#also it's interesting to compare the role Iris plays here with the one she plays in Kallimachos Hymn to Delos | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

shrinkthisviolet · 5 months

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Director's Commentary on 'i still love you (i promise)' please!!!!

So this is the affectionately-titled “Barry & Morgan angst fic”! It’s very centrally About Them, and they spend pretty much all of it at odds: first Morgan is mad at Barry, and then he’s mad at her.

It’s interesting, because initially the whole fic was just gonna be Morgan being mad at him. But then I kept finding reasons to reconcile them sooner, but they still needed to be not on speaking terms until 1x14, but then Morgan telling Barry “I helped Hartley” wouldn’t leave room for reconciliation at the end...so we ended up with what we got: Morgan being mad at Barry, reconciling, Eowells stepping in to wreck that reconciliation with his “revelation”, and then Barry being mad at Morgan.

Yeah, it’s strange thing to hear I bet, but Eowells did not initially have a hand in ruining that reconciliation in the very first draft 😂 which surprises even me tbh because he slots into that role perfectly. Makes it hit so much stronger.

This fic was chock full of the miscommunication trope, but hopefully I did it in a way that wasn’t just “easy misunderstanding that could be solved in 5 seconds is stretched out unnecessarily”. It’s more than that! Barry and Morgan do talk here and there, Barry does what he can to atone, but Morgan’s mad at him because her anger isn’t necessarily at Barry...it’s at Eowells, projected onto Barry because he’s a “safe” person to be mad at. Although Barry’s had outbursts of temper, Morgan doesn’t fear him the way she fears Eowells. Of course there’s Morgan’s fierce protectiveness over Tina playing a role in her anger at Barry too, but…it’s mostly anger at Eowells, given that she’s still mad at Barry even after knowing he apologized to Tina.

(It’s just his temper, Morgan tells herself, that’s what I fear—but what’s the difference between that and fearing the man himself, when you live with him? Eowells is rare with his outbursts of temper, but he’s not as effusively apologetic and comforting about it afterwards. Nor does he take any steps to fix it…he doesn’t even tolerate any dissent from her anyway.)

And on Barry’s end, he was told about Morgan working with Hartley from her “dad”!! The person who’s meant to paint her in the best light, always!! Ofc Barry should’ve probed deeper and looked closer, but he trusted Eowells to paint his own daughter in the best light, and that was his mistake, sadly 😭 an understandable one though, I hope.

There’s also the Ronnie & Barry parallels going like crazy in this fic, like how both of them helped measure Morgan's height—exclusively them, no one else. Not even Eowells back when he could stand. Clearly he felt it was “beneath” him past a certain point (past age 7, probably. In his mind, that’s when he “lost” Morgan). Also how Morgan constantly compares them. Also how often the narrative does too, framing them as similar and contrasts them too (Ronnie passing the big-brother torch to Barry is a bit of tragic foreshadowing about his fate at the end of the season). It’s great stuff 💞 I’ve talked more about Morgan's relationships with Barry and Ronnie here!

There’s also such a wonderful focus on Morgan & Tina and Iris & Morgan here, brought about in part because of Barry & Morgan being at odds (Iris & Morgan’s focus in particular is a large part of why I wanted to keep that Barry & Morgan tension later in the fic, especially the reveal).

Tina’s motherliness to Morgan gets to shine, and I loved showing how protective and supportive she is towards her. You also really get the sense that Tina knows…something 👀 maybe not fully, but enough to reasonably suspect.

And Iris!! Oh, how her friendship with Morgan shines in this fic. The future-sisters-in-law dynamic is going strong…and it’s very telling that she’s the first person Morgan actually tells about having powers and being a hero (Barry, Caitlin, Cisco, and Eowells all find out. So does James, and Sentry is half his idea anyway). She trusts Iris so much 🥰 and that’s so wonderful to write.

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@ocappreciationtag @arrthurpendragon @vexic929 @ironverseocs @raith-way @thechaoticfanartist @goldheartedchaoticdisaster

#fanfic ask game #director’s commentary ask game #brotp: i know my hero #morgan & ronnie #morgan & thawne #brotp: anything for my best friend #brotp: central city could use a sentry #oc: morgan wells #barry allen #eobard thawne #eowells #tina mcgee #iris west #iris west allen

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giveamadeuschohisownmovie · 4 years

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After going the Ace Attorney games again, here are my rankings of the six main series prosecutors:

(Side note: Still haven’t played any of the Investigations games or the Great Ace Attorney series)

6) Nahyuta Sahdmadhi

Poor Nahyuta. I hate to place him in the last place slot but after going through Spirit of Justice again, he still hasn’t grown on me. Let me just say, I don’t really like Spirit of Justice. There are a lot of aspects of that game I was not fond of, such as the final case being a repeat of Farewell, My Turnabout and the underwhelming Khura’in Civil War storyline. However, in Nahyuta’s defense, I don’t hate the character.

Nahyuta has a decent storyline and he has a unique gimmick. It’s just when compared to the other 5 prosecutors, he doesn’t really do anything for me. His storyline with Apollo feels like a rehash of the previous games (oh, the prosecutor was close friends with the defense attorney? Hmm, where have I heard that before *coughPhoenixandMilescough* *coughAthenaandSimoncough*). Also, he’s not as fun or as interesting as his counterparts.

Basically, I don’t think Nahyuta’s a bad character, he’s just my least favorite of the prosecutors.

5) Franziska von Karma

This one hurt me, mainly because I love Franziska. She seems like a fun character outside of the main Ace Attorney games based on her appearances in the Investigations series. However, if we’re going purely with her role as prosecutor in the main series, then I have to place her in the 5th place slot. But it’s not because I think she’s a bad character. She’s great! She’s a fun character to interact with and she has an interesting backstory. The problem is Justice for All.

In my opinion, Justice for All is the worst Ace Attorney game in the main series. It’s to the point that it affected my placement of Franziska on this list. First off, it’s already bad that one of the main cases she’s the prosecutor in is Turnabout Big Top aka the worst case in the entire franchise. But then there’s Farewell, My Turnabout, which absolutely screws over her character by making Miles Edgeworth the focus of the finale.

Now let me back up. Before you Miles Edgeworth fans jump down my throat, I am aware that Miles is not the prosecutor for the final case in the first game. I am NOT saying that Franziska needed to be the prosecutor in Farewell, My Turnabout. I am NOT saying Miles ruined the story. The point I’m making is that even though Miles wasn’t the prosecutor in Turnabout Goodbyes, he was still the main focus. Everything in that episode revolved around Miles’ past and his relationship with Manfred von Karma. He still got a complete character arc even though he wasn’t the rival.

In Farewell, My Turnabout, Capcom just went and said, “Go fuck yourself Franziska” and made everything about Miles again. Franziska was barely a presence in that final episode and by the time the game ended, her arc felt incomplete. Yes, the writers attempted to make her relevant to the story by having her be the one to deliver the evidence but just think about that for a second. She’s the main prosecutor of the 2nd game and the most significant thing she did in the finale was deliver items. I honestly feel her appearance in Trials and Tribulations was damage control for how shit she was treated in Justice for All.

Thankfully, it looks like the Investigations games treated Franziska better. But as for the main series, she deserved a whole lot better. I’d love to place her higher but with the storyline she got, I have to mark her down.

4) Klavier Gavin

I don’t have much to say about Klavier. I think he’s a cool character and he has a kickass gimmick. However, he’s just a mid-tier kind of character for me. Like with Franziska, it’s mainly to do with Apollo Justice / Ace Attorney 4.

People have already pointed this out but the storyline in Apollo Justice feels more like set-up for something bigger. When I first went through Apollo Justice, it felt like there was going to be more to Kristoph Gavin, more to Klavier Gavin. Phoenix Wright was at the start of a different kind of character arc and the Gramaryes/Trucy Wright would be the main focus of the Apollo Justice trilogy, just like how Maya and the Feys were the focus of Phoenix’s trilogy.

