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what-even-is-thiss · 8 months

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could you share your thoughts on Christianity and the lgbt community? Not in a like "'oh yeah well how are you this and that if you're REALLY Christian"' kind of way, I'm asking from the perspective of someone who's been struggling with their spirituality because I don't know how I can believe and god and also be gay. Feel free not to answer this though, you shouldn't have to explain yourself to random people every time you mention your religion

There’s not a lot of mentions of what we would consider to be homosexuality in the Bible. Paul mentions it most explicitly but there’s some important things to remember about Paul. First, he’s just some guy. He did important work spreading the religion but that doesn’t mean that he’s right about everything. Second, his only exposure to homosexuality likely came from the Roman elite. And the way they did it usually involved raping slave boys and hiring young prostitutes. They didn’t usually have same sex relations in the way we think of them now. Men didn’t generally have romantic relationships with each other into adulthood and a full adult citizen being passive during sex was considered to be scandalous. Any actual romantic relationships between adults of the same sex were likely kept secret or at least weren’t talked about loudly. So Paul is living in this environment. And people aren’t completely separate from the environments they live in.

For the most part stuff in the Bible that’s translated as condemning homosexuality is referring to certain cultural practices common in the Mediterranean at the time that we also wouldn’t like today. Such as pederasty, also known as a romanticized form of pedophilia that even people at the time in cultures that practiced it heavily criticized. Consenting adults often did have romantic or sexual relations together but they weren’t commonly open about it.

Overall, the Bible just doesn’t have much to say about liking someone of the same gender if you look at instances outside of things alluding to some of the worse stuff the Greeks and Romans did. So if the Bible doesn’t say much about it, that leaves it up to us to logically deduce our personal feelings about it.

Okay. So what are the two main commandments Jesus gives us? Love your neighbor as yourself, and love god with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Basically: love God, love others, love yourself. These are said to be the rules that all other commandments stem from and supersede all other commandments in terms of importance.

So. Does being queer stop you from loving God? Loving others? Loving yourself?

Science is real. It helps us learn more and more about the universe God created all the time and science has proven time and time again that being queer isn’t a choice and that people are happier when they live more authentically.

God made you the way you are. You cannot control whether you’re queer or not. So it’s not a mistake in you that can be “fixed”. If humans were made in the image of God, you too are an image of God. So some tiny part of God, however small, looks like you. All of you. Including the queer parts.

So then. Are you loving God? Including the parts of God that are like you? Are you loving your fellow humans? Including your fellow lgbt humans? Are you doing your best to love yourself? Every part of yourself?

I don’t take the Bible fully literally. You can’t. It contradicts itself constantly. But even if you did, the world it was written for and the society that made the oral traditions it was based on no longer exist. At least not in the exact same way they once did. What the Bible does have in it is stories that can give us examples and have informed the formation of our culture as Christians. Christianity has changed a lot over the last 2,000 years. Many forms of it have come and gone. Ultimately it’s up to us as modern Christians what kind of world we want to be apart of and contribute to and what culture we want to make among ourselves. I can’t pretend to know the true nature of God but I do know that God inspires me to reduce suffering and speak up for injustice where I can.

Ultimately your interpretation is up to you. But I personally don’t see needless self flagellation over something you can’t control as an act of justice or love. Just a form of self torture that’s ultimately not adding much to the world. Adding some of your own happiness to the world in my opinion isn’t a problem.

If you want to know how being queer has affected my faith, I’ve never doubted for a second that being lgbt+ is fine. To be honest I’ve been more afraid of secular society not accepting me than God. God and I have wrestled before, but almost never over that. I am how I am and if God didn’t want me to be this way he probably wouldn’t have flipped the gay switch in my brain.

#roman said a thing #religion mention

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kyuushi · 4 months

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I present (🎁) the character relationship chart from the first official fanbook! Big thanks to Pancake from the Kyuushi Discord server for the scans 🫶

The translation, cleaning, and typesetting were all done by me so please forgive any messiness & mistakes. But I'm always very open to feedback so feel free to reach out, especially if you notice tl issues!

Please don't repost the image around. You can just share the link to this post! (If I end up needing to make corrections, I will cry if an old incorrect version is floating around somewhere!!)

↓Some extra notes below the cut↓

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I originally wanted to post this along with a more accessible version (aka text version) but unfortunately that would be a ton of extra work and I have other projects I'd like to spend my time on instead. I'm also not really knowledgeable about that stuff to begin with so I'm not sure what kind of format would be best for screen readers or other accessibility aids. If anyone else would like to take up the mantle and create a text version, please message me!

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Translation Notes:

Mippiki: Written "３人と１匹" but read as "みっぴき," this word is very important to the Kyuushi fandom! It describes the main characters living in the office- Rona, Draluc, Hinaichi, and John. "Mi" comes from 3 and "ippiki" is how you would count 1 small animal, an armadillo in this case.

Sagyou's "hah? to respect ratio": The "hah?" here is like an exasperated sound he's making. In Japanese it was one of these babies: ぁ゙. So his frustration to respect ratio is 9 to 1.

Calling someone a typhoon/hurricane: I think this is probably self explanatory but since I don't think this is a common expression in English, I'll explain a bit. Basically it's likening someone to the chaos and power of a storm.

Shot's "filthy cool": In Japanese this is "ヨゴレかっこいい." I can't find instances of this phrase being used outside of Kyuushi so this seems to be a Bonnoki original? I've seen others tl this some different ways but I tried to make it sound kinda cool in English, though it also kinda makes no sense lol, sorry.

Tabiko being in the "vampires" section: Just in case anyone is confused, Tabiko is definitely a human. I think there just wasn't space to stick her anywhere else.

Manner calling Satetsu "big bro": "兄イ" in Japanese. I think most people recognize words like "onii-san" and "aniki" at this point but I'm not sure about just "anii" (also big brother) so I decided to tl it here. As you may have guessed, this is not him literally trying to adopt Satetsu as his brother, but rather a term of respect (albeit a teasing one). Satetsu is uncomfortable being called this, mostly because it reminds him of his embarrassing delinquent past.

Nagiri's nickname for John: I chose to keep this as "Maru" ("丸," literally "circle") just because I think it sounds like a cute nickname lol.

Fiasco calling Manner "spoiled rich boy": Originally "ボンボン" in Japanese. You might have heard a character called "bon" or even this kinda insulting version, "bonbon," before. It describes a young man from a rich family. I added "spoiled" because I thought it sounded too much like a complement just to call him "genius rich boy," even with "damn" in front 😂

Nuyan: John's "nu" combined with a dog's "wan" (bark). Remember that time Yomo hypnotized John into acting like a dog? That John never fully recovered from? Yeah.

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As I said please do let me know if you spot any mistakes or have any questions or comments. You can even ask if you're just confused about who certain characters are or what the relationship arrow is indicating! Kyuushi has a ton of characters and they can be difficult to keep track of, especially for the English fandom which doesn't have access to all the materials.

Thanks if you actually read all of these walls of text 🫡

#kyuuketsuki sugu shinu #kyuushi #the vampire dies in no time #tvdint #my translation #i spent 329084092 hours on dis guys pls pray for me #cleaning is so not my forte #i never want to see a checkered or polka dotted bg again in my LIFE #*looks at second fanbook relationship chart which has huge polka dotted section* meep #meant to post this yesterday on xmas day but i got a migraine so umm better late than never amirite

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sacchiri · 2 months

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[Hellsing] Female Fans' Round-Table Discussion

A 6-page interview from the 2012 Hellsing Official Guidebook, featuring five grown-ass women chatting about Hellsing in a casual discussion format and translated into English for the first time ever by yours truly.

Honestly this was way more entertaining to read than I thought it would be. It’s also really funny seeing this super-casual discussion printed in the book right alongside Hirano's—-oh who am i kidding, this is 10x more professional and less deranged than whatever goes on in Hirano’s interviews.

Anyway, without further ado...

Does Hellsing have little to no female fans? Nay! Assembled before you are five women with an undying love for the series. Let’s see their passion for this work show itself as they butt heads!

Is the female fanbase just hiding itself or what?

Moderator: Now then, everyone, let’s start off with introductions.

Ms. T: I am Ms. T. I’ve been walking the path of an otaku since middle school, and it’s already been ● years since then. How do I put this, all of you seem like fairly normal people…

Everyone: Oh no--rest assured we are all otaku as well. (laughter)

Ms T: Oh, really? (laughs) Anyway, I’ve continued to love manga for all this time. Thank you for having me.

Ms J: I’m Ms J. I was already at a decent age when Hellsing began serialization, but to create something so enticing-- as expected of Hirano-sensei! (laughs). This is the kind of manga I’d better buy and collect, I thought.

Ms A: Out of today’s gathering, I’m probably the one who became an otaku at the oldest age. (laughs) My friend told me, “Hellsing is a manga that really crazy people read”, so at first I couldn’t get around to starting it. But around the time volume 8 came out, I binge-read it, and it was so interesting that I couldn’t help but get obsessed.

Ms R: I’m probably the youngster in this group. By the time Hellsing started serialization, I was just entering middle school. [T/N: That makes her 27 at the time of this interview.]

Of course we didn’t really have the term "edgy-teen syndrome" back then, but around me the manga was definitely gaining popularity in that edgy teen fashion. One of my best friends was obsessed with Hellsing and I’d borrow it after they finished reading it, and I got addicted too.

Moderator: I’m under the impression that the female readership for Hellsing is overwhelmingly small, but…

Ms J: Nah, I think they’re just hiding. I mean, it’s not like you’d talk about Hellsing to someone in passing. You wouldn’t suddenly say, “Y’know, Alucard is…”

Everyone: True. (laughs)

Ms J: There isn’t much opportunity to bring it up, or perhaps you could say it’s a hard topic to bring up to the general public.

Ms A: Like how you can’t have a pork-and-rice bowl first thing in the morning or something.

Ms J: Yeah, like that. Actually, among my circle of female otaku friends, everyone has read Hellsing.

Ms T: Among manga fans, Kouta Hirano is well-understood.

Ms J: Any fan of manga who doesn’t know Kouta Hirano is a faker!

Ms T: Disregarding whether you’ve properly sat down and read his works or not, I feel like it’s impossible for a manga enthusiast to not have at least heard of Hirano-sensei. But we are talking about manga fans in general, and the range of tastes is so broad. If someone were to say to me “I’m a fan of Kouta Hirano”, only then I would be like, “Oh, so I can talk comfortably with this person”.

Moderator: It’s a good litmus test to use. (laughs)

Ms A: It’s only when you broach the topic of Kouta Hirano that you can finally talk about Hellsing. You can’t go straight from “So I hear you like manga” to “So, about Hellsing…”, lol.

Ms J: If you met someone for the first time and you go “So I heard you like manga? What about Hellsing?” that’s like coming straight for their throat with a knife. (laughs)

Moderator: Even as a gauge to see how much of an otaku your opponent is, it’s a bit too much to try and break the ice with Hellsing.

The wonders of dialogue

Ms J: Speaking of the good points of Hellsing, I think it’s that it doesn’t get overly preachy. You can see this starting from Cross Fire, but you really get the sense that everyone’s equally crazy here.

Ms A: I can see that. No one is on the side of justice. Like the Major, he’s a nasty little guy. The type of guy who would casually twist off an ant’s legs or something like that.

Ms J: That Major, his beta male levels are literally off the charts.

