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grimoire-of-geekery · 3 years

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Embrace the Mythic: an Enchantment for 2021

“YOU NEED TO BELIEVE IN THINGS THAT AREN’T TRUE. HOW ELSE CAN THEY BECOME?” ― Death, from Terry Pratchett's “Hogfather” (image is the winterized Mildred Payne’s Masquerade spread I designed a couple years ago)

I was listening to a conversation between some witches a few days ago, wherein they were arguing about whether or not gods were real. Their debate was getting very heated, so I had to ask them, “have any of you ever interacted with a deity?”

Two of the debaters said no, and then a third said “that’s not the point.” I asked her what her idea of the point was, and she said “just because one has an experience doesn’t mean what one is experiencing is objectively real.” She went on to talk to me about how they were debating the objective reality of gods, not the subjective reality, and... well, I suddenly remembered this scene from the Hogfather where the wizards were talking about belief and gods and other things, and that very discussion suddenly made little deities appear.

I felt like that was a silly fight for witches to have. Are there benevolent forces which rule over creation? Entities with intelligence and agenda who guide our fates and make the world what it is?

That’s not a question I think any of us can answer in a way that others can make use of. I can tell people over and over, I’ve interacted with deities, I’ve talked to them and seen their handiwork in this world. Until they experience that, it’s completely unhelpful for them to hear such from me. Consider: if gods do exist, and this one guy gets to interact with them all the time, but this other guy has never heard nor seen nor felt any sign of gods, what makes the first guy so special, or the second guy so unworthy?

Plenty of fights have been born out of this particular question, and no small few wars.

I think this is why so much of the Craft is hidden behind the whole “To Be Silent” edict. What I experience is valid, but it’s for me, not for anyone else. My responsibility as I see it isn’t to tell people about it. My responsibility, answerable to nothing less and nothing more than my self and my heart, is to become it. I think that’s the role of the witch, to become the gateway through which dreams enter this world and become flesh.

I don’t think I’ve ever met a person who called themselves a witch who thought of it as just a name for a hobby or career, like “engineer” or “painter” or “cyclist.” Most people I meet who call themselves by those labels tend to invest in them a lot too, I suppose.

My point is, taking up a label means making it a part of one’s identity, and I think everyone knows on some level that it’s a big step, an important one.

Calling oneself a witch is unique, but in nuance mostly. An engineer is no less special than a chemist, a mapmaker, a singer, a chef. In Abrahamic myth, that knowledge and skill was taught by angels to mankind. In Ireland, most of the myths about gods and heroes define those figures through their skills and professions.

“Witch” is another profession, and I think it’s supposed to be a sacred one, a hallowed one. I think all professions and skillsets should be venerated, no matter what they are. It’s my feeling that the thing many of us search for our whole lives is how to embrace the sanctity of our own nature, and the path we’ve chosen.

Sanctity isn’t just about goodness, it’s about purity, commitment to one’s core nature and one’s virtue. That’s a big thing in witchcraft- accessing and working with virtue. In fact, I would say it’s central to our purpose.

The thing is, witches don’t always have gods or tutelary spirits. “Yeah, secular witchcraft!” I hear people say.

No, actually, after a long time thinking about it, I don’t think so. It’s not that I think one needs to be religious to be a witch, and obey or follow or worship or even engage with gods (although frankly, that’s not my personal practice, and I dunno how some witches manage to avoid them). Nor is it that I think secular witchcraft doesn’t work.

It’s that so far as I can tell, the sacred and mythic center witches need to find, and honor, is ourselves and those like us. In my experience, the Craft is about connection, intimacy, bringing forth that which lies across the barrier and communing with it. By its nature, it’s about making significant the bonds between things, and interacting with them.

Regardless of how one views one’s witchcraft though, we wouldn’t fight so hard to defend our views if we didn’t consider them sacred, at least to us. Maybe we consider our beliefs and our disbelief sacred, maybe we consider our ideas sacred, maybe we just consider the work sacred. Whatever it is, we have a special place for it in our hearts, and I think that’s right and necessary.

This year, I am going to focus on embracing the mythic. I’m going to focus on embodying the Mysteries I work with, embracing the very sacred and larger-than-life nature of what I am and call myself. I’m going to take everything seriously, and elevate the joy of things without profaning them. No mockery, no snark, no snideness. I’m aiming for the mythic. I’ll leave the puerile and the salty behind me, and just focus on the sacred and deep.

To all of you who wanted more from your holidays, your spiritual practice, your magic, your gods, yourself this year- I offer this. If you promise me that you’ll look in a mirror and remind yourself daily to embrace the mythic and the sacred, I’ll work magic with you to bring goodness into your life, to banish the profane and bring about the sacred. If you make yourself a door, I’ll send you gifts through it.

Celebrate holidays, either traditional ones or ones you invent yourselves, but do it in earnest.

Talk to your gods if you have them, yell at them even if necessary, but do so with the absolute certainty that you’re someone they have to answer.

Cast your spells, and decide to proceed as if nothing profane or unaligned can affect or influence them.

Sanctify your self-care with a dedication, and treat it as an unassailable spell of protection and healing which is all the more potent because you invented it.

Make stuff, and don’t be concerned with whether or not it’s “good enough.” It’s good enough, because you made it, it’s basically a holy artifact!

2020 was an ordeal, a crucible, and we’ve survived. That’s the stuff of legend, y’all. Let’s all tell the myth of ourselves, and those who have departed, and those who still stand with us. We’ve got this, all of us, and whatever happens from here on out, it’s part of the Myth of Us.

May we all have a happy New Year, and may the stories and legends around us begin to unfold in wonder and joy. So Mote It Be.

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ickeyandmian · 3 years

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oops here are some thoughts on 11x08 regarding Frank and Terry’s storylines

Spoilers ahead

Please bear in mind that these are my thoughts and interpretations. I understand others may not feel the same, and that the themes in this episode could have been difficult or painful for some, nonetheless I’m going to delve into what I took from it.

I didn’t come into season 11 expecting to care about Frank but for me, his mental decline has been one of the most interesting storylines of this season, and arguably the most interesting storyline for his character throughout the show as a whole. What sticks out for me mostly is the care that the writers have clearly taken in setting up these final moments of Frank Gallagher’s swan song. This is a hard topic, it’s hard for viewers, who have developed a love/hate relationship with the man over the past 10 seasons, it’s hard for those who may have experienced loved ones suffering from dementia, and it’s a hard topic to write sensitively, especially for a character like Frank who has toed the line between villain and hero since day one.

But I do feel the writers are taking that care. It’s a slow burn, it’s not something that has come out of nowhere. It feels justified, developed, and with every episode we see those clues and those symptoms build and build and we know that there’ll be no lucky escape this time.

Frank has always had strong ties to his environment, he proudly belongs in the southside and that is heavily linked to his own selfhood, as we saw in 11x01 and his ramblings of the Gallagher’s history in Chicago (a questionable topic in terms of its accuracy). But that’s all being taken away from him. We’ve seen the gentrification of the south side, the threat of the Gallagher house being sold and now, in the latest episode, something so small as the renaming of a school is enough to threaten that wavering sense of his identity that Frank has been slowly losing as the series goes on.

Memory is a fickle thing, especially when it betrays you. The smallest things can trigger a stream of thoughts buried deep in the back of your mind and at this point, Frank relies on those triggers, because without them he ends up wandering the streets in the dark, calling out his kid’s names in a desperate attempt to simply find his way home. He talked fondly of his school days and, though he may or may not be fully aware of it, there’s a real fear that that’s going to go too, that he’ll forget.

If the school has a different name, what will ignite those happy memories again?