In fact, just going off on a little tangent, I already made a post about this but I was thinking that the abandoned Apollo Justice trilogy would lead to Phoenix becoming a Godot-type character. He had the seeds of that character arc planted, with his darker behavior, willingness to bend the legal system to get what he wants (using forged evidence and trapping Kristoph with the jurist system) and a similar reason to become an anti-villain (Godot was poisoned by Dahlia, Phoenix was disbarred thanks to Kristoph). He would then show up in the final game as the main rival, leading to a Phoenix and Apollo showdown.

Sorry, this was supposed to be about Klavier. The point I’m trying to make is, Klavier is a cool character but he feels wasted. Since the 5th and 6th games didn’t follow-up on the 4th game’s story, it feels like Klavier was left behind as a result. That’s why he’s low on the list.

3) Simon Blackquill

Ah yes, the twisted samurai. For the record, Dual Destinies is my favorite Apollo Justice-era game, so it’s not a huge surprise that Simon is my favorite Apollo Justice-era prosecutor. For me, what makes Simon stand out is that he’s the most “complete” of the three AJ-era prosecutors.

My issue with Klav was that his storyline feels incomplete while my issue with Yuty was that he wasn’t that interesting of a character. Simon doesn’t have those problems. For one, he has the best gimmick between the three of them. It’s an interesting concept to have a prosecutor be an actual death row inmate. What’s cool about that is that the death row inmate gimmick worked for Simon’s character arc.

Dual Destinies set Simon up as the embodiment of the dark age of the law. He was a death row inmate who constantly talked about killing his foes. That’s why the reveal that he’s actually an honorable man who never killed anyone works so well, it’s a strong contrast to how he’s set up. Also, it’s a twist that works with Simon’s character as he’s supposed to be a psychology expert. He plays up his image of a crazy killer to intimidate his enemies.

Other than that, I also feel like Simon had the best storyline of the AJ-era prosecutors. Also, even though his appearance in Spirit of Justice was a bit silly, it was still fun to see this character in a more lighter tone.

2) Miles Edgeworth

Yeah, of course Edgey is this high up on the list. Like I wrote, I can’t count the Investigations games as I haven’t played them but even then, Miles had a pretty good run in the main series. He had a strong character arc in the first game, a decent return in the 2nd game, and a strong return in the 3rd game. It was great that you actually got to play as Miles in T&T and that he was the acting defense attorney. For me, Trials and Tribulations felt like the end of Miles’ character arc as he finally became a defense attorney, just like his dad.

And honestly, Capcom should’ve left him at that. I’m not saying this is why he’s only 2nd on the list but I just want to say, I don’t think he needed to be in Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice. Yes, I am aware that Miles’ appearances in those games were just fun guest appearances for people who want that AA original trilogy nostalgia. However, I felt that his appearances in 5 and 6 slightly ruined his character arc.

Why? Because he was back to being a prosecutor. Last time I checked, wasn’t his entire character arc about him becoming a defense attorney? He wanted to be a DA like his dad, he developed a misguided hatred of defense attorneys due to the DL-6 Incident, he was misled into believing that the number one goal of an attorney is to win court cases by Manfred von Karma, he was rescued by his friend Phoenix which led to him reassessing his life goals, he goes on a trip around the world to find himself, and then in the final game, he becomes Iris’ defense attorney, overcoming his initial hatred of DAs and fulfilling his childhood goal.

Maybe it’s just me but having Miles come back as a prosecutor in the AJ-era games feels like a step back in character development. But once again, that’s not the reason why he’s 2nd on the list. I like Miles, but I like the next guy even more. It should be obvious who it is by now.

1) Godot

Yes, I know, this is potentially a controversial choice. I just wanna say, I don’t care if you love, like, dislike, or hate Godot. Let me write the reasons why Godot is my number one prosecutor.

When I was writing this list out, I was measuring the prosecutors based on several factors. Story, character arc, design, strength as a rival, humor and so on. Just to be clear, I don’t think Godot is the best of all those categories. For example, when it comes to strength as a rival, I’d say Miles and Franziska were stronger opponents. Godot is definitely a mid-tier rival, which makes sense as he’s supposed to be a rookie / defense attorney out of his league.

So, why Godot then if he’s not the best in every category? Honestly...I’d say it’s the character overall. Regardless of your feelings towards the character, I feel that we can all agree that Godot’s story is the most tragic.

Let’s recap; Godot’s story is of a good man who was destroyed by a wicked monster. He was then abandoned by the people around him and lost the love of his life. With no one to help him, he let his grief consume him to the point that he became a bitter shell of his former self, obsessed with shaming the people he feels are responsible for the death of his lover. It’s only at the end when he realizes that all of his hatred and anger was just him projecting his own self-hatred onto someone else. That even though it wasn’t his fault, he still holds himself responsible for his lover’s death. However, it’s too late to make amends as he’s damned himself. In a moment of blind rage, he doomed himself by committing murder.

That is some HEAVY material for a game series that features the main character cross examining a parrot and conveniently developing amnesia just to set up a tutorial sequence.

Going on another tangent, you know who Godot’s storyline reminded me of? Jax Teller from Sons of Anarchy. Both characters started out as honorable men who were deeply in love. Then, tragedy struck. They lost the love of their lives and, in their final character arc, they took their rage out on everyone. Sons of Anarchy season 7 is still some of the most devastating TV I’ve ever watched and part of the reason was because of how sad it was to watch Jax fall. He fell so deep into his rage and anger that by the time he got his revenge, he burned so many bridges that the only place his character could go was death.

Same with Godot. He’s a damn Shakespearean tragic protagonist in that he was ultimately undone by his own rage and anger. You can sympathize with him based on how he came to be but at the same time, he destroyed himself. It’s a devastating character arc and, as someone who loves Shakespeare and all things theater, I absolutely loved it. It’s the one character arc that has stuck with me after going through all six games over again, even more so than Miles and Simon’s arcs.

In addition to all of this, the fact that Godot’s character arc tied the entire trilogy together is definitely worth noting. From his storyline, the game tied together Mia Fey’s death, highlighted Mia’s importance to the main storyline, and even set up Trials and Tribulations’ main villain, Dahlia Hawthorne. I love it when stories do that, when the character arcs actually work hand-in-hand with the story that the writer is trying to tell.

On some smaller notes, Godot definitely has the best character design in my opinion. Also, the best character theme (I still have the Fragrance of Dark Coffee playing in my head). Lastly, he has the best case in the original trilogy (Bridge to the Turnabout), as well as the best moment (the original pursuit theme plays when you expose the knife wound underneath his mask).

So yeah. In my opinion, Godot is the best Ace Attorney prosecutor. Those are my reasons, feel free to disagree if you want.

#ace attorney #phoenix wright #miles edgeworth #franziska von karma #godot #diego armando #klavier gavin #simon blackquill #nahyuta sahdmadhi #apollo justice #athena cykes #aa #capcom

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stephadoodles · 4 years

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DOAFP Episode 1x04 Review - “The National Mall”

This was the episode that caused a lot of chatter amongst the people already watching and got a lot more watching, so it was interesting to go back and rewatch it, especially since the Bobby story line in particular has gotten quite a bit more development since then. There are also a lot of old-school Disney show vibes to the episode.

This episode doesn’t have a particular theme that connects all the story lines, but it does have the trend where one of Elena’s school lessons reflects something that’s going on in her personal life (which has some strong Boy Meets World vibes). Elena’s story line focuses on the concept of growing up and becoming a woman. It’s a continuation of the period stuff from the first episode, but this time it focuses more on bras.

The girls are only allowed to go to the Claire’s-equivalent store, and not allowed into the Victoria Secret-equivalent store in the mall. The girls want to prove that they’re mature and grown up after another run-in with Melissa and Jessi, who are once again bragging about how grown up they are. Interestingly, Sasha is the one pushing the issue, and later when Elena discovers she accidentally took the bra, Sasha also encourages her to hide it and forget about it. Normally Elena is the one forcing them to do things, so it was a bit of a switch.

Once inside the store, the girls proceed to prove that they are definitely not mature or grown up by goofing around with the bras and other lingerie items. They run into one of their teachers holding a thong, which promptly ends their goofing around.