Everyone: (bursts into laughter)

Ms J: Actually, something that caught my interest about the setting is that only virgins can become vampires. In the first place, I don’t think European vampire lore makes that kind of distinction.

Ms T: Father Anderson is probably a virgin, since he has religious reasons for celibacy. Though it might depend on religious sect. I wonder if there’s a meaning behind this concept of chastity?

Ms J: The idea of chastity is valued in the Hellsing universe as well.

Ms A: Right, since if you aren’t a virgin you become a ghoul, and then it’s game over and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Ms R: Speaking of which, Integra’s a virgin, too.

Ms T: Integra being a virgin is an important part of the story.

Ms J: In my personal opinion, the best couple is definitely Alucard and Integra.

Ms R and Ms A: I was going to say the same!

Ms T: Integra and Alucard call each other “Count”, don’t they? You know, in a previous life it’s possible that Integra was a man. Perhaps Alucard is seeing the Count Hellsing of the past through Integra. Thinking about that possibility makes a girl’s heart flutter. Not to mention Integra’s appearance leans towards that of a man— Ah, it’s just so peak! [T/N: I'm not being facetious, 盛り literally means peak]

Ms A: Those who want to read a male/female romance can enjoy doing so, and for people who like BL, there are plenty of elements that can be enjoyed as BL also. I feel like the reason you can enjoy both things is because the relationships that are depicted are not constrained purely to sexual love.

Ms J: For those who like to read into the BL aspect, there are lots of fight scenes that can’t be ignored, can they? Particularly in the endgame. Like Girlycard and Young Walter, that was...really something.

Moderator: That part was just unfair! I mean, after getting captured by Millennium and going M.I.A., all that anticipation was building and building, and for Walter to be reintroduced like that!

Ms J: When I got to that part I was like, “Man, Hirano-sensei really did his best to keep all that stuff pent-up for so long". For both Walter and Girlycard, I mean.

Moderator: Speaking of Girlycard, I get the feeling that the idea for her was in place since the early stages of story development.

Ms J: I wonder about that… on the other hand it seems like it was a very spontaneous decision. (laughs)

Ms A: Even if the story developments feel spontaneous, I feel like the characters' settings are polished to a high degree from the beginning. Even though a new character suddenly appears out of nowhere, you end up following along without feeling a sense of discomfort. In Hirano-sensei's mind, I'm sure that each character is cultivated with an equal amount of attention. After that it's just a matter of deciding what situations the character will appear in.

Ms J: Each character is excellently molded to their place in the story. Even though normally it should be very challenging to create characters that would fit in this sort of world. (laughs) From the moment of their introduction, they are already dyed in Hirano's unique brand, and you can tell that Hirano understands them well.

Ms R: After all, characters from his past works before Hellsing make appearances in the manga, so you get the feeling that these are ideas that have been stewing in his head for a long time.

Moderator: And within Hellsing too, these characters grow and develop. Like Maxwell--he started out as a mere brat, but then he went full tryhard mode and developed that cunning and pretentious side to him.

Everyone: (leans forward) Yeah, that's right!!

Ms J: --And he had that past with Anderson, didn't he? I was like "Hold on a sec, a flashback scene now, are you kidding me"? Even though I knew that a flashback is basically a death flag, I couldn't help but love it. (laughs)

Ms A: At the final moment, Maxwell called Anderson "Sensei", a reversal of their dynamic thus far. Up until then there were hints of foreshadowing, but nothing definite. But with that single word you could feel the adoration Maxwell had felt for Anderson when he was a child... It's amazing how potent that line was. The timing of delivery was excellent, too.

Ms R: Up until that point Maxwell was portrayed as nothing more than a snob, but the truth is there were reasons why he became that way.

Ms T: Hirano-sensei is very skilled at depicting relationships between men.

The beauty of composition

Ms A: In Hellsing, there aren't any characters that go too far beyond the range of normal anatomy.

Even with regards to enemies and such, there aren't any massively gargantuan or bulky characters. Everyone is more or less normal. And yet, there is so much impact in the poses that it leaves you with a strong impression. Those standout panels just radiate style-- so much so that anyone with an eye for art will be impressed by them, I think.

Ms T: The paneling is relatively simple, but the composition sense of each panel is amazing.

Ms R: I love the stuff like Rip Van's silhouette. The balance between her and the musket is super cool. Even though something that size in real life would be impractical to shoot, it looks so cool that it's like, "Who cares!"

Ms A: Fight scenes that should have a lot of movement are instead surprisingly depicted with still frame shots, and they have a beauty to them reminiscent of paintings. It makes me want to stare at the same handful of panels for a long time. Calling it aesthetic beauty might be a bit of an exaggeration, but...

Ms T: Not an exaggeration at all, I think there is a lot of aesthetic beauty. For me, when I look at Hirano-sensei's artwork, I'm reminded of ukiyo-e paintings. And in the movement, I sense a bit of kabuki theater.

Moderator: Each panel is created with beauty in every nook and cranny, so as to work as a standalone illustration.

Ms R: The way shadow and blood is depicted is so good, isn't it? It really makes full use of the monochrome medium.

Ms A: When I was reading the scene in volume 8 when Cromwell Level 0 is released and soldiers are unleashed in hordes, it reminded me of a medieval copperplate engraving. The plot developments in that moment were so interesting, and the density of the illustrations so rich, that simply staring at them was enjoyable.

Ms T: It really draws you in, doesn't it? In other manga that have very detailed art styles, the realism makes it feel similar to a liveaction movie. But Hirano's works are 100% "manga", I would say. In that sense, none of it is realistic at all. But that's why it's possible to achieve poses and compositions that are impossible with photography, and that's why he can portray things I didn't even know I would want to see.

The position of women in Hellsing

Moderator: To all of you, was there a scene where you were like, "This scene right here is where I became obsessed"?

Ms J: So this is my personal taste, but I liked the setup of the handsome lady Master and the handsome male Servant. I like butlers, too. So once those three conditions were satisfied, I was like, "This is a good manga". The part where I was like "This is a really good manga" was when Anderson was introduced. At first, I was thinking this would be a story where Alucard dotes upon Seras and raises her up as a vampire, but then we were introduced to a Catholic priest from the same religion, yet who aims to defeat the protagonists...

Ms A: You can't deny the impact of Anderson. The only thing he wants to do is "exterminate vampires". While characters in Hellsing may undergo sudden changes, they never waver. They race from their introduction to their final chapter with just as much momentum as when they were first introduced. Not only is it satisfying to read, you won't be disappointed. As long as your favorite character appears, you can focus all your attentions on them, and before you know it you'll have binge-read to the last chapter. (laughs)

Ms T: For me, the scene when Integra discovers Alucard in the basement, and Alucard was revived with her blood is when I became hooked. While it is an expected development for vampire stories, that part of the story was very beautiful. And afterwards, I loved the tender portrayal of Seras's growth. Among ero-guro media, there are many works that portray women in a demeaning manner, but Hellsing is not one of them.

Ms A: In Hellsing, there is no distinction in the roles that are assigned to men and women.

Ms J: Indeed, women fight and stand on the front lines. And it feels natural.

Ms R: To tell the truth, when I first started reading Hellsing, I thought Integra was a man. And, for some reason it felt overly pandering [T/N: I assume she means pandering to fujoshi] and I just couldn't get into it. But then I realized Integra was a woman, and I was like "Oh, so it's a female/male master-servant relationship! I'm sorry for making such a weird assumption!" (laughs) I feel like it's important that Integra is a woman.

Ms T: In volume 1 there were moments where Integra was told incredulously, "You're a woman?", but in those moments I always felt that, ironically, being called a "woman" was what made her so much more cool. In Hellsing, you get the feeling that all characters are loved by the creator regardless of being male or female, enemy or ally. There are many standout characters among the villains, for example.

Ms J: Each character showcases their individuality in their fighting style as well.

Ms A: I love that Rip Van is this scrawny girl with long limbs, who wields an old-fashioned musket-- it gives off a really fantastic impression. The fact that a girl is given that kind of position, without it feeling offensive. When men draw female characters there tends to be a bit of double standards going on, or it can feel cloying or annoying depending on the scenario, but I don't feel that in Hellsing.

Ms J: Far from being annoying, the depictions of women feel unique and cool in their own way.

Ms A: You're right. Traditionally, female characters are accompaniments to the hero, aren't they? But Integra takes the lead, and while Seras is supported by those around her, she moves according to her own choices. Even among the female villains, they are given important roles that they carry out to the end, so you can read while feeling a sense of satisfaction.

Points you would recommend to other women

Ms T: Doesn't the series in general have a sort of sensuality?

Ms J: It does. As it gets nearer and nearer to the endgame, even the fight scenes show more tenderness. It's like a "They love each other, therefore they trade blows" vibe that feels erotic.

Ms R: When Alucard returned to London in volume 8, it felt pretty romantic.

Ms T: On the other hand, the explanations about weapon specs that pop up everywhere seem very male-oriented. I guess this is what you call the author's hobby.

Ms J: Speaking of the author's hobby, I feel like the fact that Walter is an old man is one of them. If you think about it purely in terms of reader appeal, there should have been no problem if Walter was young from the beginning. I get the impression that he was like, "If you're going to add a butler, it better be an old geezer". Ahh-- the more I reread, the more I feel like I discover new things.

Moderator: There is plenty more we weren't able to talk about, but to close us off, please appeal to the women who haven't read Hellsing yet as to why they should read the series.

Ms A: The female characters are so full of life, so why not give it a try mainly for the female characters?

Ms T: You can read it together with your boyfriend! There are lots of battles and weapons that guys would like, and there's no nasty relationship drama, so it might actually be a big hit among couples.

Ms J: "Look at Integra and Alucard, honey, they're just like us!" or something? (laughs)

Ms R: When you think of vampire media, you might be inclined to imagine something campy and whimsical. But even though there's a lot of absurdism at play, the world is based on real historical facts. So I want to recommend it broadly, even to those that don't normally enjoy fantasy.

Ms T: I feel like Hellsing is like a very strong liquor. At first you might feel that the taste is overwhelming, but once you get used to it, it becomes delicious.

Ms J: Please go in with zero expectations and give it a read.

Moderator: Thank you all for your time today!

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Link to the raw scans (which are not mine). Feel free to spread and repost my translation to other sites.

#hellsing #kouta hirano #integra hellsing #seras victoria #alucard #i’ve seen the “AxI as yuri” interpretation before but “AxI as yaoi” is new to me… anon is doing some 10000 iq 4d chess maneuver there #I was debating whether to use Girlycard or “Lolicard” like in the original jp but the former is more popular in the eng speaking fandom #it makes sense but Girlycard/Walter being classified as BL is hilarious to me #j anon is a real mood #my translation

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broken-risk-assessment-module · 14 days

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okay I cave. I thought about it too much and now it's a post. this one's for @ilovedthestars and @needlesandnilbogs

risk assessment module's tumblr url is accounting-for-competency and it reblogs parkour and martial arts videos, speed runs, no-hit/perfect boss fights, and fight scene gifsets from media.

in the tags it always manages to notice and appropriately compliment a very specific technique the person is using in order to protect themselves/be safe

occasionally it will also do deep in-depth analysis posts of the choreography of a fight scene from one of murderbot's serials. how the moves would work in reality, how the film translates a real move/technique so its more dramatic and visual appealing, and also the skillset/movie magic behind keeping stunt actors safe.

threat assessment module doesn't have a tumblr but risk assessment sends it links to posts about how to relax, detox its mind, meditate, or plane-shift.

