn't consider us. For example, if buying an Iphone in Nigeria is different than buying an Iphone in Europe. Some people's whole salary here is the price of an Iphone and less. And they have a better system on how to acquire these things. We are in a skewed environment, but it is still much better than what it would have been in the 60's.

Moderator: Looking then, architects were sketching to the last detail of a building. Do you think we should still invest ourselves in that way? Tosin: We live in a global world, and Africa is left much farther and farther behind. It's worrying how much attention is not being paid to it. I was looking at a project done by Mass Design and they're doing a lot of work in Africa. One of the biggest selling-point is that they have skills, and exposure to research that a local practitioners doesn't have. This is a good age for an American Firm to give back, and they're a not-for-profit organization and it's of value, with policy about social change. It's a good thing, but the reality irrespective if they were doing it or not, these are necessary projects: schools hospitals, etc.. These are necessary projects irrespective if a foreign company was coming in, it has to be done! But the government are more willing to give that project to a foreign consultant because they have the skills. Even not just the government, a private client in Nigeria will pay a lot of money to a foreign consultant because they believe they are getting the best. What happens to people who are pushing boundaries, who are trying to produce work that is global anywhere? This puts you in an awkward position.

If we don't upscale ourselves, we are going to get further and further behind. Those who have the choice, will rather not use local consultancy. This is not just based on being a good designer, it's about being conscious of what's happening globally. It's about exposing ourselves on technology, and innovation; and bringing that into your work as well. Moderator: It's a competitive market. Tosin: Yes, and I think this is something architects don't realize: you can't tell anyone how to spend their money. It is a market and it's an open market. The sooner we realize that we must equip ourselves with skills to stay ahead, then we will put ourselves in a better position. Moderator: I hope students are listening. Get into the most complicated and innovative way of design and build, and excel in that; and do something that local markets aren't doing currently. I have been 5 years in the career, and I know, I'm still far and I'm pushing myself to learn and excel at these. I'm really glad you highlighted it. How would you advise women architects to invest in their career? Tosin: I think everybody needs to understand the importance of strategies in life, and not just in the profession - especially; as a woman. How many children do you want? Do you want children? Have you thought about how you'll balance life with having children with work? Will there be a point where you'll focus more on your children? Will you be doing half and half? Everybody's approach is different, but you must be intentional. You can't just let life happen to you. You have to decide, 'what do I want?'. When I look back in 30 years, what do I want to have achieved? If you don't have a class strategy or a plan, then that's the beginning of failure; because life will happen to you. And there's no right or wrong. But whatever decision you make, you must make a conscious decision. If you want to be a stay-at-home mom, there's nothing wrong with that - but decide that's what you wanted. If you want to be a working professional with working children, decide that's what you want, and again, there's no right or wrong. For any person who's at the beginning of their career, look at your goals, and make conscious decisions. And follow through! Life will change your plans. I always get confused when I see people letting life just happen to them. How did you not think? And the sad thing is life is very short. I'm 41 now. I see people who are 26, and I tell them, go turn the world! And they' tell me they don't have the time. You have all the time in the world. The older you get, the more you realize that this journey is very short. I'm already half-way, and eventually things are going to start working properly. I've 20 years of professionalism, I've done half of it. Am I happy with the decision I made? Will I continue on this path? Even on my journey, I'm conscious of the decision, I've made, and what I'm trying to achieve. And ultimately, one of my biggest goals is I want to leave a legacy of work. And this is just for me, it might not be somebody else's plan. But I want my great-great-grand-children to know that their great-great-grand-mother added value. I don't want my country to put a plaque on my name, but my children's children who did not meet me, know that their grandma was hard-working. That for me is enough, and that means that I have done my job.

Moderator: Definitely, and I'll check again, but I haven't seen another African woman who has been featured this much, either on Archdaily or other things as well. You are being intentional. Tosin: Yes, even as a practice now, when I see what I've achieved, I wonder what can I achieve on a global stage? How do I start building networks, and tactical points on how I can build a project in this region? It's no longer impossible in mind. And I've realized that there's so much you can do, without being in a fixed location. I realize now I can work in a global capacity. BurnaBoy won a grammy. For Nigeria, that means a lot. Talent has no geography. If you're good at what you do, the world will come and look for you . Moderator: You have to have a target. As an architect, do I want to stick to what's existing or do I want to do more than that? Tosin: There's nothing wrong with that. Because everybody can't be the super-star; that's the reality. There has to be a place for everyone. Just be intentional. And as you excel, you can check where you want to go next. We all have different paths. Moderator: Whichever level you're at, try to improve what's existing and make an impact; and that's what our career is about. What can architects do, to improve Gender Equity in the profession? What are males can do to level your ground? Tosin: We don't live in Utopia. If you are waiting for people to give you a seat at the table, go and take the chair yourself. No one is going to handle you anything. We have this problem in Nigeria, everybody is waiting for government; what can you do, yourself? Don't wait for anyone. Do what you can do within the limits of your environment. People who are successful do not wait for hand-downs, as they do not get you anywhere. We are born into different situations. Moderator: What practices can someone do professionally and personally to find their niche in the architectural field.