So he falls into his old ways, it’s political correctness gone too far, it’s a ploy by the woke millenials to specifically target people like Frank, to take away everything from him, to rewrite a history that he’s terrified he’ll one day forget and will be gone entirely. It’s a painful irony to watch his devout duty to remember battling against the inevitability of his regressing mind. Which is why, when it comes down to it and he’s standing in front of the panel of judges, we see that it was never about the naming of the school. It was about the memories he has, the ones he can still pick out of his muddled mind and share with a room full of strangers and about the responsibility we have to remember the past.

And when Frank says there are ‘Gallagher memories embedded in every inch of that school’, we see the hint at the bigger issue at play here. Selling the house, a place that’s much more befitting of that statement than an elementary school. Without it, will Frank remember his family? His childhood? Will he forget Monica eventually too? The house is the last rickety foundation of Frank’s memories, and I’m equal parts excited and anxious to see what path his storyline goes down should they sell.

Now Terry.

Terry’s was a story about closure. But this is Shameless, and we were never going to get a neat and tidy resolution. It’s gritty and it’s complicated which is part of what makes this show what it is. There’s a lot here that felt significant, though it’s hard to tell if it’s intentionally so or if, as a fan, I’m reaching as always to desperately explain every nuance of what we are given of Mickey.

The driving force of this episode is that Terry Milkovich fucking sucks.

We know that, have known that for 10 seasons, and Mickey knows that, but Mickey is in the unique position of being both Terry Milkovich’s son and the face of a people he hates. Though we all would have loved to see Mickey turn his back on him for good, I’m glad we didn’t.

Family is family, and that is something that has been ingrained into Mickey since he was a child. It’s something that’s been weaved into the show from the start, from Mickey defending Mandy from an alleged assault no questions asked, to Mickey’s brother’s helping him kill Frank, again with no questions asked.

This has been discussed countless times by people much better at words than I am so I won’t labour the point, but we’ve seen the strength of Mickey’s sense of duty, the agony it causes him and how he does it anyway. And in this episode, we got a glimpse at that relationship from both sides.

The exchange between the two of them ‘You’d have made a have decent son…’ Vs ‘You’d have made a half decent dad…’ felt genuine in a way I wasn’t expecting. Not much was said, and what was said was laced with insults but the intent was there. Terry, racist, homophobic, vile, evil Terry in an undignified moment of vulnerability in being taken care of by the person he tortured and abused, is forced to face that fact. I’m not saying he feels remorse, or guilt or anything resembling that, but he’s aware of the situation and he responds to it. All he has left are his scathing words. He uses them, Mickey fights back and they’re left at a ceasefire.

It’s an exchange that sums up their years of history, and the fact that they had that conversation together is so important to the closure of their story because it’s an acknowledgement. It’s Terry admitting that Mickey was useful to him, then and now, and it’s Mickey finally getting to say what he’s always wanted to his father, just the two of them, without an audience. We then see Terry open his mouth and we, as an audience, wonder for just a moment if there is going to be more, maybe Mickey does too until it’s clear that Terry is just ordering Mickey to continue feeding him, to continue to be useful.

It’s interesting that in this small gesture, we see that Mickey’s usefulness in the situation outweighs Terry’s hatred of him, something that’s never happened between them.

And I believe from Mickey’s point of view, he understood that that’s as close to an apology as he’s going to get. But I also don’t think he was looking for one. He said himself, he wants to be better than Terry, and every single action he’s taken since then has proved that he already is.

I think I would have loved if this storyline had been given the time that Frank’s has, if it had been built up gradually, rather than the show treating Terry like a cartoon villain who in later seasons just seems to come and go when necessary, and then trying to squeeze whatever moments of sincerity they could from Noel’s gut-punching acting choices. (The look on Mickey’s face at the end is one I won’t be forgetting soon).

The death was shocking. I’m still figuring out how I feel about it. But it’s interesting to see that it’s Terry’s evil nature that is ultimately what killed him. His racist attitude chased away the first two carers, he bullied and harassed them until Ian and Mickey were forced to find someone white in the hopes his attitude would be different. Had he not driven the first two away, maybe he’d be alive. I would say he was undone by his own fatal flaw, but that would be implying Terry deserves the fanfare equal to that of a Greek hero. Instead, it’s simply an evil old man finally facing the consequences of his actions.

As they say in Oz, ding dong, the witch is dead.

#shameless spoilers #11x08 #TW dementia #TW death #Shameless #Frank Gallagher #Terry Milkovich #this got long oops

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bobbyischill · 5 years

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My Relationship With Andi Mack

Two years ago, when I was in 10th grade, my GSA advisor was telling me and a friend about a Disney Channel show. She hadn’t watched it yet, but apparently one of the main characters had just come out as gay! I was really happy for Disney and glad that queer kids all over the world had someone like them to look up to. However, I, a 15 year old, a mature teenager, wouldn’t really enjoy a kids show, right? So I went about the rest of my day without giving it a second thought....

Until I went home and opened up Tumblr. One of the first posts I saw was someone giving props to Disney for making such a diverse, inclusive show that was actually GOOD. They said it reminded them of Girl Meets World, except it was a million times better and diverse. Okay fine, I thought. I guess I’ll check out Andi Mack. (BOOYY I HAD A BIG STORM COMING)

I opened up my iPad around 10:30pm and decided to watch an episode or two, depending on how tired I was. After the very first episode, I recognized that this show was special. Like, REALLY special. The characters were fleshed out and unique. There was the “twist” about Bex being Andi’s mom. The friendships and relationships felt real. I knew I was going to binge the whole show that night.

That night, as I continued on with the show, I fell in love with each one of them. They all had their own quirks, they were all nuanced. I fell in love with how competitive, protective to a fault, and caring Buffy was. I fell in love with how awkward and goofy and relatable Cyrus was. I fell in love with how kind and oblivious Jonah was. I fell in love with how hard-working and funny Andi was, and how much she cared about certain things and the people around her. I fell in love with the dynamics between certain characters and how they were always changing. I loved how it tackled racism in school (Buffy had to change her hair or be sent home), how unfair dress codes are to students (especially girls), how you need to take a stand for what you believe in (the prison uniforms), and how stepping out of your comfort zone is a good thing, even if you get hurt (Andi watching a horror movie and being terrified, but not regretting it). This was all in the first season.

This show already meant so much to me. And then Cyrus looked back at Jonah. In the words of Jonah Beck, “I cried”. Just that hint of representation was more than I had ever scene on Disney or any other show marketed to kids.

And then Cyrus came out to Buffy. I, a pansexual who was out to my friends but not any of my family and who still struggled with intense internalized homophobia, burst into tears. I related to how ashamed and afraid Cyrus looked. I needed to hear Buffy’s heartfelt response. “You may be weird, but you’re no different.” That phrase was constantly bouncing through my head for at least the next few days (and if I’m being honest, it still is). I wrote it all over my notes and assignments because it was literally all I could think about for such a long time. I saw the sign on the wall that said “G: for General Audiences.” That showed me that Disney (or at least Terri Minsky, my queen) truly felt that I wasn’t a freak. I didn’t need to hide my identity from anyone if I didn’t want to. My identity wasn’t a mature subject; it was for general audiences. (Also, I just want to add that Sofia and Josh’s acting in this scene was absolutely fantastic. It was so raw and emotional, and it still makes me cry every time I see it.)

And then in that same episode Cyrus and Buffy talked about his crush on Jonah. They did it so casually, and my mind was blown. At this point, I had honestly never seen so much gay representation in a show as this.

That night, I stayed up until 5am. I was rewatched Cyrus’s coming out scene about 10 times. I fangirled about it on Tumblr. I added “Tomorrow Starts Today” to my Spotify playlist. I even wrote a diary entry about it. (I only write in my diary when I’m feeling very intense emotions that I need to write down in order to figure out.)