"it's medicinal, y'know. for the stick up your ass."

education module just reblogs interesting facts, but always reblogs them with a reliable source link if the original post doesn't have one. it's favourite facts are about weird alien fauna and space station physics.

risk assessment convinced it to make it's url "pieceofcrap" because that's what Murderbot calls it. it kinda wants to change it to something more "professional" but is also weirdly attached to it, so it won't.

language module's url is too-many-human-words and most of what it reblogs is to do with translations of media. analyses of translations of poetry, books, and manga. meta posts about subtitles. those posts that are just people trying to explain words that don't have direct translations into other languages.

it also really likes those posts that are like... a bunch of curated screenshots of internet posts, famous quotes, and lines from poetry or books or shows, all put together cus they're vaguely about the same thing or attempting to describe the same feeling. it likes how humans find so many ways to say the same thing.

governor module does not have a tumblr but if it DID, it's url would be governor-931625384 or some shit like that. it's blog would be completely empty and uncustomised. the only thing it would use it for is searching for posts that violate tumblr's terms of service or community guidelines and DMing the poster directly to tell them which rules they've violated. it would get reported as a spam bot every time.

procedure module has a tumblr called apparently-a-panic-module that it uses like an actual personal blog, as in it posts it's random thoughts and stuff that it's done that day. also creates polls for the most out of left field stuff, including completely asinine decisions it has to make.

it reblogs how-to posts and recipes. it doesn't matter what they're for, just that they are a step-by-step guide on how to do something. in the tags it critiques the clarity and format.

it's by far the most active on tumblr out of all of them. it gets anon asks (mostly from the other modules) that are like "don't you have anything better to do" and it always just responds "no."

#self indulgent module feedsona post time everyone sorry #tho im also indulging stars and bardic. hi guys #im surprised at how much i had to say on this actually lmao #the murderbot diaries #bram's feedsonas #stuff i made

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divinekangaroo · 6 months

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Thanks @palmviolet for tagging me!

How many works do you have on AO3? 154

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 900k

3. What fandoms do you write for? Peaky Blinders, Final Fantasy XII, Final Fantasy VII, Dragon Age II, The Professionals.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? Interesting and not straightforward question: I've been writing since 2007 and only rebooted my fics to AO3 in 2023. I backdated them to time of writing rather than posting live into the current update stream. I was vaguely curious to see what *actually* attracts readers through the AO3 search engine. So, my current top five are all Peaky Blinders Tommy/Lizzie fics, and given my small followers list, everyone following me will probably already have read them!

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? I do, and it’s my vain (both senses of the term) struggle with how to do it appropriately. I am conscious of how comments, particularly on an AO3 "archival" fic, can weight a reader's further interpretation/engagement of or with fic by that author, and that I'll never put so much time into comments as I do into fic.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? 7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? The fics I thought of picking for these two pretty much overlapped. Perhaps this shows just how I approach happiness – it’s moments, it’s never an ending.

8. Do you get hate on fics? Only old Dragon Age fics. Interesting period of time where any fic author that didn't unequivocally support the moral rightness of one particular character's opinions was targeted. Like: ok to write torture/rape fics of this character, but only if it was clear the author thought this character was morally right. Such a destructive troll.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I'll write sex, mostly as part of a larger arc rather than standalone smut; often it is a partial scenario rather than linear start-to-end event written in a rhythm to support a coherent wanking rise-to-climax read. I'm pleased if people find it pushes their buttons, but I'm also not bothered if it doesn't. I do approach smut as one of many possible lenses or frames for a character, however, so smut that detaches from character confuses me.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? Sometimes but they have to feel really right. I think I tend more to fusion or pastiche (I think those are the terms?) rather than crossover: I take a particular character concept/theme and port them into a particular environmental context which is not possible in the canon to see what happens. The only one I still have up is a FFXII/Dragonriders of Pern fic (incomplete) which was going to be all about the horrible knowledge of socially accepted and endorsed ritualised rape and forced feminisation of a character.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? I'm not that popular to notice.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? I have a memory of one in FFXII but can't recall.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes! Taught me a lot, including the kind of writer I am - difficult to collaborate as my push to complete within a motivational urge period will always be greater than a long-haul effort, and I struggle to be available for other people. I’m either good at the front end ideas-generation, or a micro detail ‘write this particular thing/scene and fill it with goodness’, and not very good at the middle bit – the long slot of planning and plotting and aiming for consistency etc. I am so grateful fandom exists to support non-traditional prose formats which let me play with writing and thinking and engagement without needing to produce to book-style production standards.

14. What’s your all time favourite ship? I usually fixate on a character, and pairings allow means to explore that character rather than being an end game.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Oh they all carry this potential. *cries* The issue for me is loss of motivational drive/thinking; because I rarely have good structural notes etc if I lose my immediate thread of 'thinking of everything all at once' I find it hard to pick up again later. I also stop some fics because I realise how ambitious the scope really is, and I feel like I can’t do them justice.

16. What are your writing strengths? Speed-sketcher? Completionist? Tests multiple ideas rapidly and freely and never worries about something 'being wrong' because there's always another fic to try? Intuitive gut level hits on characterisation here and there?

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Editing, pacing, I can't sustain long fic, I frequently move characters around like paper dolls for the sake of the cool and forget they need their own internal motivation.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I prefer the kind of cant-based/dialect-based approach which splices non-English terms fluidly into English dialogue, mostly because as a child of many migrants this has been my world experience. I do suck at writing this, hence my frequent use of cop-outs to say 'language shift here, meanwhile still writing in English'. But when it’s done well it hits so many of my sweet spots.

19. First fandom you wrote for? FFVII.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written? Anything in my Personal Favourites list: https://archiveofourown.org/series/3728710. (I'm still too close to Peaky Blinders to pick a fav, it'll take about five years of distance!)

#my writing

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ladyiristheenchantress · 1 month

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Working with Water

Welcome to the first part of my elemental series! Today we will explore some aspects of working with water like offerings, devotional activities, common lessons, aspects, and more! With all that said lets get started!

To preface: I am a devotee to water itself, I am a west witch practioner which means I work within the domain of water, the past, divination, and psyche! I also am a general elemental practioner and have experience working with all of the elements and their aspects!

What is working with water like?

The verified gnosis depends on what pantheon or historical significance we are looking at, however some things are constant! Water is fluid, represents motion and an unbridled force, but people can work with aspects of water! Water doesnt have a gender (neither do any of the elements) so asking during a working relationship is a great way to bond! Some people use she, he, they, and anything inbetween mainly because there are a lot of dynamics world wide!

In general, Water is primordial, being one of the first elements on the planet to house life as the primordial soup. In general her energy carries this! It has many aspects, from ocean, abyss, stream, river, and more, and spirits/traditions change depending on where you are looking! It mainly has to do with formations on the earth and how water presents to you!

Some people who work with more general bodies like streams, rivers, and lakes have a more relaxed time, learning more about how to go with the flow, tackle divination, and working with aspects of transcendence as many bodies of waters were considered to be portals. When it comes to larger and deeper bodies of water like ocean, abyss, and the primordial soup you will learn lessons more about the human condition, shadow work, and taking on the past.

Some things to note, waters personality is not set in stone, however elements are not omnipotent or omnipresent because they physically exist, its best to call on the energies of the elements before attempting to interact, and this also means they wont be around you all the time. Also, do not be suprised if an element isnt kind to you from the start. In a lot of cultures, elements dislike what we are doing to our planet and in general water may mention the plastic problem and pollution and encourage you to clean up our lands! Its important to remember that to the elements we are simply animals like any other bear, bird, or deer! Remember that you can learn a lot from a distance, so dont be offended if water would rather have you observe nature rather than directly give you answers via divination. UPG: In my experience water tends to be a portal, it is stoic, never saying 'i love you' or 'im proud' simply because it doesnt follow the human system of love. It is billions of years old and interestingly enough, water does rule over the psyche and past and is extremely emotionally intelligent, but has a preference in showing someone how to love themselves rather than giving out the term itself. It humanizes the element too much. Another aspect is even as a devotee it isnt heavy ritual work, a lot of it is introspection and action based!

A good thing to note is water does have a primordial “womb” aspect because of the Primordial soup! Most of the elements will have a birth aspect. On the contrary Water also has a death aspect within Abyss (the darker element) as it relates to death and the shadows. Working with these entities follows a similar feel to working with water itself, however the primordial soup teaches more about the human condition and what it means to evolve, while abyss teaches how to accept our darker flaws and translate them into good.

What are common offerings?

Most people place altars to water in wet rooms, bathrooms, and showers! Or at least near entrances and thresholds! Water tends to enjoy hand picked items, items from your adventures, and things you find interesting in your research. It tends to really enjoy having a set space.

There is heavy emphasis on action, and usually there are types of offerings! Net Positive, Net Negative, and Neutral! Positive offerings are anything that benefits the water ways which include beach clean ups, enjoying the water with reef safe sun screen, and creating a floating fish feeder! Neutral offerings refer to offerings that neither help nor harm water ways mainly is taking things home and charging them in moon light or on an altar then bringing them back, introducing native florals or herbs to a water way, or creating a biodegradable floating offering. Practicing at home in your shower or with drinking water usually is neutral or even positive. Net Negative are any offerings that negatively impact waterways like introducing salt from an offering, floating non-native florals and herbs, adding crystals to the environment.

Its important that you are aware of the offerings you introduce into your area, research is the key, and if you cant and still want to honor water look into how to conserve water in your own home like creating moon water from potable water, creating potions and other things in a respectful manner, and practicing safely

Some common practices include visiting local water spots, clean ups, potion crafting, collecting waters like moon or rain, meditating during water moments like during rain, cleaning up your bathroom or mudroom, enjoying shower and bathing magic, using steam, and so much more!

What are some correspondences?