Tosin: That's a very open-ended question. Look at your strengths and your weaknesses. Make sure you try to amplify your strengths. As a professional, you must need balance. Moderator: What career advice would you give to fresh graduates? Tosin: Go work for someone first. Learn the ropes. It's a lot easier to start under tutelage of somebody else. Learn from somebody else's mistakes. When you have gained a certain level of confidence, you can step out on your own. Moderator: What thoughts would you like to share with the world, about the importance of inclusivity? Tosin: I don't like to wait for the world, but the profession could be more inclusive, not just for the female architects but for the African architects, in general. We have always been at a large disadvantage, as innovation is happening in the fourth revolution, we are getting further and further behind. I'm very conscious of it, because I'm paying attention. For the example I gave of Autodesk, actually looking at the realities of our economies of scale, and pricing the software to something that we can afford, would be a massive help. Those are things we don't control.

Moderator: I think we have got everything covered for this interview, Tosin; I can't thank you enough. Tosin: I also want to thank you. I started following you because particularly I was interested to see what other women were doing. I was pleasantly surprised that I'm not alone in this. It's nice to see other people doing interesting things as well; and it's a warming feeling to know that you're not alone. And I really enjoy your Instagram Page. Moderator: Thank you very much. How accessible are you, and how can young architects reach you, for mentorship and more career advices? Tosin: It's becoming a little difficult to be honest. I do have some people I do mentor now. I have someone I mentor from Bahamas, London, and in Lagos. It's becoming a little difficult with everything that I'm handling. If you send me an email, and you have a very specific question, I'll always answer because I know the importance of the people who also supported me when I was a young professional, and please be very specific. Moderator: On this topic, I actually love this mentorship rotation you do on your sites Tosin: On Thursday's every two weeks, I try to carry people along. I was actually surprised about how many people followed with a thousands of views on Instastory. Even highlighting the sites that way online is useful. If you're interested, please continue to watch that. I didn't realize it was a thing, but I know it's a thing. Moderator: It's very much a great thing you're doing! Thank you so much for your time Tosin, if we have more questions we will cover them in other series in the future. We are thankful to have you as an advisor, and your enthusiasm is really great for us - I wouldn't be here otherwise. Tosin: And keep it up as well! Thank you so much for having me! Thank you for reading and to everyone who participated in this live and is supporting this platform and helping it grow. Written & Edited by Lise Isaro, founder of AFA. Published 21 August 2021

#architects #resources #Nigeria #Africa #African female architects #women in architecture

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ofcloudsandstars · 7 years

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hi! i have a question about paganism and witches and everything in general (sorry if i'm saying it wrong). i've never really learned about this at all and i'm really curious about it and intrigued, because i stopped believing in magic and spells a long one ago, but i really want to believe that they're real. if you could perhaps help me understand it better or link me to some posts that explain? if you can't, thanks anyways! have a lovely day :)

But you did believe in it at one point? What drew you to it in the first place?

In my honest opinion you can’t believe in something like this and chasing a belief would be ingenuine to your practice. You kind of have to know it’s there and just do it. Beliefs are just theories but they are uncertain. There’s a difference in believing in an entity versus believing in your own power cause sometimes entities can hide themselves or work in mysterious ways so you might not be completely certain of their presence, where as your own power is something you wield. It would be like believing you could walk in a park or believing you could cook some eggs. Like, you KNOW you can do these things, so it would be weird to believe you could (unless if you never cooked before in your life or have physical impairment to hinder you from walking but that’s another scenario..) Have you practiced magic before? If you’ve seen results you should know you have power.

I myself have a million theories to how things might work but theories are just ideas. I know my magic works because of the cause and the effect of me casting spells and the spell happening. (It’s not to say that I don’t doubt myself sometimes but that point will be further explained later.) That’s why many witches including myself would advise for a magical practitioner to keep some kind of journal to document when they’ve casted a spell to see results. Yeah a lot of spell work results might seem like coincidences but the thing is the universe has to flow all together like clockwork. One of my theories is that everything has energy to it and the planets are one of the largest beings with powerful fields of energy that keep us bounded together like clockwork or a dance, which is why planetary movements/astrology has such an influence over society. Then not to mention the will of individual people, animals, plants and spirits, the pulse of the earth etc; there is a lot of energy simultaneously existing together so that when we cast something it’s like our fate can be portrayed by a river with many branches, with currents influenced by rain, jagged rocks, wind but magic would be us riding that current to the direction we want, or using the tides to fish something closer to us. Sometimes we cast a spell and because of all the other energies we are coexisting with, the current isn’t right so the spell might take longer to manifest. Sometimes when the current is right, the spell happens immediately but it just seems like coincidence because the odds were too much in our favor already.

I sometimes doubt if something I casted actually happened because of me because things happen so smoothly that it seemed it would have happened if I hadn’t done it anyway, yet at the end of the day I ask myself why it matters? I casted something and it manifested whether it seemed highly coincidental or not. I would get more skeptical if I kept casting spells and none of it manifested but that hasn’t happened to me before unless if its something way out of my influence (like me gaining a position of empress of the world- since that would influence a vast number of people and such, but honestly I wouldn’t even want to cast that to try cause the universe has a funny way of going about stuff so I wouldn’t want to end up in some dreadful position with a lot of power and extreme stress and regret it later.)

