#actually fascinated by putting that together with my earlier theory of HIM being the original lyric much to think about...

[statementlou]

x

#just realized that Louis singing 'I love him' during the back up vocals part of BTY #matches with the lyrics on the screens behind the picture #remember how everyone was like ??!!!? at the beginning of tour about the words on the screens during that song #and then when you can see them it turns out its the lyrics but for some reason with a past tense 3rd person chorus of backing vocals too #which is not what is being sung by the band??? but there you go #actually fascinated by putting that together with my earlier theory of HIM being the original lyric much to think about... #anyway putting this in tags so I don't have to argue with people who want to believe its a larry thing #both can be true! and why would you want that song to be about harry! and obviously louis is gay we know that??? #but not sure this says much either way about it #but mostly I'm just interested in all the things. I don't care about talking people out of anything #I'm just excited about having connected some kind of dot #maybe¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[five-wow]

Feel free to talk a lot about your theory of how McDanno was always stronger when there was heteronormativity nearby so that it was safe, and how that plays into the finale!

Ooh, thank you! That is an interesting question, and not one I had related directly to the finale before, though it certainly works on all kinds of levels, so I will take that “talk a lot” very literally and just ramble a bit.

Honestly, the most obvious way I think this comes into play is outside of the story, where the entire two-part finale (I’m including 10.21 here, since they were originally going to be aired as one) was about Steve and Danny and how important they are to each other and how Steve would probably have found a way to literally turn the entire island upside down and water torture gravity into dropping Danny into his arms if Danny’s disappearance had gone on for long enough, and then Catherine showed up in the last five minutes after having been mentioned like, twice, briefly, in the very last episode of this 22-episode season. The messaging felt very much as if “Steve loves Danny!” was being shouted at us on a loop and then there was a single “but he’s a HETEROSEXUAL man who is NOT GAY because he is HETEROSEXUAL” tacked onto the end in the form of a character showing up in a way that really made no sense for anyone, least of all her, which conveniently helped viewers dispell any thoughts about Steve maybe, y’know, wanting to be with Danny in more than one way. Catherine was not there for herself - she was there for Steve’s happy end, which needed to include a hetero love interest, because that is what a happy end is, right? The way they made her return, she was less of a character making a decision and more of a prop thrown at Steve’s character that was supposed to make us think “ah yes, now he can be happy again!” even though it went very much counter against what the entire season had been making us think a happy end for him would look like.

(Sidenote, this is also (part of) why it makes me very sad to see Catherine hate show up in people’s responses to the finale - I get that emotions run high and it’s easy to blame her for things, but she really, really, really isn’t at fault. As much as this ending wasn’t fair to Steve or Danny, imo it was also extremely unfair to Catherine. (Also, I don’t expect many people who ship Steve/Cath to end up reading this, but if anyone does, I just want to add that that’s super valid and if you did like the ending because your ship was given a very obvious and maybe unexpected chance, I get that and I’m happy for you! I personally don’t think it was a good move for any of the characters with the way it was executed, but I also deeply empathize with rooting for your ship and taking what you get, my gosh.))

(ANOTHER sidenote, I want to clarify that I don’t think the entire reason for the writers making Cath show up is that there was too much emotion between Steve and Danny in 10.21 and 10.22. It was an ending that didn’t rely on the logic of the story, but on viewers’ learned bias saying that any man + any woman = happy, romantic end. There’s obviously a lot more there, but it also happens to playvery nicely into the formula of Steve and Danny getting A Moment (or even Moments, plural) and then being shielded from the shadows of gay doubts by throwing in something sufficiently straight-looking.)

In story, though? In story this would also be a Whole Thing that fits depressingly well. I do think it’s fair to note that Steve didn’t really seem to have any part in his decision to fly off with Catherine - she showed up, orchestrated by other parties, and then he took her hand, but he didn’t ask her to come. That’s something, I guess! At the same time, he did kind of… make the choice to very literally run away from where Danny is after this whole Emotional Journey they (and Steve especially) went on. Steve’s been feeling off, like this comfortable spot he carved for himself on the islands wasn’t fitting anymore, and Danny was very obviously very worried and was immediately designated the unofficial spokesperson for the whole thing, because duh, everyone knows how ridiculously close they are. Then Danny got kidnapped (somewhat because of how much Steve cares for him, even though deeper down it’s mostly Doris’s fault, but obviously Steve would take on that guilt because it was just lying around - free real estate!) and Steve lost his mind and held Danny’s hand and Danny didn’t respond negatively to that at all, and they had some lovely moments. Then Steve decides he still needs to get away and up and leaves, so very literally leaving Danny behind. Then Cath shows up, unexpectedly, and lo and behold, Steve’s (former) Great Romance! The one that got away, as he just told Cole (so the audience would feel like this wasn’t out of the blue)! The woman he wanted to marry at some point and that he hasn’t seen in a year and a half (to the best of our knowledge) and the absolute perfect convincingly straight antidote to Steve’s emotional turmoil related to his male BFF/partner/dude he’s kinda married to and keeps telling how much he loves him. Once on the plane, Danny is not even there anymore and with the exception of Catherine herself there’s literally no one Steve knows present who could be judging him, but being a little ambiguously romantic with Cath might settle some of his own internal fears about where things with Danny were (once again) headed, so he takes Cath’s hand. It’s easy, safe, straight. All very comforting things.

And I just. The HAND HOLDING is my favorite part of the finale, honestly, because it’s so blatant. Steve holds Danny’s hand at Danny’s bedside, teary and praying to a literal God to make sure Danny is okay, and then Danny makes light of it by asking why Steve let go. Are they fighting now, Danny asks? That  implies holding hands is the normal state for them and not holding hands is Bad, even though two grown men holding hands is a very loaded thing in much of western culture and we’ve never seen them do it before because they’re very touchy with each other but in very specific ways, bound to very specific rules, and random hand holding is distinctly not okay under those strict social guidelines. And then. AND THEN. We close the episode with Steve offering Catherine his hand and Catherine taking it and Steve turning to look out the window and smiling vaguely, and the parallel kind of smacks you in the face and I find it both very funny and very sad and wonder if the writers even realized it at all, or whether maybe it was entirely intentional and meant as a nice nod to McDanno shippers because we were never going to get canon McDanno but at least this way we had, I guess, Steve’s implied hetero endgame romance play out in a way that also pretty literally happened with Danny earlier in the same episode, meaning that they’re at least sort of put on an equal footing? (Best way to interpret this: Steve is bi. It’s canon now.)

ANYWAY. Yes. I feel like this maybe veered off-topic, but I suppose the point is that Steve was allowed to hold Danny’s hand, but we had to be reassured he’d also want to hold Catherine’s, and Steve got to tell Danny he loves him and tear the island apart to get to him and ask God to take him instead of Danny and talk with Danny about how they both dream of a future in which they’re still side by side as old men while also currently living with Danny and both being single, but he had to then leave with Catherine so we would know that two single guys who live together and exchange I love yous while planning to grow old together aren’t actually [lowers voice to a hushed whisper] gay.

HOO! What a relief. I was really worried there for a second, guys.

(Also consider: all of that happens with Danny and it’s just guys being guys, just buddies being homies, just straight dudes being hetero, and then Steve takes Cath’s hand and maybe smiles a little and we’re supposed to infer it’s an epic romance. It’s fascinating to me how little straight you need to sprinkle in to completely even out the scales for most viewers, or even make them lean way in favor of “obviously he’s straight, why would you even think anything else, lol”.)

#anon #ask #mcdanno #finale #10.22 #10.21 #meta #* #i feel a need to add i really didn't dislike the finale as a whole and most of it was very cool #i just have some very wordy thoughts #(hashtag catherine rollins deserved better 2k20)

[missnight0wl]

What is your opinion on all the different trios throughout the game? I’m not sure if I remember all of them. Before Penny & Bill, it was mainly MC, Rowan, & Ben in Year 1. Merula had her own trio with Barnaby & Ismelda in year 3. Year 5 had Ratepick create a trio with MC, Merula, & Bill. The original golden trio came together after they fought a troll and year 6 tried to do a darker version of that where MC, Merula, & Ben came together because they all lost and shared an awful experience.

Ah, yes. Jam City seems to enjoy trinities, don’t they? Almost like Rowling herself. All right, let’s start from the beginning.

The Original Trio: MC, Rowan, Ben

I love them, and the fact that we didn’t get more content with them – both in the earlier years and when they were going through all the changes – is a true crime. I’d argue that even when Penny appeared, it was mostly about those three, simply because of how much in common they really have. They’re just three outcasts brought together: MC with Jacob’s reputation, Rowan with their social awkwardness, and Ben with his belief that he doesn’t belong to the wizarding world. But they also have their unique strengths, and they just… make it work. This is such a good basis to build a story. If the writers didn’t neglect it, the current events would be more meaningful, too.

The Slytherin Trio: Merula, Barnaby, Ismelda

I’d say that it’s kind of the opposite situation to the Original Trio. MC befriended Rowan and Ben because they were outcasts, and they ended up benefiting from each other’s powers, while with Merula, it seems like it’s a benefit which brought them together (Barnaby is one of the strongest wizards at school, and say what you want, but I believe that Ismelda is pretty powerful as well). I also know that quite a lot of people want to know more about their history and whatnot, but honestly… I don’t care much. We saw that Merula treated both Barnaby and Ismelda like rubbish (she kind of still does), and I don’t really need to learn more about that. The only thing I want when it comes to that trio is to actually see Merula acting decently towards the other two.

You know, the dynamic that interests me more is Tulip’s relationship with Barnaby and Ismelda when she was still hanging out with them. I remember that when the Animagus TLSQ started with Tulip and Barnaby, I had almost an epiphany moment: “Oh, right. They kind of were friends even before, weren’t they?”. Tell me that story. What about Ismelda? Their relation wasn’t addressed at all, either as positive or negative.

Rakepick’s Apprentices: MC, Bill, Merula

Hm, now that I think about it, I have to say… I don’t exactly see them as a unit, not really. I mean, the formation of this group was one of the first things that happened in Y5, but then, it was kind of… forgotten? Usually, Rakepick was meeting with MC one on one. Then, with Knockturn Alley, Jae was temporarily added to the group. The trio got more attention by the end of the year, but we still had one additional person going with us to the Vault (plus Ben). Overall, I feel like we didn’t spend enough time with them to even notice clear relationships forming between them, especially when it comes to Bill and Merula. They tried to give Bill a mediator role during our meeting at the Three Broomstick, but that’s also where it ended if you ask me. In most of the later interactions, Merula was quite disrespectful towards Bill, but he was sort of ignoring that.

The “Ones Who Saw Rowan Die”: MC, Ben, Merula

I really don’t like it. First of all, I kind of hate it that it’s totally ignored that Merula destroyed any confidence that Ben could’ve had otherwise, from the moment they were at the Hogwarts express. She fixated him on the fact that he doesn’t belong to the wizarding world because of his blood status, and nothing else could reach to him. And now, it’s just being swept under the carpet because “trauma and revenge”. It doesn’t help that both Ben and Merula are being written sloppily. I love Ben’s arc in years 1-5, and I do want to love New Ben because I think it could’ve been a very interesting plot. But the execution of it is becoming worse and worse. 

Also, I think that their relationship is not healthy for anyone in this trio. There’s no balance or even benefits. Both Ben and Merula are currently very narrow-minded which is a problem for MC’s plan of working together. The whole thing is an emotional disaster as well. Ben and Merula need therapy which is NOT MC’s responsibility. MC, on the other hand, needs support and reassurance, and they won’t get any of that from those two. Merula straight up put the blame on MC in the recent chapter, and Ben is just an additional reason to worry with his guilt.

 I can think of two more trios I’d like to address here.

The Forgotten Trio: Jacob, Duncan, Olivia

Even though we know extremely little about them, I think they’re very intriguing. It’s more territory of theories and speculations, but this ask reminded me about another post I made over a year ago where I compared this trio with Rakepick’s Apprentices. I feel like it’s still pretty relevant, so you might be interested in reading it: here.

The Cursed Trio: MC, Jacob, Rakepick

I called them “Cursed” mostly because I do believe that the siblings are cursed for real due to their connection with the Cursed Vaults. I don’t necessarily think that Rakepick is also cursed, at least not in the same way, but frankly – who knows. Either way, this is the most fascinating trio, in my opinion, and the main thing that keeps me playing the game. The comparisons made between them are scattered throughout the story, but they were never explained properly. And I’m dying to know the truth. Also, I committed once yet another post I can recommend in this place: here.

#hogwarts mystery #hphm #hphm spoilers #hphm mc #jacob's sibling #rowan khanna #ben copper #merula snyde #anti merula #barnaby lee #ismelda murk #tulip karasu #hphm jacob #duncan ashe #olivia green #patricia rakepick #about characters #marta ranks #ask #anonymous

[harry-lloyd]

In many ways, the horrible wig was the best thing to happen to Harry Lloyd.

The shock of platinum blonde hair, slashed to a sensible bob at his shoulders like a high-fashion Legolas, was the coif that tied Lloyd’s indelible, insufferable Game of Thrones character together: Viserys Targaryen, the petulant narcissist whose play for the Iron Throne melts along with the rest of him under a pot of molten metal poured over his head, one of the show’s first and most iconic gruesome death scenes.

The splashy HBO production was the biggest job the young actor had ever landed, and as a character with an unmistakable, unforgettable look, to boot— the better to sear into TV fans’ consciousness.

Blessedly, that unmistakable, unforgettable look in no way actually resembled him, a then-27-year-old rising star with short, dark brown hair and alabaster complexion. He played one of the most memorable characters in recent TV history on possibly the last truly massive global TV phenomenon, yet, by the grace of a wig, he was still unrecognizable.

“I kind of loved that,” Lloyd tells The Daily Beast over Zoom from the loft study in his North London home. “And I kind of loved that he died. He had this lovely arc, and he still has his place in this enormous and infamous canon.”

Given how vivid that arc is in Thrones lore, it’s almost startling to remember that he was only on five episodes of the show.

“I had my go,” he says. “I got in early and I got out early. And he didn’t look like me, which, number one, is good because he is a little shit. And so I was happy to not have people throwing stuff at me in the streets. But number two, and I didn’t notice at the time, but it has since become the biggest show on TV. It doesn’t make me worry about being typecast so much.”