Crystals - aquamarine, Ethically sourced coral, turquoise, sapphire, sodalite, lapis lazuli, blue topaz, moonstone, Brass

Herbs - seaweed, seamoss, jasmine, aloe, lily, mugwort, cucumber, rose, catnip, belladonna, willow, lotus, nettle

Colors - Blue, white, navy

Energy Centers - Throat, Crown, Witches Eye

Zodiacs - Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces

Tools - Chalices, Bells, dowsing rods, Tarot Cards

Scents - Sweet, Oceanic, citrus, Salty

Resources:

https://www.tumblr.com/a-seas-song/151886812943/sea-magic-references?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/a-seas-song/151843326843/recreationalwitchcraft-witchcrafts-for-the-sea

https://www.moodymoons.com/2020/07/01/sea-witch-harnessing-the-power-of-the-ocean-2/

https://tropical-sea-witch.tumblr.com/post/641611893093613568/charm-bags-sea-witch-style

https://a-seas-song.tumblr.com/post/171029487233/animals-in-sea-witchcraft

https://a-seas-song.tumblr.com/post/171024318373/songs-in-sea-witchcraft

https://www.tumblr.com/a-seas-song/151886878168/tips-for-landlocked-sea-witches?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/a-seas-song/151886793018/wretched-waters-working-with-the-tides-tides

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/waterwitch/

http://www.waterwitchcraft.com/about

https://www.flyingthehedge.com/2020/02/water-folklore-correspondences.html

https://www.flyingthehedge.com/2020/04/tools-of-water.html

https://healing-sun-witch.tumblr.com/post/183508828289/sea-witch-cleansing-use-sea-salt-and-salt-water

https://www.moodymoons.com/2018/03/06/sea-witch-jar-spell/

https://northernlightswicca.com/2020/08/31/methods-of-divination-water-gazing/

https://www.lenntech.com/water-mythology.htm

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cavewretch · 5 months

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I would live to hear more of your roier thoughts, both character and creator wise, but I understand if you're too tired with mcyt and the content format for that. just think that the recent post you wrote was incredibly interesting and would be very curious for more.

like apart from general thoughts on roier both character and streamer, what specifically would you be curious to hear him explain about his character?

helloooo!!! don't worry i'd love to say more i haven't mentally escaped cubitos yet lmfao. i'm glad you thought so, anon!! :3

i'd love to hear roier's thoughts on roleplay in general (how he approaches it or prepares for it) bc he's so subtle and long term with his character. i'm curious how intentional he is with his performance too. like of course it's all mostly improvised so his actions aren't usually planned, but his actions in-character build up beautifully. like him in-character hiding that he's good at pvp and then revealing he's actually one of the strongest fighters on the island - that was a months long character choice that he couldn't even guarantee would pay off! or when after bobby's death he stopped doing dungeons for fun, but would immediately snap into fighter mode when he had to if it meant protecting the others. (off the top of my head i'm thinking of the cellbit and felps rescue mission and the code sword mission).

idek if he thinks about roleplay this deliberately but he's gotta have some sort of qroier brainspace constructed bc of how things have progressed, no? like, at risk of being unbearable, yeah it's minecraft but it's also theater lmfao

(also tangent but roier's playstyle for most games i've seen him play is offense, he quickly evaluates a little and then launches into situations headfirst, so it's interesting to watch that translate into a defensive role)

anyways more specifically bc i feel like i haven't even answered ur question yet fjshdjshf - to roier, about qroier: does he want to know his past? does he get frustrated with how he's perceived by the other islanders? what keeps him from correcting people? how does roier decide when qroier's angry enough to show it? to me, qroier's breaking points are betrayal and the people he loves- what does he believe about himself that keeps his personal safety and pride from that list? ALSO this is less important to story im just curious- melissa started as a disguise to manipulate quackity but has sort of evolved into a drag persona, why does he refuse to tell people he and melissa are the same person? (i imagine its to keep the secret from getting to quackity or keeping it as another secret asset in his back pocket but i wanna hear him talk about it)

and finally to roier - if he could retcon anything in qsmp what would he retcon and why hehehe

i thought purgatory would be a breaking point for qroier, and it was in some ways (i'm no longer a clown, i'm no longer joking, actually fuck all this lets burn all our stuff to force system change) but the consequences are so blurry it seems like qroier had to shrink back a bit into lying in wait (FOR WHAT???) once they returned to the island/he was handed pepito. disclaimer tho i haven't watched any qsmp since the end of purgatory i've just read posts and talked w my sister who still watches it

this got out of hand - i hope i answered your question!!!

#<- TRIPOIER #thank u for the asks !!!#wretch answers #roier #qroier

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pretty-toastie · 4 months

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...having been thinking about sir gawain again recently and remembering how much i like talking about it, have an essay i wrote about the avoidance of violence in the text for my History of English Literature class.

is it great? no lmao, i had a page count to hit. there's a lot of fluff. am i proud of it though? hell yes i am.

(quote numbers are line numbers in the Simon Armitage translation)

Unimportant Encounters—The Avoidance of Violence in Sir Gawain

Unlike an epic poem such as Beowulf, which places focus on heroic victories in combat, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a romance poem, focuses on inter- and intrapersonal conflicts that are nonviolent in nature. In fact, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight tends to dance around violence in general, at least where Gawain is involved. In Fitt 2, the poet skips over Gawain’s encounters with various beasts, focusing instead on his encounters with people. This is because Gawain’s journey is not one of triumph in combat—rather, it is one of introspection and navigating expectations: both his and others’. The Sir Gawain poet demonstrates what the story is not by intentionally leaving out violence involving Gawain, and then emphasises it further by drawing attention to this lack: The poet references the skipped-over encounters with monsters in meta, Gawain’s interactions with the Green Knight subvert expectations, and Gawain is notably absent from the violence of the hunting trips. The poet also emphasises what the story is by intentionally focusing on the person-to-person interactions and conflicts of expectation that Gawain faces, and allowing these conflicts to dominate the story, both in terms of significance and line count.

After receiving the Green Knight’s challenge, Gawain “stayed [in King Arthur’s court] until All Saint’s Day [the first of November]” (line 536). In lines 691–739, the Sir Gawain poet tells us of the trials that Gawain undertook on his two-month journey. Compared to the seventy-four lines spent describing Gawain getting dressed before his trip, the poet relegates this entire section of Gawain’s adventure to just forty-nine lines. Further, the poet tells us that he battles many enemies “so foul or fierce he is bound to use force” (717). He mentions fights with serpents, wolves, wodwos, bulls, bears, boars, and giants, telling us that Gawain’s travels are “so momentous … [that] to tell just a tenth would be a tall order” (718–719). This description of victories almost echoes the boasts of an epic hero like Beowulf, telling of the myriad sea serpents he defeated, but unlike the Beowulf poet, who allows this bragging to take up physical space within the text, the Sir Gawain poet keeps this entire section to only about eleven lines. The poet minimises the space on the page that these encounters occupy, uses the format of a long, run-on list to add a rushed feeling to the section, and even references in meta that these stories are not important. They speak directly to the reader, telling them that it would be a “tall order” to describe these conflicts in detail, drawing their attention to the absence of such descriptions, and simultaneously implying that out of all the happenings that occur in the story of Gawain, this—this two-month journey filled with battles against numerous deadly foes—is the least important, the first to be cut.

The Sir Gawain poet also minimises the relevance and impact of violence by subverting expectations in Gawain’s encounters with the Green Knight. When the Green Knight first arrives in King Arthur’s hall, he is framed as imposing, frightening, powerful: the poet goes out of their way to describe the harm his ax is capable of doing; he speaks first in a bellow, demanding to see the leader of the hall; the guests of the hall watch him with dread, fearing that something terrible will come to pass—and yet, “expect no malice,” the Green Knight tells them (266). King Arthur even outright offers a fair fight, but the Green Knight turns him down, proclaiming “I’m spoiling for no scrap, I swear” (279). Further, even when he admits the violence he does want—a blow for a blow, a beheading for a beheading—the result is not as brutal as expected. The Green Knight, though bleeding, is not really harmed by the blow Gawain delivers to him, and simply rides off, severed head in hand, still very much alive. Then again, when Gawain goes to receive his beheading in turn, the poet builds expectations for violence. Gawain believes that he “might well lose [his] life” (2210), he describes the Green Chapel as “intending to destroy [him]” (2194), and he compares the sound of the ax sharpening to “the scream of a scythe”—a tool with famous associations to death (2202). Again, though, despite this, the beheading is underwhelming. The Green Knight does not kill Gawain—instead, he misses twice with his ax on purpose, and on the final swing his blow is intentionally “far from being fatal / … just skimming the skin” (2312). When Gawain lifts his own weapon, certain that the Green Knight will strike again to finish him off, the Green Knight chides him, telling him that with that one strike, he should “consider [him]self well paid” (2341), indicating that the Green Knight has no intention of further harm. With these subverted encounters, the Sir Gawain poet tells the reader that violence is not the point here, reinforcing the message implied in skipping over Gawain’s earlier encounters with monsters.

The poet provides yet another subversion away from violence in the hunting and bedroom scene parallels. The hunting scenes are not afraid to be violent, spending dozens of lines describing the methods by which the slaughtered creatures are processed. They use evocative, violent phrases—almost lustful in places—such as “severed with sharp knives”, “riving open the front”, “hoisted high and hacked away”, “slit the fleshy flaps”, “cleave”, and “break it down its back” (1337–1352). Myriad wildlife is slaughtered in these scenes, and in the boar hunt several of Lord Bertilak’s hounds are slaughtered by the boar’s “back-snapping bite” (1564), and even some of his men are wounded and killed. This stands in stark contrast to the bedroom scenes featuring Gawain. Besides his notable absence from the hunting scenes, his scenes in the bedroom are almost opposite to the hunting scenes. While Lord Bertilak and his men are using physical strength to enact violence, Gawain turns down Lady Bertilak’s advances in as polite a way as possible. He responds “merrily”, calls her his “gracious lady”, and asks her to “please pardon [him]” and allow him to “rise / … and pull on [his] clothes” (1213–1220). He is not tempted by lust, and the poet’s descriptions of these scenes are far from the evocative lustfulness used in the hunting scenes. Yet again, the poet is emphasising that violence does not play a role in Gawain’s journey.

Rather, Gawain navigates through social quandaries of duty using politeness and chivalry. The central plot is his obligation to meet the Green Knight and to honor the deal they made, despite it likely spelling his death. The deal itself was only made because of Gawain’s sense of duty to King Arthur—he acknowledges that the deal is “a foolish affair” (358), but volunteers himself so that Arthur will not have the obligation to participate. Additionally, Gawain takes on the deal with Lord Bertilak, and must carefully handle the advances of the Lady. The poet frames this struggle as a sort of battle in itself: Gawain “fence[s] and deflect[s] / all the loving phrases” of Lady Bertilak. When Gawain does eventually reach the Green Knight, it is revealed that these trials were a test of his character, and for passing, he escapes his fate of death. The Sir Gawain poet makes it very clear that the focus is on Gawain’s navigation of these competing loyalties; Gawain’s success in handling his clashing obligations allows him to avoid the violence of the Green Knight and return home alive. The poet also allows interpersonal conflict to dominate in line count—just as Beowulf spends most of the physical space in the text on combat (among other central themes), Gawain’s struggles with duty take up a significant portion of the text.

By allowing interpersonal social conflicts to dominate the space and significance of the text and by subverting expectations of violence and separating Gawain from the instances of violence that do occur, the Sir Gawain poet emphasises that the focus is on Gawain’s navigation of complex social situations and conflicting duties. The poet also intentionally minimizes the presence of violence. This avoidance of violence permeates the text and can be seen in the poet’s decision to skip over Gawain’s encounters with monsters, in the subverted expectations for the encounters with the Green Knight, and in Gawain’s absence from the more violent and lustful hunting scenes, as well as the absence of that same violence and lust from the bedroom scenes, making it clear that violence is not a central aspect of Gawain’s journey.

end note:

something i think i failed to make clear in the essay is why the incredible violence of the hunting scenes actually supports the idea that sir gawain's journey has nothing to do with violence. the biggest thing is sir gawain's LACK OF PRESENCE on the hunts. he does not, as an epic hero might, go along on the hunt and show off his physical prowess. rather, he stays home with the women and talks. an environment designed for violence is not one where he belongs.

