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subzeroparade · 6 months

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What's a ballet with real snazzy costume work, in your humble and/or professional opinion? c:

Oh, you’ve activated my trap card - asking about costume design and ballet and not expecting me to barf up the entirety of my PhD. I’ve also done work on the ballet blancs costumes (Giselle and La Sylphide specifically) but they are interesting on a theoretical level and not so much visually, so I’ll skip that.

So here are some personal favs of mine - the highlights, if you will. Caveat: long post, and mostly limited to the work of the Ballets Russes, because they are my longtime obsession and I think (and have argued) for their role in fundamentally changing stage and costume design (to say nothing of dance, and George Balanchine can sit the fuck down). I didn’t put that in my thesis but I wanted to.

Anyway tldr in the first decade of the 20th century a troupe of dancers from the Russian Imperial Ballet (later the Mariinsky) travelled through Europe under impresario Serge Diaghilev, for what became known as the Saisons Russes, or Russian Seasons. They performed both opera and ballet, and are probably best remembered today (if at all) as the troupe that danced the premier of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and caused a riot at the Theatre des Champs Elysées. The eminent artists that worked with them include Debussy, Cocteau, Picasso, Chanel - and these are only a few recognisable names. But my focus was primarily on the Russian roots of the ballet, in their visual language and presentation of gender and nationality, more precisely around the work of artist Leon Bakst and dancer Vaslav Nijinsky.

Second image of Nijinsky from Le Dieu Bleu, and Bakst’s set design from Scheherazade (1911). These are mainly photos and scans I have from the year I spent in the archives of the Palais Garnier (the Paris Opera) where all the good stuff is.

The crux of why these costumes are insanely interesting to me is because they are very specific to their time - they are a product of a resurgence in nationalist interests in Russian art (Diaghilev ran Mir Isskustva and worked with Savva Mamontov before he organised the BR) as well as a carefully crafted, highly artificial presentation of Otherness, expressly destined for export to the west. French audiences in the first decade of the 20th century (because there is a stark cut-off at the beginning of WW1) still had an appetite for Orientalism, despite their flagging colonial power. What the Russians brought them was compelling mix of performative Orientalism just vague enough to be appealing and fantastical, visually intriguing, and refreshing to a society that had otherwise come to recognise itself as decadent, fallen “victim” to modernity. In the athletic virtuosity of Russian bodies, Bakst’s exotic visual language and the soaring music of Rimsky-Korsakov and Stravinsky, the French devoured what they deemed a sort of noble savagery (yes, that kind). Despite the oversaturation of Orientalism in painting throughout the 19th century, the French identified a kind of masculine vigour and freedom in these live performances they found they themselves lacked, and longed for. Primitivism, as demonstrated in myriad ways by the BR, was for them a way to reconnect with a virility that they felt modernity had stolen, or at the very least, weakened. If you think this sounds eerily akin to the discourse around mounting desire for war to “cleanse” or “reset” Europe during that same period, you are right.

A few of Bakst’s lesser known designs from the archive, for context (including a reprod by Barbier which I don’t have the OG of but is saved in my Bakst folder so please take my word for it). I have a thousand more of these but tumblr has an image limit per post 😤

Tamara Karsavina, who often performed with Nijinsky, and one of my most beloved historical figures. The existence of a strong classical ballet cirruculumin the UK today is in part thanks to her.

One of her most famous roles, as the Firebird:

Nijinsky is by far the most interesting figure to come out of the BR. He combined virtuosity and strength (that most audiences identified as masculine) with a glittering, joyful, and expressive queerness on stage (and off). Some of his greatest roles are expressly feminine in their costume design: Le Spectre de La Rose, for example.

There’s a colorised version of this out there where you can see every pink rose petal on him.

While others are much more decorative but still markedly Orientalist (or Russian-Orientalist): Le Dieu Bleu, La Peri, Les Orientales, L’Oiseaux de Feu.

This last image above is not, the last I saw it, in a private collection. It hangs above the vestibule of the Palais Garnier archives (also Napoleon’s private hangout room) where it faces the sort of “diptych” version that features Karsavina, and on occasion I would stand below them and weep quietly).

Either way, there is an argument to be made about Nijinsky’s physicality and, more importantly nationality as a kind of avenue of permission through which the French could admire both his beauty and athleticism and even, to a degree, imagine themselves in his place while still maintaining that safe distance of Otherness.

But I would argue that his greatest role was the Golden Slave in Scheherazade, a wild, erotic orientalist fantasy that has little to nothing to do with the actual tale of Scheherazade. In it, Nijinsky - bejewelled, wild, ecstatic, (and yeah often in blackface) - cavorts with Zobeide, the Sultan’s favourite, in a very sexually explicit storyline. Both characters are equally decorative in their costumes, and both, in real life, were recognisably queer(ed) figures. It’s Scheherazade in particular that helped accelerate an obsessive trend in fashion (Paul Poiret was at the centre) for Orientalist design. Bakst himself did some silhouettes that are hard to distinguish from his costume design, and through the remarkable illustrations by Paul Iribe, Georges Lepape and Georges Barbier, we can see some of the blatant repetition of motif and silhouette in these ensembles that are designed, among other things, to be worn to the theatre.