In the years since becoming a scalded puddle of boiling jewels and flesh, Lloyd has been able to shapeshift through an impressive résumé of prestige TV series and award-nominated films—Manhattan, Wolf Hall, Counterpart, Legion, The Theory of Everything—relieved of the kind of limitations actors who play little shits in garish white wigs on TV’s biggest show typically shoulder.

The occasion for our conversation is yet another transformation, as Bernard Marx in Brave New World, the splashy adaptation of Aldous Huxley’s 1932 dystopian sci-fi novel. The series is the marquee original offering for Wednesday’s launch of the new Peacock streaming service, casting Downton Abbey alum Jessica Brown Findlay and Han Solo himself, Alden Ehrenreich, alongside Lloyd in an updated take on the classic work.

Brave New World thwarts the idea of a restrictive, Orwellian dystopia with one in which society is instead forced into surrendering their inhibitions. “Welcome to New London,” a prologue explains. “We have three rules. No privacy. No family. No monogamy. Everyone is very happy.”

The new series boasts modernized flourishes when it comes to style—if there had been this much sex in Huxley’s book, we would have paid far more attention to it in high school—and sensibility; some of the problematically racist and misogynistic themes and plot points have been corrected.

Lloyd’s Bernard is an upper echelon member of society, called an Alpha-Plus, whose job is to maintain social order. Throughout the series, he experiences a crisis of conscience, an existential awakening at odds with the blissful stasis he’s meant to both control and enjoy.

If a narrow escape from typecasting and a career playing snooty, megalomaniacal manchildren has meant a diverse array of opportunity for Lloyd, then Brave New World marks more new territory: It’s his first outright leading role.

Lloyd had never read Huxley’s book before being cast, but was impressed by the ambition of the script, “almost like a mega tentpole movie in scale” but esoteric and satirical at the same time. “I was like, this has the whole package if they can shoot this, but I don’t think they can.”

It took one day on set for him to catch wise to the technical prowess at play. “I was like, wow, this really is a brave new world,” he says.

Don’t worry. He promptly scoffed at himself and rolled his eyes.

It is one of the best opening lines to a profile that I’ve read, from a 2011 feature on Lloyd that ran in Britain’s The Independent: “There was a time when Harry Lloyd worried that he was forever going to be typecast—as a woman.”

It was in reference to Lloyd’s days as a student at Eton College, where the young teen’s voice had not yet broken and he was cast as women in a slew of all-male Shakespeare productions.

Here we were prepping to engage with Lloyd about the perils of typecasting following his Thrones stint, ignorant of the fact that he had already confronted the issue decades earlier.

Lloyd laughs good-naturedly when the era of fake bras and bonnets is brought up.

“I hated it,” he says. Just when he had vowed never to agree to it again, in his last year at school he was asked to play Rosalind in As You Like It, by all counts a fantastic leading part. He nailed it, and earned raves. “At an all-boys boarding school, it took balls to put on tights, as it was.” A perfectly-earned smirk at his own joke follows.

The truth is that being typecast or pigeon-holed is a stressor that followed Lloyd, who grew up in London with parents who worked in the book industry. “Sometimes it’s just the face you have at a certain age…” he says.

His first major role came at age 15 in the BBC’s 1999 adaptation of David Copperfield, opposite Daniel Radcliffe. (Adding another fascinating layer to the trivia: Lloyd himself is the great-great-great grandson of Charles Dickens.) One of his first jobs after that was playing a bullying prefect in the series Goodbye, Mr. Chips.

“I guess that’s what I looked like, and I did that a couple of times,” he says. “Then I was like, I don’t really want to just be that guy. He’s a bit of a dick. And then I think next up I played the murderer in some procedural police thing, some young kid that’s gone sideways.”

Each time he felt a box starting to close its sides around him, he actively sought out something different. Having Great Expectations, in which he played Herbert Pocket, “the loveliest, most benign chap you’d ever meet,” air months after his Thrones debut was key. But he can’t refute that, with or without a platinum wig, there’s something about the way he looks that telegraphs a certain kind of sinister character.

“If I turn up in a murder thing, it’s often me who’s done it,” he says, grinning. “I don’t want to give anything away from the stuff I’ve been in. But I don’t know, there’s something about my face that is like, ‘He could do it.’”

After he had finished filming his part on Thrones and the series was about to come out, he was cast in the buzzy West End production of the Tony-winning play The Little Dog Laughed.

If you’re familiar with the work, a satire about Hollywood illusion (and delusion) in which an acerbic, big-wig agent crisis manages her rising-star client’s pesky “recurring case of homosexuality,” you understand why it’s a fairly hilarious, if sobering, project to be involved in just as an actor’s own fame and industry profile is about to skyrocket.

“Because I was about to be on Game of Thrones, I thought, this is the time for me to get an American agent,” he recalls. “And so the American agents, when they were in London, would come and see me in this play, which basically looks at agenting and their ways with quite a big, angry magnifying glass. They would come backstage and say, ‘Look, I am not like that…’” He laughs. “It was always quite a funny way to start the proceedings.”

Having starred in episodes of Dr. Who and played Charles Xavier in Legion, not to mention his connection to Thrones, Lloyd has had his taste of the particular brand of rabid, Comic-Con fandom. Though he prefers to classify himself as “adjacent-adjacent” to that world.

While there are certainly those who will know right away that he was a Targaryen, what he gets more of is a “Wait, how do I know you?” awkward conversation. “Genuinely, people are like, ‘Hey, did I go to school with you?’ I’m at that level of renown. You can’t quite place why you might recognize me.”

Asked how life under the coronavirus shutdown has been, Lloyd is very British about the months spent with his wife and their almost-2-year-old. “We’ve done alright,” he says. “We learned how to finally kind of plan our fridge. And now we know how to do our shopping tactically. We cooked some good stuff.”

For fear of sounding “solipsistic,” to use a word employed often in Brave New World, he identifies the extended time home with typical feelings actors have throughout their career.

“You have accelerated times in your life when things happen like a dream,” he says. “Things are so fast and our whole world’s rebuilt entirely every time you get a job. And then is the come-down and the fallout.”

He remembers that feeling from when he was doing plays: the energy and pace of putting on the show, and then a few weeks after it ends there’s a massive crash.

“It feels a bit like you’re in lockdown. You stare around on a Tuesday afternoon. You don’t want to watch anything. You don’t know what to do or who to call, and you kind of lose your style. There’s been a bit of that.”

Just when things got to the point that he felt like he might lose his mind, he was contracted to record an audiobook. So for a couple of days a week, he would sit up in his “sweatbox made out of duvets” and read Great Expectations aloud for Penguin. “That saved me for sure.”

On the subject of works by his great-great-great grandfather, Lloyd used to be at a loss for what to do when people brought it up. Often they would say, “Congratulations!” on the relation, as if he had accomplished something himself by being born into Charles Dickens’ lineage. “But these days, I’ll take it, I’ve decided. ‘Yeah, thank you so much.’ It’s a nice thing to celebrate.”

The 150th anniversary of Dickens’ death was in June. There had been plans for a commemoration ceremony at Westminster Abbey that, because of the shutdown, became a Zoom event instead.

“I don’t know how many people’s deaths get a 150th anniversary,” he says. “The fact that I have any kind of personal connection with that is very much secondary. But something that I’m very proud of.”

At risk of belaboring the point, we ask if working on any of the Dickens adaptations he’s starred in on TV or recording this audiobook makes Lloyd feel any sort of profound or poignant connection to him.

He laughs. “I can’t point to a physical sensation like hairs in the back of my neck standing. ‘I feel him. It’s me and Chucky D in the room right now.’”

#harry lloyd #interview

[woolishlygrim]

Winter Weebwatch #10

We’re very much hitting the final stretch of the winter anime season now, and to be honest, I still don’t know exactly what I’ll be doing for Spring Weebwatch (Spring Spreebspratch?). Kami no Tou, Digimon Adventure 2020, and Yu-Gi-Oh Sevens are shoo-ins, but a lot of the shows that start in Spring are the second seasons of shows from Autumn 2019, and I’d rather not do those.

Anyway, on with this week’s shows.

Pet.

★★★☆☆

Okay, so apparently Pet did air last week, I just didn’t see that it had, which is weird, I was looking out for it.

Also weird is that the character I originally thought was called Tsukasa and then thought was called Tsubasa is actually called Tsukasa. Did … did the subbers make a mistake at some point, or did I make the mistake? I genuinely do not know.

Anyway, last week and this week, Pet saw Hiroki discover Hayashi, still not entirely crushed but rather in a mostly-crushed state similar to the one he found Tsukasa in. Realising from exploring his memories that Tsukasa was the one who crushed Hayashi, Hiroki, feeling betrayed, confronts Tsukasa and eventually runs away. Meanwhile, Tsukasa, faced with the prospect of the Company separating him from Hiroki and then with Hiroki running away, grows more and more unhinged, eventually deciding to manipulate Satoru into going after him.

Things are definitely winding their way towards a conclusion, and I honestly can’t see what that conclusion will even be, or how the writers plan to tie this up in two episodes, but it’s fun to watch, at least.

That said, my god, Tsukasa going off the deep end is … something. The animators are having a whale of a time, drawing him wide-eyed, pale, and practically twitching. One scene has him drooling as he talks and occasionally having to wipe it away with his sleeve. If this was an actor, I’d say they were chewing the scenery, but it’s not, someone intentionally made him like this.

ID: Invaded.

★★★☆☆

This is another episode that just doesn’t quite deliver on the promise it set up. While I felt I was being a little harsh with last week’s score, this time I feel like I’m being a little lenient. It’s really a two and a half star episode.

With the set-up of the last episode going forward, Anaido just turns out to not … really have any kind of diabolical plan at all, whereas Hondomachi in the Well-Within-A-Well just kind of puts a couple of clues together and discovers who John Walker is.

John Walker is, incidentally, the character everyone expected him to be, since we’d seen that Walker has a white beard and moustache and only one other character had that.

As far as twists go, it’s … weak. It’s very weak, and the downplayed way the episode presents it suggests that the creative team were well aware of how weak the twist was. Similarly, the reveal that Kiki is inside the Mizuhanome is pretty much expected.

However, we still have two episodes to go, so there is plenty of time for the show to pull a rabbit out of its hat, so to speak.

Darwin’s Game.

★☆☆☆☆

I’m beginning to lose patience with this show, and if we weren’t in spitting distance of the end (this is episode nine, there are eleven episodes total apparently), I would drop it.

So continuing on from last week, the protagonist (nine episodes in and I still have no idea what his name is) engages in a fight to prove that his clan is worthy of allying themselves with the boxing gym-y clan, after which the top-ranked player in the game kidnaps him to … ugh.

Kidnaps him because she is the head of an ancient clan of psychic assassins and she wants him to be the father of her child, and fuck knows writing that sentence made me seriously reconsider watching the last two episodes.

The whole thing ends with said top-ranked player (who can psychically incapacitate people somehow) joining the protagonist’s clan, because I guess we don’t need stakes? Nah, nah, who needs narrative tension, right?

Congrats on another episode I actually remembered, Darwin’s Game. You might’ve done better if I hadn’t.

In/Spectre.

★★★★☆

Okay, I admit it, In/Spectre has wormed its way into my good graces. I enjoy this show now, I guess.

This is just a really good episode, and it manages to be a really good episode while working with material that I’m not sure most writers would be able to make interesting. As the plan to take down Steel Girder Nanase kicks off, Kotoko begins what is essentially a reddit forum argument in which she attempts to cast doubt on the existence of Steel Girder Nanase by proposing an alternate theory and arguing in its favour. As she does this, however, Rikka is attempting to argue back under several different accounts, trying to sway people into believing in Nanase’s existence.

Do you see what I mean? This is … this is banal. This is people arguing in the comments section while one person uses transparently disguised sockpuppets. This is something I can find by just going to a forum and scrolling down a few inches, and yet this episode is absolutely fascinating to watch.

When the episode ended with Kotoko saying that it’s time for her to present her second theory, I wasn’t even annoyed. I’m genuinely interested to see what the second theory is. I hate that I really like this show now.

Infinite Dendrogram.

★★★★☆

This is another one where I was honestly not sure what score to give it. It was a three-and-a-half star episode, really, and I wavered back and forth for a while over whether to bump it up to four stars or down to three stars, before eventually deciding to be nice. 

Honestly, it could have gone either way.

With Franklin/Penguin-san having kidnapped the princess and enshrouded the arena in a barrier, he begins his invasion of the city, remarking to the princess that he will break the spirit of the Masters of Altar before the war between Altar and Dryfe can resume. While Franklin’s own Superior class ability, which allows him to invent and spawn monsters, is a potent threat in his own right, he is also joined by numerous other Masters, from both Dryfe and Altar, along with Hugo and what appear to be the other three Dryfe Superiors.

So this is an actually really fun episode, even if it’s also kind of a nothing episode. With Shu and Figaro both trapped in the barrier, Ray and Rook learn that any player below level fifty can pass straight through the barrier, and use that to mount a counterattack. A small chunk of the episode is devoted to what amounts to a ‘Ray And Rook (And Later Hugo) Show Off Their Awesome Abilities’ scene, and honestly it was enough fun that I’m willing to forgive it for being mindless fluff. I do like the touch that while Rook can use his abilities to convert female monsters to his side, his Embryo Babyl can use her abilities to convert male players to her side, making them a nice team.

Meanwhile, Marie, who had bonded with the princess earlier, tracks down Franklin and shoots him a bunch, and exactly nobody is surprised because we all basically knew already that she was the monster-bug-shooting gunslinger who killed Ray before. Franklin is still alive, though, and as the show, as all shounen shows must, descends into shounen anime battle match-ups, Marie finds herself facing off against another Dryfe Superior with power over music.

Also, can I just express my irritation that Franklin combines both chess metaphors and poker metaphors. Those games are the antithesis of each other: Chess is a game all about planning multiple moves ahead, figuring out multiple paths and multiple outcomes to those paths and then choosing the best one; whereas Poker is a game all about taking a hand dealt to you by luck and tricking, scheming, and gambling your way to getting the best possible use out of it. Either one will work for a scheming villain, but they work for very different kinds of scheming villain.

#infinite dendrogram #darwins game #id invaded #pet #in/spectre #anime #winter weebwatch

[plasma-paints]

Okay, Theory Time!

This is going to be really long, so to spare people I’m going to put pretty much all of this under the cut, but it involves time and space and the fact that we might have had this all wrong from the start. Also, probably best if you watch part 4 of Observation first.