#essay #literary analysis #sir gawain #sir gawain and the green knight #writing #nonfiction #academia #light academia #studying #studyblr #homework #university #idek i hate tags so much. get off my back

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electrificata · 1 month

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here are my late night talk show thoughts.

i think in the modern era the only hosts who understand the potential of the format are eric andre (obviously), craig ferguson, and. ok i want to say ziwe but she has one bit she does and was not allowed the time to develop beyond that (i think she could) (ferguson took literal years to get into his groove and he was only allowed because a) white guy and b) some fabulously weird, impossible-to-replicate network circumstances i could go into another time). conan is good but i ultimately dont find him interesting in a long term way. if there were old people here theyd probably demand i have opinions about letterman or carson or something. i do not. suck it. wendy williams presents an interesting conundrum to me, her vibe is quintissentially daytime but i think the warm, slightly unhinged gossipyness of her show would translate really well to late night. ACROSS THE POND graham norton is good at what he does but im slightly bored because hes been doing it the same so long. i like how incredibly gay alan carr is but i cant deal w him in large doses. jonathan ross eh.

now, there is also the question of politics. i reallyl genuinely question the value of addressing political issues in late night tv monlogues/obviously colbert was on the fuck-trump beat for the entire administration, and john oliver and the daily show make an entire premise out of comic political commentary. its fundamentally useless. i think it just makes people feel smug. sure they occasionally learn something, but like. how much. and does it spur them on to greater action or learning? eh.

oliver is occasionally nice for edutainment, but id say its...how do i put this...not that late nighty? hasan minhaj's show was on netflix, and had a similar format, and worked just fine at any time of day. i really think shows like this do great if you slapped them onto the msnbc lineup or kept them on streaming. like its a different thing.

WHAT IM SAYING. is that the ideal late night host has to combine charisma, warmth, wit, and anarchy. they cannot be overly impressed with their celebrity guests. you need to look incredibly beautiful, talented, famous people in the eye and talk to them like a friend from college you havent seen in a long time - of course youre happy to see them and youre engaged and interested in them, but you see them as fundamentally on the same level as you. ferguson could make anyone feel like the prettiest girl in the room. andre makes everyone fear for their lives.

some people i think would do a really good late night show: laci mosely. scam goddess is great and i think acts as an audition on its own. amelia dimoldenberg probably. cant actually think of anything else right now. oh, right. ME.

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congealedweapon · 4 months

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I see a lot of artist complain about getting comments about how talented they are and how the commenter could never do art like that - which is understandable because the societal myth of innate talent especially with arts and other creative skills - and then say that anyone can get as skilled if they practice and work with enough time and effort. But this also just isn't true - not just under capitalism either.

There are so many different factors - internal and external - that all contribute to this. Most obviously, besides interest, not everyone has access to the time, energy and space to learn and practice. And, importantly, disabled people aren't a tiny fraction of the population even in the western world or whatever you call Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand. Iirc pre pandemic the official statistics estimated 1/5-1/4 of various populations - which can only be an underestimate when society so severely discourages people from identifying as disabled and doesn't acknowledge that some disabilities even exist. And given that Covid is a mass disabling event, it can only be higher now (and increasing). So any claim that "of course I didn't mean disabled people" "disability is a different conversation/off topic" isnt valid, disabled people are a part of "anyone" and "everyone" and not an exception. Assuming and/or categorising us as an exception to the rule that goes without saying is in and of itself ableist.

That aside, I believe - although don't have exact data or anything - that there must be a common range of various basic skills and abilities outside of what is considered disability - things like fine and gross motor skills (and each of those skills individually), ability to perceive and process finer visual, audio or other sensory details (which would impact visual art and music skill acquisition respectively), various forms of coordination, flexibility etc.

There are also, although research is in its infancy, differences in how people think - i.e. whether or not and to what extent there are images, words and inner monologue, other sounds, etc - as well as differences - which can be affected by how people think, such as a lack of images aka aphantasia - in memory formation and recall, as well as working memory and muscle memory (at least in disability terms, but I don't think there is an actual line between "not disabled" and "disabled" so much as there is a point at which various things become disabling (which is subjective) (and seperate to disability as a political identity and marginalisation)

I've heard in passing that so called "learning styles" are a myth and I haven't looked into it (and don't feel like it at 9:30pm just for a little rant) but there are differences - and the same person can have different pretences for different things and in different circumstances - in what format of tutorials people find most useful, if not a combination of formats, such as video or detailed written instructions, with or without diagrams or still images, learning in a small in person group versus on your own via the internet or a book or DVD, etc. And I don't think it's that anyone has 1 innate "style" but that there are a lot of factors involved, in general and contextually and that the more quality, accessible and affordable options for learning are available the more people are going to have success at acquiring the skill - not to mention that those tutorials and other resources need to be in a language you can understand enough of, or are able to translate enough of with online and other tools, don't assume access to tools or other resources you don't have (e.g. software) and are for/work with the method you use/are most able to use - for example, the way I hold my crochet hook is different to the most common way, so video tutorials have always been more confusing (especially before I figured out that I'd unconsciously adapted how I hold my hook) and clear diagrams that just show the top of the hook and the yarn are much much easier. But also are harder to find, especially without buying a lot of expensive books.

Basic physical attributes can also play a part in how easily a skill can be learned. This is most easily seen with sports - there are plenty of resources that talk about, and show, how different body types can be an advantage in different sports. It also applies to singing and learning various instruments - some are easier with longer, more but not too flexible fingers. Others are easier with a greater lung capacity and a straighter back.

There are also differences in parenting, schooling, safe home environments, parental income, etc that play a part as well, which I think most left leaning people are at least somewhat aware of - the more access and encouragement you had in regards to starting a skill early on and continuing with it is a clear advantage in becoming skilled at something.

All of this is important, because interest in a thing and motivation do not exist, unchanging, in a vacuum. If you find something more challenging to you than it is for your peers, or what is expected of you, or to the point where it's actively discouraging, that makes it much harder to maintain interest. Sometimes interests starts because you got the chance to try and thing that was maybe easier to learn for you than others, or than other things you tried, that you were applauded for and otherwise encouraged to continue, and it met a minimal level of fun, and the interest grew from there. Maybe you had what could have been a passing interest, had you not had access, but you did so you were able to get more into it and become passionate.

I also want to say, that it's very true that not everything is a privilege, and sometimes people will claim something is a privilege either mistakenly or untruthfully to make a point or argue.

BUT some things can be a *sign* of or a result of privilege or only accessible if you either get very lucky or have a certain level of privilege. One of those things is being able to get to the level of proficiency in a skill - especially one that has a financial barrier - in order to become even semi professional or make a name on social media for it, or even just create often enough to post your work regularly *especially* with enough skill to obtain an audience for it. I'm sure there are exceptions, like there is for everything, but most people don't have the money, free time, free energy, free focus, lack of conflicting or obstructing ability circumstance or disability, etc to get to that point. And those that do aren't going to get there after the same amount of time, energy, and practice.

(also if you say "you don't need expensive equipment/supplies to do [your hobby/skill]" and don't at least provide a link to resources on how to figure out which inexpensive options are the best and most appropriate ones, or at least acknowledge that being familiar enough with the different options, brands, etc to know where and how to efficiently and effectively save money is in itself a sub skill of the hobby/profession/etc then, you know 🖕 - also not everyone can just use the cheapest stuff due to accessibility and other needs)

I feel like, even in more nuanced conversations about how our societal understandings of intelligence, talent, etc are entirely made up and harmful nonsense, it would do everyone good to normalise that it's okay to be bad at things. Not everyone is able to get professional level proficient in things they want to do. No one can become proficient in everything if they want to do a bunch of things. And not everyone wants to do the work required - whether because they want to do multiple things and there just isn't enough time or energy in one life, because they have no interest in being professional, or because it would require greater sacrifice or risk than it would for other people or than it's worth.

I think education and society at large would benefit from better understanding that not everyone starts from the same base level of ability when starting out at learning different things, or in life. Both in regards to disability, not having the same first or at-home language as the one being taught in, and with failings in society like poverty, racism, etc and capitalism in general. And also that there is a variety in every possible human trait within the population - just like there are differences in height, body shape, eye hair and skin colour, voice pitch, native language and culture and other fairly obvious things, we can there is so much micro and invisible variety too. My sister can draw in more visual detail than I generally perceive just looking at the world as a short sighted since childhood, and ADHD person with significant aphantasia. I crochet but I can't knit - and while video tutorials are an added level of confusion because I can't hold my crochet hook the same way most tutorial makers do, I found learning how to read charts almost instinctual, but many crocheters struggle with that. I've done micro crochet, something considered generally quite difficult in the crochet community, but Tunisian crochet absolutely boggles my brain to the point where I'm fairly incapable of doing it, have minimal skill in making clothing, and could absolutely never finish a blanket - while Tunisian crochet is a little bit niche, making garments and blankets are incredibly common in the crochet community (although blankets are also incredibly fucking expensive to make).

Point is, while I understand the lack of understanding of the time, effort, and energy involved in becoming proficient, leading to the undervaluing of the skill and at the same time, increasing the perceived inaccessibility of learning it, is incredibly annoying, especially online with a large enough audience that you hear it frequently, it's just not true that anyone could do what you are doing, as well as you are, with as much success, because there are so many things that have to go right, as well as simply having the time, money and space to not only learn the skill, but become proficient and then make a name for yourself and create regularly (and do all the social media stuff) - which honestly just isn't a thing many people in this capitalist hellscape have

And also any discussion of how the education fails people, and how our western understandings of talent and intelligence are not only nonsense but harmful, should also be done with the understanding that it's okay to not be good at things at do them anyway, and that there are just so many different factors that influence how easily someone finds a certain area of learning is, whether and when they might become proficient in something, and that there is natural human variety to every part of being human (and also that disability is natural and not uncommon and that disabled people are in fact included when generalising about all people unless of course you don't consider disabled people to be people)

Also, an afterthought: creativity as a whole is kinda a talent and a skill, and being able to become proficient at a skill does not automatically mean you can use that skill in a creative, and personally unique way. And that's okay! You are allowed to just have fun, or make things that are just practical, or just like someone else (with credit where it's due) etc. But I think it's worth acknowledging that most people in creative (or potentially but not always creative) fields especially with an even moderate audience online are successful in that way not just because of technical proficiency but because they have cultivated their own personal style, their own artistic voice, or *something* that people enjoy or resonate with

There are very skilled people that do professional, quality work without much widespread notice - those who make music, visual art, etc for advertisements and other corporate purposes for example. I feel like most people are familiar with "generic" art - the kind you can find in offices, or where the prints are mass produced for retail etc - all that requires skill, and in its own way a form of creativity that any act of creation takes, but it's not the same kind of creativity that inspires itself (i.e. isn't based on an outline the artist is payed to fulfill outside of being commissioned because of their personal established artistic voice/style), it doesn't have the same personality and sense of connection to the creator, if that makes sense.