3rd and 5th are depictions of costumes of the Firebird and Zobeide respectively; the rest are fashion plates. This doesn’t even include the lampshade dress - which I don’t have a handy picture of, but have seen in real life - that is a pretty blatant melange of the Firebird and Zobeide, as designed by Poiret. Below is one of my favourite examples: A woman in a lampshade-style dress, standing against a backdrop not unlike Bakst’s set design above, attended by a archetypal oriental servant wearing Nijinsky’s Golden Slave costume.

These motifs also proliferated in advertisements and in all kinds of other consumer products (perfumes, for example, and decorative objects). Thus, there’s a performative aim in wearing these designs that I read as a sort of pseudo-kinetic empathy (and can funnnily enough probably be compared to cosplay). There is an attempt here to channel what is being presented onstage, to reenact it, to physically embody it, in the way that fashion is, at its core, a tool through which to construct identity. That the French pulled inspiration from an openly queer man leaping across the stage dripping in jewels, and from femme fatal-style odalisques, says a lot about the visual and cultural impact the BR had on the theatre-going public at the time.

You can see in these fan designs by Paquin some pretty obvious references to the BR aesthetic: L’apres-midi d’un faune, Daphnis et Chloe, Scheherazade, even a little Le Pavillon d’Armide in that first one.

Nijinsky was not the only one to queer the stage: despite not being a dancer trained to the level of the BR troupe, Ida Rubinstein, no doubt purposefully channelling Sarah Bernhardt, was also a beloved stage presence, whether as the sly harem favourite Zobeide or as the strikingly androgynous St Sebastian, gayest of saints.

This is not to say there haven’t been wonderful and brilliant costume designs since - and quite a few known fashion designers working alongside dance companies, to great success or otherwise. I will, however, shoutout my favourite contemporary work: Akram Khan’s Giselle, which has everything and yet nothing to do with Adolph Adam’s 1842 piece. I don’t even want to post pictures because the costumes of the nobles (the landowners, in this very apocalyptically late-stage capitalist version) are so fucking breathtaking in relation to the overall design, and their entrance itself is probably one of the most spectacular parts of the ballet, that all I can say is just see it. Or buy the dvd. What Khan does gesturally is beyond words, what Vincenzo Lamagna does with Adam’s original score is visceral and haunting and churns my insides. I make a point to see it live at least once a season when it’s touring with the ENB, and I will do so until it leaves the repertory or until I die. It’s my contemporary Scheherazade. It’s a gesamtkunstwerk.

Tldr Leon Bakst is one of the greatest costume designers of the 19th and 20th century and criminally underrated.

It’s not ballet, and it’s not the sumptuous costumes from Boris Godunov, but as a bonus here’s my favourite image of opera star Fedor Chaliapine as Ivan the Terrible.

#Thank you for the enclosure enrichment #And for coming to the tldr of my thesis #ballets russes #vaslav nijinsky #Leon bakst #fashion design #academic indulgence hour #Art history

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poorly-drawn-mdzs · 23 hours

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i would kill for your de/isat swaps theyre so good already and i am eating it up. so glad im not the only one who saw the parallels 🔥

Thank you! I have been having an absolute blast drawing them; the parallels are too good to not have fun with it!

#ask #Thank you very much for your kind tags on my art! And for the lovely ask; I appreciate it a lot!#I had a friend point out that this was probably one of the nichest things I could draw.#If there is one person out there who sees it and goes 'woo! yeah!' then it is enough. Even if that one person is me!#You can count on me posting more Disco/ISAT swap stuff because it sparks so much joy in me. I have many ideas.#I have to balance out the scales. I need to draw the most specific crossovers that only a small group of people will enjoy.#Enrichment for *my* enclosure.#Apologies to people who thought I would stay on topic with this blog. I'm having my multi-fandom arc and loving it.

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snek-eyes · 4 months

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You recently claimed "there are no stupid questions," so I'd like to know what nail polish/manicure you'd choose for Crowley, Aziraphale, and whoever else from the cast tickles your fancy. :) And does the choice vary if they walk into your salon and tell you it's for a ~date~? :D

Aaaha 😂 okay, to the salon we go! 💅✨

Aziraphale canonically gets his nails done regularly, but I think he'd normally go in for a simple manicure without polish, maybe just a clear coat. He enjoys the experience and the practice of keeping his corporation neat and tidy, but doesn't feel the need for alteration.