The next day at school, I told all my Gay Friends about Andi Mack and how amazing it was. A few of them got into it, and it was fun talking to them about it, but after a while I was pretty heavily hyperfixated on it and I needed more. And I felt like I was bothering my followers with constant posts about how much I loved Andi Mack. So I made this blog. @cyrus-made-tshirts. I haven’t changed the name since. That’s how I became an official part of the friendom.

I love this fandom. I don’t even know many people personally or have made many friends through it, but this fandom was everything to me. I loved the posts, the crackhead theories, josh’s account. I loved the crackships, the real ships, the overanalyzing of every line, of every movement, of every promo. I loved watching the reactions on YouTube. I loved making posts about the show and having hundreds of people relate to it or find it funny, especially the gay ones. My very first post to get more than 50 notes was one about how Miranda and Bex would make a cute couple (this was before Miranda was revealed to be a snake.)

For the past year and a half, Andi Mack has been my life. I have survived the many ship wars. I have survived the months-long hiatuses. I have survived the ominous tweets and posts Josh has made and the frenzy of panicking everywhere that followed it. And I have loved every minute of it.

I’ve seen these characters I love grow up before my eyes. They’ve all changed and evolved and matured so much. There’s so much more representation since I started watching the show. There’s a character with a learning disability, characters with anxiety, a homeless character, a deaf character. There’s been multiple episodes celebrating Jewish and Chinese culture. I’ve seen Cyrus go from nervously nodding in agreement that he liked a boy to unprovokingly telling his friend he liked that boy to flat-out telling his ex-crush he is gay to holding hands with his crush in public. I’ve seen all of Cyrus’s friends support him unconditionally. I’ve seen him find his happily ever after (for middle school, at least).

And then the last episode aired. I knew I was never going to be prepared for it, but HOLY SHIT, it’s over. And the finale was like a fanfiction it was so good. I watched it live on Thursday night at midnight. I freaked out about it online for three hours, then watched it on Disney Now. I pulled an all-nighter because I just kept rewatching it online until Friday night, when I watched it air on Disney. The way Cyrus and TJ sang Born This Way with the rest of the characters cured my depression, cleared my skin, and watered my crops. The bench scene was so fucking beautiful and romantic it caused me to hyperventilate. The acting from both Luke and Josh was incredible. Honestly, Luke crushed it the entire time as TJ and the bench scene was the icing on top. This scene meant more to met than some people could ever know.

A couple months ago, I was in a pretty shit place emotionally and mentally. Literally the only thing stopping me from killing myself was the guilt of leaving my friends and family behind. I needed another reason to stay, something to keep me grounded. And that reason became Andi Mack. I promised myself I would live to see the day Tyrus became canon. And I did it. I’m in a much better place now, and I’m not going to do anything stupid now that Tyrus has become canon (TYRUS HAS BECOME CANON!!! AAKDBEISSHSB I STILL HAVENT PROCESSED THAT YET!!!!). But at the time, I really needed Andi Mack to help me keep fighting. And it was there for me. And I will always be indebted to it for my life.

This show has helped me in so many other ways. It’s helped me drastically reduce my internalized homophobia. It’s given me a community of people that understand me. It’s created so many characters that I love. So thank you to Terri Minsky for creating this show and amazing characters that I will love forever. Thank you to Disney for funding it and not completely censoring it. Thank you to the crew for working tirelessly to make this happen. Thank you to Peyton, Emily, Asher, Josh, Luke, Lilan, Trent, Garren, Sofia, and every other actor for pouring their heart into this show. A special thank you to Josh and Luke for making me feel safe and loved and for caring so much about their story arcs. (And their political activism is pretty awesome, too.)

I’m really going to miss screaming about this show with you guys. I really hope that some people keep creating fanart and fanfics and keep making memes and crackships. I hope the friendom never dies. Because every one of you is so special and fun to hang out with online. And I’m really gonna miss it. And now I’m crying, and this is getting WAYYY too long, so I’m gonna stop talking now lmao. But I want to say this show has changed me in so many ways and I’m grateful to every single person involved, including the amazing friendom. I’ll love you all forever. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

#andi mack #thank you #thank you so much andi mack #my relationship with andi mack #personal

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thestupidhelmet · 5 years

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I’m trying and failing to write T7S fanfic :(( I feel like I don’t capture the characters voices, you know? Imo you capture them spot on, do you have any tips to do so? Especially for JH, but tips for the other main characters would also be nice...

First, thank you for the compliment! It’s one of the best a fanfic writer can receive. 😊

On your own, you can watch some significant, character-developing episodes for each character and take notes about the kind of language they use when they’re under stress (e.g., angry, sad, frustrated, etc.) or happy. But I’ll give you insight into how I approach each character’s voice.

Hyde

He rarely expresses his emotions verbally without some kind of deflection, misdirection, or concealment. In “Eric’s False Alarm” (4x25), for example, Eric calls Hyde on being the one who stopped Donna and Casey from potentially having sex. He also calls Hyde on one of his true motives. Hyde claims, however, that he “didn’t do it to be nice. I did it because I always wanted to commit a felony. Misdemeanors just ain’t the rush they used to be.”

Eric’s responds, “Well, all I hear is, ‘I love you, I love you, I love you.’”

Hyde is almost all subtext. That is the key to his character. If he does express his feelings directly, it’s very hard for him. It’s like being constipated but emotionally (sorry for the gross analogy, but it’s apt). He’ll have trouble looking the person in the eye or scratch the back of his neck. Or he’ll stick a curse or two while being sincere.

Hyde doesn’t tend to give long speeches. Usually, he’ll say a sentence or two before another character talks or he does some action to break up his dialogue.

He often uses humor, often sarcastic and sometimes cruel, to defuse a tense situation.

He uses the word, “man” at the beginning or end of certain sentences. Don’t do it too much, though, or it’ll feel forced.

Speaking of word choice, this is a key to capturing a character’s voice. For instance, Hyde has never – and would never – say, “Anyways,” with an S. Whenever I read a fic where Hyde says that, I hear the author’s voice, not Hyde’s.

Hyde-specific words include swell and super (when he’s being sarcastic), freakin’ and damn it when he’s pissed or frustrated. He’ll say ain’t instead of isn’t sometimes. He’s called testicles both ‘nads and stones.

Jackie

Jackie is the opposite to Hyde in terms of expressing her emotions verbally. When she feels something, she’s vocal about it. That’s not to say she can’t keep her feelings to herself. She does so when she’s significantly afraid of rejection.

I interpret Jackie’s character as being really insightful beneath her superficiality. Enough episodes depict her this way to support that interpretation, but other episodes depict her superficiality as being more than skin-deep. That’s up to the individual fanfic writer to decide which characterization to go with.

But with mine, I intersperse her insight with moments of egoism and vanity. A prime example of this on the show is from “Jackie Bags Hyde” (3x08). In the midst of offering Hyde a compassionate, accurate analysis of his childhood wounding, she compliments her own beauty.

She often makes analogies when giving advice (to Hyde, to Donna, to whomever). These analogies are created from her own experiences and interests (e.g., styling her hair, having a pet rat, etc.), but they’re apt, nevertheless.

She has a generally romantic view of life, which influences her language, but she also has a more down-to-earth side. So she’ll say both, “Make love,” and, “Doing it,” when describing sex, for example.

Unlike Hyde, Jackie has said, “Anyways,” with an S, but she mostly says, “Anyway” without the S. She doesn’t curse all that much. When she does curse, she really means it.

Unfortunately, she uses a lot of slut-shaming language. Most of the characters on T7S do. That’s a consequence of T7S’s writers finding that humor funny. I try not to have the characters speak that way unless it’s going to be called out by another character or in a character’s thoughts.