And that's something that improves with practice but isn't really something that can be taught. And that's okay! But saying that there is absolutely no talent or anything special just a lot of time and practice involved in becoming a successful artist in our own name and voice is missing part of the story

#art #disability #education #social justice #talent #privilege

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pechebeche · 8 months

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Peach!! As a creative writing expert and dear friend of mine, do you have any tips for writing original fiction??? I’ve been entertaining the idea of starting my own story but I can’t be assed to finish anything longer than 5,000 words on a good day. Also, it’s been a hot minute since I’ve taken a creative writing class so… help a fella out? If you can! Love ya and hope you’re doing well

jude this is So sweet thank you for your accolades, they are well appreciated <33

so there's a couple of pieces of advice i have to give about motivation. disclaimer, writing is ultimately a very individualized process and if you find something else that works better than you - absolutely go for it!

the unfortunate reality that everyone loves to avoid about how to make yourself write is that it is the exact same process as how to do absolutely anything at all: task management. trying to do consistent writing requires determining what motivates you, what timeframe you want to complete a project in (barring special circumstances), and how to set realistic short-term and long-term goals. and that sucks, and nobody wants to do it.

the real key to figuring out how to work with these things is what you want from this project, because that'll affect how strictly you'll need to hold yourself to account. people have an idea that you Need to fulfill a certain writing quota per day for your writing to make Adequate Progress TM, but that's not...really the case. there are circumstances where you want to hold yourself to a schedule, in which case deadlines are a very important part of the process! But if you're just writing for fun? There is literally no reason to try to push yourself. imposing unnecessary deadlines makes it difficult to meet them, since there's no real enforcement; and that makes it harder to write, because of the guilt hanging overhead.

in general, i put any project i make on a scale from 1-5:

I am literally just imagining/writing this to pass time/have fun and will never show it to anyone

this is an idea i want to show people, but i dont want it to be a consistent thing

i want to create for this on a regular schedule so that i can make consistent progress so that others can read it

this is a gift, part of a collaboration, or is something i want to eventually publish, and i need to finish it before the deadline

i am literally being paid to write this in a timeframe/am required to submit this for a class.

(you'll note that 3 has no "i want to create on a consistent schedule just for fun." that's because that's still ultimately a 1, not a 3! this isn't about how fast you WANT to complete a project - its about how strictly you NEED to complete a project.

you'll also notice that the escalation, instead of "for fun" to "for job," is "for fun" to "for others to read" to "for job." for a lot of people, cooperative art is simply more enjoyable than art for the self! receiving validation and feedback is an important motivator and influence to being an artist. i tend to bake whether i want people to view my work directly into the process, and you should never feel like wanting that feedback is something to be ashamed of! just make sure you have at least one person around who will be happy for your work with you, so you don't get burnt out on the no-views blues.)

once ive ranked a project, i'll translate it to a numerical format. this is going to sound silly, but you can really, truly use the numbers in any way you like; the important thing is that the number is in there. if you have a 1, it could be that you want to write for at least one hour a day, or one hour a week, or one minute a week, or just work at all one day a week. or one day a month! you have to integrate it somehow, but you can go as far apart as you like, and you can change it on the fly however you feel like. it's a 1! no one is going to get mad at you for doing whatever you want with a 1. as long as you've got literally anything in there, that's good enough!

the higher a project goes, the more strict outside sources get about it, which means that the more rigidly the bounds you have to work within are. if you have a 5 that's due in a week, you can either spend five hours on it or five days - but you won't be able to do five minutes! generally, for me, i need external motivation to write anyway, so a lot of my projects fall at 2 or 3; as a result, i usually try to get a chapter/update in once every 2-3 weeks.

this is sort of a silly system, because by nature it's wildly inconsistent. but i've found that looseness works for me! within that system, you can use whatever motivators you generally get - giving yourself ice cream, taking a break day, whatever you need. the rewards, for me, usually also vary depending on the intensity, and also tends to be more external; for a 1, i'll give myself 1 hour to chill out and daydream about where the story might go, where for a 5, i usually do writing commissions in $5 increments so that there's monetary motivation.

there's a lot of other things to talk about with how to motivate yourself to write, but this is how i do it! if nothing else, i'd advise stepping back to think about how strict your deadlines need to be with whatever work you're trying to do - it's important to be honest with yourself about what your expectations are, and whether they're more/less intense than they need to be for a given work.

#ask #filmamir #i hope this helps!!#i have genuinely no idea if this would be useful to others this is just What I Do

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sly-fox · 1 year

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This is honestly going to suck but-

Okay, I don’t see enough people talking about this so- here we are. This will contain spoilers for the analog horror series, Guilty Tears Au of Sanders Sides. If you haven’t seen it or if any of the following triggers you, please skip: (I am listing the triggers from all the episodes just in case you want to watch it as well so some won’t make sense on a tumblr post, but just in case-) Disturbing Imagery, Loud Sounds, Body Horror, Blood, Gore, Death, Violence, Food (more like implied cannibalism, but ok-), Flashing Lights, Spiders, Ladybugs.

Now if any of that bugs you, I would say that this isn’t for you. This is just my personal opinion and analysis on this series! So let’s get started:

Episode 1: Teachers PowerPoint

So, we’re starting off with a very simple format; a PowerPoint presentation called “Dreams, a Manageable Analysis by Logan Sanders”.

Like omg Logan is so cute in this 🥺. He keeps talking about sleep and the benefits and downsides of it. But something is… off about it. The monitor keeps glitching out and skipping parts of the presentation. It skipped over the definition of Non-REM sleep, and it just is a bit strange. Then this happens:

And then it gets closer T-T. I kinda jumped when I saw it ngl- Then he gives us the definition of a nightmare. It kinda was normal at first but then-

Like wth-? This was honestly just weird to me me, cause he looked like a fucking demon- this isn’t even the weirdest part (and therefore not the most interesting).

Now, the first one is obviously a reference to everything going on with the wedding arc and… other things. Missing Important Events? The callback. Loneliness. More so up to interpretation, or is it? I’ll come back to it later. Rejection? Again, back to it later. Confusing Emotions? All that Thomas has been dealing with for a WHILE. Broken promises, WTIT, anyone?

The second photo:

Morse Code Translated (not by me): WHY DON’T YOU LISTEN TO ME? AM I A JOKE TO YOU? I TRY SO HARD TO BE PATIENT AND GIVE YOU TIME, BUT YOU CHOSE TO MAKE A STUPID PROMISE INSTEAD OF ACTUALLY DOING SOMETHING

Wow.. well what I say about this, is that Logan is snapping at Thomas again, cause as we have seen, he tends to distract himself rather than actually solving his problems. Logan is trying to communicate with Thomas again and he. Won’t. Listen.

After that we got a number sequence:

19/20/15/16/9/7/14/15/18/9/14/7/18/5

If you line it up with the letters in the alphabet, you get “Stop Ignoring Re”. I thought I heard it wrong but I didn’t-. So there had to be a reason for it to say “Re” instead of “Me”, right? Right. I’ll be tying it together, I swear. Just bear with me here. I also find it interesting that a YELLOW GLOVED HAND turned off the monitor and put an out of order note on the screen (I mean it was pretty glitchy so I mean-).

(Also there is a sticky note on the bottom left corner that reads “DONT LOOK BEHIND THE CURTAIN” keep that in the back of your mind c:)

Episode 2: Forgotten Fairytale

So it starts with Janus opening a story book titled “The Young Prince”.

This is interesting- I see a little crown charm on the bookmark- Erin focus- okay so the cover already grabbed my attention. At first cause I thought of beauty and the beast and

H O L Y S H I T the parallels. We have a mirror with a green gem on the handle (I don’t think it’s important but I could be mistaken-). In it, a black wilting rose. Black roses itself mean death, while the wilting flower by itself means “Term used to supress desire when it would otherwise be impossible to fornicate.” Roman wanted to go to the callback (and ask out Nico), but it seemed just out of reach, so he ended up with choosing an option that goes against himself (Virgil helped him with Nico but still-).

To the actual story, it talks about how lonely Roman feels (Loneliness huh?) and that he wants to meet his true love. He searches and searches but can’t find them. One night, a witch pays a visit. He says that he wants to make a deal: he will give Roman his “one true love” in exchange for half of his kingdom. Roman didn’t want to risk it, and told him no.. the witch did not like that.

He cursed Roman, and his face had melted off. Overwhelmed by heartbreak, he locked himself in his tower. The people eventually forgot about him and he died alone, holding the wilted black rose..

And then Janus literally closes the book on that tale-. So Roman’s I feel is more metaphorical, he feels like his world is falling apart, trying to use love to distract him from the pain of his decision to go to the wedding, and the moment he was attacked, no one helped him.. (Janus I love you but you’re a bitch-)

Episode 3: Cookie Mistake

(Yes I’m sure it’s a pun off of Rookie Mistake, it’s Patton what did you expect?)

So this an actual person acting out Patton this time.

The puns 😭. But yeah, it’s a simple baking tutorial! And it’s a mime kinda thing, so we have dialogue on the screen. It seemed normal, but this is Guilty Tears.

He dumped the flour into the bowl and made a little bit of a mess- it’s baking what are you going to do about it? But Patton started shaking slightly saying “That wasn’t supposed to happen…” It’s okay I know you said you were feeling “crumby” but damn- it’s just flour.

Ok then, laying it on thick. So Patton is freaking out over the little things and these little messages pop up. “Do you feel guilt consuming your every thought?” No I don’t think so- but this is maybe reference to POF, where he caused Thomas pain without realizing. The “Nobody is free of sin” seems like a twisted version of their new concept, “Not everything is black and white.” Patton is trying to distract himself from what happened and is only stressing himself out more.

HOLY FUCK, PATTON- Okay. So there’s obviously SOMETHING going on. Why did he have blood in the first place? Why’d he think it was a good idea? Patton are you a cannibal now-?

This gave me an idea.. this could be both figurative or literal but, the blood is on his hands.. Let’s take a look at Virgil’s episode.

Episode 4: Wake Up Call

According to (assumedly) Thomas’ phone, it is 3:23 pm. April 23rd. Almost his birthday, hmm.

Holy shit- no✨ Dolls are creepy enough-. Anyway, it’s starts off by (I assume) Virgil asking Thomas:

So one answer is normal, one is more normal for Thomas and the other sounds more Anxiety related. He chooses to brush his teeth, but they fall out. In dreams, teeth falling out are associated with loss and important life changes. Thomas has been struggling to coming to terms with the fact that he isn’t a complete pure good, and his life has changed drastically. This series started from a silly blog and now it’s a series dealing with complex and controversial issues, while he’s struggling to show the world who he is.

With the answers, they’re the same type. He chooses to make breakfast, but in the fridge with Virgil Doll, is a fucking skeleton/corpse and the fridge is all bloody. The “blood on his hands” thing might be more literal than we MAY have thought. Did Thomas kill someone? If so, who did he kill? I’ll get us there (hopefully-).

Okay- Hi Virgil- so, here I want to point out c. “I promise tomorrow I will change I will be a good person I will clean”. As soon as it had showed up on the screen, Virgil appeared. Thomas is making promises he can’t keep.

(“WHY DON’T YOU LISTEN TO ME? AM I A JOKE TO YOU? I TRY SO HARD TO BE PATIENT AND GIVE YOU TIME, BUT YOU CHOSE TO MAKE A STUPID PROMISE INSTEAD OF ACTUALLY DOING SOMETHING”)

Seems like Logan had another good point- Thomas keeps trying to say tomorrow this and tomorrow that, but Virgil knows. He wants Thomas to get up and be productive, but with Logan “out of service” you have anxiety based motivation. Virgil, being his anxiety, is also reminding him what he did.

At the end, Virgil doll is hanging by a thread (literally) and we see a gloved hand cut the thread. Setting Virgil free for now..

Episode 5: Important Reminder

Thomas is upstairs, and is going down to his living room to answer a knock at his door, and it is a WRECK. But worse than before. There’s blood on the walls and all that. He picks up “The Young Prince” something he apparently used to like during childhood, and finds this drawing between the pages:

“Have you ever imagined killing your brother?” “This is me electrifying my brother!”

Could this imply that Remus was actually the supposed witch? It was (possibly) the drawing mentioned in the Moving On episodes within the pages of a book where Princey died. This could be implying that ever since Remus appeared, Roman has been hurting. Maybe because he blames his dear twin for the murder?