This whole plot line has some serious Lizzie McGuire vibes, and it has a lot of similarities to that episode, down to running into a teacher in the bra store. As someone who grew up watching Lizzie McGuire, that particular episode is one that I remembered better than any of the others, and it’s great that Disney is finally creating content for the pre-teen age group again that isn’t super squeaky clean. There are ways to talk about puberty and everything that goes along with that in ways that are appropriate and still funny for those going through it. Those types of pop culture experiences do have an impact on people, and I hope there’s more of that in the future.

In her English class, they’re covering The Raven, and the teacher points out that it’s meant to symbolize guilt, which connects to what Elena is feeling. It transfers over to her dream, which is told in the style of The Raven. It’s interesting to see how they use the school lessons as a metaphor for her real-life problems, and it’s a technique they use in the future too.

Ultimately, Elena’s guilt gets the best of her, and she confesses to her mother. Through a series of events, Sam ends up being the person who takes her to the mall, and he gives her a little pep talk about how the things that make a woman aren’t clothes or where they shop, but who they are as a person. While it’s a really nice talk and it does help Elena feel better, it’s a little weird that they had the adult guy give it to her, instead of any of the adult women, which would have made a lot more sense.

Sam’s story line, continued from the previous episode, is him trying to figure out whether he’s willing to be a part of a family with kids. He seems to think of himself as the cool uncle but has realized that it can’t be the case. After seeking out some advice from fellow co-workers (both of whom are gay, interestingly enough), he ultimately makes his decision when he steps in to help out with Elena.

Bobby’s story line with Monyca has progressed to the two of them attempting to kiss for the first time, with plenty of interruptions from various family members and friends. When his friends set up a hang out which essentially is just a make-out party, Bobby is pulled into a closet (insert metaphor here) by a very enthusiastic Monyca and emerges looking confused and out of sorts. Monyca is clearly thrilled by the experience, and Bobby’s reaction is a clear contrast. As has already been pointed out, it’s easily comparable to Cyrus’ reaction to kissing Iris for the second time.

However, it’s worth pointing out that at that point, Cyrus already had figured out that he had a crush on a guy, while I don’t believe that Bobby has yet. Cyrus was trying to figure out if he still liked Iris, and it was made abundantly clear that he didn’t. Meanwhile, I think this is the first time Bobby has really considered the fact that he’s not actually attracted to her. He kind of admits it in his conversation with Liam later, but he also tries to cover it up and give the response that Liam was expecting from him.

Gabi definitely got the least important story line this episode. While trying to impress her boss so she can get on a case that she’s very passionate about, she accidentally likes some of her boss’ old photos on social media. It was probably the weakest story line of the episode as well, and it turns out that all Gabi had to do was show that she wanted to put the effort in, and she gets the job. We do get some pretty great interactions between Gabi and Camila though, and I’m really enjoying their friendship.

The end of the episode is pretty great, and I really like how it was done. Elena was worrying about the whole period thing back in episode one, and it wasn’t really brought up again. And then, when she was least expecting it, she got it. It was a nice little endcap to her story line, and her starting to grow and mature a bit.

A few notes:

They really aren’t using any brand names in this show. The stores are all fictional, the pop culture references are fictional, and there are only a few actual name drops (Pokemon is briefly mentioned in this episode). I wonder if it was a financial reason, like with Andi Mack

Melissa snapping her bra strap threateningly makes me laugh every time I see it. I don’t understand why this girl is the way she is

We get another openly gay character who we met briefly before. Craig is another one of Gabi’s coworkers, and it’s another example of the show casually having LGBTQ characters

Alexandra Billings, the actress who plays Gabi’s boss Joy, is transgender. It’s not stated whether the character is or not, but it’s another example of the diverse casting choices that the show has made

The fact that Gabi has a number of coworkers and friends who are openly LGBTQ is interesting and will hopefully come into play later when Bobby’s story line gets to the point of him coming out. Knowing that your parents would be supportive of you because of the people they already have in their lives is really important, and I hope it does play a role in that story line

We see Bobby playing with the tennis ball in the bathroom, which we’ll see again in a more significant manner later on

Another mention of Camila having to hide her relationship from her parents

#doafp #diary of a future president #elena cañero reed #bobby cañero reed #doafp reviews #my reviews

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ducktracy · 4 years

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159. she was an acrobat's daughter (1937)

release date: april 10th, 1937

series: merrie melodies

director: friz freleng

starring: mel blanc (dole promise, who dehr, heddie camphor, hippo, stickoutski, donkey, leslie howard, duck, father duck, angry moviegoers)

mel blanc’s roles are growing increasingly larger and larger, as they should be! not only is this a popular motif used in cartoons (such as being sung by daffy in daffy doodles), footage from the cartoon itself has been reused. bob clampett and art davis’ bacall to arms uses a hefty amount of footage from this cartoon, but for good reason. it’s a turning point for freleng for sure as we observe parodies of news reels, songs, movies, and more.

the title song is underscored as we iris in and pan down to the outside of a movie theater, advertising 36 HOURS TO KILL WITH HIS BROTHER’S WIFE (intentionally read as one single title). pan over to the other side: 15 FEATURES 15¢ -- ALSO REJECTED SHORTS (a pun on selected shorts). i believe this gag was in buddy’s theatre as well. inside, reused in bacall to arms, a lone moviegoer gets up and switches his seat. another decides to do the same, and then another, and soon enough the interior of the theater is whipped into a frenzy as everyone scrambles to change seats. a very funny gag with succinct timing. i don’t like comparing everything to tex avery, because friz has just as much talent as tex and i feel like i’m holding tex up as the Ultimate way to do animation, but this gag certainly does feel like an averyism.

one of the many WARMER BROS. puns that we will be seeing in many a short (i believe debuted with hollywood capers? though it could have been from one of the bosko or buddy shorts too) as we open to the beginning of the show, a screen flashing WARMER BROS PRESENTS -- GOOFY-TONE NEWS -- SEES ALL-KNOWS NOTHING. the “sees all - knows nothing” is a take on “sees all, hears all, knows all”, from fox’s movietone news reels back in the day. the puns just keep on coming!

a caricature of movietone news reporter lowell thomas, caricature design courtesy of t. hee, opens us up, billed as dole promise instead. mel blanc provides the vocals as dole announces “good evening, folks. this is, uh...” he pauses, forgetting his own name. the gag is wonderfully structured, as he has a nameplate and a sign posted on his desk, as well as his name posted in big letters right on the screen, yet he still squints at his script with the most analytical, stupefied concentration he can muster. the offscreen whisper of “dole promise!” is just the cherry on top. “oh yeah. this is dole promise, bringing you the latest news events of the day.”

the first news reel: U.S. BUILDS LONGEST LINER IN SHIP BUILDING RACE. wonderful timing (and a neat overhead layout!) as we see the longest liner in person: an extremely elongated ship right in the middle of new york and london. the ship inches forward to london, and then back to new york, and then we cut away to the next order of business. next: FLASH! SPECIAL! heddie camphor (a take on eddie cantor, of course) finds “little oscar”, vitamin (a take on vitaphone) newsreel man gets exclusive interview with oscar. we see a little bug next to a purse (that has the initials of JW on them, jack warner of warner bros fame) and hear mel blanc talking in a russian accent. “ahh, dere you are! tell us, oscar, how does feel for to be back home after being lost for such long time?” the little bug rambles on in high pitched, nonsensical garbles. “oh, thank you very much, oscar! how you like that? he say he would rather be lost!” i haven’t found anything as to what the gag means, so unfortunately the meaning has been lost to the sands of time. but, if anything, it’s amusing hearing mel do one of the voices we’ll be hearing so often in many cartoons.

what is it with movie-centric cartoons and hitler? bosko’s picture show in 1933 was the first cartoon of any studio to ever depict a caricature of hitler, and now we have a gag where a man is invited to sit in the last seat in the row. unfortunately, his view is seldom ideal: we see some rather impressive perspective and animation as hitler on screen marches forward, eventually disappearing into nothingness because the moviegoer can’t see anything. aggravated, he moves a few seats down, right in the front row and in the middle. i believe this is bob mckimson animation--this scene would be reused two years later in the film fan, with porky in place of the dog trying to crane his neck to see animation of a jockey riding on the horse. the warped perspective is quite impressive and does a good job of hitting home. we’ve all been there, stuck in the front row and trying to see what’s happening. nevertheless, the dog begrudgingly accepts his fate, forever doomed to view the news reel at inadequate angles.