Alright, so Sean not so subtly implied that the egos are in fact from different universes. The universes intersecting for a short period of time before separating again would explain why the egos tend to come and go in our timeline. A good example of this in popular media is The Convergence from Thor: Dark World. At minimum two universes, or points in space in the movie, overlap and thus matter/energy can pass between unhindered. Being in the centre of one of these anomalies would technically allow you to be in multiple universes at once. (I like to imagine bubbles mixed with a Venn Diagram for visualization.)

So pretty simple, the universes intertwine, someone passes through, boom their in our reality for a while. Except, these kinds of anomalies are stereotypically spacially specific, so if one were to enter into one and then leave its area of effect, they may not return to their original universe. Essentially, they’d be stuck, albeit temporarily if they can find another anomaly. This is what I imagine has happened to each of the egos.

It can explain away a lot of things: 

-Jackieboy-man’s and Marvin’s abilities - Dr. Schneep’s strange medical practises (at least in this universe) -JJ’s inability to speak -Chase being able to stand in for Jack

It could also be used to explain Anti in a similar fashion, just another universe’s version, but I don’t think that’s quite the case. Anti, unlike the rest, is different. That much has been made obvious by the fact that he’s the only seemingly knowledgable one. He seems to understand what’s going on intimately. “Time is broken.” This indicates that the universes aren’t necessarily colliding at the same relative time, let alone space, but the more interesting fact is that he knows that they should be. ‘Broken’ implies that he is aware of a time when time flowed properly, possibly without the universes intersecting at all. A state of order so to speak. 

Anti though is the epitome of chaos, so why does he of all the egos know what order looked like? I mean he bounces throughout space and time, bounces around space within dimensions, and doesn’t appear to have a physical form of his own. There’s absolutely nothing orderly about him. So why is he the omnipotent ego? For that exact reason. He’s unstable, unlike the others, he’s unable to remain anywhere outside of an anomaly. For whatever reason, he can’t leave. So he’s been stuck who knows how long, getting glimpses of multiple realities and eventually he must have just put it together. For him, time is the most broken, phasing between universes at an almost imperceivable pace... He, for lack of a better word, glitches.

Now the real question is why? What happened to result in this instability? Why are universes, that for all extensive purposes should remain separated, bouncing around and into each other like billiard balls? 

The simplest answer: Someone fucked up, and they fucked up badly. 

My thoughts are that it was one of two individuals who caused this cascade failure of the multiverse: Anti... Or Sean. The narrative, as I see it anyway, can only make sense if one of them or both of them is to blame. Why else would Anti continue to appear back in this universe, harassing the egos who also end up in this reality? 

Anti makes a lot of sense, as he’s like the focal point of the chaos, the epicentre. He’s the antithesis of order and seems to only want to bring down everyone with him. He makes for a stereotypical evil entity.

The story becomes more interesting if it’s Sean though, that tipped the balance. He wouldn’t even have to know he did it, an everyday action that this version of himself wasn’t supposed to do perhaps... 

***Everything under this point is a potential partial timeline/plot theory***

I’m purely speculating now, but possibly that action was making a youtube channel. (I’ll come back to this.)

It would tie a lot of things together actually, and it would finally give Anti a proper motive. He just wants this to be over. “I’m tired of playing pretend, fucking circles!” Who knows how long it’s been for him? How many different attempts he’s made at fixing this, only to fail over, and over, and over? How many plans he’s tried? How many of them we’ve seen? Think about how calmly he said, “Time is broken.” This time around was different from his usual overzealousness. Possibly because it was one of his first attempts at reaching out, asking for help, hoping that somehow, someone else would put together the pieces and end his torment. 

It’s odd and fascinating because this entire time we might have been framing him as a villain because of what we witnessed first - the violence, the threats, the manipulation- that we missed the overall message: “Help me.” 

 If time isn’t flowing the same for him as it is for us, he could have been trapped in this in-between state for countless lifetimes: “I am eternal.” Being torn apart and stitched back together a billion times a second everywhere and nowhere, “always there, always watching.” Frantically he puts in information wherever he can: glitches, video tags, titles, social media, in those brief moments when he occupies our reality once more. He’s figured out that this universe is the problem, we’re the epicentre of a catastrophe beyond the comprehension of everyone but him. He tries, and he tries, and he tries to get someone to notice him. He becomes more knowledgable as time goes on, finds tricks to staying more stable, gathering allies from alternate realities (like those from the overnight watch), manipulating universes so that they intersect at the right places, puppeteering on a cosmic scale. 

Nothing ever works perfectly though, so he also becomes increasingly desperate. No one else is putting the pieces together, bringing his nightmare to an end. Suffering endlessly until he finally snaps, coming to a single conclusion. In order for this hell to end, he has to kill the person who started it all: our Sean. Time doesn’t matter to him after all, so all of the attempts we’ve witnessed are his end game. Perhaps he mistakenly took Chase for Sean due to him crossing universes and manipulated him into ending his own life (Chase’s power hour.) Another time he appeared while Sean was dying, and tried to disable the surgeon working on him (Kill Jacksepticeye.) He partially succeeds, and Sean’s in a coma.

Here’s where to channel comes in. If it’s the error that needs to be corrected, it explains why Anti’s so obsessed with us, the community. He may think that maybe that too would be enough, that if the channel dies, it’s the same thing as Sean dying, the mistake ceases to be. Except, even with Sean out of commission, the channel lives on. The other egos, primarily Chase it would seem, taking over to keep things running while Schneep tends to Sean. 

None of the Egos stuck in our reality have worked Anti’s situation out, obviously, all they see is another version of themselves actively trying to kill them all and so they band together. Realizing that these other realities’ versions of himself were actively interfering in his plans, he moved on to eliminate them from the equation too. Possibly he thought blackmail would suffice for Chase, so he took his kids. Instead of just sabotaging Schneep’s surgery in kill Jacksepticeye, he moves to try to choke him dead instead. An unending cycle of attempts to rid himself of Sean, of the stupid little thing that has caused him unending pain and infuriation.

Except... It does end. I’ve felt rather adamant that Say Goodbye is not the first major appearance of Anti from his perspective, but the last. Time goes by, Anti grows stronger and picks a time and place to focus on: October 2016. In order to focus himself there, he creates a sort of beacon whenever he happens to glitch through. “You all said my name,” for the first major time in our timeline, a call throughout time and space, “kept me inside.” We gave him a tether to one spot long enough to act out his plan. “This is all your fault! Too long! [You should have] listen[ed] to me!” We never put the pieces together, we took too long, so he had to resort to killing Sean.“You all made this happen! You could have stopped this, but you just watched as this happened!” He’s angry with us because if we had put the pieces together we could have ended his suffering earlier as well as saved Sean. “Now, he’s gone forever.” It’s over, it’s done, Sean’s dead, Anti presumably goes back to whatever reality he was from, and time and space fix themselves. We don’t know this though, because we still have to live out our failure in a paradoxical timeline that once everything is back in balance should cease to exist, no longer serving a purpose. So it’s literally the last chance to, “Say goodbye.” Not just to Sean, nor Anti, but to our universe itself.

But that’s just a theory, a meta-theory. Thanks for reading!

@therealjacksepticeye

#jacksepticeye #therealjacksepticeye #antisepticeye #jse egos #jse theory #mayhem 2.0 #dismay2019 #theory #jacksepticeye egos #multiverse #timelines #space and time and stuff #more pieces kept falling into place

[littlemisssquiggles]

Whit-ty Headcanons: Whitley and Penny

yellow-eyed-green-crocodile asked :

Beta Testers/Broken Machines headcanon: Jacque goes to a bussiness meeting to the Atlas Military to discuss how they'll buy more Dust from him for thus new project, and he brings Whitley with him. There, they are shown Penny, who is put back together, but is deactivated, and then they are shown lines of new milotary robots being produced, all based on Penny, but "improved". Then, the guide activates Penny, in order to show them a short example of how the new robots will behave and fight.

Jacque isn't as interested in roboth fighting as he is interested making money, but Whitley, from the moment he first set eyes on Penny, he couldn't take them away from her. He felt like he was seeing a part of himself in her, even if it was just a broken machine. Or maybe this is just what he was himself. When she was brought back to life in front of them, she said her catchphrases "Salutations!" and "I'm combat ready!", but in a tone full of hopelessness. Whitley could barely take it.

(I feel like I'm writing a full-on fanfic at this point) He wanted to go up to her and give her consolation. It was the first time that he ever felt that way in years. The last time he rememberd feeling empathy was when he saw Weiss crying after a show that she performed, back when they were just toddlers. Whitley refrained himself from showing any emotion in front of his father. They were on a bussiness trip, after all. But, ever since then, he continued to visit the facility,

Under the pretense that he was interested in learning things for the sake of the future of the SDC , but he actually just went to look at Penny some more. Maybe he liked seeing someone in a situation just like his or maybe he truly fell in love with a robot. The thought amused him. This is how he would spend his weekends, when he had free time between his lessons. What do you think? I think I'll make this into a fanfic and post the link on my blog. I'll tag you, if you want.

miki-13 asked:

Please don't let one bad apple ruin the experience of Broken Machines/Beta Testers, squiggles! It's thanks to your art that I've jumped on the ship train as well; your idea that Whitley has a Little Prince experience like Oscar is golden, just thinking about he and Penny interacting gives me warm fuzzies and it's also a clever way to bring Whitley into the fold of Weiss' friends since they can bond over their friendship with the original Penny.

Also I couldn't add this on earlier because of the character limit, but I noticed that Penny has both reddish hair (like Ruby) and freckles (like Oscar) and is both a sweet bean while having self esteem issues and an identity crisis... so it's like Whitley is getting the best of both worlds (that being Ruby and Oscar) in Penny!

I just had a thought: so say that Whitley managed to get a genuine friendship from Penny 1.0 and Jacques noticed. Thinking that his son was more fascinated by the machine rather than finally having a friend that wasn't trying to use him for his name, once the Penny 2.0 series came out... Jacques got one for Whitley. Thrown off by the girl he cared for being made into things for anyone to use really screwed with Whitley and actually made him begin to resent Jacques, and pull away from his father.

Squiggles Answers: 

@miki-13 @yellow-eyed-green-crocodile Hey guys! I decided to rope both of your answers together because ironically enough, you two  expressed almost the same kind of headcanon but in different ways.

I’ll start with you Yellow: if you make your idea into a fanfic then I’d love to read it. Most definitely. I can actually combine both of yours and Miki’s headcanons. Both of them together with my original small headcanon forms the premise for a really sweet Broken Machines/ Beta Testers story.

I love the idea of Whitley being introduced the original Penny through General Ironwood prior to the main canon plot; initially believe her to be a real person at first; not knowing that she was a robot and the two hitting it off as friends despite only meeting that one time before Penny left for Vale. Then after the broadcast of the Vytal Festival, Whitley learns the truth.

Do you know what could be interesting? Remember Whitley’s comment to Weiss in V4 about his opinion of the huntsmen being ‘barbaric’. 

Imagine an alternate universe where Whitley’s reasoning behind that term is because he, like many people of Atlas tuned in for the broadcast of the Vytal Festival where he observed Penny’s progress in the tournament up until the point she was revealed to be a machine and torn to shreds before the public eye.

Imagine a universe where Whitley was traumatized by Penny’s decapitation and that’s why he finds the huntsmen lifestyle to be beneath him apart from his justification about him and his father. I still wish to stand by my Whit-ty headcanon where I think Whitley has powers just like his sisters.

I absolutely refuse to let go of this Whitley theory. I’m sticking to my guns on Whitley being as much of a Schnee as Weiss and Winter and thus will unlock his family semblance in time. Bonus if Whitley unlocks his family power to actually save or protect one of his sisters (Weiss) or someone he grew to consider a close friend worth protecting (like Oscar). 

An experience after which, Weiss will agree to train Whitley on how to control his newfound abilities the same way Winter taught her; bringing their relationship almost full circle.

I’m pulling for this theory just as much as my headcanon about Whitley attending Atlas Academy as a means of understanding his sisters’ pursuit of the huntsmen lifestyle. I love the idea of Whitley reuniting with Weiss while she’s continuing her training at Atlas Academy.

The ideaI had in mind is that after Jacques learnt of Weiss’ return to the kingdom and her attendance of Atlas Academy, he personally had Whitley enrolled in the school as a means of using him to woo his sister back to their side or sabotaging it.

By my headcanons, Whitley is the huntsman in Weiss’ Snow White story. In the original fairy-tale, the Evil Queen used the huntsman to kill Snow White but the huntsman spared Snow White after she pleaded for her life.

I think the role of the Whitley being Weiss’ huntsman is very fitting because it plays on Whitley’s caring and sympathetic nature towards his older sister while tying into his loyalty and obedience of their father. I love the idea of Whitley being sent to Atlas to spy on his sister for Jacques but the reality is that Whitley also had his own agenda for going to Atlas. One was because he wanted to learn for himself what the big deal about being a huntsman was all about out of his own curiosity and secondly he wanted to use the opportunity to possibly develop the kind of close relationship and trust he’s always desired with his sisters. Particularly Weiss.

I am an advocate for Whitley being the Nebula to Weiss’ Gamora. My impression is that Whit has always wanted to have that closeness with his sister but due to their father and Weiss’ misunderstandings of her brother’s intentions, Weiss and Whit had a strained relationship from the start. 

My theory is that as a child, Whit would always try to get close to Weiss since he admired her dearly and desired to share a close friendship with her as Weiss had with Winter. However, Whit’s actions toward his sisters usually resulted in more trouble than good leading to huge misunderstandings. Because of this, Weiss was left with the impression that Whitley’s advancements and extensions of kindness were meant as a sign of him manipulating her when in reality, he just wanted to be close with his sister.

Similar to Gamora and Nebula, Weiss is the one who always believed that Whitley just wanted to manipulate and control her like their father when all Whitley wanted---what he truly wanted was a sister. 

Whitley: I don’t need you always seeing my actions as trying to manipulate you!

Weiss: Oh really? I’m not the one who once said being a huntsman is beneath him yet magically shows up at the same huntsman Academy I just happen to be at. Your little playing huntsman charade might be fooling my friends but you’re not fooling me. Not again! You’re just here because father put you up to it. He sent you to toy with me.

Whitley: Stop acting like everything I do is for father.

Weiss: But isn’t that what you once said? It’s foolish to not do what father wants. Weren’t those your exact words?