To practice magic you really need to be intuned with your own energy and if you’re not honestly nothing will happen. That’s the first step. My sister was super athiest (like having the belief nothing existed except for the things we could see) and she respected my practice though she was skeptical until she has had her own mind bending experiences. Since she has done so much work to get herself in contact with her deeper subconsciousness and opening her mind, a lot of psychic stuff has happened to her and she’s going through a spiritual awakening. She felt sad cause the only experience with feeling other peoples and her own energy she had was on really good MDMA but I told her that its possible to achieve without it and so she’s been doing some really cool shit to help open her mind to get in tuned with it and I am glad she’s doing that cause watching her footsteps it’s helpful to advise other people closed off with themselves on how they can achieve that. I see the brain as a muscle and everyone has a body of energy but its something that some people might be born with a little stronger and some people might have it more diminished. Like how some people are really good runners naturally while others have to train to get to that level. It’s not impossible for someone with no connection to their subconscious, energy body or magic to have psychic/out-of-body/magic experiences but they have to do more work to get there as opposed to someone who might be luckier genetically*.

Lets say if you are completely cut off from those aspects of yourself (which you do not seem to be because you once believed in it and are working towards it), you first need to open your mind. It might feel impossible to someone with no connection to their energy body or who has never had an experience like that yet things like shrooms can help (though individually a person should be aware of any mental health issues they might have that can get triggered to become worse by the usage of natural drugs). Yet certain substances like psilocybin can help you explore your inner self and experience energy in a more tactile way. Many indigenous people around the world use certain natural substances like mescalin, peyote, ayahuasca as aides to deeper introspection or to open up themselves. Of course please see this as a form of intense medicine and shrooms is a lot more chill than the other drugs I’ve mentioned but shrooms can still be dangerous and so as a disclaimer I will say to take this bit of advice like you would from any other stranger off the internet, with a grain of dust. If you are interested in it, do a lot of research on it and on yourself as well to make sure you will be ok doing it, medically and emotionally. Drugs like shrooms can also open closed doors deep in our psyche where our traumas lie and can trigger mental illnesses we already have so be aware of it’s effects. Especially for someone with no experience dealing with their deeper selves, it’s like a muggle not believing in magic getting hurled into platform 9 ¾ except on the other side is the triwizard tournament and they have to fight a dragon, plunge into a murky lake and navigate through a labrynth. My point is that it can be a violent jump start and has it’s dangers so I really can’t advise it to everyone and people should do their own research and make their own conclusion with this.

Anyway, to continue, second part now that you are aware of your deeper self is meditation and becoming familiar with the many levels of yourself but also learning to control it. Zen meditation is a good start where you just sit and ‘be’. It’s an exercise where you observe the world around you and are present and you will have thoughts going across your mind but you have to learn to not engage with them, and just observe them like clouds passing by. My short blurb might not be sufficient to fully describe how to go about it so I suggest looking it up lol. Then you can go into other forms of meditation like focusing awareness on different parts of your body. I feel like this is a great way to get in touch with your energy body. You will feel your energy more potently. The goal of meditation is to help you learn how to focus your mind which will help in the next step.

From meditation comes energy work and learning how to gather and control your own energy. Meditation helps to focus your mind so when you want to visualize a spell you want to manifest or focus energy into something, your mind won’t waver and your desire will manifest more concretely. I have a tag on energy work you can browse through if you wish.

Then final step now that you are aware of your body, energy and levels of your mind is listening to the quietest parts of your mind like your intuition. The more you listen to it the stronger it gets and it will help you to know when is the best time to cast something because it helps you be in the flow of the universal current and it will help you pick up vibes, avoid certain situations or people, draw yourself to good situations and people and improve your psychic abilities.

All these things take practice and even as someone practicing magic for years I and many people have fallen out of magic and have to find our way back in. It’s a CONSTANT practice. What makes someone a witch is practicing witchcraft and if you stop for a very long time, it takes a moment for many to get back on the train. Practices to help get back on the train is meditation and energy work.

All this is also based off of my own experiences so it really might not apply to everyone, but I hope this helps you!

*I do believe some of these things are genetic since we do have a physical third eye (pineal gland) that can work like a radio signal so some people might be born with one that is more alert the same way some people are born with really good eyesight or a very strong heart. I don’t know all the elements in someone’s body to help them be more intuned with magic and energy, but I do know we all have it, its just some people are born with it a little stronger than others and we have to work at it to get better like the way if we want stronger muscles we need to lift weights/do yoga etc. In my experience a lot of people in my family have similar psychic experiences to me and I’ve spoken to my dad about a lot of this stuff and it’s happened to him naturally too, and I hung out with my niece recently and she’s very witchy though she doesn’t practice magic, she’s just intuned with it so I think it might mostly come from my French family but anyway, everyone has these things physically its just some have to work a bit more at it than others.

#long post #magic #energy #my long ass rambles #blog beginner #rainydaysmiles

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