…

THIS IS WHY WE SAID DONT LOOK BEHIND THE CURTAIN-!?

Okay- I’m okay. If you can’t tell, the word “unhelpful” was written in blood, and there is some behind the curtain. I can’t tell who it is tho- Patton? Nightmare Nico?

Speaking of Nico, ✨R E J E C T I O N✨

But really, Thomas is obviously having issues. He tried to get out the house, but Nico was busy that whole week. (Including his birthday 😢)

When he finally answered the door..:

As we’ve seen in WTIT, Thomas is scared of getting older, so I think it’s interesting that Remus called him that. “I can show you how bad things can truly get” I think this is his twisted way of saying “Get over it, you didn’t do as much harm think you did.”

(“Stop Ignoring Re”)

But of course, Janus closes the door on him, shutting him away from Thomas.

Episode 6: Blinding Denial

>No no no.

>I’m fine, I’m alright.

>I’m just…

>I’m just tired.

>I’ll fix it tomorrow, okay?

>I promise.

Thomas have still not learned? 🤨

I feel when Janus leaves the baby crying, he’s not talking about a literal baby, but Thomas. Janus has been sheltering him from the sides trying to confront him (Turning off the PC, Closing the Book, Editing the Video + cleaning the blood, etc.) but has had enough of Thomas prolonging the inevitable.

“You’ve been walking in circles”

“You’re running away from yourself”

He squished the Ladybug. Whilst crushing the hope that good luck will suddenly make things better.

“It’s time to move on and forgive yourself”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Holy crap I did it. Well hopefully you enjoyed! See you later!

#thomas sanders #sanders sides #logan sanders #roman sanders #virgil sanders #patton sanders #janus sanders #remus sanders #guilty tears

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aspiring-holistic-otaku · 1 year

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Ramble#11

This month's episode we focus on Naoki Urasawa, a living manga legend, a true goat of the medium and my number 1 favourite mangaka. Ever since I started this podcast, at least one episode on him was inevitable and even if I don't stick the landing I hope this encourages someone to go check out and even support his brilliant pieces of art.

I'll be following the usual format of things read this month and then going over older reads, this time going from least to most favourite. Afterwards in what I'd call a part 2 I'll be doing a bit of off the cuff ranting.

So without further adieu, let's get into it!

Urasawa works read this month:

Asadora! (2018 - present with 37 english translated chapters):

A young girl named Asa has her home town destroyed by a Kaiju that only she saw. For those unfamiliar with the term Kaiju, it's basically the genre of film centered around giant monsters, think Godzilla. Anyways, years later, after training to be a pilot so she can track the monster down as she's its only living witness, she's approached by a certain organization that's been tracking the beast, so she can be trained to defend the country.

Not really a first time read but the first time I checked it out in 2020 there was only like 15/20 chapters out so with there being like twice that now I figured I could put it as new + bite me

Not much to say as again there's not that many chapters but it was my first time seeing a female lead from urasawa and I thought it was cool that the first page of the first chapter set the time frame for this world threatening disaster as 2020, which was when I picked it up and around the time COVID kicked off, even though that chapter itself came out in 2018.

Yawara! (1986 - 1993) 331 chapters total but only 92 in English:

Trained by her 8 time national judo champion grandad to get an Olympic gold, Yawara has been doing judo since she could walk. But as she enters the springtime of her youth, she just wants to be a regular, cute and fashionable girl.

Now I figure some of you may be wondering "What's the problem? Why can't she have both?". Well firstly, you know fiction, there's no story without conflict no matter how ridiculous. But as the mc would put it, judo just isn't cute!

She thinks she'll be unapproachable if she becomes known for grappling and throwing people around which tbh is fair but if you know anything about training to be an athlete, especially an Olympic level athlete, the time dedicated to training is no small thing. In the manga her grandad makes her train every day starting at 6am before she goes to school then after school they train again at 6pm.

Again not the very first time I read it, basically I started like a year ago but only read like 5 chapters then got upset that it wasn't fully translated. Cause I figured if it's been complete since 1993 and in 2022 there's only 92 chapters translated I'd be blue balling myself to hell with what I assumed would be another urasawa great (side note, more reason for learning Japanese so I can be a translator)

And I'm feeling bittersweet in being correct in my thinking because I really really dug it. Very neat aesthetic I've gotta say as urasawa plays up yawara trying to be cute and dressing up and so forth. It was also my first time seeing urasawa not doing mystery, as Yawara is a fun light-hearted slice of life but it still has a great cast of distinctive characters with brilliant dynamics just as I've come to expect from all of urasawa's works.

Master Keaton (1988 - 1994) 144ch:

I'm just gonna go with the final volume's description here as it's pretty spot on

When the wall that separated the East and West falls, the twentieth century comes to an end and brings radical changes to the world. During this turbulent time, Taichi Hiraga Keaton has difficulty finding a job in archaeology even though his long line of cases as an insurance investigator doesn't seem to end. As he navigates through dangerous adventures, Keaton encounters some bittersweet lives…

If you glazed over for a minute there, basically the mc loves archeology, wants to be a professor and have his own dig sites and such but because of skills he picked up in the army, he has much better luck being an investigator.

Great scenery, neat characters but pretty episodic to the point where I'd want to call it an anthology as characters don't really carry forward much. There's a lot of nitty gritty details about wars, factions and etc. around the world in that time period which can be a bit overbearing at times but that's what give the characters and situations the impact they would have gotten if they stuck around longer.

Also gotta say it's pretty educational, not just in the mc basically being macgyver and building self defense weapons out of whatever is on hand kinda way, but it takes a good look at Europe and how fucked it was during that cold war period as it indirectly and directly references many real world events. Maybe it's just my lack of exposure but I haven't seen that much media outside of documentaries really pinpoint Europe and the effects of war there and not on a large high level country scale, I mean like really looking at the lives of civilians and how they lived and died during that time.

Lots of variety, as I said it's very episodic as almost every chapter has a different subject ranging from finding a lost animal to settling spats between holocaust survivors or proving a statue is fake

I also have to mention something I've always appreciated about Urasawa's works that really stood out in Master Keaton for me and that's the diverse and well done racial representation. There's people from everywhere and it doesn't have that feel manga tends to have of like a Japanese person drawing what they think other people look like or something, it just looks like a person drawing other people, feel like I'm wording that weirdly but that's how I'm wording it.

Happy! (1993 - 1999) 254ch:

One day a high school girl, Miyuki Umino that takes care of her 3 younger siblings on her own, is approached by Yakuza who tell her that her older brother ran out on loans amounting to 250mill yen, approx. 1.8M USD) and now she needs to pay up or be sold into prostitution.

While wondering what to do she sees on the news a tennis player earned that amount in winnings so she decides that despite the difficulty she has to try.

Pretty dark premise and I'm telling you she goes through some dark shit but it's a great story, brilliant characters as usual, loveable idiots abound, antagonists that you can really really hate. You don't have to be a fan of tennis at all to appreciate the heartwarming n heart wrenching ups and downs. Teared up at least twice.

This was my favourite Naoki Urasawa work I read for the first time this month, this manga really showed me Urasawa really has THAT range fr.

Older Urasawa reads:

Monster (1994 - 2001) 162 chapters, this was my 3rd read:

A promising young doctor, Kenzo Tenma, ignores his superiors orders to operate on their mayor and instead operates on a young boy called Johan, that came in first, as he firmly believes all lives are equal. The mayor dies and the boy is saved but this leads to unfair treatment by his superiors and being left by his fiance. Soon after, not only does the young boy disappear but his superiors die from poisoning, leaving him, staff and ofc the police baffled.

10 years later during a string of serial killings, a key witness ends up being a patient of Tenma's but is killed for trying to reveal this by Johan, the real killer, now a young man who reappears in front of the doctor. Even more shockingly, he reveals himself as the one who killed Tenma's superiors all those years ago. Because of similarities in the murderers then and now, police pin it all on Tenma so he goes on the run across Europe to find the young man and clear his name.

Undeniably engaging from the jump, the ever building draw being who the fuck is this Johan dude? where'd he come from? why the fuck is he killing all these people? etc. etc.

Great side characters as usual with interactions that I can only call truly genuine whether they were sweet or sour.

There's a lot of nice interplay on the meanings of life and death, the notions of fear and hope, humanity and the inhumane, all weaved into every intricate thread of this story.

Not to be a hater but personally its relative popularity, as in relative to his other works, is a little upsetting. I get that it was his first critically acclaimed banger but he's done so much since then that isn't talked about enough for me. His later stuff not having anime adaptations doesn't help but if you've read and watched enough media adaptations in general you know that tends to mean diddly squat in terms of the quality of the source material . The industry unfortunately runs more and more on fan service every day.

Pluto (2003 - 2009) 65 chapters, read 3x:

The destruction of one of Earth's greatest robots and the murder of a leading figure in international robot rights seem unrelated at first, but both bodies were made into some bizarre collage with the central motif/pattern being a pair of horns placed by their heads, making them obviously related. The confusing thing is that the only thing that could destroy one of Earth's greatest robots is an even stronger robot, but could a robot really be related to the murder a human? Gesicht, a robot detective is put on the case and eventually comes to realize that all of Earth's greatest robots, himself included are being targeted.

As you can expect with any futuristic robot media there's an exploration of the concept of humanity vs the artificial but it's done so tenderly for lack of a better word and I'm not sure how often it's done that way in these noir type beats. Especially from the viewpoint of a robot mc.

I've probably said this for all his works so far but there's brilliant cast, great dialogue, great art that the context pretty much demanded and even though it's based on an arc in Osamu Tezuka's tetsuwan atom, better known as astro boy in the west, the greatest robot on earth arc to be specific, Urasawa really rose to and in my mind completely surpassed the challenge of adapting the work of he who is called the God of manga.

Also like man it's so crazy good for how short it is, please read this.

20th century boys (1999 - 2006) 249 chapters + 16 in the wrapup sequel 21st century boys, I've read both 2x:

The story follows a group of childhood friends, now adults who are trying to patch together their memories in an effort to uncover a conspiracy that seems to be based on games they used to play about saving the world from destruction.

It's pretty difficult to describe the events of the story further but it definitely stands out in my mind as the grandest scale of anything Naoki Urasawa has ever done though I wouldn't put it past him to go further.

As I said the story follows friends trying to patch together memories so the time period goes back and forth quite a bit. It can be pretty jarring trying to follow it strictly by year so I'd recommend just thinking about it in three tone periods, namely; childhood, present day and miscellaneous flashbacks. Separating childhood from miscellaneous flashbacks as their childhood remains within a constant range but as the story moves forward and present day changes so does the range of flashbacks they have.

That should hint a bit at the scale of this whole thing but outside of the breadth, there's a depth of characterization and dynamic that I haven't seen elsewhere.

Side note, if the length is frightening it's the type of read I'd recommend savouring anyways.

Billy Bat (2008 - 2016) 165chapters, this is my 4th time reading this:

A Japanese American mangaka/cartoonist, Kevin Yamagata, suddenly has his workspace taken over by police claiming they're investigating one of his neighbours for being a Soviet spy. In the middle of protesting this, one of the officers sees the comic he's working on, Billy Bat. He says he's seen it before in Japan, basically calling Kevin's work a copy. Kevin takes offence but admits he was stationed in Japan for some time and may have seen it and subconsciously copied it. As one of the lasting lessons his father taught him was that you can't steal people's stuff, he goes to Japan to seek out this potential original creator.