Whitley: Yes but that was before ---

Weiss: Before WHAT? You miraculously had a change of heart? Save it! You know you were always father’s favourite. His perfect little puppet. 

Whitley: No I’m NOT! Do not tell me what my intentions are. You don’t know me at all!

Weiss: I know exactly the kind of person you are, Whitley. You’re just as sneaky and manipulative and controlling as father. You’re just like him!

Whitley: WRONG!  That’s how YOU see me! But that’s NOT WHO I AM! You’re the one who’s always seen me as being father’s pawn. You’re the one who thinks I’m just like him.  You’re the one who thinks I want to manipulate you like father but do you actually know what I want! What I really want? I JUST WANT MY SISTER!  

All Whitley desires is to have a close bond with his sisters and if that ain’t his endgame then this squiggle meister will be incredibly disappointed.

I want to talk so much more about Whitley being a student of Atlas and his desire to develop an actual relationship with Weiss but this isn’t the headcanon  post for this. Regarding Broken Machines/ Beta Testers, this ties into Miki’s theory now about Jacques noticing Whitley interest in the Penny series sold to the public and thus he buys him  his own personal model.

But in reality, Whit can’t stop thinking about the original Penny he met. The one he saw as his one and only. The true Penny he had befriended, even though it was brief. The Penny he saw for being just a girl and not a machine.

This makes me even think about…what if…Whitley buys original Penny? Or tries to. I once shared a Pinehead headcanon post about the Atlas Council ordering the Military to mass produce Penny’s design before discarding her original model to the trash dumps down in Mantle.

I love your idea Yellow of Whitley spending his weekends visiting the facility where Penny is being housed to be used into mass production of the PNNY series.

Oh! Oh! What if…after the heroes befriend Whitley, he’s the one that helps Ruby and Oscar find the original Penny? What if it’s some kind of secret adventure with the trio where Whitley informs Ruby where original Penny is being housed and Whitley helps her and Oscar get into the base where they were housing Penny only to learn that they had already discarded her to Mantle.

Then again with Whitley’s help, Ruby and Oscar travel down to Mantle to retrieve Penny’s original model from the scrap junkyards below in Mantle---the same scrap heap home to my Grimm Monstro headcanon. I am still in love with the idea of there being a giant monstrous land whale type Grimm swimming through piles of junk to prey on unsuspecting visitors and scrap who happen to fall into its domain. Imagine Whitley going out of his way to help Ruby and Oscar rescue Penny and he even assists is her reconstruction.

I’m still holding onto my Pinehead headcanon of Oscar revealing that he has a hidden talent for engineering that he inherited from all the way back to his days on the farm which inspires him to become an inventing student under Dr. Polendina who doubles as a professor at Atlas Academy. I am still holding onto my theory about Oscar being the primary person to aid Ruby in repairing and restoring original Penny. And now for the Beta Testers, I’ll add Whitley to this theory too with our Schnee boy taking a personal investment in this venture because he wants to reunite with Penny again.

I mean, just imagine if Penny was someone Whitley considered his first true friend. The one person to meet him who didn’t know who he was or didn’t care that he was a Schnee. Imagine Penny and Whitley meeting that one time but still leaving that one lasting impression on each other. And when Penny is restored, to Whitley’s surprise, she remembers him. 

Even after all that she’s been through, original Penny still remembered Whitley after all she promised him that she’d meet again when she returns to Atlas which puts a genuine smile on Whitley’s face. Maybe even makes him cry a little or shed on gangster tear he tries to hide.

How’s that for an idea ey?

LittleMissSquiggles (2019)

#rwby #whitley schnee #weiss schnee #whitley and penny #rwby broken machines #rwby beta testers #rwby theories #whitty headcanons

[ballandcone]

I’m absolutely enamored with your work, the emotion it elicits I can’t put to words, but I wish I could. Is it weird if I ask what the inspiration behind it is? I never seen something quite so unique and inexplicable and I’d love to know more about it

Thank-you!!

Here, from a few years ago, is an interview that Claire Donner of the excellent donnerpartyofone tumblr conducted with me via email:

Q: People seem to like origin stories. What is the origin of Ball and Cone?

In the fall of 1976 while in grad school, I made my first oil painting, a dreamy image of a small brick house with a tall cone standing just outside the open front door and, visible through a window, a blue ball in on corner of the warmly lit interior. (Neither object had eyes or feet.) In retrospect, I think it was about my anxiety over having gotten married just a few months earlier; I wasn’t quite all in psychologically. The following spring, I gave the painting to my best friend from high school Dell Trecartin and his bride Cathy as a wedding present. For many years, it resided in their basement rec room in Ohio, an enduring presence for their two sons, one of whom grew up to become the famous video and performance artist Ryan Trecartin. Years later, Ryan told me that the painting had fascinated him when he was little and that it influenced him more than any other artwork he knew of. After he finished art school, he appropriated it and took it with him to the various cities he lived and worked in with his entourage of collaborators and hangers on. And it came to pass that on arriving in Philadelphia some years later that it was stolen from the roof of his car, to which it had been tied. A tragic loss. After that I thought that I should make a new version of the painting. A few months ago I made a small drawing inspired by its memory.  I made the ball and cone more explicitly anthropomorphic than they were in the original painting. That was “Ball and Cone 1,” in which Cone looks in through a window at Ball, who is sitting on the floor looking sleepy and bored.

Q: The floor of what? It seems like the adventures of Ball and Cone always take place either inside an unfurnished architectural space or in plain air, but you almost never see the outsides of the buildings, or what sort of larger environment they are in.

A: What almost always seems to be going on has to do with relationships between inside and outside. When Ball and Cone are inside, they are looking out or in a process of going out. Their shadowy doppelgangers often are looking in at them. Crossing over the boundary between one state and the other is a recurring drama in Ball and Cone. Apropos of this, my mother sent me this bit about a psychological phenomenon called “the event boundary” (I forget where she got it from):

“Ever walk into a room with some purpose in mind, only to completely forget what that purpose was?

Turns out, doors themselves are to blame for these strange memory lapses.

Psychologists at the University of Notre Dame have discovered that passing through a doorway triggers what’s known as an event boundary in the mind, separating one set of thoughts and memories from the next.

Your brain files away the thoughts you had in the previous room and prepares a blank slate for the new locale. Thank goodness for studies like this. It’s not our age, it’s that stupid door!”

Q: Speaking of states of mind, it is remarkable how much emotion you seem to get out of characters whose only expressive faculty is a single eyeball. I have a theory that when the reader takes in the on-panel circumstances, they project their own feelings back on to Ball and Cone - but maybe that’s not giving credit due to your bold, stark cartoons. What is your secret?

A: Somehow the mind/brain system has a way of enriching what enters consciousness through your optical equipment and through your other senses. This is happening all the time whether you’re looking at “real” things in the world or images on a flat surface.  The excitement of comics is in the way the mind fills in a relatively meager sensory input to create experiences of extraordinary emotional, cognitive and imaginative depth and breadth. I like to play with how little is needed to make that happen.  One of the not-so-secret secrets of Ball and Cone is that they are like children in a perplexing, sometimes scary, sometimes fun world. I guess that’s something everyone has lots of feelings about. I know I do.

Q: This makes a lot of sense to me, because I often unconsciously superimpose the idea of “rods and cones” over Ball and Cone. Maybe this is also because their entire faces are composed of a single eyeball. It is interesting that their adventures are so emotionally charged, since the presence of threat is felt, but the nature of the threat is unclear. For instance, you have an episode in which Ball and Cone are actually murdered, but it doesn’t wind up being a big problem for them. Similarly, there’s a sense of intimacy between Ball and Cone, but it isn’t any clearer than the basic idea of a companionship; they could be siblings or romantic partners or in a parental relationship, but they’re not telling. Do you deliberately exploit this kind of vaguery for its emotional potential, or is the writing part of Ball and Cone more of a free association process?

A: Nothing I do with Ball and cone is conceptually premeditated in the way my answers here might suggest. I work out of some combination of image and feeling. What I’m trying to do most deliberately is making something funny. They’re not called “comics” for nothing.

That said, the comic is, for me, a kind of philosophical playground. It seems I tend to think in terms of universal sorts of relationships and situations. That’s why the comic is so abstract.  So companionship seems to me a kind of relationship that any two people can be in together. At first I thought that Ball and Cone’s relationship might be sexual, but then it seemed that would over-determine certain types of situations and events. It would be more about the relationship between them than about their relationship as friends to the situations that befall them and the actions they undertake. For Ball and Cone as traveling companions the possibilities seem more open-ended.

The experiences they undergo also are universal: being inside and outside; going from one place to another; watching and being watched; following and being followed; being bored, being excited; feeling safe and feeling scared; being trapped and escaping entrapment, and so on. The things that they do and that happen to them are things that all people do and experience.

A major theme has to do with being limited. They only have one eye each and they don’t have arms. Real humans would be like gods to them. But real humans are limited, too: why don’t we have eyes in the backs of our heads or four rather than two arms? Being limited is a condition of being. But so is over-coming limitations. Despite their inadequacies, Ball and Cone have some pretty interesting adventures.

Having said all that, it remains a wonder to me that they elicit emotional responses in me and in their readers.

Q: You are not from a comics background in the strictest sense, neither personally nor professionally. How did you decide to convert the concept of an old painting to an ongoing web comic? Are there certain comic artists that have inspired you?

A: When I made the first few drawings last April, I knew there would be more to come, but I had no idea it would become a web comic. A friend insisted that I start posting on tumblr, which I didn’t know much about. The comic format was something I played with back in the late 70s and early 80s. (See image, a pencil and gouache from back then).

I’ve always loved the comic style and the intersection of Pop, Surrealism and Psychedelia. Some favorite artists include John Wesley and Jim Nutt. From the comic world: R. Crumb, Daniel Clowes, Charles Burns and Lynda Barry. Too many others to mention here. And, of course, Krazy Kat.

Q: Indie comix have experienced a huge revival in recent years, but curiously, the most successful creators don’t reflect the hairy, wet aesthetic rebellion of the ‘60s underground, but rather the hygienic, adorable affectations of Japanese consumer imagery. Ball and Cone don’t really look like anything so easily namable as Astro Boy or Hello Kitty, but they are awfully kawaii on their own terms. If it was important in the 1960s to defy or pervert expectations of cuteness from cartoon characters, is it important in some different way to embrace or exploit cuteness now? What are your feelings on cute?

A: Of his time drawing cards for the American Greetings Corporation, R. Crumb recalled, “My boss kept telling me my drawings were too grotesque. I was trained to draw ‘cute’ little neuter characters, which influenced my technique, and even now my work has this cuteness about it.” Crumb seems abashed about the cuteness in his work, but without it I doubt it would be nearly as compelling. I think I would lose interest in Ball and Cone if they weren’t so darn cute. It’s kind of embarrassing, though, a grown man doing these cute little things. What’s that about?

               An interview with a philosopher named Sianne Ngai I came across recently went a long way to helping me understand. She wrote a book called “Our Aesthetic Categories: Zany, Cute, Interesting.” At the start of the interview, she explains, “I’m interested in states of weakness: in “minor” or non-cathartic feelings that index situations of suspended agency; in trivial aesthetic categories grounded in ambivalent or even explicitly contradictory feelings. More specifically, I’m interested in the surprising power these weak affects and aesthetic categories seem to have, in why they’ve become so paradoxically central to late capitalist culture. The book I’m currently completing is on the contemporary significance of three aesthetic categories in particular: the cute, the interesting, and the zany.” I love how seriously Ngai takes these topics and how much she unpacks from them. Here’s more on cuteness: “The asymmetry of power that cuteness revolves around is another compelling reminder of how aesthetic categories register social conflict. There can be no experience of any person or object as cute that does not somehow call up the subject’s sense of power over those who are less powerful. But, as Lori Merish underscores, the fact that the cute object seems capable of making an affective demand on the subject—a demand for care that the subject is culturally as well as biologically compelled to fulfill—is already a sign that “cute” does not just denote a static power differential, but rather a dynamic and complex power struggle.”

              Reading this makes me think that in making cute comics I’m doing something really important. But if I wasn’t feeling rebellious against the idea of importance – preferring the trivial, the silly and the stupid – there wouldn’t be much fun in it. It’s all very paradoxical in my mind when I think about it.

Q: Rebellion against importance sounds like a pretty good agenda. However, you come from a comparatively “important” high culture background, and your ostensibly low brow comic isn’t totally immune to its influence. For instance, the main threat in most of Ball and Cone’s scarier adventures is simply being seen, with multiple panels and story arcs revolving around being pursued, spotted and spied upon; the idea of gazing as an act of aggression is an obsession for lots of fine artists, photographers and filmmakers. Do you sense yourself importing ideas from other disciplines?

A: The ideas animating Ball and Cone that interest me most come less out of art than out of philosophy, in which seeing is a huge topic. The relationship between what we see – or, what we think we see – and what mind-independent reality  might be like has been endlessly pondered by thinkers from Descarte to Derrida and beyond. For Aristotle, a basic feature of human consciousness is a capacity for wonder and a drive to understand, which we satisfy much of the time by looking at the world and, metaphorically, looking inward. Most of the time, it seems to me, Ball and Cone are looking as if they’re just wondering what is going on in any given situation. They just want to understand. The gazes of the black Ball and Cone may seem possibly menacing, but it’s hardly ever clear that they pose any kind of real threat. But the dynamics of looking, seeing and being seen do have to do with power, as the seer usually has, at least momentarily, the advantage over the seen. So there is a certain political dimension that probably relates to voyeurism as a feature of modern life at least as reflected in photography and movies.

              Another kind of seeing involves not optical perception but an ability to “see past”  or “through” surface reality as registered by our senses.  That’s just something that cognitive intelligence does. Sometimes it’s called insight. You “see” some underlying pattern that is invisible to ordinary vision. Often the same thing may be seen in different ways, and seeing something one way may preclude seeing it another way. That’s what the duck-rabbit figure is about, a favorite topic for Wittgenstein. When  seeing from a singular perspective meets an apparently ambiguous reality that seems to change depending on how it is seen: that’s a moment I think I’m always hoping Ball and Cone will encounter, wonder about and try to understand by looking. It’s a moment when the nature of mind comes at least hazily into view.  You have to look in order to see. Then you see your own seeing.