Jackie probably thinks a mile a minute, which sometimes leads her to digress from her main topic while speaking.

Eric

Eric expresses his feelings pretty easily, but he can be hyperbolic. Examples: “This is the worst day ever.” “This is the [FILL IN THE BLANK] in the history of time.”

Like Hyde, he’s sarcastic. According to Red, he’s a smart mouth. Kitty has called him a porky mouth on more than one occasion. In “Burning Down the House” (2x15), for instance, he says about Jackie’s party, “You know what might make this party a little more fun? Sweet death.”

Depending on his mood and whom he’s with, his dialogue can either be compassionate or insensitive and sometimes a bit cruel. Sometimes his wit his biting. Others, it’s corny. E.g., he doesn’t like and resents Hyde’s girlfriend, Jill, in “The Third Wheel” (4x11) and calls her both Terri Tube Top and Yoko.

But he can also be nervous and lack confidence, which will make him hem and haw while talking. He’ll interrupt his speech using, “You know,” several times in one sentence or pauses. E.g., “We … barely knew.”

He sometimes uses antiquated language like m’lady and ‘tis I.

He makes quite a few Star Wars and comic book references.

Topher Grace’s comedic timing and line delivery adds a lot to his dialogue, and it’s possible to emulate that in prose. Again, watch some significant episodes for Eric and take note of his speech patterns and word choices.

Donna

Donna has a quick temper, but she also usually recognizes and owns her mistakes quickly. She has an easy time expressing her anger and frustration, as well as more loving and affectionate feelings. But she’s not a crier. She often expresses her sadness through frustration or anger. Not always, though.

She has a very playful and silly side. She can be as witty as Eric, but in anger she can make some odd metaphors. E.g., “He’s an ass, and you’re an ass – ‘cause the ass doesn’t fall far from the ass tree!” (From “Jackie Bags Hyde”.)

Dillhole and get bent are part of her idiolect. She also peppers her sentences with the filler word like (which should be set off by commas).

Kelso

Kelso’s language is dictated by his impulses, what he’s interested in at that very moment, and his unique POV about the world. He’s very excitable, which leads him to expressing himself as efficiently as possible – in terms of language, not ideas. . E.g., “You gotta see this!” not “You’ve got to see this!”

He comes up with bizarre scenarios and ideas, which is usually adds humor to an episode.

His egoism and narcissism color his dialogue. E.g., “You know what your problem is? I’m too good-looking.”

He’s emotionally immature for his age, and he often speaks like he’s thirteen, not eighteen. (Sorry to the mature thirteen-year-olds out there; I know there’s plenty of you.)

Fez

Fez alternates between using contractions and not using them. E.g., “I do not think you should do that,” vs. “I don’t think you should do that.”

He’ll express his emotions melodramatically. Even when he’s trying to “keep it all inside,” he’s over the top while explaining that this is what he’s doing.

He’ll say, “Ai,” when he’s upset or hurt or worried. I chose the Ai spelling instead of Ay because Fez’s native language isn’t Spanish, despite Wilmer Valderrama being the one portraying him. Just like Jackie’s eyes are brown, despite Mila Kunis’s eyes – at the time of T7S – being two different colors.

On the show, Fez’s dialogue is often used to break the tension with humor.

“You sonuvabitch!” and “Good day. I said good day!” are two of his catchphrases.

He’ll talk about his country, and what it’s like there, without every saying where he’s actually from.

His characterization varies, depending on the season. I’m not a fan of his post-Rhonda personality. In the early seasons, he isn’t a perv so much as someone who doesn’t know how far to push a joke. He’s trying to fit in with his friends, and the cultural differences cause him confusion.

He can be poetic and romantic.

Red

Red is similar to Hyde and Donna. He doesn’t express his feelings easily, save anger and frustration. To Kitty, however, he can be very sweet. To Hyde, he’ll dispense wisdom (and he practically cried in “Hyde’s Father” [3x03] when telling Hyde he’ll always have a place in his house, etc.). To Eric – well, that is one contentious relationship.

He was in the navy during World War II and the Korean War, and that colors his POV. He’s not politically correct, but writing that aspect of him … it’s a fine line. He’s not racist so much as xenophobic, which stems from his experiences in the navy and his somewhat extreme patriotism.

Honestly, watch pretty much any episode of his from seasons 2-4, and you’ll understand his voice quickly. The Red of season 1 is quite different, more nuanced – and I actually prefer it, but alas. That Red makes a guest appearance in “Hyde’s Birthday” (4x23), but he’s more of a hardass post-S1. After season 4, his character begins to become even less nuanced. And during season 7, he’s sometimes very OOC.

Kitty

She’s compassionate and a little cartoony. She’s wise in certain areas and naive in others. She’s smart and savvy – until the show devolves her in the later seasons.

To get her speech pattern and idiolect, “Vanstock” (2x06), “Kitty and Eric’s Night Out” (2x18), ,“Red Sees Red” (3x01), and “Kitty’s Birthday” (3x17) are good episodes to watch.

I hope this helps! :D

#That 70s Show #That '70s Show #Jackie x Hyde #Eric Forman #Michael Kelso #Fanfic Advice #Writing Advice #My Meta #My Essay #Meta #Essay #Ask #Anon

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lizabethstucker · 3 years

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Asimov's Science Fiction (March/April 2017)

Digging into my backlot of science fiction magazines. A mixture of verse and stories. I've only reviewed and rated the stories. This particular issue is the 40th Anniversary one! 3.8 out of 5 "Soulmates.com" by Will McIntosh Daniel wants someone to share his life with, to love and be loved by. When he meets Winnie through a dating app, he thinks she could be the one almost immediately. Emily, his former girlfriend and current best friend, is more suspicious, doing a deep dive on who Winnie could be. Which, considering they never meet in person despite Winnie being in Atlanta and Daniel in Athens, not that long a drive, is valid. Starts extremely slowly, assumingly to establish the characters. Not my favorite way as most writers don't do a good job at it. I'm not entirely certain that this is actually science fiction, despite the use of Artificial Intelligence. As to Daniel, I found him to be incredibly childish, blind, immature, and boring. He learned absolutely nothing from his experience. I struggled to complete this novella. 2.5 out of 5 "Number Thirty-Nine Skink" by Suzanne Palmer It started simply enough, an expedition designed to bring life in balance to an empty planet. Then the humans left suddenly, leaving Mike willingly behind with Kadey whose programming makes the creatures populating the area. When Mike dies of cancer, Kadey continues her work. Until the night something changes. Poor Kadey, struggling with loneliness, possibly incomplete programming, and the knowledge hidden from her regarding why the humans left. Sad, yes, but with a more hopeful ending that is also a beginning. Lovely story, so well written. 4.5 out of 5 "Three Can Keep a Secret..." by Bill Johnson & Gregory Frost A convoluted tale of assassins, misdirection, love, greed, and con-artistry with an almost noir feel to it. It's almost impossible to give a synopsis that isn't chockful of spoilers. The first person narrator isn't totally reliable, but still intriguing in what he shares. I loved this more than I expected with this strange little story. FYI, in case you don't know, the title is from an old saying. Three can keep a secret if two of them are dead. 4.5 out of 5 "The Ones Who Know Where They Are Going" by Sarah Pinsker A child must suffer so the city can be happy, or so they say. One particular child is taken from her mother, locked away in the dark with no social interaction beyond the delivery of food. As time passes, language is lost and memories of a happier time begin to fade. Then one day the door isn't shut tightly and the child gets out of the tiny dark room. She crawls up the stairs, each step bringing back a particular memory, heading for freedom. But at what cost? Rip my heart out, why don't you? Two and a half pages of the most gut-wrenching narrative. The tightly woven writing is painfully descriptive. And the ending! Oh, the ending. I just cannot deal with it. 5 out of 5 "Invasion of the Saucer-Men" by Dale Bailey Teenagers have been foiling alien invasions for some time. After all, the adults are either locked in their homes consuming television or would dismiss the very idea of aliens. The newest landing of a flying saucer bonds together teens out at the local make-out point. Per the author, his idea was to take the cheesy sci-fi and horror movie titles of the 1950s and treat the core idea with some emotional and thematic nuance. Here we have a group of teen archetypes, from the football star to the nerds to the beauty. There are also the followers that are always found in high school. This brings back memories of too many cheesy nights at the drive-ins in my county. I've always found my sympathies fell with the aliens most of the time, faced with humans whose first response to the unknown was always violence. Horrible ending to this story. Horrible. CW: extremely graphic attack. 3 out of 5 "Kitty Hawk" by Alan Smale After receiving word of her brother's death, Katharine Wriht travels from Ohio to North Carolina to help her other brother. Instead of Orville preparing to pack up for the trip home with his beloved