That said, if he walks into my hypothetical salon and mentions he's going for a date, I think I could nudge him into something with a subtle bit of sparkle.

(Rumor has it, Portfolio, Hope, Aria)

I doubt he'd actually go for Aria, but I'd suggest it to get a laugh and make the others seem reasonable. And hey, maybe someday!

He'd pick one of the subtle ones and giggle over being daring. And of course, Crowley would actually notice and be impressed by the change.

Crowley I see as a matte black creme for most days, but he's a multichrome guy when he's feeling fancy. Maaaybe some understated shimmer. I don't really feel sparkles for him, but threw a couple in to tempt him with.

(Eclipse, Lights Out, Annabelle, Diablo)

He's briefly intrigued by Diablo, until he notices the name and gets annoyed at falling into a cliche. Maybe if there was something as dark as Annabelle but more red, he's got an aesthetic to maintain, after all.

If we want a touch of angst, for things they'd avoid: I think Aziraphale would have complicated feelings about applying earthly golds to his corporation in such a way. And Crowley would find magnetics that imitate space charming, but find them too lacking to enjoy wearing them himself. Which is a shame, because he could miracle them perfect without having to wait for the dang magnet.

Maggie I see as a person who enjoys the self-care ritual of painting her own nails. She would mostly do solid cremes or jellies, but once in a while she'd enjoy an afternoon playing around with stamping and other cutesy nail art.

(The entire Tea Crèmes collection is so her aesthetic. Stamps from Maniology, those photos are me and I can't currently remember all the colors, but the orange is Zyler The Cat.)

However, in the special occasion that she's going to a shop, I can see her branching out like Aziraphale and having fun with a jelly flakie or a shimmer.

(Gumdrop, Fairy Dust)

Nina initially grumbles about getting dragged along for this hypothetical, but then her eye gets caught by the foils. Maybe she goes with the classic gold, but her coffee shop suggests she likes blue. She spends the rest of the day catching sight of her nails and smiling to herself.

(Skyline, AU)

#and now i must sleep #thank you for the enrichment thrown into my enclosure friend 😆#nobody is immune to starrily au (except maybe the celestials) it is the actual prettiest thing ever #vee replies #fortunes-haven #good omens headcanons #maggie good omens #nina good omens #crowley #aziraphale #v watches good omens

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journey-to-the-attic · 3 months

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@undead-dante submitted:

Rereading jtta.. Ik in her big ass bed

—

she is just a little baby 😔 not her fault lucifer severely overestimated the amount of space one juvenile human would need

#planned it out like 'alright big enclosure with lots of enrichment. big ass tree in the middle that'll do it.'#'little humans run around right. they need lots of room for that. big bed. yeah that should work'#(i know based on nightbringer they already had the guest room as is when they first moved in)#(but i think that's stupid therefore in jtta the guest room used to be a glorified storage room basically)#(and lucifer just bought whatever to make it into what he thought would be a suitable room for a human)#(he was like one misguided research book away from giving her a big water bottle like hamsters have)#submission #undead-dante #thank you for this by the way it's excellent

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tangledinink · 8 months

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man you are on FIRE with the comic updates!! Every single one of them is fantastic and we (the fans) are thriving! Don’t burn yourself out tho please, yes this many updates at once is fun and cool but I hope you’re taking care of yourself too :)

YOU THINK IM DONE!? I HAVE MORE--

#hehehe thank you <3 thats very sweet #i just decided i wanted to do #EVERYTHING TODAY #it was a fun challenge #enrichment for my enclosure #asks #i am also taking care of myself! at least as much as i usually do <3

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swordsmans · 7 months

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so i'm coming from LA and a friend's reccomendation, and i was told zoro keeps the crew's single braincell safe until someone needs it, can you confirm this?

this is definitely a loaded question, because my gut instinct was to say, “no! absolutely not!” he’s plenty smart, but not the keeper of the braincell. he’s the levelheaded backbone of the crew and the voice of reason when circumstances get utterly dire—and he’s an expert at close-range battle strategy—but 99% of the time he is one of the crew’s TOP mayhem mode enablers.

HOWEVER, i can absolutely see how you (and/or your friend) would get that impression from OPLA. despite the delicious violence (and sass!) OPLA zoro gave us, he is significantly less chaotic overall. in some ways, OPLA zoro feels closer to post-timeskip manga zoro—pre-ts manga zoro is just as silly as the rest of the straw hats—

(exhibit A—healing after trying to cut his own legs off)

(exhibit B—going without a coat or shoes on a winter island for “training” reasons, then regretting it a little)

but even after the timeskip (when he gets a bit more serious) he’s still Prime Dumbass (affectionate)

(exhibit A—they’re attempting to infiltrate another country using fake names and… well. 10/10 creativity, guys. absolutely killing it.)