               Then there’s the possibility of being able to see through reality as delivered by our senses to a metaphysical or transcendental reality that has no material being but exists nevertheless in some world-determining way. Nothing I’ve experienced in my life convinces me that such a realm exists, but I’ve always loved the fantasy of it. It’s a fantasy that urges a kind of mental adventuring, because as Hegel writes, whatever might be there to be seen will ever exist only be virtue of someone going there to see it:

“It is manifest that behind the so-called curtain which is supposed to conceal the inner world, there is nothing to be seen unless WE go behind it ourselves, as much in order that we may SEE as that there may be something behind there to be seen.”

I think that’s why windows and windows within windows – as well as doorways and other openings in the fabric of the picture – figure so often in Ball and Cone.

Q: One final question: everyone knows that young artists are probably just going to starve, so do you have any advice for young philosophers?

A: I love philosophy but I’m not a professional philosopher, so I wouldn’t know what kind of career advice to give a young philosopher other than, in the immortal words of Joseph Campbell, “follow your bliss.” The best advice I ever heard from a real philosopher about reading philosophy was from my friend Nick Pappas, a professor at CUNY. I mentioned in an email that I’d been dipping into Hegel and Heidegger and finding their writings strangely repetitious and opaque yet somehow hair-raising. I wrote, “Were those guys on drugs or something? They sound like stoners to me,” to which Nick replied, “H. and H. both have the stoner’s obsessive attention to – well, to everything.  And one thing I try to learn from them but especially from Heidegger and the best Heideggerians who came after him: not to be in a hurry.  Let other writings get to the point.  Philosophy is on its own clock.” I love that. We are obliged to obey hurrying clocks all the time. In art and philosophy, we can enter other, less utilitarian time zones. What, after all, is the rush?

http://ballandcone.tumblr.com/post/62988401247/my-name-is-ken-johnson-and-i-am-the-author-of

[elizas-writing]

How I Would Fix Steven Universe: Beginning the Fifth Season (1/2)

Jesus Christ on a cracker, this show can’t decide if it wants stakes.

So I put off seeing the episodes from Dewey Wins to Kevin Party mostly because I was swamped with school at the time and also because from what I could pick up from the rest of Tumblr, nothing much of interest happened that I needed to see them immediately. And boy, did I underestimate how absolutely pointless and annoying these episodes were. This is right up there with Lion 4 Alternate Ending as what I think are some of the worst episodes of the show. And of course it doesn’t help that this is coming off some major plot episodes which sadly were not as well polished as they should be. And then after these five, we have the Stranded special which felt like it was getting the plot going again but also introduced some confusing things.

So, let’s go back to the drawing board and fix up season five, shall we? I’m expecting this to be a bit of a long one, so let’s start off with The Trial arc.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I’d change up the fight with Aquamarine and Topaz to include Lapis Lazuli and Peridot in the major climatic fight. Originally I considered cutting The Trial entirely and just ending the conflict right then and there, but after mulling it over, I think there’s still potential to explore if worked correctly. Just needs way less Steven guilt-tripping himself into taking responsibility for his mother’s actions. And I’d have Aquamarine and Topaz realizing who Steven is during the fight when they recognize his powers which only a Rose Quartz would have as well as Rose’s sword.

So, just when it seems Lapis and Peridot have the upper hand, Aquamarine and Topaz make a fast escape, but not without going empty-handed. Wouldn’t you know it? It happens to be Steven, clinging on to his loved ones for dear life before the beam taking him yanks him away, and the ship takes off on light speed to Homeworld.

I still really liked what they did with Topaz (because soft butches are everything), but let’s put her on the backburner for now and go right into The Trial. It more or less plays out the same, but I’ll cut Steven’s whole “I am my mom” bullshit since it wouldn’t apply after my fix it to Lion 4 Alternate Ending. However, knowing that the Diamonds can and will do anything to him, he’s still on guard and scared for his life, trying to think of some way out of this. Blue’s sniveling is dropped to reveal a furious dictator ready to exact her revenge. The actual “trial” is more of a cruel show for formalities with everything set up against Steven and capital punishment inevitable regardless of what the Zircons say. All the while, Steven is absorbing the Homeworld’s perspective on what happened to Pink, trying to think of a clever way out, especially since if he reveals too much from his mother’s latest video, it’s instant death. Perhaps he would only reveal so much to Blue Zircon which would lead her to her own conclusions, prompting immediate regret when she and the other Zircon are poofed by Yellow Diamond.

I couldn’t really get into the idea that one of the Diamonds might have shattered Pink instead, but after Jungle Moon, it was fascinating to see the imbalanced power dynamic of the Diamond Authority right from the get-go. I wouldn’t end up with one of the Diamonds killing Pink because it’s such a cop out on how much Rose’s gray morality was built up, but it wouldn’t surprise me if at least one of them intended to keep her out of the picture as long as possible, even if they didn’t anticipate her death. Just let her colonize a planet and take out her wrath as long as she needs until there is something of use which definitely explain some of the odd circumstances around her shattering and why they didn’t see a rebellion coming.

Anyway, after the Zircons are poofed, Steven rushes for their gems as fast as he can before fighting off the Diamonds and making his escape. He has no idea where he is or where to go; just run like hell. We’d meet the Off Colors, give them way more personality, and dive more into Homeworld’s obsession with perfection. Perhaps the Rutile twins are out of sync with each other and constantly struggle to work together. Padparadscha feels self-conscious on her delayed predictions (”Oh no, did I miss it again?”), but they come of use when learning of Steven, and she can possibly dive further back into the past. We’d explore more of Fluorite and Rhodonite and fusions, and a quick dive into how Garnet’s fusion affected the rest of Homeworld. All the while Steven knows he can’t leave them to suffer any longer under the Diamonds. It takes some persuasion, but they eventually start concocting a plan to escape Homeworld.

This part would be a massive rearrangement of episode placement as the gap between Lars’ Head and Lars of the Stars really disrupts the pacing. And as fun as the Stranded special was, it felt like way too much happened off screen which would have been so much better to see than Steven being an obvious fuck up.

Moving on, the Zircons reform and are of course panicked on where the hell they are and what the consequences will be of Steven running away. Steven is only able to persuade Blue Zircon to come while Yellow Zircon stays behind, still believing she won her case and surely her Diamond would be merciful on her colleague’s ridiculous analysis. Knowing time is short and he can’t force everyone to change, the new team hurries off through the chasms of Homeworld to find an escape route. They come across Emerald’s ship which docked after a recent planet acquisition. It’s the biggest one they can find which can fit them all and take them to Earth. But just as they’re about to come up with a plan, Topaz finds them and is ready to alert other guards until she sees Rhodonite and Fluorite and wonders what in the hell these fusions are doing. She takes it upon herself to rid of such imperfect fusions, but something inside her knows what their love is and how it reflects her internalized feelings about fusion, prompting her to break down. Rhodonite and Fluorite consolidate Topaz with promises that maybe she can have a more free life on Earth.

But just as Topaz joins, the team is ambushed by guards led by Aquamarine. Few of the Off Colors have experience in combat, and are, of course, scared shitless. Then, Fluorite breaks down to her six individual gems (I could not even begin to tell you who they would be, cause I haven’t thought that far into fan theories) who fight off the guards and Aquamarine, giving the rest enough time to get on the ship and prepare for take off. Insert a fun action scene with Steven working off new gems, Topaz taking a stand and poofing Aquamarine (cause god damn, is she annoying), and a rush onto the ship with a course set for Earth.

The next episode will be in a similar vein of Lars of the Stars with just pure space battle action against the intimidating Emerald. Padparadscha keeps up on planets and systems they just pass, the Rutile twins focus on working together, Fluorite’s components are making sure the ship runs, etc etc. It’s just grand teamwork of these gems’ first instance of rebellion and running like hell from authority.

I’d also keep in the episode Jungle Moon, but the whole team crashes (because shit happens when a recently docked ship wasn’t given updates... and gas). And they spend a couple days surviving in the wild of an abandoned Homeworld colony and fixing up the ship. More questions burn from Steven which the rest o the gems are happy to oblige, especially as his dreams get weirder and he sees the seeds which would create a tyrannical Pink Diamond. Why Earth? Why a Human Zoo? How many more planets were wasted away for space colonization? In return, Steven tells the Off Colors and Homeworld gems as much as he can about Earth and the Crystal Gems. The homesickness starts kicking in and dammit, he just wants to be home because he misses everyone.

Once the ship is repaired, the team is back on course for Earth but not without Emerald back on their tail, resulting them being forced to light speed away and crash yet again. But this time they finally made their destination: Earth. As fate would have it, the Crystal Gems are on the scene thanks to Garnet’s future vision, leading up to a tearful reunion.

And the rest is to be continued in part two!

#how i would fix steven universe #su #steven universe #su critical #su criticism #my writing #off colors #off color gems

[romanssippycup]

Undeniably Important Chapter 9: Coincidences?

I’m bored and hyped up and cannot study for the life of me, so have chapter 9 everyone! Hope you all enjoy!

Chapter 1 – Chapter 2 – Chapter 3 – Chapter 4 – Chapter 5 – Chapter 6 – Chapter 7 -- Chapter 8

2:45 pm

Anxiety could not believe his eyes. Everything that Logan had theorized about him were real situations that he could testify to. From the Fight or Flight response, to the feeling of nervousness, and even the butterflies in Thomas's tummy. Logan had even gone so far to say that Anxiety could quite possibly represent Thomas's body as a whole. Involuntary functions included. Some of the descriptions the Logical trait gave, made Anxiety slightly sick to his stomach, but at least he was giving a thorough description of his investigation.

Logan even referenced a curve. Something about relating productivity to Anxiety and that he is needed in performing everyday tasks. Anxiety didn't fully understand it, but it wasn't his job to.

The darker aspect continued to skim his theory. All the information was there. Logan truly did believe that Anxiety was more than just anxiety. He had described it all so well that even Anxiety himself was beginning to believe that he was more than what his name suggested. The darker trait found himself slightly smiling as he read more of the information on the page, but suddenly his face fell as he realized what he had done.

He hadn't trusted Logan's words. Anxiety needed proof, but sometimes in friendships proof is what breaks the bond more than strengthening it. But, there were times Logan was just as mean to him as Roman was. Maybe, Logan deserved it. Anxiety closed the notepad and looked at it sorrowfully lost in his own thoughts. Now, no one could trust him. Not even Patton.

He had let down the one aspect that actually believed in him. And now...he might lose a potential friend. He knew what he had to do, but surprise surprise! He was anxious. Don't get me wrong, Anxiety is no coward. But when it comes to facing challenges, it takes him awhile before he musters up enough strength to own his actions. And facing Logan? Granted he was the logical trait and he couldn't feel much anger, but you never wanted to be on his real bad side.

Anxiety shuddered. He thought about the different ways he could approach the situation, but they all seemed to end at the same place: complete loss of trust. In frustration, he gently tossed the notepad to the other side of the bed and was about to go back to his music, when he gave the notepad one final glance. In the end, he was very glad that he did. It was not only his saving grace, but everyone else's.

From that one glance he gave, he noticed the notepad had opened to a page that lied in between the blank pages towards the back of the pad. Written on that page was one single word. A word that spoke volumes to the one reading it.

Choices.

Anxiety's eyes widened. He was only a second ago trying to comprehend why Logan would write something completely out of the ordinary in such a random place, but then something struck him.

It wasn't Logan's handwriting.

It was his own.

A half an hour earlier...

Logan roused slowly. He had taken a short rest after opening Patton's presents and putting them in their proper places. Now that he was awake, he could begin to get ready for the dinner tonight. He thought about the tie that Patton had given him in one of the gift boxes. It was a deep blue with pictures of all breeds of puppies and dogs on it. As much as he hated to admit it to himself, he really liked that tie. Now, would he ever wear it would be the next question to ask.

He thought for a moment. Patton gave him the tie and the fatherly aspect was probably expecting him to wear it tonight. Logan's thought process was as follows: he was given a gift, it is impolite to refuse a gift or not use the gift for its intended purpose, and because they were going somewhere somewhat fancy, it was acceptable to dress occasionally. There. He had reasoned with himself that it was ok to wear the gift.

Logan got dressed into his normal 'teacher' outfit, but instead of his signature blue tie, he replaced it with the gift tie. He straightened himself up and looked in the mirror. The dog tie didn't look half bad on him. It was very eye catching though and Logan was slightly nervous of the comments he would receive from Roman and Anxiety. But as long as Morality was happy, it shouldn't matter too much.

In letting his mind wander, Logan had not realized that he was smiling into the mirror. When he saw his lips curving upward, it scared him so much he hopped backward an inch. He shook his head in disbelief and reaccepted his straight face. After combing his hair, he sat down at his desk and reopened his notepad. He had already looked through it once before he fell asleep, but he just wanted to make sure nothing was out of the ordinary. Seeing it out of his possession this morning had really nerve-racked his brain.

He flipped through the Theories section and opened it up to a page with no label. This was something that he had begun writing this morning before the Outfit War. The events of the previous night like his encounter with Anxiety and the spilled milk had caused him to ask a question that many overlook in their day to day lives. Wanting to remember where he left off from earlier, he began to read quietly to himself so he could regain his train of thought.

3:03 pm.

"The human being can be divided into roughly four parts: the mind, the heart, the spirit, and the body." Anxiety read.

"Each has their own, unique role and are very different from each other. But there is one thing that they all have in common: they can all be affected by the same outside sources."

"These outside sources could be mental, physical, emotional, and even spiritual in some scientific cases. Here is an example of a physical outside source. If someone were to be punched by another person, a bruise would appear and their body would be noticeably affected, but so would the person's mood and thought process. The person then will have to think of a way to respond to the situation they are in and decide if they will fight back, run away, or take an alternative course of action." Anxiety scratched his head thoughtfully.

"An emotional outside source could be hurtful or encouraging words. When heard, they either build or tear down one's ego, affecting the mood, thought processes, and eventually the productivity of the body for usually the remainder of the day."

"All four sides of the human being are needed every second of every day and often work together like a team. There are times, however, when it is not an outside source, but an internal source that affects the person. These sources are but not limited to: negative thoughts, internal injuries, disabilities, sickness, and the list goes on. When these occur, it normally has a larger impact on the person, because it puts a strain on the relationship of the four parts. When uniting to fight an outside source, the human has a better chance of survival because the foundation is holding strong. The same cannot be said when fighting an internal source because if just one of the four is acting up, the results could be damaging to the human. Or even fatal if one of them happened to no longer exist."

Anxiety let his mind rest for a second as he turned the page. This was a lot of information to take in. Logic certainly owned up to his name.