brother's body, he is trying to continue with the flight experiments that killed Wilbur. Katharine finds herself engaged in helping, even learning to fly herself. This is a complete AU of the Wright Brothers and the birth of flight, through World War I and the suffrage movement. The writing is evocative of the time period and the dangers of experimental flight. I don't know why it didn't click with me, but I struggled quite a bit in reading this imaginative tale. I can see others enjoying this greatly, just not me. 3 out of 5 "Cupido" by Rich Larson Marcel is a genius at chemistry. He came up with a way to make pheromones specific to the pair he's paid to bring together, either by one of the potential couple or by a third party. The majority of the money he charges goes to pay for his grandmother's colon cancer treatment. As word gets around, he finds himself moving to smaller cities to avoid identification. As yet, what he does isn't illegal. He didn't expect to find himself attracted to his potential mark. Frankly, I don't consider this to be science fiction at all. The science is already viable. Add the consent issues which would be called dubcon (dubious consent) and I'm too busy cringing to enjoy. In my mind, Marcel is anything but a hero. 3 out of 5 "A Singular Event in the Fourth Dimension" by Andrea M. Pawley Olive was removed from the reducer pile, adopted by a childless couple to help stave off loneliness. Now that the second grandmother is living with them and Mama was pregnant, Olive is worried that she will be sent back to the pile, no longer needed. A loving, imaginative little android who believes in fairy dust, even if the fairies never seem to do anything magical like in the stories. Love doesn't have to be limited to just humans or blood relations. Sweet and touching. 4.5 out of 5 "The Wisdom of the Group" by Ian R. MacLeod There are theories and studies about group-think, how certain groups can intuit a trend or coming situation without any real knowledge. With the right group, the members could get wealthy or probably save the world, depending on their inclination. Samuel has been part of such a group since brought in by his professor while still in university. Now, years later, Samuel is wealthy, has a liv-in lover, three dogs with unfortunate names, and a gorgeous house in Washington state. But something is wrong, something that seems to be originating from Samuel. The response is usually to cut the wrong out of the group. A complicated basis for a disturbing story. I had to sit on this one for a while in order to determine what I felt about it. Definitely strong writing, could almost be considered psychological horror. I don't know if I would ever say that I liked it, but I recognize the work done and the uniqueness of the story. 3.5 out of 5 "After the Atrocity" by Ian Creasey Abu Hameed, the terrorist behind the attack that left ten thousand people dead, has also died during interrogation. The solution? A machine that can make exact copies, complete with memories, of an individual. Violet Ruiz, operator and creator of the machine, even made a duplicate of herself in order to work 24/7. As Hameed's copies die during the enhanced interrogation, more copies are needed. Soon Violet II wonders about the ethical implications. Well thought out consideration of just how far a nation is willing to go in search of revenge wrapped in the disguise of intel. Patriot Act, enhanced interrogation the Greater Good, dismantling both Habeas Corpus and the Geneva Convention, anyone? 4 out of 5 "Goner" by Gregory Norman Bossert In order to explore space, humans had to be converted from flesh into nanotechnology based creatures. The pilots call themselves Goners. Char's best friend's father is a Goner. Already fascinated with the idea of flying, Char uses a sliver of Pilot Clark to begin changing. While this is complete in itself, the story also begs for more. What is happening to Char? Will he be allowed to live his dreams despite his age? S fascinating a concept. 3.5 out of 5 "We Regret the Error" by Terry

Bisson A series of news corrections from the future. So many corrections, even some corrections of corrections. Taken individually, these are amusing. Pieced together, there is a much deeper story playing out. Oh, and a nice dig at Disney's well-known history of not paying some of their artists for their work. 3 out of 5 "Tao Zero" by Damien Broderick Teenagers, incredibly smart ones, have unprotected sex after winning $370 million in the Mega Millions lottery. The celebration leads to a child, the narrator, and the money to try to trap the Tao, the Way that cannot be named, inside a machine. I tried, I really tried to read this without success. After rereading the first two pages over and over in an attempt to struggle through, I put the story aside, hoping to pick it back up when refreshed. Didn't work. DNF

#magazine review #science fiction #Asimov's Science Fiction

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nonsubstantial · 7 years

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EVERY ALBUM I LOVED FROM 2016

alright. long list, but if you’re looking for music recommendations, save this somewhere. and fyi, these aren’t just albums I simply liked. every album on this list I loved, meaning that I probably listened to it at least 5 times, and that it had some special significance to me as a listener. I’ll start with the best first, and go roughly in order of importance. Lastly, the best way to know what you’ll like is just to listen, so I linked one song from each.

1. Danny Brown - Atrocity Exhibition

10 out of 10. My favorite album of 2016, and all time. Danny Brown became a pretty prolific name amongst people discussing experimental hip hop following his 2012 album, XXX, which focused on themes drug abuse, poverty, and the music industry... but with a uniquely personal and self reflective take. What interested me most was that his commentary on working with music could be abstracted into analysis of all forms of art, and I feel like that refreshingly analytical perspective, interspersing crude humour and bleak narratives, was what cemented the album as the classic it is today. His new album though, surpassed even that. The narrative depth here is on another fucking level. Everything I just praised XXX for is also true of Atrocity Exhibition, but instead of being drawn to certain standout moments on the album (like I was with XXX), literally the entire album feels like a standout moment. Every song carries a unique tone and a deep story worthy of intense investigation, and each is different and memorable, even compared to the other songs on the album. That variety means that no matter what mood I’m in, I can usually find some emotional payoff in at least one track. However, the album as a whole is not without a narrative thread. And that thread is Danny Brown himself. XXX invited us the see the humanity behind his music, and even if one couldn’t agree with or appreciate every set of bars, it still allowed for appreciation of Danny Brown as a fellow human being; to find value in learning from his flaws, which he was never shy about. He went as far as to ask in a chorus “what the fuck I got to lie for?”. His personality is explored to an even greater, and even more authentic extent on Atrocity Exhibition. Not to mention that if you appreciate experimental and meticulous production, this album delivers what feels like the contemporary payoff of the entire music industry’s sound refinement efforts over the past few decades. Every song is a fucking treat, genre blending ear candy for people who seek a wide variety of sound and style. A type of detail in its creation that still pays off even on my (presumably) 100th listen. Barring the specifics of what makes each individual song so great, in my honest opinion, it doesn’t get any better than this.