(exhibit B—the joke here is that they’re attempting a stealth mission, but Zoro has just leveled several buildings and left a number of bodies in his wake… and yet…)

—all in all, manga/anime zoro is similar but fundamentally different from OPLA zoro, so the short answer is no, although he does have his turn with the crew braincell (and he’s by no means unintelligent), he’s definitely not the primary braincell holder. he’s way too chaotic for that, and we love him for it (♡-_-♡)

if anyone on the crew holds the braincell for safekeeping, i would argue it’s either nami or jinbei

#answers #i don’t really ever do this with asks but i was FRIED after work and #real talk i presented this ask to the server and it sent everyone into a frenzy #EXTREMELY funny and started like a four hour discussion on zoros character #OPLA zoro vs. manga/anime zoro #then we got on the topic of translations and stuff #thank you for providing enrichment to our enclosure #we were a bunch of greek philosophers debating about zoros baseline braincell holding capabilities #caps from salteytakesonmanga

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shannonsketches · 5 months

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I have a headcanon I'm curious about your opinion on if you don't mind, as I've seen many differing opinions on this.

In BotW, Urbosa brings up Nabooru by name, even stating her to be the namesake of Divine Beast Vah Naboris. The Divine Beasts are also believed to be based off of the masks once worn by the ancient Sages, and to me the way the avatars wear the old sage helms when you put on the Divine Helms all but confirms it.

The Nabooru we know and love, I am not sure how likely it is her name alone survived all the way to Hyrule, especially having the ancient part of TotK being over 10,000 years before the Era of the Wilds, and OoT being even further before that (at least as I headcanon it. Hyrule has been destroyed and refounded before. Why couldn't it have happened again?)

That being said, I believe that while the tale of the Sage of Spirit may not have made it to the creation of the Divine Beasts, her name did, often being a beautiful and strong name for young Gerudo. Eventually this name landed upon the young girl who would eventually grow up to harness the very power of the skies, gaining the graces of the newborn kingdom of Hyrule and fighting against her people's corrupted, demonic king, donning a mask that would inspire a machine that embraced her power and then mothering a bloodline of strong matriarchs who would carry her command over lightning in their blood.

Therefore: I believe that the Sage of Lighting from the Era of Myth is named Nabooru, likely unknowingly sharing the name of another great Gerudo hero from a time long forgotten.

That's a great headcanon, and it works well within your framing! And I agree that there's probably been thousands of children named after the original sages. It sounds solid to me!

I haven't read much on the differing headcanons, so I'm in no place to really compare them opinion-wise, as I personally don't place the Wilds Era with the other timelines. It feels to me like a retcon/consolidation of all the games, so I don't try to place it in concurrence, but I salute those of you who do! It's hard work!

This isn't intended to debunk anyone's theory, I'm just gonna ramble about neat things in Game Design real quick lol

I do think there are very distinct and intentional design pulls from Nabooru in the SoL's design that are not (as far as I know) consistent with other Gerudo design, including Riju and Urbosa. Though her design is Completely Different from Nabooru in OoT, there are a lot of very subtle detail references:

Credit to @/sidonisms for the model pull

The most obvious to me is the color of her secret stone: Despite the color for lightning stones in both BotW and TotK being topaz (Ganondorf's favored gem and pre-triforce ability in OoT) and it becoming more of a gold on Riju, this sage's stone is specifically the color of the Spirit token from Ocarina of Time (shown more clearly below). It's also the same shape, but I've dismissed that since they're all the same shape.

She also appears to be one of the few if not the only?? Gerudo with a vertical earring, where most of them wear hoops (also true in OoT! The other Gerudo wear studs like Ganondorf did pre-timeskip -- fun fact, Ganondorf wears hoops in TotK).

While most Gerudo wear an arm band or two, most of them are solid bands. The Sage's, I suspect, is intentionally complex (albeit much more simplified than OoT's) to be reminiscent of Nabooru's. The placement and shape language in her necklace, the placement and stone pattern of her belt, the golden leg braces that only resemble Ganondorf's also imply references to me (only Nabooru and Ganondorf wore the star shaped crests in OoT), and her neon lip color! Which I take to be a reference to Nabooru's original Ganguro Girl design influence.

ALTHOUGH,

It's also very possible that they split Nabooru's aspects into two separate characters; As this woman's high ponytail in a golden cuff, distinctly shaped/colored necklace, and apparent status as Ganondorf's right hand also appear to be direct references to Nabooru:

Maybe it's like Majin Buu and they split her into Nabu and Ru.

Or OOOOH MAYBE it's the SAME character, and it IS a direct reference to OoT Nabooru, since they both have the same eyes and lips and skin tone (and nail polish!), and she just changed her look when she started doubting Ganondorf. I think I just gave myself a new hc, haha, thank you for making me think about this.

ANYWAY!!