"The human brain is built to learn, gather information, and rewire itself accordingly to its surroundings and the situations it experiences. It does this through the different problems it encounters. Normally, the problems that happen outside of the human being are the experiences that shape them into who they are today, however; This is only true if all four sides are considered one human being. If, for some reason, the four parts are 'allowed' more leeway, they can begin to explore their limits on their own without needing the other sides' help or approval. Essentially, it just means it is easier for the human to break apart inside because harmony is not as easily obtained."

"In the case of Thomas, we are still Thomas and he is still us. We only figuratively gained a conscience because he personified Roman, who was able to work inside of Thomas's imagination and create the mind palace. The mind palace is the loop hole inside of the pocket dimension. Roman was not able to expand Thomas's imagination directly to accomodate us, but the mind palace had already existed between the fourth and fifth dimensions. (see chapter 5 for explanation on this part) Patton's, Anxiety's, and my parts of the brain registered the mind palace not as imagination, but as a bridge to the fourth dimension and to other unknown areas of Thomas's mind. This is why we he can summon us voluntarily, or we can 'pop' in on him when he leasts expects it."

"But because we can do all of these fascinating things, we need to be careful. I have been able to find no sources that state that other people were able to achieve this sort of understanding. Thomas must be a special case. His decisions influence the real world on a very large scale, but now ours can too. We can act unbeknownst to Thomas, even though he is involuntarily controlling us. This means that everything happening inside the mind palace can be considered an internal source. Not only that, but outside sources also affect his sides more than they would have originally. It is undeniably important that now more than ever we practice good teamwork and be responsible for everyone's-"

The writing stopped there.

Anxiety felt as if he had ridden a roller coaster that just stopped working half way up the drop-off. Be responsible for everyone's...what? Wait. No.

He rummaged through the blank pages of the notepad until he found the one page the pad had opened to earlier.

Instead of tossing the notepad in frustration like he did earlier, he chucked it at the wall in complete bewilderment. Thump!

"WHAT THE HELL!?"

1 minute earlier...

"It is undeniably important that now more than ever we practice good teamwork and be responsible for everyone's-" This was where Logan had left off. Satisfied that he remembered where he was going with his newest theory, he picked up a pen and wrote the last word of the sentence.

"...choices." He was about to write the next section when he noticed something odd. The ink hadn't come out of the pen and onto the paper. There was no evidence he had even tried adding another word. He raised an eyebrow, tried shaking the pen, and then preceded to write the word again. Still nothing came out. This was a pen that came from one of Morality's gift boxes, so it should be very new and easy to work with, unless it was a prank.

Logan rolled his eyes and grabbed a random sheet of scratch paper from his desk. In the corner of the paper, he drew a heart with the pen. To his surprise, the ink came out perfectly fine. Logan scratched his head.

"Strange." He whispered to himself. Again, he tried to write the same word on his notepad. Again it didn't work. His gaze shifted between the pen and the notepad.

"Is this a joke?" His mouth slightly agape as he stared at the page in utter disbelief, but was shaken out of his thoughts when he heard a muffled thump.

Thump!

"WHAT THE HELL?!" It was Anxiety's muffled shout coming from his room. As expected, Logan could hear Patton's door swing open and his footsteps while running to the darker aspects room. The conversation between Anxiety and Patton could not be heard clearly, because Logan was still in his room. Patton was more than likely just checking to make sure Anxiety was okay.

Logan refocused on the notepad in front of him. He had to get to the bottom of this new mystery. He checked the clock in his room.

3:16 pm.

Logan grumbled. He didn't have enough time to do a thorough research process on the notepad before dinner, but at least he could get started on it. After pulling out several things he needed from various places around his room, he began the process of deductive reasoning. He tried to think of all the possible probabilities that this effect would have been caused by. But little did he know, he was still missing one important piece of evidence. Anxiety still had the real one.

4:17 pm.

Thomas was sitting on his couch when a car pulled up into his drive way and sounded its horn. He jumped off the couch, grabbed his wallet, grabbed his keys, and walked out the door making sure to lock it behind him.

"Hey Sanderstorm!" It was Joan. "You ready to go?"

"Ready as I'll ever be!" Thomas walked up to the car and got into the back seat with Leo.

"Where we going Thomas?" Talyn looked behind the passenger seat at their friend.

"Mahzu Sushi and Grill!" Thomas said confidently.

"Alright. Here we go!" Joan drove off and the friends laughed all the way to the restaurant.

Taglist: @mewsicalmiss @here-to-vent @anonymous-snake @cup-of-blue @storytellerofuntoldlegends@cookieartcannon @thagrinbery @ts-sideblog @protecterofalltheaus @pasteries-and-portugal @justanotherpurplebutterfly@remmythepegasis @leesacrakon @kitsuneprideleader@fancifulfox @dolphin-squirrel @evilmuffin @petunia9402@greymane902 @we-get-it-youre-adorable @withoutfandomsiamnothing @irrelevantbutfabulous @allmycopshowsarecancelled @virgils-jacket @just-fic-me-up@evanisonfire @fandomsandnonsense7 @novagalaxy4real (Let me know if you want to be tagged. :) )

P.S. (I’m very proud of how this chapter turned out!)

#sanderssides #sanders sides #thomas sanders #thomassanders #logan sanders #logic sanders #virgil sanders #anxiety sanders #roman sanders #princey sanders #prince sanders #patton sanders #morality sanders #logicality #prinxiety #analogical #undeniably important #undeniablyimportant #cefsfics #UI

[csprofstudy]

Goya Blog 2

Goya Blog

 Monday 12/11

Although I am fascinated by Goya’s work, I have never actually seen an original painting. Have therefore decided to see what I can find in London. So far I can only track Goya down at the National Gallery. https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/francisco-de-goya

There are just 5 paintings to be seen and earlier than the Black Paintings. However, it will be interesting to see some of his contrasting pieces, such as ‘A Picnic’, as well as his formal portraiture, including ‘The Duke of Wellington’! This should give me an insight into how and when his work changed, as well as help me to clarify the reasons for these changes, tying in with my project.

Unfortunately, the Black Paintings are in the Prado, but I have sent off for the Museum ‘Gallery Guide’ which catalogues each of the paintings. Not quite the same as being there, nevertheless I hope it will give me more of an authentic feel, compared to just looking at them on the internet.

 Tuesday 13/11

Having put together a bibliography, I have decided also to explore some podcast material to help my research on Goya and give me a different perspective. These two links below look worthwhile. The Radio 3 interview could be especially interesting as it explores the work of Goya from the curator’s point of view. Will set time aside to listen on Thursday.

BBC Radio 4 - Great Lives, Series 27, Goya

Diana Athill joins Matthew to explore the life of the Spanish painter Francisco de Goya.

BBC Radio 3 - Sunday Feature, Doing Goya Justice: The Curator's Story

Feature following the work of Xavier Bray as he curates an exhibition of Goya's paintings.

Sunday 30/12

As there is hardly any Goya available to view in this country, I was looking forward to watching a DVD, which reports on the National Gallery Exhibition of 2015. Goya: Visions of Flesh and blood. 

It wasn’t quite what I expected as I had hoped to get more of a feel of the Black Paintings and there was far more focus on his portraits. However, I like the way that Goya was dramatized as it brought him to life and made me feel a bit more connected to him and Gabriele Finaldi’s observation that Goya: ‘Dealt with the human soul’ captures a sense of why we are still very moved by Goya’s work today. Reference was made to both his complicated historical journey and his personal/artistic journey – which relates to my investigation for the contextual study – and to his complicated character..

There was quite a lot of interesting back ground that I was unaware of (including his relationship with Martin Zapater which was an intense and intimate friendship) and I think in my essay I might develop my section on his early work that I plan to use to show his developing style, in line with political and personal events that affected him. 

His path to royal painter was clearly laid out by a number of art historians during the film:

1775 Goya was invited to court as King Charles III wanted to show that he was in touch with the Spanish people. He was asked to create tapestries of every day scenes for royal residences, and at this point he was heavily influenced by the naturalistic style of Velázquez. His first Royal Patron was Don Luis de Bourbon; he entered the inner sanctum of the family.

By 1785 his modern approach to portraiture won him more commissions and I learned that he was praised for being unconventional. Instead of small details of a particular scene, he went for face, character, expression - strong physicality – trying to convey the emotional life of his subjects. Understood personality and body language.

This is maybe an early indication of his daring? In his letters he said: ‘There are no rules in painting’, which is something I will bear in mind when I look at his later work. I hadn’t really thought much about Goya the man until this point, but he was obviously ambitious and passionate.

 In 1788 the death of Charles III brought nervousness. Charles IV - succeeded and appointed Goya in the position of court painter and conserver. This is Goya the Royalist and respectful servant, his loyalty and talent winning him a reward.

In 1793 he became unwell and travelled to Cadiz to recover but he would be deaf – for the rest of life. Was this due to lead poisoning? (Another avenue to explore?). Whatever the cause, it must have had a dramatic effect on Goya as he loved music and conversation, so how far did it affect the way he worked and the content of his work? Dr Bray suggests this marked a turning point – that Goya had become liberated and more independent. He drew more freely. New subjects were chosen.

Rebellion from France spilled into Spain. Inquisition active. Duchess of Alba had huge influence and he had a close relationship. How far did she influence him?

1993 Spain was defeated by France and Goya became Director of the Academy of Fine Art. ‘Los Caprichos’ – examination of ‘Vices’ marked the beginning of a darker phase with Goya becoming a critical observer. Followed by ‘Disasters of War.’ Sarah Symmons claims Goya was not overtly political, but events and the development in his art seem to prove otherwise.

The beginning of the 19th Century brought further disruption. The film helpfully summarised main events, which helped to emphasise and clarify the background against which Goya was working.

Napoleon declared war on Britain and invaded Spain in 1808 to control European relationships with Britain.

Unrest. Charles IV abdicated in favour of son, Ferdinand VII.

 French troops entered Madrid and consequences were brutal.

Spain now under French rule with Napoleon’s brother Joseph declared King.

6 year bloody war. Cruelty Captured by Goya in ‘Disasters of War’. Taste of Black Paintings to follow?

Madrid liberated by British. Ferdinand VII reinstated. Goya continued royal duties.

Had access to French and Spanish – left him vulnerable – but political stance not obvious in portraits at this point.

In later life as commissions decreased, Goya turned to friends/family for portraits.

New reign, suspected French sympathisers questioned by Holy Office, including Goya.

Bought Quinta del Sordo. In 1820 self-portrait with doctor. Near death experience.

Black paintings seem like ‘an exorcism’ (Dr Xavier Bray - who curated the exhibition). Why? Was it a personal statement? Were they an anti-war statement? Were they meant to be seen? No-one seems sure and this is the focal point of my study.

Goya says in his letters: ‘I refuse to do the same thing all the time’.

Complexity and variety are key to trying tounderstand his work. 

January 18th

I listened to BBC Great Lives today where Goya was being discussed by Matthew Parris and Sarah Symmons. Although there was some information - especially about historical events – that I had heard before e.g. Napoleon’s invasion of Spain, there were also some useful discussion/quotes that made me think about Goya the man – his motivation, his suffering and people who have influenced him. I might be able to incorporate some of these things into my essay and it will definitely strengthen my ‘Personal’ chapter on Goya the man – and how the complexity of his psyche, relationships and experiences shaped his later work.

Diana Athill. Said she was struck by Goya’s ‘honesty’ – the way he is ‘Always responding to how things really are’. This is interesting in relation to the BPs and the view they convey of man.

Sarah Symmons reminded listeners of his age when creating his masterpieces. He drew ‘Disasters of War’ in his 60s and the ‘Black Paintings’ in his 70s! She points out that for him, ‘The truth was the most important thing.’ Honesty and truth appear to be the driving qualities for his art.

All agreed he was not too interested in the sacred, or heaven. Doesn’t romanticise evil. Perhaps that help to explain the grotesque quality of the BPs?

Something I didn’t know was that all his children died except one and there were many miscarriages. 6 of 7 live births died. This must have been devastating for him and his wife and he must have been touched by this tragedy.

They touched upon his deafness/illness and the theory this was caused because he was an unorthodox painter who often used his hands. As paint was so toxic, this appears to have had a terrible effect. So this will also have had some bearing on his state of mind when he was painting the walls of the Quinto del Sardo with his black paintings.

Some powerful ‘people’ influences were mentioned – the Duchess of Alba was like a Muse and it is said that he loved Martin Zabater passionately. If I have time I might look at some of his letters to Zabater.

Goya worked for Court and Joseph 1 but was inspired by the atrocities of war and Matthew Parris described him as a ‘War reporter’, which is a useful angle/quote for me.

Finally, Athill’s statement that he drew ‘For us’ is an interesting one as I am really interested in Goya’s intentions and his audience – and in why we relate so strongly to him today. Athill’s quote that he was ‘ultra modern’ highlights his ability to cross the centuries and we can relate today both to the idea of civil unrest, and also to mental health issues and the powerful effect these can have.