also reused in bacall to arms is a gag of a hippo trying to get out of the row, proving to be a nuisance in the process. he’s a polite nuisance, at least, repeating “pardon. pardon me. pardon.” as he bulldozes his way through. tex avery would also lampoon overweight hippo moviegoers in his hamateur night in 1939.

time for the birth of a caricature! we have our first caricature of vaudevillain lew lehr (penned as who dehr in this case), whose catchphrase “monkeys is da cwaziest peoples!” would be lampooned in many, many, many, MANY warner bros cartoons (especially bob clampett cartoons: porky in egypt, porky’s snooze reel, russian rhapsody, and so forth). here, he opens us up with nit-wit news. “ladies and peoples, listen while explaining you the latest news of da day.” the napoleon hat/garb in general is a nice touch, often used to symbolize insanity (like porky suffering here from the “desert madness”).

lehr (or in this case dehr) narrates the malady of a strange dog bite affecting the city of “boondoggle”, mo. that strange malady has turned the citizens of boondoggle into boonDOGS as everyone runs around on all fours. “look at dat! even da mayor leads a dog’s life in boondoggle!” the mayor, digging a hole, comes across a dog and growls (i love the detail of his sideburns raising like a dog’s ears in defense), both him and the actual dog engaging in a tussle. the brushing on the fight is very well done for this time period, feeling like a precursor to drybrushing which would be so prevalent in so many cartoons. the mayor wins the fight, running away with a bone in his mouth. elsewhere, BOONDOOGLE'S LEADING SOCIETY MATRON IS LATEST VICTIM OF SCOURGE. amusing animation and narration by blanc/dehr as a woman sits on a pillow, panting like a dog, eagerly running up to her butler and eating a piece of steak thrown at her. dehr wraps up the presentation, he himself getting a taste of the scourge as one of the affected residents crawls onscreen and bites dehr right in the leg. nonsensical? absolutely. but it’s the GOOD kind of nonsensical. the use of black and white is a nice touch with this being a technicolor cartoon. many of the other news reel cartoons have been/are in black and white, so the mixing of technicolor and B&W really adds some authenticity.

“boulevardier from the bronx” seems to be a theme for slow, lumbering characters as the lumbering hippo makes his return, squeezing himself through an angry row of patrons while he dismissively pardons himself. he sits himself down just in time to see “STICKOUTSKI at the fertilizer”. a lion caricature of leopold stokowski invites the moviegoers to a rousing chorus of “she was an acrobat’s daughter”--not unlike bosko getting his own audience to sing in bosko’s picture show. the song is very catchy, the slideshow visuals equally as entertaining as the lyrics. i especially love the gag where one picture, not a part of the slideshow, reads “please do not spit on the floor”, yet the patrons sing it in tune regardless, then correcting themselves and singing the next verse in the same tune. a hilarious gag with great timing. a short merrie melody for sure, but a good one at that.

next is a parody of the MGM lion, crowing like a rooster instead of doing its signature roar. the film is “petrified florist, a take on “petrified forest” (which would be used as a gag in book revue). after an interminable cast scroll through (reused in bacall to arms), we see the star of the film, a caricature of leslie howard unsuccessfully hitchhiking, tying his thumb to a railroad crossing sign, making the light swing. while the film is playing, a random donkey decides to peddle peanuts, crackerjack, chewing gum (with an underscore of “puddin’ head jones”, a favorite of mine). the donkey is booted out of the theater, hitting his head on a streetlight and still repeating his peauts, crackerjack, chewing gum mantra in a daze. a little incongruous and random, but there are some interesting angles and closeups as the donkey walks straight towards the audience.

back to the film, the leslie howard caricature summons a bette davis cariature (again, caricatures by t. hee), demanding some food. bette flirts with him, smitten. “what’s your name?” “puddin tame. ask me again, and i'll tell you the same.” “are you a poet?” “after a fashion. “ooh, i love poetry!” “would you like me to recite?” “no.” even better than the “no” gag is howard struggling to recite mary had a little lamb regardless. “mary lad a little hamb. mary mad a little amb. mary had... oh, she had a goat.” while leslie struggles to retell the story, bette sighs, completely enamored.

a very interesting discovery, at least for me: i always wondered why in some porky cartoons, porky had a little white duck sidekick (not daffy) who was a pest. mainly a 1939 phenomenon: i’ve only spotted him in it’s an ill wind and porky’s hotel. his name is either dizzy or dippy duck, i can’t remember. but i always wondered why he was porky’s sidekick when daffy was getting to be established as porky’s sidekick at the same time. turns out THIS dizzy/dippy duck’s first appearance, or at least a prototype. here, he pesters his dad, barraging him with questions. “why, daddy? why did the man look at her like that, daddy? why, daddy? does he like her, daddy? does he like the lady, daddy?” and so on. while the dad furiously attempts to hush his kid, his efforts are futile. the duck is only silenced once the entire row in front of him turns back to shoot him down with glares. that is, until the duck starts rambling again, asking a bunch of obnoxious questions. i love this in particular, for i can relate--weird anecdote, but my mom said the first movie she took me to i started walking up and down the aisles and chatting up strangers. so i like this kid! even better is when the angry front row shushes him once more with angry “NYEHHHH!”s. now, the father speaks up in a w.c. fields voice. “heyyy, what’s going on?” a punch to the face from an offscreen fist.

the kid, not getting the memo, pesters his dad once more, who shooes him away. now, the kid darts out of the theater and up to the projection booth. i love the animation of the kid turning his head in wonderment, staring at the door (bob mckimson maybe? it’s pretty solid and constructed). he barges in, fiddling with the controls. he turns a lever from MED. to FAST, and the movie is sped up to frightening speeds. the kid panics, trying to fix his error, but to no avail. now, the movie plays backwards. the animation is quite good--skipping and jumping around, but still room for there to be inbetweens of SOME sort. i can only imagine trying to sort those frames out in the (in)correct order! it’s easy to mess up, but hard to mess up on purpose!

now desperate, the kid sticks his beak inside the projection camera, where it gets caught. in a similar (yet less gruesome/strange) manner to baby bottleneck, the kid gets caught in the gears, his body twisting up and down and around, feathers expelled into the air. iris out as the kid flops to the ground, unscathed, cursing as his body is covered in film.

this cartoon is a GREAT one, probably the best we’ve seen from friz. or, at the very least, the funniest. it’s so ahead of it’s time--so much so that it was reused in chunks in bacall to arms in 1946, which proved to be quite anachronistic. you have the conflicting styles of clampett/davis (mainly clampett, this is probably the most clampett-y short in terms of looks out of the ones he didn’t finish) from 1946, and the simplistic 1937 friz style. that’s QUITE a contrast, but that tells you how well the humor holds up. i’m really fascinated by the dizzy/dippy prototype. in all likelihood, it was just a one off character. friz didn’t sit down thinking this would be his next star (our next review will cover talkative, famous ducks ;)), but he is VERY similar to the duck used in hardaway/dalton’s it’s an ill wind and later clampett’s duck used in porky’s hotel. i believe mel does almost all the voices, save for bette davis. i don’t believe the w.c. fields voice provided by the father duck is tedd pierce. it’s very exciting to see him climb up the ranks--next cartoon, he gets to voice our favorite pig (and duck!) in all, this is a hilarious cartoon. some of the gags are a little (or a lot) dated, often skewing the joke--i wish i knew what the meaning behind the little oscar joke was--but it wasn’t a constant thing. the song number was hilarious (i love the “please do not spit on the floor” gag) and catchy, the animation was good, the caricatures were lovely... while there are many more funny cartoons than this one, in terms of this time period and comparing it to what friz has churned out up to this point, it’s probably his funniest one yet, and that in itself constitutes a watch. it’s definitely the funniest news reel cartoon we’ve seen so far. go for it!

link!