For me and my headcanons I feel exactly the same way about the Sage of Lightning that I do about TotK Ganondorf in that -- Yep, that's Nabooru. Also, it's not Nabooru at all. It both is and isn't. It's Naboo-AU-ru.

But my personal hcs aside, I think yours work very well within your framing and make a lot of sense! My opinion is "Yes, Good."

#lozhc #Nabooru #Ganondorf #I feel like I just unlocked something magical in my brain bless #Someone in the fandom has probably already thought of this but as I may have mentioned I am AWFUL at participating in the fandom aklsdJlaks #because of my perspective on TotK my hcs for TotK are Wildly Different but run parallel to my HCs for OoT #so this was very very fun to chew on thank you for throwing a pumpkin into my enclosure for enrichment

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triptych-of-voids · 28 days

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if i give u a dna sample could you write down what the sequence looks like for me /j

well youre just joking, so no chromatography or electrophoresis for me then....

#it would be. VERY TEDIOUS..... but i would do it #for fun #for enrichment #please drop dna samples into my enclosure thank you #also hiiii hi emmet another friend in my askbox yippee!!#the doc is in #replies from the void

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abusivelittlebunny · 1 year

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I love your blog so much!! …and I was just wondering if you’d seen these lovely pictures of Boyd Holbrook yet? 😌😏

I've seen most of these but not the top right and the very last one omg my babyyyyy!!!! Obsessed with this man ngl

The vibes I'm getting from these are:

1. Dream Corinthian after getting used and abused by perverted mortals finally resting, his hole and throat sore and he's so sleepy and tired now in his little fairy dress. He tried to put on one of his dreamers' pants for modesty, his poor hole was so loose and leaking so much cum, but he was too exhausted to pull it up all the way and fell into a deep slumber to rest and recover. Morpheus watches on thinking maybe he spoiled mankind with his masterpiece.

2. Teen Donald watching his hot dilfy neighbor Logan building his daughter a play house in the front yard and offering to help him after school, hoping to get invited in for some lemonade and get dicked down

3. Punkrock clubrat Donald who offers a blowjob to Logan for a cigarette at the concert Logan is working at as a bodyguard.

4. Corinthian in a younger body out dilf hunting in the 80s trying to score some top cock to suck on and soulful eyes to pop

5. This is giving me some fifties wannabe leather rider pretty boy Donald, still young and hopeful and latching onto Logan who's the kind of biker daddy war veteran he's been dying to ride.

#submission #boyd holbrook #donald pierce #logan #the corinthian #the sandman #logan x donald #thank you for the enrichment sprinkled into my enclosure!!!

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dustjacketdraws · 7 months

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#nesta archeron #poll #polls #enrichment for your enclosure #also i cant decide #pro nesta #pictures from themakeupbrush #thank you

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seariii · 3 months

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I’m giving you all the hugs 🥺 you are loved and I love you did I mention that I love you a lot? <333

Thank you rose... heh so sweet of you.... I'm sorry for worrying you, but thank you still, it's really soft and warm and your love put a smile on my face. I accept all the hugs.... and I love you a lot too, more than I could express, you are important to me, thank you for everything. I send you many many many hugs back.... and imagine I just stay in the hug for a little while hahaha (seari is really clingy, sorry)

#also.... sorry hahaha its easy to see when my energy is running low... but ill be back on my feet soon #there's just stuff its too difficult to actually bring up... and the last post #the bestie just had the best timing and arrived as i was listening to a song... i feel a lot better now tho #and really... your affection is warm and nice... i really love your vibes and how kind and sweet you are...#its a little funny tho.. that you dont seem to notice just how sweet of a person you are... and how loved by everyone you are...#its still a cute and soft feeling seeing just how many people came together to vote for you on that 'trial' hehe #thank you rose... youve done more for me than you can imagine... the days truly dont feel as monotonus anymore...#of course i still have to deal with my emotional mess but... youve helped to enrich my enclosure and that has done wonders

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boxboxlewis · 2 years

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please tell us your galex thoughts 😌

oh my god there's so much to say about galex. ok. this is not a galex thesis statement or anything it is just some thoughts -

galex are insecure4insecure.

george, my beautiful son, simply doesn't really know how to act (very relatable tbh). i mock his powerpoints, because they are very funny, but they are also the work of a person who is fundamentally mistaken about how reality functions. you cannot Microsoft Office suite your way into a seat a mercedes! yes, george ppt'd toto and it worked, in that he got the seat, but i'm pretty sure the mechanism of that success was less his killer bullet points and more toto thinking "huh, this kid is deranged, we can make that work for us." george 100% does not understand this.

george is also extremely resentful of Obstacles to His Success, whether those obstacles are other drivers or pigeons on the track. he is bad at hiding this resentment. he's learned that when he fucks up another driver's race the thing to do is to go to their motorhome and apologise, but in order to do this he must repress his natural urge to swear and bop them on the helmet. he can't afford obstacles!