#mdx3001cs

[bharatiyamedia-blog]

Notre Dame Cathedral hearth: Sluggish reconstruction and new risks forward

http://tinyurl.com/yyobzmxt The world mourned with Paris as a fireplace tore by means of the Cathedral of Notre Dame final month.  Michel Euler/Getty Pictures It has been over a month since a fire ravaged the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, consuming its spire and many of the roof. Though the blaze has lengthy since been extinguished, the historic church nonetheless is not protected from the weather because the gradual rebuilding course of begins. Notre Dame for hundreds of years has been a landmark wrapped into Parisian id, and the April 15 hearth gripped the web. Social media websites like Fb and Twitter grew to become key venues for information updates, vented feelings and reveals of help.  The Gothic cathedral, which dates from the 12th century, is a masterpiece with its flying buttresses, breathtaking stained glass home windows and carved gargoyles, inside its partitions are priceless Catholic relics and artifacts, work, statues and different valuable paintings.  The cathedral’s facade has been the topic of numerous work and its hovering kind additionally impressed Victor Hugo’s well-known novel, Notre-Dame de Paris or The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Other than being one of the vital spiritual websites in France, it is also one of many metropolis’s most visited monuments. Specialists now plan to fortify what’s left of the 850-year-old construction. What brought on the fireplace? Was it an accident or arson? French judicial police imagine an electrical short-circuit is more than likely what brought on the fire. In keeping with an nameless official who spoke with the Related Press, investigators nonetheless aren’t allowed contained in the cathedral for security causes.  Authorities proceed to analyze the fireplace as an accident however are taking the cathedral’s outdated fire prevention safeguards into consideration, The New York Instances reported. Valérie Pécresse, president of the Île-de-France area through which Paris lies, confirmed that the fireplace was an accident, although officers have not elaborated on the precise trigger. Paris police stated it may be linked to the $6.8 million renovation efforts underway. As well as, parts like firewalls and sprinkler programs had been reportedly lacking from Notre Dame’s attic, the place the fireplace burned, by alternative. Electrical wiring reportedly wasn’t allowed within the cathedral’s attic to protect its unique design and to guard the lead ceiling’s timber help beams. How lengthy did it take to place the fireplace out? It took 9 hours and greater than 400 firefighters to convey the blaze below management and finally put it out altogether. No deaths had been reported, however one firefighter was reportedly seriously injured. How is Notre Dame in peril now? The best hazard the cathedral faces is the wind, Paolo Vannucci, the engineer who initially warned concerning the risks inside Notre Dame within the occasion of a hearth, informed La Repubblica, an Italian newspaper, in mid-Could. Vannucci stated the landmark may stand up to winds over 137 miles per hour earlier than the fireplace. For the reason that blaze, that energy has diminished by 60%. Vannucci thinks it can take months to start safe the edifice. “In keeping with my calculations, the dangers of a collapse on the stage of the vault are nonetheless excessive,” Vannucci informed La Repubblica. What survived the fireplace? Although hearth crews initially said they “might not have the ability to save Notre Dame,” they had been capable of preserve the main structure together with the outer partitions and the 2 bell towers. Photos from inside the cathedral taken April 16 confirmed particles nonetheless smoldering across the altar. Later, a tweet surfaced displaying that the rooster from the long-lasting spire survived the fireplace. Artifacts and paintings had been saved by Parisian hearth providers and town’s deputy mayor for tourism and sports activities, Jean-Francois Martins, and his crew. They had been capable of salvage the Crown of Thorns, the Blessed Sacrament and different gadgets. The rescued works had been transported to the Louvre Museum for safekeeping. Copper statues representing the 12 apostles and 4 evangelists had been removed for cleaning as a part of the restoration undertaking.  “We made a human chain, with our pals from the church … to get, as fast as doable, to get all of the relics,” Martins informed CBS News. “All the things is protected and undamaged, and in our actually unhealthy day, we had one excellent news.” Moreover, three beehives — home to about 180,000 bees — positioned beneath the rose window survived the fireplace. Notre Dame’s beekeeper, Nicolas Geant, stated he acquired a name from the cathedral’s spokesperson, who stated the bees had been flying out and in of their hives. Geant posted photographs of bees buzzing round one of many gargoyles final month. What did not survive? The constructing’s spire and a part of the roof disintegrated within the hearth. What was the timetable of occasions throughout the hearth? The hearth began shortly after the cathedral closed round 6:45 p.m. native time on April 15 and grew shortly in windy circumstances. The slim streets, the warmth of the flames and the cathedral’s positioning alongside the River Seine made it tough for firefighters to get nearer. At round 7:53 p.m., the spire fell amid the flames. Lower than 15 minutes later, a part of the roof collapsed, Reuters reported. The island the place the cathedral is positioned, Paris’ Ile de la Cité, was evacuated simply earlier than 8:30 p.m.  It seemed dire. “All the things is burning; nothing will stay from the body,” Notre Dame spokesperson Andre Finot informed CBS News shortly after the blaze started. US President Donald Trump tweeted that “maybe flying water tankers could possibly be used to place it out,” however the civil protection company of the French authorities responded that firefighters are utilizing all means to fight the blaze, “apart from water-bombing aircrafts which, if used, may result in the collapse of all the construction of the cathedral.” Lots of of firemen of the Paris Hearth Brigade are doing every part they will to convey the horrible #NotreDame hearth below management. All means are getting used, apart from water-bombing aircrafts which, if used, may result in the collapse of all the construction of the cathedral. — Sécurité Civile Fr (@SecCivileFrance) April 15, 2019 How did folks reply? Pictures of the fireplace shortly swept the globe on social media. In Paris, France 24 reported, folks gathered and to sing Ave Maria and Catholic hymns. “Our Girl of Paris in flames. Emotion of a complete nation. Thought for all Catholics and for all French. Like all our countrymen, I am unhappy tonight to see this a part of us burn,” French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted. France 24 reported that Macron thought of the fireplace a nationwide emergency. In a tweet, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo stated firefighters had been working to regulate the flames, and he or she urged residents and guests to respect the safety perimeter.  Un horrible incendie est en cours à la cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris. Les @PompiersParis sont en practice de tenter de maîtriser les flammes. Nous sommes mobilisés sur place en lien étroit avec le @dioceseParis. J’invite chacune et chacun à respecter le périmètre de sécurité. pic.twitter.com/9X0tGtlgba — Anne Hidalgo (@Anne_Hidalgo) April 15, 2019 Very like after the terrorist attacks on Paris in 2015, politicians, spiritual leaders and unusual residents from around the globe additionally tweeted statements of help.  Notre Dame is among the world’s nice treasures, and we’re considering of the folks of France in your time of grief. It’s in our nature to mourn once we see historical past misplaced – nevertheless it’s additionally in our nature to rebuild for tomorrow, as sturdy as we are able to. pic.twitter.com/SpMEvv1BzB — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) April 15, 2019 Social media additionally indulged in one among its favourite pastimes — conspiracy theories — after a US politician tweeted out unverified info when a good friend in Europe informed him the fireplace was set deliberately. Christopher Hale, who ran for Congress in Tennessee and writes opinion columns for Time journal, shortly famous that his good friend’s info hadn’t been confirmed, and he deleted his original tweet, in accordance with The Each day Beast. However that did not cease far-right conspiracy theorists from utilizing Hale’s tweet as proof that terrorists had began the fireplace.  “On reflection, I completely by no means ought to have tweeted it within the first place,” Hale informed the publication. “I do not assume I had the foresight about how a lot the worst components of the web will grasp for straws of their conspiracy theories.” Once more, French authorities did not counsel arson as a trigger for the blaze. Final month, firefighters from the Paris Hearth Brigade attended a reception of their honor at Macron’s residence, the Élysée Palace. In keeping with The New York Times, there was a further ceremony scheduled for later within the day. What’s being finished now? President Macron vowed to rebuild Notre Dame. Donations poured in from French philanthropists and charities to fund the in depth rebuilding prices. The University of Notre Dame within the US donated $100,00zero to the cathedral’s aid and rang campus basilica’s bell 50 instances the day after the fireplace.  IBM has pledged to present 1 million euros, whereas Apple CEO Tim Cook additionally tweeted that his firm would donate funds. Disney reportedly pledged $5 million to the restoration efforts. Disney produced The Hunchback of Notre Dame, an animated adaptation of Victor Hugo’s novel in 1996. How can I donate to assist rebuild Notre Dame? Listed below are just a few locations to get you began when you’re fascinated by being part of rebuilding the cathedral: Fondation du Patrimoine has collected greater than 7 million euros internationally for the Notre Dame Cathedral. Donations might be made as soon as or month-to-month by bank card, verify or financial institution switch. The nonprofit is devoted to preserving historic and cultural websites in France.  The Friends of Notre Dame is a 501c3 public charity. Donations to Notre Dame’s restoration might be made by bank card, by means of PayPal or by sending a verify to the deal with on the web site. The charity has damaged up its funds into long-term, intermediate and pressing wants for the cathedral. Pressing wants embrace restoring the fallen spire, the collapsed roof and the vestry.  The Basilica of the National Shrine, also called America’s Catholic Church, is accumulating donations on-line and prayer requests within the wake of the fireplace. The Nationwide Shrine inspired the world to unite and rebuild the cathedral that has served as a spot of worship for eight centuries.  The French Heritage Society, a public nonprofit, established a fund to gather donations for the restoration of Notre Dame Cathedral. You may donate on-line with a credit score or debit card, with PayPal, ship checks within the mail, or donate over the cellphone by contacting Benjamin Wells on the FHS Applications Membership Workplace, at [phone], ext. 201. Donations are tax deductible below US legislation and eligible for deduction below French legislation.  Dozens of GoFundMe campaigns have cropped up around the globe to assist rebuild Notre Dame. When you can donate to those, bear in mind that they are unofficial fundraisers. It is vital to at all times analysis organizations to verify they’re respected.   Easy methods to see Notre Dame Cathedral If you wish to go to or relive a visit there, you possibly can see digital excursions each inside the majestic halls and from a birds-eye view of the timeless structure. Now taking part in: Watch this: The hearth truck of the longer term? 3:13 Initially printed April 15.Updates April 16-18, April 22 and Could 29: Added details about the fireplace and its aftermath, and what lies forward. Source link

[just-bu-2017-blog]

Our friend Gord

        On May 17th, 2016 I woke up unknowing that my thoughts on Canadian music and culture would be forever changed, as it began the day of mourning for a man I hardly knew and a band I hardly listened to. That was the day it was revealed that Gord Downie of The Tragically Hip (The Hip) was revealed to be diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. I knew of the The Hip as much as any 20 year old Canadian would. I grew up hearing their songs on the radio here and there, enough that I could recognize their hits when I heard them, I knew they were Canadian and that was about the extent of my knowledge. I respected them in that way that most people respect and support artists just because they are Canadian, I was by no means a fan. I live in a household where the kitchen table is scattered with various newspapers and the news is always on television, my parents are very interested in the news. Once it was May 17th, I was completely surrounded by The Hip, all over my kitchen table, the tv, on my Facebook feed, I thought to myself “woah, this is a big deal” but I could not completely understand why. While reading Sulivan, 2013 chapter 6, I realized I had a negotiated position towards the band and Downie. I could see through all the news around me that this was a big deal and I accepted that and agreed, however I used my experience and worldview of a communications major to negotiate the text around me so I could understand the dominant cultural code. This dominant cultural code was clear that the country was in near pandemonium and put the band on a God-like pedestal. I was able to decode the significance of this historical event because I understand the dominant social and cultural codes. If I was American and heard that a Canadian artist name Gord Downie passed away, I would not be phased. As The Hip never had much of a career in the United States, they were not a household name as they were in this country. Their music also reflected cultural themes and events of this country which would not make much sense to an American (or those from any culture for that matter) unless they had extensive Canadian background knowledge. The song Fifty Mission Cap (1993) for example is about Bill Barilko, a player for the Toronto Maple Leafs who scored the Stanley Cup winning goal verses The Canadiens. Barilko vanished on a fishing trip that summer and The Leafs did not win another cup until his body was found 11 years later. That is a fascinating story to me, however it may not be fascinating to those who do not understand our cultural codes and understand the rivalry between the two teams, the significance of hockey and the pride associated with the cup. Author Simon Levinson of the New York Times wrote an article about Downie and attempted to decode him to American audiences by comparing him to notable American artists, people whom they have social connections to. Once this American audience is explained the cultural code, they are able to begin to understand the significance of Downie.              Once I heard about his diagnosis I needed to satisfy my cognitive needs which are “needs related to strengthening information, knowledge and understanding” (Sullivan, 2013, p. 114). As stated earlier, once I learned of his diagnosis I needed to understand why this was such a big deal, I satisfied this cognitive need through research. Articles and videos helped to satisfy this need. Though making connections wth course content from my communications classes I was able to understand why their Canadian success was so monumental. When I was able to connect the dots I had that lightbulb moment where everything made sense. I learned that in Canada we have something called market failure, based on many factors such as language barriers, our geography, proximity and relation with the world’s largest media market are just some of the many ways that Canadian artists are almost predisposed for hardship and possible failure. The fact that they gained popularity in a pre-web 2.0 time is phenomenal. They did not have to rely on social media or YouTube videos to have success in this country. They were also a band that talked about issues of national importance, they did not abandon their Canadian roots in order to chase American fame. This also fulfilled my social needs which are “needs related to strengthening contact with friends, family and the world” (Sullivan, 2013, p. 114). I felt connected to my friends and family who were sharing posts about Downie and The Hip, I was able to have conversations with supervisors at work who explained to me that their best teenage/young adult memories are based around listening to The Hip in the background. When their final concert was broadcasted live on CBC it was appropriately titled The Tragically Hip: A National Celebration (2016). This truly was a national celebration as it brought the entire country together weather people viewed it from the main square in Kingston, at parks and viewing celebration parties across the country, restaurants and bars and people’s living rooms. It satisfied our social needs which is not something that happens too often on this grand of a scale. The only other time I can think of when our country was brought together this closely was during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.             When watching Courage: A Tribute to Gord (2017) a documentary featuring dozens of archived Downie interviews since the band’s inception, there was one particular interview that left a lasting impression. While being interviewed in 1991 the interviewer asks Downie about his lyrics and writing. In particular she asks what was the exact meaning of a particular song. The interviewer said “I don’t wanna analyze your lyrics because they’re so obtuse, they’re so personal. I haven’t got a clue what these lyrics mean to you, I only know what it means to me” to which Downie responded that “I can’t come up with pat answers for you because it’ll ruin it for me too” (Courage, 2017). Audiences are able to create their own interpretations of metaphors in music and art and connect it to their own experiences. That reminded me of uses and gratification theory in chapter 5, more specifically within the chapter; media dependance. According to Rubin and Windahl’s model of uses and dependancy there are many factors that can change a person’s media usage. One being “the degree of which that person relies upon the media for gratification… a particular medium or type of content can become a recurring source of need gratification so that the individual may not even consider or seek other sources of gratification” (Sullivan, 2013, p. 126). When someone connects to music and lyrics, it creates a supported and comforting feeling knowing that there is an artist/song that can articulate their feelings. Music becomes a sort of therapy and one that they become accustomed to seeking, therefore people are less likely to seek other gratification sources.           In Buzzard, 2015 the article discusses sampling errors in tv ratings. The committee demanded that Nielson discloses the margin of sampling error and clarify to customers that ratings are estimates. Although in the Nielson case the errors occurred due to intentional deception, in my opinion the audience numbers released for the National Celebration broadcast also seem to be in error, although not due to malicious intent. It was released that 11.7 million viewers tuned into the concert broadcast (Canadian Press, 2017). However that is not the actual number of people that tuned in. Think of the hundreds of thousands of Canadians that viewed in large populations on one screen, such as parties, bars, restaurants, parks, town squares (etc). If it were possible to calculate these numbers it would greatly surpass the 11.7 million figure that was released. It should be more clear to audiences that 11.7 million was just the amount of devices that tuned in and that the actual number of viewers surpasses this. The ratings both provided by Nielson and the public after the concert are deceptive.          Long Time Running (2017) is a documentary about The Hip’s final tour. The band and their families reflect on the last 30 years and their initial reservations over the final tour. Downie’s Doctors from Sunnybrook Hospital were consulted to explain the unlikelihood of this tour happening, much less be completed. The documentary premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was set for a November premiere date for television audiences. Political economy from chapter four is “the study of social relations, particularly the power relations, that mutually constitute the production, distribution and consumption of resources” (Sullivan, 2013, p. 78). Once Downie’s passing was announced, the country’s social relations changed as they were all brought together in morning and nostalgia. This mass collective outweighed the power of corporations, in this case Bell Media. The distribution was changed as premiere date was moved up several weeks to be premiered the Friday night after his passing.           When Downie was originally diagnosed, my research was to fulfill my cognitive needs. Once Downie passed I was constantly reading new articles, searching websites, watching videos whether they be interviews of the band or notable figures who are paying their respects to Downie. I had nearly 10 tabs open at once all related to Downie and The Hip, I have several pages saved on Facebook of Hip related content to view later. Sundar explains the specific reasons why I was stuck in this trance of research, “the researchers found that people use the Internet for interpersonal reasons, to pass time, information-seeking, convenience, and entertainment purposes… people view and share YouTube videos for convenient entertainment, interpersonal connection, convenient information-seeking, escape, co-viewing, and social interaction” (Sundar, 2013, 507). Nearly every single one of those reasons are applicable to why I spent so much time using the internet and watching YouTube videos. Perhaps the great number of reasons that are applicable to me explain how I am spending so much time on the internet and YouTube. It also provides some escapism. The Hip was a band that helped to create and evolve Canadian culture and brought us together through celebration of music. Downie was a true humanitarian. He was so passionate about his foundation the Gord Downie Chanie Wenjak Foundation and his work towards indigenous rights and reconciliation, such an important issue that does not effect him personally. In his final years he could have spent it relaxing and vacationing, instead he put on a final tour, with his failing health and memory, to say thank you to his fans. Then he spent the last chapter fighting for those who need to be reconciled with.  As Prime Minister Trudeau excellently phrased it “we are less of a country without Gord Downie in it” (Trudeau, 2017).