#lt #she was an acrobat’s daughter #reviews #looney tunes #freleng #long post

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leavaloo · 4 years

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Original Works: Daki Character Study

While I’m done with requests for the night, I wanted to post some original stuff. This time, this short story is featuring two of the characters from my Beast Trial series that I’m working on. I hope you all enjoy! Please let me know what you think, especially since this is me getting more accustomed to my characters!

Hope y’all enjoy~

Quiet mutterings echoed through the dinner where Daki sat. He frowned into his mug of ale, acting like he was deep in thought, when really, he was simply listening. It was a new technique he was trying, and one that was also fairly dangerous to the soul. Should he get caught, it would at the very least get him kicked out of this specific dinner. At the worst, possibly killed. Luckily, Rien was with him, who quietly wrote across the table from him.

Yeah, he was doing school work, but he was also playing a very important role in all of this. He let Daki know if there was any suspicious looks their way by tapping his foot slightly. All in all, Daki didn’t like Rien, at least to begin with. Now, for the most part, he respected the work ethic he brought to their schemes. And of course, they always had the excuse that they were simply training for their celestials.

Daki’s head thumped against the table, sending a wave of ash gray hair over Rien’s schoolwork. Rien raised an eyebrow at his roommate, brushing some of his deep black hair out of his black and white eyes. Daki always found that interesting. Rien’s eyes, especifically. Most souls had their eyes stay a similar color to their hair, even if a black soul retained a seemingly pupiless eye. It was the opposite for him. It was like he was monochrome right from the very start. White outsides, black iris, white pupil. Part of Daki wondered if he was colorblind.

“What’s on your mind?” the black soul asked, resting his head in one of his hands, brow furrowed.

“…I want you to be honest with me, Rien.”

The silence begged him to go on.

“What do you think about being chosen by Celestials to become divined champions?”

Rien almost thumped his head down with Daki, with how heavy his sigh was. It raised a chuckle from the other male’s body. He set down his quill, taking a deep drink of his own ale while looking off at the people passing by. Daki also looked out, both of them collecting their thoughts before this obviously intense conversation began.

Keirak was, of course, the capital of Azen. And honestly, this place was so much different than the snowy wastes where he came from. His body shivered instinctually, and he decided to push those bad thoughts out of his head. He watched as horses passed by on the elevated platforms, carrying carts willed with people or goods. The diner they were eating at specifically was, like many shops and stopping points in this canyon, carved into the red rock. He could hear the call of merchants from the square down below them, the jingling of many wares being transported, and the talk of those who rushed about from place to place. Yeah, a lot different from home.

“I’m confused,” Rien finally spoke, bringing Daki’s attention back to the table. His head leaned on his arms, one of his hands playing with the long, gray rat tail that he had. His dark gray eyes scanned Rien’s body for any available clues of deceit, but even Daki had to admit, whether Rien was meaning to or not, the guy was hard to read.

“Confused how?” Daki pressed.

“Back in my village, I was known for being the black soul who couldn’t do any magic. I was good with weapons, not magic. Kids would run up to me and ask for a magic trick, and I’d never have anything to give them. So, out of all the other possible black souls out there, even with people like me being sparse, why me? I guess I don’t feel deserving of this title.”

Daki was kind of taken aback. This entire time that he had been rooming with Rien at the academy, he had seen him as the type that got everything he wanted. It was one of the reasons he hated Rien from the start. Shaded souls like Rien always had the most amount of magic compared to any other shade or color. Daki solemnly looked at his hands for a second, wondering if the small amount of magical prowess that he had was more than Rien had even mustered.

“I didn’t know you couldn’t do magic,” Daki said, kind of stupidly.

Rien just sighed and nodded his head. “Yeah, well, I’ve been trying not to tell anyone here at the academy. Wynrie knows, and so does Maki. They’re really the only ones. And now you.”

Daki raised his head up, furrowing his brow once more. “Why tell me? I’ve been a dick to you since day one.”

Rien shrugged. “I figured if we’re being forced to room and train with each other because of our Celestials, I might as well tell you the obvious that you would be seeing. Speaking of magic, how’s yours coming along? The Queen’s messenger taught you something new, right? That’s why you dragged me here?”

Daki just nodded, settling back into his arms with a frown. “Yeah but… it’s difficult. I’m having second thoughts. It might be best to continue doing it back at the academy, instead of here.”

Rien just flicked his forehead.

“Hey! That’s not nice!” Daki sat up, rubbing the place on his forehead that Rien flicked.

“You won’t learn unless you go out of your comfort zone.”

The gray soul kind of stopped, staring at him. Why was this entitled black soul giving him such strange information today? Rien nodded over to the crowd that was standing around a table. Two men were in an intense gambling match, from the looks of it, the stakes were high.

“Try it there. Plenty of distractions, not many people to notice.”

“How do you know all of this?”

Rien just winked with a sly smirk. “I’ll tell you later.”

Daki just groaned, closing his eyes and burying himself into his mug. He heard Rien starting to work on his homework again, and Daki felt a tap against his foot, signaling that it was good to go. He focused deep into his soul, imagining the room, and suddenly, he was able to get a reading of the environment.

From his vision, though his eyes were closed, the black world was outlined in stark white, with only the brightness of everyone’s shadow to guide him. Over at the gambling table, he found that Rien was correct. Plenty of shadows, plenty of people engrossed by their game. Any tingle in their soul that would alert an intruder could be passed off as a high stakes anticipation.

Daki’s soul and vision jumped to one of the gambler's shadows, and suddenly, Daki was able to hear, see and understand everything that was happening, though he was watching in third person. He could hear some of the patrons whispering around him, some suggesting some cards to play, others trying to help him cheat. On the table was some highly prized jewels, beautiful enough to make any rich man drool in his sleep. He had a losing hand, which was probably why his brow was sweaty, and his poker face was starting to fade.

It was clear that, across from him, the finely dressed man in blue, silken robes and deep purple hair had a winning hand. He smirked at the commoner, lazily adjusting the collar on his robes, leaning back in anticipation. To Daki, it seemed this commoner waged his savings on this in hopes of gaining more than he bargained, and it was not going in his favor.

Behind this man was a bouncy, anxious woman, who seemed to be the man’s wife. She was looking over his hand, and in that moment, Daki took that opportunity to jump to her. It was a good decision, because he could feel from her soul that she was incredibly nervous, despite the winning situation. He was also able to see from her perspective the blatant cheating of this simple card game. Hidden in one of the man’s sleeves were several losing cards, probably making it so that the information was only privy to his wife. Daki jumped away and came back to his body with a sudden gasp of air, and in the distance, he heard the commoner groan, “I fold.”

Rien raised an eyebrow, and Daki sent him a look of “don’t ask yet”. He just nodded and went back to his schoolwork. The lord chuckled to himself, scooping all of his winnings into a pouch on his side, then standing up and linking arms with his wife. He bid the commoner goodbye, a sneaky smile on his face that could easily be misconstrued for a charming grin. Once the lord left, the commoner held his head in his hands, while some other patrons ordered him a couple of drinks, taking the two royal leige’s seats.

Daki let out a breath he was holding, and gave a little smile to Rien.

“It worked.”

Rien’s eyes lit up, almost literally with his pupils, and he leaned forward. “Really? How did it go?”

Daki, saying it in the most casual, but also low voice he could, explained how the lord had been cheating, making himself have a better hand than he started with. But more importantly, he described the experience of shadow hopping, and the two of them, for the first time, acted giddy together at the newfound power.

“That’s so interesting,” Rien started, taking a thoughtful sip of his ale. “I wonder if you could jump into shadows that don’t have a soul attached.”

Daki just shrugged. “I don’t know. That’s currently not up to me, but up to the Raven herself. Which, by all accounts, is a weird sentence to say aloud.”

Rien chuckled slightly, tapping the edge of his quill against the counter. The two sat in silence for a while, before Daki finally piped up with a question he had been curious about for a while. “Say, Rien, if you can’t do any magic, how do you suppose that your two celestials are going to teach you any of their special techniques? Would you even be able to handle it if you already knew how to do magic?”

Rien bit his lower lip, with it being his turn to have a confused look on his face. “I dunno. That’s what all of this is for,” he started, gesturing vaguely to the papers in front of him. “It’s all about how I feel on a day to day basis. I dunno, I feel like I’m being treated like a child, but they say it’s necessary.”