his jokes are always always uncomfortable. often he is "jokingly" aggrandising himself (i am never not thinking about that scene in dts when he's with his gf in london and someone comes up and asks for a picture, and george says something like "with her, right?" and laughs. the punchline is that no one would want a fan photo with his gf, ha ha. this is the quintessential george joke!!)

alex meanwhile is insecure because he's been chewed up and spat out by rbr. he was seatless for a year! it's very clear to him, in a way that i doubt it's clear to george, that the f1 apparatus would keep spinning if he were to leave again. he has to kind of perform humility/gratitude to williams in a way that george doesn't and didn't. getting back in the car for singapore after emergency surgery and respiratory failure? he's fighting for his life out there.

so basically conditions are ripe for alex to resent george but instead they're mates and they get along great and they tease each other! fascinating! but geroge like palpably yearns whenever they interact? and maybe alex does resent george, a little bit? this dynamic is, to me, delicious food.

ok, thank you for coming to my TED talk, i'm cutting myself off here which is believe it or not quite self restrained, i'm happy for myself, or sorry that happened, etc

#jenna thank you for throwing this enrichment into my enclosure lol #galex #asks #pairing opinions #its 1am im sleepy but im right!!!

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spooky-enthusiast · 10 days

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H-hey do you know how to be a ghost trainer?

Of course! The first step is to go out and catch a Ghost-type. Any further advice will depend on the specific Ghost-type you end up catching.

Many Ghost-types' natural diet will include some metaphysical quality, most commonly either life energy (also known as Aura) or emotion. (More specifically, the Aura projected by the presence of the emotion being "consumed".) The difference between these feeding strategies is comparable to the difference between herbivory and carnivory - like meat, emotions are easier to derive energy from than raw life energy, which in this analogy stands in for plant matter. Managing these dietary needs can be tricky for a first-time Ghost-type trainer, though somewhat less so in densely-populated areas with plentiful ambient life energy and emotions.

As with any Pokémon, however, the most important part of being a trainer to a Ghost-type is being their friend. :)

#pokemon #pkmn irl #thank you for tossing enrichment into my brain skwovets' enclosure (perennial Ghost-type biology hyperfixation)#if you were instead looking for advice on being a ghost trainer in the sense of being a trainer who is a ghost I unfortunately cannot help

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triflesandparsnips · 9 months

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When something is definitely not a game, but most definitely a gift

or, after sufficient thought and also some really very clever meta coming out of Good Omens fandom: What Javid Denkins means to me (and what I probably don't mean to "Javid Denkins")

Recap time!

In December of 2022-- wait, no, I already wrote that post, go read that. To summarize, though:

The (real) show Our Flag Means Death has a showrunner named David Jenkins. He started posting on tumblr in mid-July 2023.

The (fictional) show Blow the Man Down has a showrunner named Javid Denkins. He started posting on tumblr in early December 2022.

There was a period of time where OFMD fandom was uncertain whether these two people were one and the same, which led to a great deal of interest in the "season 2" puzzles, hints, breadcrumbs, and other fascinating bits of interactive, cross-media engagement coming out of the Javid Denkins account.

I was one of those people having A Good Time with the interaction -- I constructed puzzles for whoever was on the other end of the line, with no real belief that they would be engaged with. It was fun to do, though, and-- what if? (Bookmark this, I'm going to come back to it.)

Eventually it shook out that BTMD was a fictional show in an OFMD alternate universe fic, and from there the interactive multimedia elements expanded beyond just tumblr-- and beyond the edges of my first linked essay above.

And then, in June 2023, with the end of the story and a final post to the Javid account, it came to an end.

A brief rundown of the areas of play

There are multiple elements to the Javid Experience (tm) -- so far as I can tell and/or has been recorded by better fans than me (i.e., @eefaevie) [EDIT 9/27/23: twitter has shat the bed entirely, so here's a link to the threadreader collection]:

1. The Javid Denkins tumblr account: starts the experience, introduces the concept of games/puzzles, slowly introduces the show Blow the Man Down

2. The AU fic Blow the Man Down: makes clear the connection between the real Our Flag Means Death with the fictional BTMD, makes clear the use of games/puzzles, introduces the use of social media as an important driver of the plot and the characterization, and introduces the inciting incident for the story: Javid Denkins, showrunner of BTMD, saying that he would start a Twitter account (thus making him not the same as tumblr-Javid -- and also, unlike the other characters in the AU, not a one-to-one alt of the real David Jenkins -- which will become important later)

3. The BTMD fic collection: an open, unmoderated collection of fic that references only BTMD, treating it as a fandom in its own right while providing elements (and themes) for the main AU fic to reference