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2. The Drones - Feelin Kinda Free

This album goes hard as hell. In the way that Danny Brown’s album reflects upon the self, this album reflects upon society, and easily delivers more intelligent and elegiac political commentary than I could ever imagine writing into music. Taman Shud (linked) has got to be my favorite song of the entire year, addressing sensationalism in politics and media by using a notably Australian example to show how generalizing nuanced issues for the sake of appealing to the greatest audience of laypeople surrenders authenticity and impedes efforts of finding suitably nuanced solutions to those problems... and the rest of the album isn’t subdued either. I need also to mention the song Shut Down SETI, because not only does it reflect exactly why my massive childhood interest in extraterrestrials eventually tapered out, but I think that many things can be explained as the product of subtle egotism, and it’s important to try to analyze our behavior through that lens. The instrumentation is nice change of pace for this band, since their iconic blues guitar lead really met its apex on their 2013 album, I See Seaweed, and fortunately, the band was diligent enough to make it sound like they’ve always been producing this kind of eccentric noise rock.

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3. Street Sects - End Position

Contender for the most fucked up album on this list. It’s a roller coaster of horror and industrial noise, but it’s not without something deep to say. I think it ends up being profound in the way that it combines horror at the implicit ideological failings of society with horror at the explicit violence committed by people in society who feel forsaken. I don’t think I’ve ever started listening to this album and not felt compelled to keep listening for as long as possible. The wide variety of samples and noises keep it constantly interesting, and the tone of both those samples and the vocal performances flow as water from one idea to the next. In fact, every song bleeds into the next, and the album’s tension never slows down completely until about halfway through the last song, where its roller coaster finally screeches to a halt.

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4. Kero Kero Bonito - Bonito Generation

The most personally uplifting album on this list. One of Kero Kero Bonito’s previous songs, Sick Beat, is notable for being the greatest video gamer anthem ever produced, but unfortunately I felt like the rest of that first album lacked the kind of depth that the single had. All of the songs on their newest album, however, are memorable and thought provoking in the same way that Sick Beat was. Their oldest song that made it onto this project, Picture This, is about how the ability to take photos and selfies has become fundamental to our understandings of ourselves and others. Every word of that song is massively important, and manages to do justice to both the intimacy of creating art and the delight in being able to share it. One other song, Graduation, is literally about graduating from college, and holy shit if it didn’t perfectly encapsulate my experience of receiving my undergrad degree, the very same semester that the song came out, complete with both my enthusiasm and disillusionment towards the college experience!! I also can’t stop gaily repeating the line from Break, where the singer, Sarah Midori Perry, casually croons “I’ve got a smile on my face. cause now I’m taking a break” ... every time I, you know, take a break. I honestly can’t recommend this enough. Every song is deeply memorable, motivating, and motivated in its own intent: to portray life as beautiful and vibrant.

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while 1-4 are masterpieces that have affected me on a deeply personal level, 5-11 I would still consider artistic successes that excel in almost every way. I loved every song on these albums and highly encourage everyone to listen:

5. Death Grips - Bottomless Pit

6. Lemon Demon - Spirit Phone

7. Run The Jewels - Run The Jewels 3

8. Weezer - The White Album

9. Vektor - Terminal Redux

10. Ştiu Nu Ştiu - Fake End

11. Fire! - She Sleeps, She Sleeps

the rest of this list I still highly enjoyed and would still highly recommend. while I don’t think they’re as profound as 1-11, I have consistently enjoyed them and I hope to relisten to them many more times:

12. Deerhoof - The Magic

13. G.L.O.S.S. - TRANS DAY OF REVENGE

14. case/lang/viers - case/lang/viers

15. Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool

16. Uyama Hiroto - freeform jazz

17. Show Me The Body - Body War

18. Cult Of Luna and Julie Christmas - Mariner

19. Frankie Cosmos - Next Thing

20. Crying - Beyond the Fleeting Gales

21. Young Thug - Slime Season 3

22. The Body - No One Deserves Happiness

23. Childish Gambino - “Awaken, My Love!”

24. Blank Banshee - MEGA

25. Princess nokia - 1992

26. Nine Inch Nails - Not The Actual Events

27. Katie Dey - Flood Network

28. The Dillinger Escape Plan - Dissociation

29. A Tribe Called Quest - We got it from Here... Thank You 4 Your Service

30. The Dear Hunter - Act V: Hymns With The Devil In Confessional

31. Kendrick Lamar - Untitled Unmastered.

32. Beyoncé - Lemonade

33. Jerry Paper - Toon Time Raw!

34. The Avalanches - Wildflower

35. KRIMEWATCH - demo

36. Xenia Rubinos - Black Terry Cat

37. Ulcerate - Shrines of Paralysis

38. The Caretaker - Everywhere at the end of time

#i'll probably reblog this a couple of times #music recommendation #albums #2016 #SAVE AND SHARE IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR NEW MUSIC

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ais-n · 7 years

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Hi ais! I've just finished re-reading icos and I once again feel so sad that it's over again. Do you have any nook recommendations or books that you like?

Aww thank you for reading ICoS the first time, let alone rereading it! That’s sweet of you

I could have sworn at some point I compiled a list (which I was going to link only because I have the worst memory and forget things I love whenever I try to list it all) but I can’t find anything! What the hey.

So, I made a list below the cut :D I broke it up between M/M, nonfiction, fiction, YA, and anime/manga. You should know ahead of time that I tend to read mostly manga or nonfiction, and/or I tend to gravitate toward “darker” stories or stories that deal with a lot of nuance and complexity. I don’t tend to gravitate toward stories that are really black and white (but idk about the ones I mentioned from when I was a preteen/teen because it’s been so long since I read them).

That may tell you if you might like any of these or not :) I wrote a little about the book by most of the names to give you a bit more of an idea.

Hopefully at least one of these looks interesting to you :) Let me know if you need links on something if you can’t find it, or if you want a bit more of an explanation on anything. Some (honestly, most) of these books I haven’t read in forever but others I periodically reread just because I

BOOKS BOOKS AND MORE BOOKS BELOW

**M/M:**

All for the Game series by Nora Sakavic - m/m, super awesomesauce series, it’s my fave in general. First book free, second 2 books 99 cents each. Nora was having some issues with the first book not being on the site with the rest so I put it on my site until she’s got that figured out, so people can still read the series. Get the first book here: http://aisylum.com/tfc/ and then I link the other books on there.

Raised by Wolves series by W.A. Hoffman - m/m, this one is a very different series and style of storytelling. I personally adore this series but it’s also the sort of thing some people may not be into for various reasons. But for me, I read the series all the way through and instantly started over and reread it all again. First book is Brethren.

**NONFICTION:**

anything by Simon Singh but especially The Code Book and Big Bang - these are nonfiction books and if that makes you go “UGH NO WAY” then know that Simon writes nonfiction like fiction so they’re really great and easy reads, plus you get lots of great info. Also, The Code Book is what I used as research for Jeffrey’s knowledge base + the whole thing with the message in Evenfall and the OTP comment. (If you’re like “Hey yeah what WAS all that about?” I answered it here.) (Also also, if you saw Imitation Game, then you should know that the Code Book covers at least part of the same history as that movie)

Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder (follows the story of one of my favorite humans, Paul Farmer who founded/co-founded Partners in Health which is one of my favorite charities) also Tracy writes other books that look intriguing to me but I haven’t read yet.