Daki just nodded, drinking his untouched ale and staring out into the street once more. To be honest, he didn’t think that Rien was so special to begin with. He was a black soul, yes, and if he couldn’t do magic, then he was nothing more than an insignificant bug that Daki could easily squash under his feet. And yet, despite all of this, the guy somehow managed to become the divined champion of not one, but two of the Celestials in the prime council. Two! And these two were the heads of the council, who basically ruled over all things Celestial. Just the thought of it made his blood boil.

It was Daki who stood up first and walked out of the dinner, putting a couple of gold down for the workers. That was usually how him and Rien departed. No words, no acknowledgement, just silent resentment. As he slowly walked around the boardwalks connected to the canyon walls, he realized that there had been something different in his encounter with Rien. He couldn’t shake the sad look that Rien kept getting in his eyes. So much so, it caused him to stop and look at the descending shadows from the fall of sunset. Part of him thought that, maybe, just maybe, there was more to this guy than meets the eye. The other part of him grit his teeth, shook his head, and forced himself to keep moving back onto campus. Yet, the thought still lingered, deep within the recesses of his mind.

#kai writes #original works #short stories #high fantasy #Beast Trials #Rien #Daki #Daki character study #short story #original works of kai #souls #magic #i dunno quite what else to tag here but i hope yall like it

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lswritingdesk · 4 years

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2. Seers

In which baby Kyrie learns to be a Seer. No mention of Daniel Jackson in this particular fic. We’re still setting the stage here.

Kyrie had to take a teleporter to get to the City Cube where the bulk of House Jezerinac resided. It was inland, far away from the oceanic City Cube where her own House lived and ruled the seas. Kyrie found the streets oddly quiet without the dull roar of the ocean acting as background noise. She was nervous. Aside from the fateful day that she had visited the Fragment, and the odd days that she had accompanied her mother to the main market in Rata Sum, this was one of the first times that she had been outside of her City Cube. In fact, it was her first time unaccompanied. Now that she had accepted her veil, she was considered old enough to make the journey alone, and so when she received Elder Rhea’s instructions to appear at the Jezerinac City Cube’s Educational Centre on the sixth day of the week, her parents had sent her alone.

She had spent the week fiddling with her veil like she had been instructed, and she could now see relatively well without the veil darkened to its highest intensity. She was still getting used to the occasional flicker that occurred on one’s vision when using an electronic veil, but for the most part, she was getting used to it.

The Educational Centre bordered the main square like it did in her own City Cube, which made sense, considering they were all designed by the same Architects. It was a blessing to her, because it meant she didn’t have to stop anyone to ask for directions. She wasn’t sure she would have been able to get out the words. She already looked different in her clothing of blue hues compared to these people’s greys and whites. She was dreading going into the Educational Centre. She entered anyway and found herself standing in a lobby with others milling about. She backed into a corner, trying to hide herself.

The tactic did not work. A young person came over to her, hands on their hips, and seemed to look her up and down, though Kyrie couldn’t be sure as the woman? was also veiled. “So you’re the Tethyos Seer.” It was a statement, not a question.

“Uh, yes,” Kyrie stammered. The person’s voice betrayed a woman, Kyrie thought, though she wasn’t sure. “My name is Kyrie.”

“Oh, we know what your name is. After Lilac came out of the Fragment not a Seer, and then you came out after triple the amount of time as the others and almost bled out on the lawn, almost everyone knows your name.”

“Oh,” Kyrie said. She didn’t like the thought of people knowing her without her knowing them. A second person joined them.

“Don’t you have other clothes?” the second person asked. A male, this one, maybe. Also young.

“Clothes?” Kyrie asked, smoothing her hand over her tunic. It was one of her nicest. The maybe-male gestured at the cut-off sleeves.

“You’re not going to like it if someone brushes your arm,” they said.

“I don’t understand,” Kyrie said, genuinely confused.

She could almost hear the eyeroll in the maybe-male’s voice when he said, “Like this.” He pulled off his glove and touched her hand. Her eyes rolled back in her head at the shock of his touch. She could feel everything he felt, hear every thought in his head. He thought she was an idiot, that was clear. “Didn’t they tell you anything?” he said, as rough hands separated him from her.

“Hey! Not cool!” the first person, the girl, said, pulling them apart. “She’s practically a baby and from a House that hasn’t had a Seer in generations. Who do you think would have told her the protocols? A ghost?”

“I don’t know, maybe an Elder? They should have sent her here better prepared than that.”

“We’re all sent here to learn, Tyrus. You were once clueless, too. And if I catch you pulling a stunt like that again, I’ll report you to a Teacher.” Tyrus huffed and slunk off. The girl turned back to Kyrie.

“I’m sorry he did that. He knows we’re not supposed to touch each other, even if you don’t.”

“What was that?” Kyrie asked, still shivering from the seconds of contact.

“After your Thirteenth Cycle, after the Fragment, you can’t just touch people anymore. Not bare-skinned. If you do, it opens up their mind to yours. That’s why all of us are covered in cloth head to toe. I’m surprised they didn’t warn you.”

“They didn’t really tell me much,” Kyrie murmured.

“Well, it’s been a long time since a new Seer came from an outside House, so they probably just forgot that they have to tell you little things like that. They’ll get your clothing sorted soon, I’m sure, and tell you all the little things you don’t know. I’m Iris. Lilac is my sister. That’s how I know about you. I was there at the Fragment when you came out. I’m three Cycles ahead of you.”

“You’re not...mad about your sister? Isn’t there supposed to be one Seer per Cycle? Shouldn’t it have been her?”

“Mad? No. It could have been anyone. There were 7 Jezerinacs in your Cycle. Yes, it’s weird that none of them were the Seer, but we are taught that the Eternal Alchemy keeps balance in its own way. Don’t you get non-Tethyos Wavewalkers?”

“Frequently. But Wavewalkers are a lot more common than Seers.”

“Are you sad not to be a Wavewalker?”

“No, I wanted to be a Scholar and study the old Cities.”

“Is that what your sacred geometry showed you, before it took you on your side path?” Kyrie froze.

“Are- are we allowed to talk about that?”

“Who is going to tell a Seer, a Keeper of the Timelines, that they aren’t allowed to talk about timelines? You don’t know much because you weren’t raised around Seers, but you get a lot of free range being one. My mother is a Seer, so I grew up with the lore.”

“So we’re Keepers of the Timelines?”

“That’s one of our official titles. Our visions, our side paths- we have ‘extra duties’, as they call them, to help keep the timelines pure. There are a lot of forces and people who seek to corrupt the timelines for their own gain.” This was a lot to take in for Kyrie. Seers had always been mysterious figures to her growing up. She didn’t know their purpose or function, other than that they had visions and saw futures beyond the sacred geometries.

“Well, yes, it showed me that I would be a Scholar before it showed me my visions.”

“Don’t talk about your visions,” Iris warned, before Kyrie went any further. “Those have to stay your own, unless Elder Rhea asks. She’s the only one who can ask about your visions. But you can talk about your regular old sacred geometry all your own. I’m going to be a Teacher of Eights,” she said with a smile. “Old Cities sound interesting, though. We went on a field trip to one when I was a Ten. Did you?”

“Yes, and that was when I knew that I wanted to study them, though I knew I wanted to be a Scholar before then. I always preferred books over the sea.” A bell chimed and doors opened.

“We have to go in now. It’s the beginning of a Cycle, so there’s always an introductory presentation before they split us up based on skill level. Come, you can sit with me.”

The presentation filled in a lot of details that Kyrie did not know about Seers, though most of the people around her radiated a feeling of boredom. She drank it all in, though. In the end, she and Iris were sorted into the same learning group, and by the time the day ended, Kyrie felt like too much had been stuffed into her brain. Iris assured her that every learning session would be like that.

Kyrie was sent back to her City Cube with instructions for proper clothing, exercises for her veil and Dreamscape, and more. When her parents asked her about her day, she found herself speechless. In a way, she had never felt so far apart from them. They would never fully understand that she couldn’t just embrace them anymore or share the contents of her studies, because they were so foreign to them. Part of her wished she was a Wavewalker so she had that in common with the family and House at least. But...she was beginning to embrace that she had a larger role to play.