4. Several twitter accounts and group chats: these comprise, I would say, four groups/entities acting in real time and in concurrence with or directly affecting the plot of the AU. @turq8 put together a spreadsheet with the handles (as well as the assumed BTMD canon), but in short, these groups were:

the main characters of the AU (Ed and Stede, from OFMD, who in this story are fans of BTMD);

"fan" accounts for BTMD, some of whom are tied to fic authorship within the BTMD collection, and who served here as a mirror of fandom dynamics;

real accounts of fans of OFMD who were following the AU and were engaged in the Javid Experience;

Javid Denkins-- not the same Javid as tumblr-Javid or the fic-Javid, but rather one who was sockpuppeted by the Ed character

(For those keeping track, we are now up to... three different Javids: tumblr-Javid, fic-Javid, and Ed-Javid. Bookmark that.)

5. Several ancillary sites and social media accounts to add to the reality/unreality of the alternate universe, including but not limited to:

tumblr-Javid's site and its sub-pages, providing more clues/games than could necessarily be supported in tumblr's interface;

Stede's Pinterest board, providing real-time meta-narrative to support the story and the interactions the Stede twitter account was having with the OFMD fan accounts;

the instagram account and website for an in-universe animal rescue (with an event advertisement that became Relevant);

a fanzine and accompanying Mad Magazine-style fold-in (which led to a mirrored fanzine by the OFMD fans playing along);

a photograph of the alternate-universe's TV Guide with synopses of all 10 episodes of the first season of BTMD

a fake interview with the actors of BTMD ("fake interview" you say, BOOKMARK THAT);

and a youtube account ostensibly owned by one of the Javids that concluded the twitter aspects of the narrative by posting the "trailer" for season 2 of BTMD

These five areas are, I would say, the publicly accessible and still (to a degree) trackable elements of the experience, though their ephemerality is being tested with the changes to twitter and the general nature of digital-heavy works.

Now, with all that... I want to talk about two elements that aren't particularly public, and the one that finishes off the whole thing.

Three is a magic number (to triangulate a Theme)

1. The Letter

In the penultimate chapter of the AU, the author, Javid Denkins (which one?) describes a real life location, with a fictional hidden treasure, but with a real life pair of photos attached at the end.

What isn't clear, and what won't be clear to outside readers, is that there was, in fact, a real life treasure in that real life place.

I know this, because I went there. And I found it.

I describe the whole thing here, along with my Feelings about it, but in short, there was a letter that read:

In looking for the story, you became a part of it. Thank you for playing. Thank you for letting me believe it can be real. Javid

(Which Javid?)

2. The (First) Interview

The next thing that I imagine few outside readers would know about is the results of that Fic Club discord server interview I couldn't attend from the beginning-- but, thank all the little fishes, I was able to crash partway through and back-read.

Here's what you need to know:

There were not one, not two, but three Javids answering questions, demarcated by different colored icons.

Over the course of the hour, it became clear that one of the Javids was Ed-as-Javid (unaware that he exists in an AU, assumes he's dreaming up this interview); another was tumblr-Javid (aware of the AU, aware of the puzzles and games on tumblr, but unaware of The Letter); and then there was a third unknown Javid (who asked questions, cut off questions, and, in the end, was revealed to definitely know about The Letter).

The Javids answered a limited number of pre-defined questions, though there seemed to be some cross-talk and allowances for fan interaction -- thus making this, if it wasn't already obvious, a performance piece. A piece of the whole story.

The questions chosen can be found on the previously linked spreadsheet, under the "Q's for J.A.V.I.D." tab-- they mostly matched up with A3, A2, A4, A7/B2, B7, A7, C2, D4, F8, and C6, for those who want to dive in. (@clairegregoryau, who moderated, is working on releasing the transcript for public consumption, so you could also wait for that ETA: nope, just a summary/analysis -- though with the scripted nature of the Q&A, maybe someday Javid'll release that end of it? Whatever comes, I'll update here when it goes live).

But in the shortest possible sum up: the questions chosen/answered were about audience participation, unreality, and the nature of "Javid(s)" anonymity.

tumblr-Javid gave the most concrete answers to things; Ed-Javid provided a sort of meta-narrative similar to Stede's Pinterest in terms of inner-thoughts and whatnot, providing a "real person's" perspective to the fictional drama of the AU; and mystery-Javid... was a sharp-edged mystery. Until--

3. The (Second) Interview

On June 25th (the date listed on the pet rescue instagram), at 9:30 AM (the time listed within the post itself, making this a "real time" event), the tumblr account made its last post: an interview with Javid Denkins.

It's not the transcript of the first Fic Club interview. Rather, it's more of an essay, written in the style of a GQ or Esquire piece, with a first-person interviewer describing their sit-down with the showrunner of BTMD. It starts with the sentence:

Javid Denkins is not interested in answering questions.