The story unfolds as he meets an artist that tells him the bat is actually something passed down throughout history, throwing him right into the middle of several conspiracies concerning real key incidents throughout modern history.

On top of everything, the bat starts talking to him, urging him to find a supposedly important and immensely powerful scroll.

My favourite piece from urasawa, brilliant in every respect, please please please please read this.

That's it for this first part, if you're still here, thanks for listening, please please read these, urasawa is a goat, a legend a phenomenon.

Just to share some resources before I go into the part 2 bit which may have spoilers irdk yet, there were two YouTube videos I really liked that I highly recommend.

The first was 'The greatest mangaka of all time' by the masked man and second was 'A guide to manga's greatest master' by the omnibus collector.

The first video is about 10 minutes long and uses the quality of Monster, 20th century boys, Pluto and Billy Bat as their rationale for why Naoki Urasawa is the greatest mangaka of all time.

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The second is 20 minutes and pretty much covers Naoki's entire career and body of work, giving pretty rad descriptions of all his pieces, inspirations for them and a bunch of other really neat info. Bonus For those of you who are int that sort of thing, they also show the physicals they own off all the manga they talked about. really appreciated that. thank you omnibus collector.

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Really appreciated these videos as most animanga fans and discussions focus on monster, sometimes 20th century boys and rarely anything past that unless they're ranking which I'm really not interested in.

There's also a third video I mention in part 2 of the episode I'll link here as well.

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Anyways thanks again for listening, stay hydrated and listen in for some rambles if you're also into that kind of thing.

#just another day #mm..manga #naoki urasawa #asadora!#yawara!#master keaton #happy!#monster #pluto #20th century boys #billy bat #Youtube #writeup

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gayhawkelatehomicide · 4 months

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Actually Finished a Thing!!

Here's a published fic that I finished! I'm proud of me!

Look Upon the Light

Rating: T (for minor canon-typical violence and complexity, more than anything. It could probably be general audiences but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

Summary:

"In all the chaos, I did not catch your name, lethallan," Solas comments.

The boy flashes him a wry, easy grin. "Nobody here seems to care who I am, as much as what I am. I do appreciate someone taking an interest. Samahl of clan Lavellan, at your service."

"Laughter," Solas translates the name, charmed despite himself. "How appropriate."

***

The most important people in the fledgling Inquisition discover, each on their own terms, that the frustrating and ineffectual man who has been catapulted into religious significance is actually alarmingly capable. The Herald of Andraste, who had been rather enjoying not having to do any work, is dismayed to find he can no longer convince everyone that he is too useless to be given jobs.

Or: 5 times people found out Samahl Lavellan was competent despite his best efforts + 1 time he accepted his fate.

Tags under the cut for length and formatting reasons

Archive Warnings: none apply

Characters: Male Lavellan (Dragon Age), Solas (Dragon Age), Josephine Montilyet, Cassandra Pentaghast, Cullen Rutherford, Leliana (Dragon Age), Minaeve (Dragon Age), Original Characters

Tags: Character Study, Canon-Typical Violence, but it's not graphic I promise, spoilers (if you can spoil a 10 year old game?) for Solas's Whole Deal, Josephine Montiliyet being excellent at her job, minor fun being poked at Cullen and his tendency to advise hitting things, there's a couple other characters who show up but not enough to get tagged, varric is here (mostly in other people's dialogue), my fem!Warden Tabris gets mentioned, as does my fem!Hawke very briefly, I feel like I overuse the character study tag, Also look, Sammy is a little bit a Mary Sue but listen, he's my perfect little boy and while he does have flaws, (many of them), THIS is about everybody realizing that's not all he is, and I get to write stories about the family screw-up succeeding if I want to, self-indulgent as all good fic should be

#dragon age #dragon age: inquisition #dai #my writing #male lavellan #ao3 fanfic #ao3 link #thats right folks its another self indulgent 5+1 #and Sammy IS my precious baby boy #this is about growing into your talents and realizing that doing meaningful work doesnt have to be boring #this is also about my very competent but lazy son getting caught with his hand in the cookie jar five times in a row

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maranull · 1 year

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Μodern Greek rant so here I am cause boy do I have a bone to pick with this fucking culture, country and people. This will probably out of order and with poor formatting to really give you the Greek experience™ (also because I get angry and don't want to reformat all this fucking bullshit).

Note, this is obviously a generalization, and I'm just talking about my own, PERSONAL view of this shithole. And I'm well aware people elsewhere have it worse. But I'm here, so I'll bitch about this country here.

So. Let's start with the obsession over our history.

Is it a very rich history and was it the base for what has now evolved to the concept of the Western World? Yes. Was ancient Greece also filled with rampant pedophilia, slavery, sexism and corruption? Abso-fucking-lutely. Did modern-Greeks fought tooth to nail against the Nazis and made them bleed in ways no one expected from our tiny, shitty little nation? Yes. Did also half the country sold their own families over to the Nazis for a loaf of bread during the occupation (both the Nazi one and the Ottoman before it)? Or even for not even that? Also yes.

Most will call Greece, and specifically Athens, the birthplace of democracy. BUT! It was a democracy for those that were considered citizens, aka male Athenians. Women where "encouraged" to never leave the houses/mansions. And slaves were, well, slaves. Anyway, the democracy Athens boasted about is no more, unless you can call democracy a few families running over and over for head of state and a police force that feels more and more Americanized by the year (I do not need to say that this is a bad thing, right?).

Speaking of bastards, cops seem to be one of the most well equipped forces in the public sector, along with the army (we'll get to those fuckers later). Here are some posts (1) (2) (3) that I made during fire season (I was foaming from the mouth when I made those, hence the language and caps). Take note how in the 1st one, it's a motherfucking cop that is pissing on the fire (also remember his division, ΔΙ.ΑΣ, it will be relevant later). On the 2nd one you can see where the money is actually going during fire season. And I linked the 3rd one to see the hellscape that was the 2021 fires. Btw, this year, we got about 5000 or so (I can't recall the exact number) priests being hired in the public sector, comparative to only around 500 hired in the special forces of the firefighters. Also during the first quarantines, a ton of firefighters were laid down, allegedly for refusing to wear masks. Which would make sense, only by 2021 the whole force was and is understaffed and then we got one of the worse Attica fires to date (2021). "But Mara, they had a reason to fire them!" Yeah, I agree. What I don't agree with is that they never fucking hired or trained replacements, while they kept hiring more and more and more and more cops.

There are constant, and I mean all day —can't tell about the night, I don't live near— anti-riot units in the center of Athens.

A cop shot and killed a teen in 2008. And for all the shit I give Greeks, they are insanely protective of their kids and close friends so the 2008 riots (Wikipedia article here) lit the city on fire. The killer was convicted in 2010 and he walked fucking FREE in 2019. I can promise you that if the riots didn't happen, he would still be "serving" as a cop.

In terms of LGBTQ treatment from the police, here's the Wikipedia article for Zak's murder. And another post of mine doing a partial translation of an interview from a Greek trans woman. That should tell you everything about the LGBTQ-cops relationship.

Oh btw, remember that ΔΙ.ΑΣ unit? About a month ago they were accused of raping a woman inside their fucking department in Omonoia (<- Athens' center). And they generally have a reputation of violence almost equal to the riot unit. I always get the urge to spit when seeing them.

So, now that we've covered politics and cops, let's go to those who enable them, the people.

Biggest characteristic, their passion about their history (minus the bad, of course). So passionate in fact, that the modern Greek seems to forget that modern Greece is younger that the freaking US. Greece got it's independence from the Turks/Ottomans at 1821. We were under the Byzantines before them, which while they were culturally Greek, the rule was a remnant of the Roman Empire, which we were also under before the change (mainly in name) to the Byzantine Empire.

What I'm getting at is that the modern Greek is mainly proud about achievements that happened literally thousands of years ago. And even if you count the Byzantine Empire as Greek (it's too complicated for my non-historian ass to actually explain), the Ottomans tried their absolute best to "cleanse" and integrate Greeks into Turkish customs. And you know, they almost did manage that. A ton of what you'll hear are traditional Greek dishes and sweets have their bases in Ottoman cuisine. "Greek coffee" is literally the coffee Ottomans brought during the occupation. MY POINT! IS! That modern Greeks are so far evolved/disconnected from our ancestors that using them as their whole personality is insane, stupid and gives of "superior race" vibes.

And so. with being a proud Greek, comes the racism. At work, I might be able to sneak in a black or middle eastern person on the side of the posters/ads. If I put an Asian, the phone will ring the moment they see it and I will be commanded to remove them from the image.

Like, even if being a casually racist fuck wasn't bad, Greeks are one of the biggest migrant peoples in the fucking west. How in the shit have you returned from England, Romania, Italy, France and most of Europe and USA and still be a racist bastard?

Racism and being way to proud of ancestry aside, let's go to religion!

Greece is heavily Orthodox. Most will attempt to say that religion is not tied to the state and that the Orthodox Church is just one of many. Yeah, fuck no, it isn't. Religion and education are bunched in the same ministry (Hellenic Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs) and I don't think I need to say how not "not tied to the state" that is, right? Anyhow, the Church did give shelter to the rebels during the 1821 rebellion (against the Ottomans) and now they still rub it in the face of the public during speeches. Like, "Remember, you own us your freedom, now hire us with taxpayers' money and also except us from taxes, thanks xoxo." and then driving off in their BMWs.

The Church having such a hold on the country is also one of the reasons why it's such a slog to have any sort of progress. The people listen to the Church first, the government second.

Sexism, racism, homophobia, patriarchy, toxic masculinity and anti-scientific rhetorics thrive here because that's what the Church preaches. And has preached for as long as it has had power.

I was the first generation that was able to be excused from "religious studies" (aka Orthodox brainwashing) and I was the only kid that its parents asked to be removed. Not in my year, but in the whole school (primary education is 6 years here). As 6-12 year olds we were dragged to attend service every fucking week. Literal country-wide brainwashing.

The day I'm writing this part is 17/11, the day when the 1967-1974 Junta assaulted Polytechnic and we are expecting a march. So, speaking of marches, riots and people trying to have a say in their country, let me point you at the 2015 Greek bailout referendum.

A country wide vote to for the people to decide if we should accept the bailout conditions concerning the debt crisis. I was barely 19, depressed and understood very little about politics, but what was clear is that this was (supposed) to be a decision taken by the people, not the politicians. I voted No (weather I was right to do so or not is irrelevant), along with 61.31% of the voting population.

Take a wild guess what the government did. That's right, agreed with the bailout conditions. What? You thought they'd listen to a clear, legal vote from the people? Nope. At least they resigned after, only the agreement had already been sealed.

And you know, I do love this country. I love that you can find ruins in almost every corner. I love the little villages in the mountains. I love that white, sun bleached rock that's characteristic of our islands. I love the myths. I love how I can just walk to the source of the river Styx, how I can climb to the top of the actual Mount Olympus, see and walk on top of Zeus throne (and have done so a couple times <- this is a public flex and i deserve it). I love how the air feels in the mountains and the soil that has been cultivated for thousands of years. I love the rivers and their thin, small canyons. I love the wild, fierce wind of the islands.

I genuinely love this land, and I hate the country.

#greece #also #personal #<- if that's your blocked tag of choice for these rants

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