Her mother helped her find pale blue clothing in the market that would cover her newly sensitive skin and allow her to hold onto a piece of Tethyos without standing out in the navies and royal blues she wore the rest of the week. She wouldn’t let becoming a Seer take away everything.

Her classmates in her regular classes gradually got used to her changes, and though they did not invite her to join in their activities as they once did, they no longer regarded her with outright fear. She no longer thought of transferring completely to the Jezerinac Educational Centre, where people wouldn’t mind her veil or Seer-ness.

Gradually the Cycles passed, and the end of Kyrie’s Eighteenth Cycle came upon her. She applied and was accepted to the College of Statics, just as her sacred geometry had indicated. She had not dreamed of the garden in years, and she thought maybe her ‘extra duties’ would not come to pass after all.

She and Iris had remained close, though the older girl had passed through the College of Dynamics and become a Teacher of Eights the year before. They still saw one another monthly at the Educational Centre, where they proved that their skills were still up to snuff in various tests and games. Neither had yet felt the pull to re-enter the Fragment as some of their peers had.

@heathenterkin @luckyninetales @logicheartsoul @sky-of-starflowers @kirazalea @star-fish23

#stargate #stargate sg-1 #stargate sg1 #stargate fanfic #stargate imagine #furling #furlings #kyrie house tethyos #kyrie tethyos #kyrie #stargate headcanon

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haotianqin-blog · 5 years

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Personal reflection

The second semester is coming to an end. Compared with the first semester, I think the second semester is more busy. Because there are too many papers to write about our self-reflection to write 2500 words, marketing has two papers, one is group work (3000 words), another is personal paper (2000 words) and English class, because English class this semester to test, so we will do exercises in every class.I am very happy that my English level has improved. I think there are two reasons to help me improve my English level: first, the whole English education and living environment, and second, I found a very interesting English teaching video,This video calls 26 English letters 26 kingdoms, A country, B country and C country, respectively. The first letter of a person's name in Country A is A. The first letter of a person's name in Country B is B. The first letter of a person's name in Country C is C.This video transforms the dull language into a game or a trip to meet different friends in different countries. This makes my interest in learning English very strong. At the same time, it also makes me realize that interest is the best teacher. In learning, we should have a pair of eyes that can find beauty, which will make learning more interesting.My biggest headache is Iris, our teacher is Masters Research. She is really responsible and strict. Although so many papers make me very busy, I am very happy because my family told me that studying abroad is to learn more knowledge, which is conducive to my future.I learned about online shopping in marketing. Online shopping is very popular in China. Personally, I buy online once a week on average in China. My friends also shop online.Before learning marketing, my understanding of online shopping has always been that people only need to review an account online and then put pictures of goods on the account. But after systematic learning, I found that these need to be analyzed by 4P and 7P and more professional knowledge to better manage, which also makes me full of yearning for future learning. At the same time, some new students came to our class this semester. I'm glad to meet them. In this semester's summary, I will show my experience, learning style, personal goals, and the analysis of my personal strengths and weaknesses from five aspects.

Learning style

Because this course has a lot of knowledge that I have never touched before, I have to change the way I used to study. In this semester, whether it is "marketing" or "masters researches", there is a lot of knowledge I have not learned, and I found that only to learn what the teacher said in class is not enough, so after school I will go to the library to borrow some information, I spent most of my time reading.Because reading a book written in English is too difficult for me. I will look up the dictionary and record all the words I can't. When I have great interest in some books, I will borrow it back, read it carefully and learn the important knowledge in the book. Teachers will also send us emails and courseware after class, so that I won't blindly review.My girlfriend will come to me on the weekend and help me learn and give me some advice, because she came a year earlier than me in terms of learning more experience, her experience is very helpful to me.What I learn most often is how to get research done. Because I wasted too much time on business research topics, my topic has been modified. My first topic is what people like to buy online. I show it to my teacher. The teacher told me that I was wrong and told me again what research is.My second topic is how Adidas connects people with advertisements. I show this topic to the teacher. The teacher told me that I was wrong because the scope of my topic is too wide.So I changed the title to how Adidas used advertising to connect with Chinese students. Once again, I showed the topic to the teacher. This time, the teacher told me that my topic had passed. The news made me very happy, because it took me three weeks to determine the topic.In the course of marketing, I couldn't understand the factor of affecting price, because I always thought that the only factor affecting price was tax and cost, because I studied accounting at University in China. We only need to calculate cost and tax, and we don't need to consider other factors. Later, I read the courseware that my teacher sent me carefully, and I found that the factor affecting price was tax. It's not just about costs and taxes, it's also about people's needs, that is, the relationship between supply and demand.For example, I have a diamond here. If people don't like it, no one will ask for it no matter how cheap I sell it.This thing taught me not only the relationship between supply and demand, but also the divergent thinking. I applied this divergent thinking to group work. Our group work is to simulate the operation of a bakery. I put forward the membership system. We have different levels of membership system. The higher the level of membership, the more services and discounts they will enjoy.Of course, if customers want to become higher-level members, they will need to spend more money, so that the company can quickly recover costs and smoothly survive the initial risk period. When we showed the group homework to the teacher, the teacher told us it was a good idea. I am very happy because I got the teacher's approval.For me, the most important skill I need to improve is depth. In the feedback of practical examination of writing standards, the depth of writing standards is highlighted. This means that the analytical method is partly obvious, but in general, the arguments are not fully developed.As I mentioned earlier, due to different cultural backgrounds and teaching methods, I always read articles without critical thinking, which means that there is no evaluation or restriction in the article. It leads to poor depth. In addition, I try to synthesize two articles, sometimes with similar or opposite arguments. However, due to misunderstanding, some parts of the synthesis are incorrect.Therefore, I need to pay more attention to evaluation and comparison to improve my depth. In addition, when I write essay in the practical writing test, I seldom use the explanatory skills. As the notes were useless, I had to read two more articles in two hours. I spent a lot of time looking for keywords and arguments in the article. In addition, the argument for effective note-taking should be rewritten, which I did not do well.So I don't have much time to explain these sentences. After this study, I rewrote my notes and redrafted my essay. It's much more useful than the last one, because both articles have critical arguments. In addition, I have improved a lot of comprehensive skills when I write rewritten compositions. I tried to make some forms similar to those Iris showed us.I tried to compare similar or opposite arguments in the table. In the feedback of rewriting, the teacher commented that the views from different sources were well compared (a good synthesis). In addition, due to the improvement of comprehensive ability, the score of task completion and understanding has also been improved from low to medium proficiency to high proficiency. In addition, citation and citation increased from low proficiency to excellence. Last time I was very careless about citation errors, because I had no time to review them again.When I finished the manuscript of the paper, I checked all the references and citations again. Therefore, I think I have done a good job in these areas mentioned above. However, I still need to think critically to improve depth, because the criterion of depth is also competent. The teacher wrote: You can add comments and draw your own conclusions after comparing arguments.Occasionally, you will state your point of view in the form of facts rather than critically realizing that your point may be questioned by others. You need to use the sentences at the end of the paragraph more effectively. These will help you deepen the paragraph, but add further reflection.