From there, it's slowly revealed that the second interview is, in itself, just a figment of Javid Denkins's imagination. And so is tumblr-Javid. And so is Ed-Javid. And more than that: This Javid imagined our entire universe -- OFMD, David Jenkins, the creation of the Javid tumblr and character, the BTMD augmented reality game, everything...

...as a thought experiment.

To see if, in some reality, somewhere, it was possible for him to be authentic and open as an artist-- and not be punished for it by an ouroborosing fandom.

It's an astonishing (and complicated to work out, because hooboy, did I need to sit down and diagram some stuff) piece. I have the barest edges of Feelings about it in this reblog, but as I say there: this second interview is about art, and celebrity, and fear, and humanity.

...but it is also about audience participation, unreality, and the nature of anonymity, as in the first interview. Because that's who this ultimate-Javid is -- he's the third Javid from Fic Club, still testing. He's the Javid from the AU (the one that doesn't match up with our universe's David Jenkins), self-inserting to try and explain again and again, to an audience that can't seem to hear him, why he's so angry.

Why he's so afraid.

(Anger, they say, is a secondary emotion.)

This second interview explains why this entire Javid Experience exists-- but even then, it's not entirely truthful, because it's still a story. It's a story that tells the truth through fiction. It tells the truth without revealing the magic behind it.

And it also makes me... look into the mirror, perhaps. Look deeper than I have until now, and question what I see.

Who am I (to Javid Denkins)

Here's the thing: Javid has never, ever spoken to me.

There was, for a long time, a pleasant fuzzy feeling when there appeared to be coincidences (such as the use of book codes, when I had referenced them earlier, etc). In my heart, though, and in my Very Reasonable brain, I knew that that's what they were: coincidences.

And then, when the chapters for the AU started to drop, I started noticing... more coincidences. More things that seemed to line up with someone, on the other side of the enclosure, talking back to me. I talk about this a little (a lot) in my original summary post. But it still wasn't anything direct, not really. I could play with the idea of being referenced, of being connected to, but that's all it could really be unless I was contacted directly: just a playful notion, a fun idea. Positive parasociality, I suppose.

Then, The Letter happened. And I was the one to find it. Things I knew to be coincidence -- because it literally could have been anyone! I didn't really have the time that day to go, but got swept up in the adventure! -- took on the weight of Significance. It felt real, in ways I can't even describe without going into personal details beyond the reach of a silly tumblr post.

Who was I to Javid Denkins? What did he want from me? It was exciting. It was thrilling. It was frightening, in a way, but to be perceived-- to be known by someone I admired-- felt like a kind of vindication.

Every good intention I had ever had regarding keeping a cool head and a distant interest: gone. I was all-in. I reveled in what I felt was attention.

...and then I read the first interview. I read the second interview.

I looked in the mirror. And what I saw:

1. There was someone on the other side of it. (There always had been.)

2. And that person was so angry (so afraid) of people finding meaning where none existed. Of people tearing down the walls of the enclosure, fists raised, to get that meaning whether it was freely given or not.

Here's the thing (again): There were things said in the essay that could apply to me. There are things that could apply to @eefaevie, and @turq8, and @clairegregoryau, and every other fan who participated in Javid's experiment.

But.

There are things that could apply to someone who has never heard of Our Flag Means Death. There are things that could apply to a musician, taking a smoke outside their venue and hoping no one bothers her. There are things that could apply to a puppeteer, glad he can go to the store without being bothered but upset, too, that he will never be known enough to be bothered.

There are things that could apply to a writer on the picket line, striking well after this story was written. There are things that could apply to an actor, decades dead, worried about coming out of the closet. There are things a painter, not yet born, will be scared to let drop from their brush.

Here's the thing (one last time, because three is a magic number): Javid has never, ever, ever spoken to me. Not directly, and not-- I believe now-- even indirectly. Because it's not about me. To assume it is, is... to find false positives in patterns that repeat across all public and private faces; across art, and the painful arithmetic of artist and audience. To take something universal and true, and make it small and mean and about just one thing: believing myself the main character.

What hubris. To make myself the main character of someone else's self-reflection. And to lose the world entire because of it.

Who am I to Javid Denkins? Nobody. Everybody.

The beauty of the Experience in its totality is that it is so deeply, painfully personal, so wrenching in its honesty, that it seems to speak directly to you. To reach out a hand, offering a gift that only exists if you don't demand its existence.

Each of us can accept this gift. None of us can claim it as our own, because it's not our gift to give. We can only hold out our own hands, give our own gifts, and hope that so many people find joy and comfort in it, as we did in our turn.

It's a gift that feels heavy in my hand, and I know now that I will give it over and over. For those who stumble close unseeing, until: a gleam.

#definitely not a game #definitely not a gift #our flag means death #btmd fandom #javid denkins #javid denkins arg #btmd arg #enrichment can go in BOTH enclosures #thank you

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