Erik Larson - Devil in the White City, Thunderstruck, and other books by him – he, like Simon, writes nonfiction in a way that reads very easily like fiction. I like the way he interweaves various stories of various people into one book. Devil in the White City might be my favorite of his that I’ve read? Mostly because it combines architecture + America’s first serial killer + the 1893 Chicago World Fair and all of these things make me go YES PLX

Troublemaker by Leah Remini and Rebecca Paley - this is about scientology; I listened on audiobook–it was interesting and informative

Also, I listened to Dan and Phil’s first book (The Amazing Book is Not on Fire) on audiobook and that was also entertaining–although if you have no idea who tf Dan and Phil are, that may be less entertaining to you lol

Death’s Acre, or Beyond the Body Farm, by William Bass and Jon Jefferson - so, Bill Bass is super interesting, tl;dr is he’s a frontrunner in forensic anthropology, these books are about a farm people donate their bodies to where they decompose in various states to help forensic anthropologists learn more on decomposition which then helps in murder trials and elsewhere. If you’re into forensic anthropology, check out Bill Bass

Dismembered by Susan Mustafa and Sue Israel - this is true crime about a serial killer in Louisiana. It is, therefore, quite graphic and you should heed the title as quite accurate representation of what you will be reading about in the book. But if serial killers or true crime intrigue you, I really liked this book and have been on the lookout by more from these ladies. I thought it was written well and told the story well.

**FICTION:**

books by Jefferson Bass - there’s a whole series called the Body Farm series or something. Jefferson Bass is the combo if the two people for Death’s Acre, except that pseudonym is for their fiction series based on scientific reality/facts. It’s a pretty interesting series from what I recall but I never finished it. But if you like forensic anthropology and want to read a sort of murder mystery/detective type of series written by an actual acclaimed forensic anthropologist with all the science being legit, this is your series

Tony Foster series by Tanya Huff (starts with Smoke and Shadows) - ok so, Tanya Huff was SUPER nice the one time I messaged her. I like her a lot as a person. I will say that this series is not the actual best writing you will ever read–BUT Tony Foster is such a freaking great narrator that I love the series. Also, Tony’s a gay male which is always cool to have as a lead, especially in a sort of fantasy like this :)

Sandman comics by Neil Gaiman – honestly, just about anything you pick up by Neil Gaiman will be good. I’d have to reread all the books to say which is my favorite but I do recall liking Good Omens a lot, which he cowrote with Terry Pratchett. But Sandman is what got me into graphic novels, eventually manga (because I was used to reading GNs by then) and Neil Gaiman as a whole. I fucking love Sandman and will forever recommend it, but it’s a GN so it may not translate well to nook? idk

Speaking of Terry Pratchett, if you like stories that are easy to read and oftentimes have a fair amount of humor infused into them, I recommend him and probably any of his books but my particular recommendation would be Mort as well as the Sam Vines books. I think the first time we see Sam Vines is in the Guards! Guards! book.

Otherland series by Tad Williams - ok in all honesty, I never finished the series (got partially through 3rd of 4 books) and it’s been probably 20 years since I read them, so maybe my opinion would be different now. But Otherland was such an interesting sci-fi ish series which I honestly think is probably going to end up being somewhat realistic to our future. Basically, VR is a thing and people choose to live there instead of in reality sometimes, and now people are dying IRL because their bodies are wasting away and a diverse group of people from around the world get together in the virtual world to try to figure out what’s happening and how to stop it, but they don’t realize the politics and danger involved. Why didn’t I finish reading, you wonder? It’s because I read this series when I was a teenager when it first came out, and I think when I read reading the 3rd book the 4th hadn’t even been written yet. Anyway I was suuuuuper engrossed in the series–so much that when a certain thing happens related to my favorite character in the series, I was too emotionally affected by it I set the book aside to take a moment to reset my emotions before continuing, and then I just…. never continued…. ^^;; I got too distracted by other series but I always plan to finish it. Also side note, Tad Williams is a super nice author who actually wrote back to little teen me(!), taking my email seriously and encouraging me to write. Also side side note, Tad Williams wrote a bunch of books and I recall liking all of his fantasy series I read too but I don’t think I’ve read all his stuff.

Tamir Triad by Lynn Flewelling - first book: Bone Doll’s Twin. It’s been a while since I read this (as is the case for pretty much everything on this whole list) but I remember thinking this was a really interesting trilogy with a rather unique story, especially for the time this was written. If you ever read Lynn’s other book series (Nightrunner, m/m) then know that the Tamir Triad is set in the past of the Nightrunner world, by I don’t remember 500 years or something– also it’s written TOTALLY different than Nightrunner. The two styles are like night and day; if you don’t like the Nightrunner style, totally give Tamir a chance. If you do like Nightrunner, I still think you should read the Tamir books because I think they’re better, even though I did like Nightrunner in the beginning :)

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire. This book is the inspiration for the wildly popular musical Wicked (which I also recommend you see because it’s omggggg

**YA:**

The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer - for the most part, I quite like this series. It’s a very easy to read YA series that re-imagines the Disney Princess/fairy tale female leads into a sort of cyberpunk Earth with space adventure future. Most of the females in this series are pretty strong female characters, leading their own stories, having agency, not being overpowered by the male characters like in their Disney or fairy tale versions. It has kind of a Sailor Moon vibe in some aspects, mostly because Marissa’s a total nerd who loves Sailor Moon lol

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo - this is actually part of a series but tbh I liked Six of Crows more than the other book. Basically this book is a heist novel with young adult MCs. It’s a freaking BEAUTIFUL hardcover btw, like black edged paper and cool illustrations on the chapter pages and omgggggggg so this is one I recommend you buy in print if you like it, rather than just getting the ebook. It has an MC (Kaz Brekker) who I swear to god is like if early Evenfall Boyd and Hsin had a baby lol

Books by Sherryl Jordan - it’s been approximately forever since I read any of these books so maybe my opinion would change if I read them now, but back in the day I loved the fuck out of Sherryl’s books when I found them as a preteen/teen. I remember feeling like a lot of her female characters felt strong or at least I thought they were cool. The main one I remember liking back then is Winter of Fire. Mind you, Sherryl Jordan’s books are now really hard to find–turns out she’s a New Zealand author and a lot of the books went out of print at various times. But if you happen to run across one, you can check her out and see what you think. I mention her because her stories stuck in my head for 20 years.

Mage Heart (and the Chronicles of Dion Trilogy) by Jane Routley. Another one from forever ago–no idea what I would think of this if I read it today but I remember really liking it when I read it as a teenager, and the story has stuck in the back of my head since. I don’t remember a lot about the actual plot, just that I was inspired by the story/world.

Aaaaand that’s probably enough. You’re probably regretting asking XD

There are a couple of other books I remember from when I was really little but you probably don’t care about those lol The only one I’ll mention is Dealing with Dragons by Patricia Wrede - that’s the first book in a YA series. I quite like Dealing with Dragons, but tbh I was really frustrated by the other books. You could read just the first if you wanted to check it out.

Lastly, if you like manga/anime at all, here are some other recs: fave anime/manga recs, plus here’s another good manga

#ask ais #book recs #book recommendations #Anonymous

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laurenredhead · 6 years

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Marx Music

The BCMG opened their programme this year with a series of concerts in Birmingham and Trier celebrating the 200th Anniversary of Karl Marx. The music in these concerts comprised large ensemble pieces, duets, and acousmatic/sound art pieces. The ensemble frequently referenced that the programmes were made up of 14 new works which, on reflection, did bear repeating since when I thought of similar projects - on other themes, by other organisations - I most often recalled programmes that were a selection of older works with a few newer pieces. So, as well as to its theme, this project really revealed a commitment towards new work both by supporting it and then by supporting the pieces by performing each on more than once. The BCMG’s programme was made up of a mixture of commissions and works received from an international call for scores leading to prizes awarded in three categories (large ensemble, small ensemble, sound art).

I am not on facebook, and so missed some apparent controversy about whether the BCMG should have chosen this topic or not. Aside from the inflammatory nature of such social media debates, there doesn’t seem to be any question that this could be – and, indeed, was – a fruitful artistic topic. The concerts fitted into a year-long programme of events in Trier that examine Marx’s relationship with his birthplace and the cultural heritage linked to such a relationship; the pieces presented by BCMG reflected a range of topics from the artistic, to the personal, to the political (past and contemporary). The concerts certainly presented the topic as a multi-layered and nuanced one, and also one that was musically fruitful. After the season launch in Birmingham (I wasn’t at that event), three concerts were presented in Trier. I don’t have space here to describe every piece so instead I’m choosing to write particularly about those that particularly appealed to me.