Works Cited Baichwal, J., & De Pencier, N. (n.d.). Long Time Running. Retrieved November 02, 2017, from http://www.thehip.com/long-time-running/

Buzzard, K. S. (2015). The Rise of Market Information Regimes and the Historical Development of Audience Ratings. Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 35(3), 511-517. doi:10.1080/01439685.2015.1052219

C. (2016, August 22). 11.7 million Canadians tuned in to Tragically Hip's last concert. Retrieved November 02, 2017, from https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/music/2016/08/22/117m-canadians-tuned-in-to-tragically-hips-last-concert.html

Courage: A Tribute To Gord. (2017, October 25). Retrieved November 02, 2017, from https://www.much.com/watch-courage-in-memory-of-gord-downie-now/

Fifty Mission Cap [Advertisement]. (1993, January). Retrieved November 2, 2017, from https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifty_Mission_Cap

Russell, D. (2016, August 20). The Tragically Hip: A National Celebration (TV Movie 2016). Retrieved November 02, 2017, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5987200/

Sundar, S. S., & Limperos, A. M. (2013). Uses and Grats 2.0: New Gratifications for New Media. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 57(4), 504-525. doi: 10.1080/08838151.2013.845827

Sullivan, J. L. (2013). Media audiences: effects, users, institutions, and power. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. Vozick-levinson, S. (2017, October 18). Gord Downie, a Canadian Rock Legend, Sings Goodbye. Retrieved November 02, 2017, from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/18/arts/music/gord-downie-tragically-hip-dead-final-album.html

[aion-rsa]

X-POSITION – ResurrXion Revealed With the X-Editors: Part 2

The X-Line is getting a major overhaul this spring with the launch of a whole new line of comics. The initiative, titled ResurrXion, will see the arrival of new flagship series like “X-Men Gold” and “X-Men Blue” as well as team books like “Generation X” and “Weapon X.” Additionally, a trio of characters will get their own ongoings: “Iceman,” “Jean Grey” and “Cable.” On top of all that, “All-New Wolverine” and “Old Man Logan” will continue slashing their way through villains with new stories.

RELATED: X-POSITION – ResurrXion Revealed With the X-Editors: Part 1

This week in the concluding half of our two-part X-POSITION interview, X-Men editors Mark Paniccia, Daniel Ketchum, Christina Harrington, Mark Basso and Chris Robinson answer your questions about “X-Men Blue,” “Cable,” “Iceman” and “All-New Wolverine”!

CBR News: Welcome back for part two of this X-POSITION, X-Editors! First up this week, we have a question from Factor.

Are there plans to bring more diversity to the two main X-Men books? In the two teams, Storm is the only character of color and there isn’t any confirmed LGBT representation [aside from Iceman], which seems a stark contrast to Marvel’s recent diversity push and the X-Men’s own history of being one of the most inclusive teams in comics.

Daniel Ketchum: When we were brewing “X-Men Blue” and “X-Men Gold,” we were purposefully modeling the teams after the original five X-Men and the All-New, All-Different X-Men. We definitely struggled with the fact that those rosters aren’t representative of Marvel today, so one of the aims was to make sure that we placed extra emphasis on diversity amongst the other team books, as well as finding (also, making) opportunities to fill out the supporting casts of the main titles with diverse characters.

Also, can we talk about how there are maybe more gay characters in the main casts of X-Men titles than ever before? Iceman, Iceman (I count them separately because we are presenting very different gay narratives with each of them), Benjamin Deeds, Bling and a character that we have not yet discussed…

EXCLUSIVE: “X-Men Gold” #1 interior art by Ardian Syaf, Jay Leisten and Frank Martin

Next up, MarvelMaster616 wants to know if there’s romance in store for the mutants.

Since the end of “Avengers vs. X-Men” and “Death of Wolverine,” there has been a distinct lack of romantic subplots throughout the X-books. Pretty much every iconic X-Men romance has been destroyed, shelved, or otherwise cast aside. Will the current state of romance in the X-Men comics, or lack thereof, change at all in ResurrXion?

Christina Harrington: I love a good love triangle…I think you’ll definitely be seeing more of them in the future.

Ketchum: Yes. Perhaps the most important question I asked each of the incoming writers was, “Who’s kissing who?”

Mark Paniccia: In “X-Men Blue” you will see a familiar geometric shape taking form amongst a familiar trio of characters. Been a while since we’ve watched this kind of rivalry evolve.

“X-Men Gold” #1 interior art by Ardian Syaf, Jay Leisten and Frank Martin

Here’s a more big picture question from blinkingblah.

Do a lot of writers ask for a lot of info when approaching a book that has a lot of history like X-Men, or do some feel confident enough that they just wing it? I personally wouldn’t feel right without doing my due diligence to whatever comic I was about to be placed on. I’m sure it varies.

Harrington: In my experience, writers want to know the background and history of the characters they’re writing — for any character they’re writing… but I think that history carries a bit more weight with the X-Men. Since I assist on titles, I’m usually hunting down comics from the ’90s or much earlier — the entire “Uncanny” run from the ’60s is digitized for the sake of reference, for example — to send to writers and artists. Though, honestly, one of the best resources for this sort of thing is usually Daniel Ketchum… I’ll ask him when a certain event happened and he’ll give me the issue number off the top of his head. Dude knows his stuff.

Ketchum: Haha. You’re too kind, Christina!

And this is a great question, blinkingblah. I was actually just talking about this very topic on the phone yesterday with “Generation X” writer Christina Strain.

I think every writer is slightly different when it comes to the amount of research they do when picking up a character or story that already has established continuity, an established voice…and also different in how beholden they feel to it all. So, depending on the writer, they might ask for a lot of info and back issues, or they might just fly right into a pitch. It does indeed vary.

I will say that in this particular batch of writers, we have lots of longtime X-Men fans who have not only grown up living with these characters, but have also done their homework, so there are lots of fun nods to continuity sprinkled throughout their scripts. Longtime readers and newcomers alike are in for a real treat!

Let’s get into a few questions about one of the flagship books, “X-Men Blue.” Here’s one from txgohan.

The original five have been in the present timeline for a good minute now. Will we ever find out what will happen if/when they go back to their proper time? Can they even go home since the original 616 universe was destroyed in “Secret Wars”?

Paniccia: That’s a good question and there are many theories out there about how and if they can return. It’s become one of the great mysteries in modern comics. This is something [writer] Cullen [Bunn] wants to explore and the answer he’s got in mind, if we let him do it, is pretty mind-boggling.

Harrington: I think if we answered this question we wouldn’t need to make comics any more. So, uh, read on, True Believer, and find out?

Ketchum: Ummmm check out “All-New X-Men” #19 for the beginning of the answer to this question. DUN DUN DUN!

That issue arrives later this month, X-Fans! Next up, we have an ask from MarvelMaster616 about Cyclops.

Now that Teen Cyclops knows the truth about what happened to his older self in “Death of X,” what will that mean for him moving forward? How will that affect him, his teammates, and the way the rest of the world sees him?

Paniccia: One thing I want to stress is that these guys are a family and they have all seen a possible path for themselves. This goes beyond Scott. His alternate’s fate is something that deeply disturbs him but he’s in good company as all the members are cast in the shadows of some frightening possibilities. This is something that makes their journey together so fascinating in regards to the team’s current dynamics and what kind of collision course they’re all headed for, be it supportive or adversarial.

Harrington: Cyclops, like the rest of his time-tossed teammates, is going to have to figure out who he really is. And just because he knows the truth about older Scott’s fate doesn’t mean there won’t still be doubts about who he might become. I think we all worry about the person we might become in the indeterminate future…though not all of us can say we’ve met our future selves and hated them. It’s going to be a long road for Cyke, but I think he’ll be okay. Scott Summers is a hero…isn’t he?

Ketchum: Over the course of “All-New X-Men,” Young Cyclops was really dogged by the legacy his older self had left for him. And now that he’s out from under that, he can move forward and forge his own path…

We now have some questions about the upcoming solo books, like this “Iceman” question from cc008.

How do you think the upcoming “Iceman” solo ongoing will stack up against Marvel’s top, heavy-hitting solo books? I’m really hoping for a nice, long run for the book that shows how important Bobby really is to the X-Men.

Paniccia: This is a book I’m really excited to see happen and so glad it’s part of our publishing plan. I have high hopes for it and Daniel put together an amazing creative team. Please add this book to your pull list.

Chris Robinson: Out of the newest wave of X-titles, “Iceman” is going to have the most personal stakes and repercussions for the title character.

Ketchum: Chris really hits the nail on the head. Iceman is pretty comfortable in his own skin when it comes to being a super hero… whereas when it comes to knowing himself as a person, he’s really lacking. This book will have a lot of heart, where the super hero conflicts will illuminate Bobby’s interior life and inform his own journey of self-discovery. And I think many of Marvel’s top, heavy-hitting solo books have that in common.

Also, punching bad guys in the face. “Iceman” and the other solo series all have that in common, too.

We have a few questions about the upcoming “Cable” book, starting with this one from Benji.

Where is Hope Summers? She went from HUGE deal to “Where did she go?” Please tell me she’ll appear in “Cable.” It makes no sense for her not to — he’s her dad!

Paniccia: There are plans for Hope but I’ll let another editor speak for that. But I can’t say that her and pops won’t bump into each other down the line…if “time” permits.

Mark Basso: Just because Cable’s her dad doesn’t mean Hope wants to hang around her old man all the time, does it? When we open the new series, Cable is on a very dangerous solo mission, hunting down a very dangerous criminal through the time stream… not exactly a trip you bring the family along for!

Ketchum: We’ll be answering the, “Where is Hope Summers?” question in “Jean Grey” #2! Because writer Dennis Hopeless and I have both missed her as much as you!

And here’s another “Cable” Q, this time from Psimitar.

How tightly-woven will Cable’s new solo book be into the fabric of other X-Books and the Marvel Universe in general? … It’s been almost 3 years and Cable has yet to even interact with the O5 X-Men and it seems like he of all people would have something to say about his parent(s) being displaced in time as it could jeopardize his very existence.

Basso: That’s very true — no one knows the risks of time-travel and the butterfly effect more than the Askani’son. In fact, that’s exactly what sets him off on his first mission in the new series. Conquest, the mysterious new villain Cable is hunting, is looking to piece together a weapon that, if successful, will have dire consequences on the Marvel Universe. So, in respect to the order of urgency, his time-displaced parents will have to wait. But what will happen when Cable meets his even younger parents, though? Hmmm…

Paniccia: Cable meeting the O5 versions of his parents is a story that’s rich with possibilities both on personal and quantum levels. It’s something worth exploring for sure.

And we close out this week with a question from Coen about a character that’s now a major movie star, the “All-New Wolverine.”

Can you please tell me if the all-new Wolverine will be joining any X-Men teams in ResurrXion?

Paniccia: You may see her guest star but she’ll be involved in a pretty cool and (inter)stellar story that will take her off the table to join a roster right now… but, never say never in comics. And some stuff that’s been brewing amongst the X-writers might bubble to the surface and scratch that itch many of you have to see her operating with allies.

Harrington: I don’t know if you’ve been reading “All-New Wolverine” lately, but Laura’s been going through some stuff. Plus, she has a sister now — a sister who desperately needs some super hero training. So, she’s doing what Wolverine does best — no, not killing stop saying that I can’t hear you — taking a young girl under her wing and turning her into a total badass. But I also don’t think you can keep Laura away from the larger Marvel Universe for long and I really pity the person who stands between her and her friends, so I don’t think this journey of self-discovery is going to take forever. Just sit back, relax, and watch our girl be the hero she is.

Ketchum: Also, please send us letters! We’re hoping to resurrect the tradition of letters pages along with our classic titles and classic line-ups. Mark them “OKAY TO PRINT” and send them to [email protected]!

Special thanks to Mark Paniccia, Daniel Ketchum, Christina Harrington, Mark Basso and Chris Robinson for taking on this week’s questions! Stay tuned to CBR for info on the next X-POSITION.

The post X-POSITION – ResurrXion Revealed With the X-Editors: Part 2 appeared first on CBR.com.

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