Cecilia Arditto’s music was a real discovery for me over the weekend. Her prize-winning piece, The Dearest Dream, brought together elements of spectralism and feminism through the inclusion of particular objects and gestures that have both a musical and a symbolic meaning. She spoke about the importance of Marx’s ideas in various resistance movements in Argentina, with specific reference to the feminist movement (symbolised by the colour green) and the movement for the separation of church and state (symbolised by the colour orange). In the piece, these ideas could be found in what she describes as an ‘anti-soloist’ part for the percussionist, who performs using various objects including fans, a sweeping brush, a tin can, and a ‘rainstick’ sound using plastic glasses and lentils. Visually, these objects symbolised a ‘poverty’ within the ensemble – for example, she described the four tin cans that are operated by with strings as a ‘string quartet’ – and also various aspects of struggle (after hearing her talk, the orange lentils spoke a lot more clearly, and seeing the percussionist sweeping away also spoke to the theme of the piece). However, beyond this visual symbolism, the work also invited consideration of the project’s themes through its sound, which was often delicate and studied. Beginning from a single note, the music opened to close and then more open harmonies that spoke to admitting many voices; the including of the often quiet and delicate sounds of the objects was carefully managed as an equal role within the ensemble. Where sometimes the use of objects in a composition can seem like a gimmick, the music only had more to offer on a second listening.

I’m clearly already familiar with Alistair Zaldua’s music, but I hope that it is acceptable to say here that I enjoyed the ensemble’s treatment of his piece. The piece manifesto is for 14 instruments and a spoken part which was performed by baritone Marcus Farnsworth. It would me a mistake to think that a part for spoken voice is easier than that for a singer. As well as some rhythmic complexity, and various theatrical modes of delivery, the piece presented the text in ways that were at times in opposition to the ensemble and at times as a single voice within it. I’m aware that it’s commonly assumed that in any music that uses text, the text should always be heard as the most prominent voice, but that wasn’t what was intended here. Alistair spoke about how multiple small variations of the primary fragment of text were used and quasi-repeated throughout the work to present many possible meanings and interpretations of a specific idea from The Communist Manifesto (that the historical conditions need to be right for revolution, and that the working class would need to work together to achieve this), and how this ‘voice’ becomes one of many ‘voices’ within the ensemble who perform a chordal and harmonic material in a way that gains momentum throughout the piece. This working-together was clear in both Trier and Birmingham, even though the sonic relationship between the voice and ensemble differed in different kinds of spaces.

The work of conductor Michael Wendeberg was commendable throughout the project: the music performed was extremely varied and required, in many cases, a lot of physical effort. Nevertheless, his work brought out many of the unique aspects of the individual works, particularly, for example, in Frédéric Pattar’s Deflation - Eine Kleine Marxmusik (a piece whose title doesn’t do it justice) which was extremely quiet and dealt with subtle and distant changes of sound. This music in particular benefitted from the direct environment of the CBSO centre, in which the performance became much more intimate.

Kaspar Querfurth’s Bloßes Zubehör der Maschine – a commission rather than a prize winner - was, for me, the most interesting all of the duet pieces. This piece for baritone and bass flute was tightly-knitted and required a particular ensemble work to bring out its many aspects. In each phrase the flautist performs a variety of techniques in as a fluent musical expression that intertwines with, harmonises, and sometimes contradicts the voice part. Flautist Veronika Klirova offered an excellent performance that was, many times, almost vocal and although we heard Marcus Farnsworth both sing and speak in other works this piece was an opportunity for him to demonstrate his ability in contemporary vocal techniques.

Another of the BCMG commissions, Robert Reid Allan’s work Terry Helens’s Revolutionary Dreams for large ensemble offered a much more theatrical take on the theme. He worked with Gareth Mattey who created a libretto-like text for the piece. On seeing the text in the programme, I wondered how the amount of it would be managed in the duration of the performance and, in fact, the piece was more like an opera scene than an art song. At times other musicians in the ensemble contributed to the delivery of the text which was mostly, impressively, performed by soprano Elizabeth Atherton. Alternation between speaking (as ‘interludes’) and singing (as ‘dreaming’) offered some slightly surreal reflections on the mundanity of day to day life as compared with utopian ideals, and the role of the past, present and future in considering such ideals in the present day. The music itself was quite complex, in that there were multiple layers and senses of time within the progress of the piece, and this was managed well by both the composer and the musicians who maintained the sense of drama and strangeness.

These two commission pieces showed good consideration of handling the text and timing – which was not the case throughout the concerts. It will continue to amaze that some composers have seemingly no sense of time, or else simply disregard the duration of their pieces. This has a clear knock-on effect to the work of musicians and the time taken over the presentation of not only their own but all of the music – something that resonates with the theme behind Celeste Oram’s work presented in this series. The venues were perhaps not considered ideal for all of the music, and Celeste Oram’s piece Pierrot Laborieux, for example, did not fare as well since its electronic elements weren’t communicated as clearly as she probably would have liked. That performance, however, is derived from an installation titled work & The Work that examines the real conditions of musicians’ working lives in contrast to, and as a part of, the creation of musical ‘works’. That installation was in Trier although I didn’t get to it; it will now be at the V&A in London. Its description is particularly interesting to me, so I hope to get to it and experience her ideas more directly that I did during the concert.

Of the sound art works, the piece by Aldo Brizzi presented a clear and audible relationship to Marx through its intermedial relationship to Luigi Nono in its construction and sonic materials. The music of this work was sensitively constructed both in the nature of the sound and the music’s structure. A further piece by Christophe Lambert engaged my interest in Sprachmusik, presenting text in English, French, German and Spanish. The text was a quote from Marx, reflecting on the length of the working day. Stephan Fricke, who introduced the piece in Trier, made the point that although working conditions in Western Europe are much improved from those described by Marx, in other places in the world the same or worse conditions are still being experienced. The music presented individual speaker voices, and the use of different languages presented how such information can be both ‘familiar’ and ‘other’, as well as how something that seems ‘neutral’ (such as speaking numbers) becomes ‘political’ in the context of voicing something such as the length of the working day. These materials were sparsely and sensitively handled.

It was unfortunate that a misunderstanding between the organisers and the gallery meant that the sound art works presented on the Saturday night were affected by a lack of equipment. The three pieces were heard in a mono format which left me wondering about aspects of the music (such as space) that were not rendered so well. These works will be broadcast on German radio and re-presented at a concert at The Dome at the University of Birmingham on 29th September. At that concert, they’ll experience the treatment from the mini-Beast system – probably about as far away from a mono performance as you can get – and so I think this opportunity to hear these works will be worth it for anyone who can make it.

The project offered the opportunity for an interesting comparison between the spaces in Trier (historical buildings, shiny surfaces!) and the CBSO centre (modern building, acoustically treated). The latter is certainly an excellent space for contemporary music, as the sound is very direct. This room, therefore, brought out for me aspects of the music that weren’t so clear in the performances in Trier. But the spaces in Trier were also able to offer something different to some of the pieces, too, and created an immersive atmosphere in the concerts even when the music could have been seen to be out-of-place in its slightly imperial surroundings. Overall, this has been an interesting and fruitful musical experience for me; one that was brought to life by informed and engaged musicians, and I was very glad to hear many of the pieces more than once. Radio broadcasts (on German radio) are planned so there will likely be future opportunities to hear this music.

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