Personal goals

I have two goals, one is the long-term goal and the other is the short-term goal. My short-term goal is to pass the three semester’s exams smoothly, which is also an answer to my efforts in this half year. Because I carry too many people's expectations, my parents hope that I can learn more knowledge, because this can better survive in this competitive society. Blessing from my relatives, because I am the youngest in our family, so my relatives are most concerned about me, they all hope that I will have a good quality of life and a happy family in the future. And the encouragement of my friends, I like making friends very much, my friends are very good to me, they often call me to ask me about my study and life here, they always encourage and comfort me when I am depressed. My long-term goal is After graduation in the near future, I will work in a good company and have a good salary, and I can support my work with my current study.This semester and last semester, I learned a lot about marketing and management, so that I have a clearer understanding of my future. I believe that in the near future, these knowledge will play an important role in my master's program or work environment. I set myself goals for the semester.First of all, I want to have a good understanding of my professional courses. For example, management is not only the arrangement of company employees' positions, but also the motivation of employees. This will make employees more loving and loyal to the company. And marketing is not only about selling goods, but also about investigating the market, consumer buying behavior, product life cycle, how to advertise and product planning.Secondly, teamwork, teamwork is very important in learning, life and work. For example, our team work, if a person to complete this task is undoubtedly very difficult, a person to complete it requires a lot of time and a lot of research. But if several people do it at the same time, a reasonable division of labor can save a lot of time to do more meaningful things. And each person's thoughts are different, after the collision of ideas, we will produce more new ideas.My team learns together. Learning with members is more interesting than learning. Together, we strive to change ourselves and make ourselves and our team better. So I think the team is an important part of my future work. Finally, read some books about online sales, use these knowledge to enrich myself, let me know why online sales are successful, and how to use the knowledge I have learned to support my future work.I should search the Internet and learn more about business. Then do more exercises to learn how to make business knowledge work in practice. My goal is very clear, just to learn more business knowledge for future work. Can be better for their own development.

Personal Advantage and Disadvantage Assessment

My advantages are honesty, enthusiasm and perseverance. I think honesty is the foundation of life, so I always ask myself to do what I say and promise others to finish on time. I remember that several times, classmates or teachers asked me to meet. I promised that I would arrive at the appointed appointment place on time in the future. I never missed my appointment even if something urgent happened, which left a deep impression on them.Because of the enthusiasm and sincerity, from primary school to university, I always get along well with my classmates and teachers, and it is also welcomed by the students around me. I have established deep friendship with many students. At the same time of learning knowledge, I understand that thinking should be thoughtful, which is fully demonstrated in my graduation thesis design. I personally have a characteristic, that is, I don't like tiger head and snake tail. I always do things from beginning to end. Even if it is difficult, I will go all out to pursue the best results. Because of this, I regard my will as the main factor and believe that as long as I have perseverance, I will succeed. A man's greatest enemy is not someone else, but himself. Over the years, I have always fought against myself, to be precise, against my will. In retrospect, I am indeed much stronger than before, but I will not relax. These advantages are the foundation of my future life, and I should continue to continue and continue to spur myself to make progress.Personally, I think my biggest disadvantage is that I like to use two or more things. Desperate for quick success and quick profits, I like to learn many things at one sitting, but I can't chew too much. Even if I can learn it in the end, I'm tired. Now think about it, this is not good in fact, is the so-called precise but not broad. If I concentrate on one kind of knowledge for a period of time, I believe that I must have a deeper understanding and mastery of this knowledge. Since I found out that I have this shortcoming and problem, I often warn myself that when I enter the society, I can not be dual-min

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doomonfilm · 6 years

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Review : You Were Never Really Here (2018)

As the 2018 film season comes to a close, I am realizing that I have a little bit of catch-up to do. As much as I’ve been on top of new releases this year, I have managed to let a few slip by me that deserve a viewing before I start locking in my year end lists. One of the top films on that list, if not the top one, is You Were Never Really Here.

Joe (Joaquin Phoenix) is a former soldier and FBI agent haunted by experiences in his past, but attempting to find redemption by rescuing trafficked girls from their captors, often using brutal force. He takes care of his aging mother (Judith Roberts), with whom he shared a past full of abuse at the hands of her husband and his father. Due to this lifestyle, Joe often flirts with the idea of suicide. While meeting Angel (Frank Pando), the messenger between Joe and Joe’s handler, John McCleary (John Doman), Joe is seen by Moises (Vinicius Damasceno), Angel’s son. Joe is given a new job rescuing Nina (Ekaterina Samsonov), the daughter of New York State Senator Albert Votto (Alex Manette), from McCleary. Joe lets McCleary know that his address may have been compromised, but McCleary urges him to push forward with the job. Upon completion of the job, Joe is accosted by NYPD, at which point he realizes that he and everyone he loves may be in grave danger, and that he must do whatever it takes to set things right.

I’ve heard many comparisons to Taxi Driver for this film, but I think that people are not looking past one or two obvious points of comparison (New York, human trafficking, vigilantism). As much as I love the character of Travis Bickle, Joe is a much more complex specimen, at least in terms of direct information we are given about both his past and his state of mind. Where Travis was a man pushed to the limits of acceptance by his view of society who was given a chance at redemption via rescuing Iris, Joe is truly a tender killing machine. The way he cares for his mother, even when she is partially responsible for the abusive situation they both found themselves in, lets you know that he is patient, accepting, and not naturally malicious. The way that he attempts to shield the girls he rescues from the violence he dishes out further drives those qualities home, not to mention his actions and choices in the now famous kitchen scene. In Joe, we get a young man with an unfortunate fascination with death due to his bad situation become a savior for those who cannot save themselves as he constantly cheats the death that he is anchored by, yet still embracing.

For a film as violent as You Were Never Really There is at its core, it is far from a glorification of this violence. The violence portrayed in the film is certainly a means to an end, and for the most part, we are either given only brief flashes of the violence or shown the immediate aftermath of it. Our antihero is driven by both a sense of regret for past actions and the way he is haunted by his distant past, but despite the immediate validation he receives for his acts, there is not true ceiling for redemption. He is heroic in a sense, but between the volume of damage he inflicts, and the fact that he will never truly be rewarded for his heroic actions, the toll taken on his soul far outweighs the good it does. The brief looks into Joe’s thoughts, fears and memories are unnerving, and only further the fact that redemption is not his motivating drive for doing what he does. In a sense, Joe is a broken man who, with a hammer, is attempting to ‘fix’ something else broken.

The camerawork is astonishing in this film, giving a wonderful sense of claustrophobia that makes the viewer feel both the pain of Joe and the sense of getting your hands dirty by proxy. The intense, driving, erratic score that often erupts from long periods of being restrained perfectly evokes Joe’s rushes of adrenaline and the subsequent comedowns, all courtesy of Radiohead’s sonic genius Jonny Greenwood. The film was adapted from a book, and in a weird way, it is easy to tell. In my opinion, the pacing, characterization, and overall tone of the movie makes it oddly book-like, one of the most book-like film adaptations I can remember, and it definitely has me interested in reading the original source material.

In a career full of standout performances, Joaquin Phoenix has managed another notch on the belt, doing so much with so little (and in such a reserved manner) that you physically feel the struggle within him... I can almost guarantee a Best Actor string of nominations, if not wins, for this performance. Ekaterina Samsonov is mysterious and intriguing, giving you the impression that she is ‘letting herself’ be saved in order to unleash a much greater vengeance on a much bigger target. John Doman plays his role with the coolness and assurance it takes to be the man in charge, making the downfall of all around him that much more heartbreaking. Judith Roberts is charming in her codependency that the role required, both immediately endearing her to audiences, and breaking their heart eventually. Alex Manette, Alessandro Nivola, Frank Pando and Vinicius Damasceno also stand out.

Due to a limited run, I did not get to see this one on the big screen, and now that I have seen it, I’d be lying if I said that doesn’t bum me out a bit. While most compare this film to Taxi Driver, I’d say a more apt comparison would be Good Time, by the Safdie brothers, and I will probably pair the two films together for a viewing at some point. Definitely a high contender for Film of the Year, and one that will make my list that much more difficult to determine.

#ChiefDoomsday #DOOMonFILM #LynneRamsay #YouWereNeverReallyHere #JoaquinPhoenix #EkaterinaSamsonov #AlexManette #JohnDoman #JudithRoberts #DantePereiraOlson #AlessandroNivola #FrankPando #ViniciusDamasceno #JonnyGreenwood

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blueeyeswhitegarden · 6 years

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Pokemon!

The first character I first fell in love with: It would probably be Ash. While he was pretty cocky during the original series and made his fair share of mistakes, he was still pretty likable at the end of the day. He clearly cared deeply for his Pokemon and his friends. Ash always wants to make his Pokemon happy, even if it means that they have to be apart, and that helps to make him endearing and likable enough to root for even after all this time. His characterization has changed throughout the various series, but at his core, he’s still the same eternally ten year old boy who loves Pokemon.

The character I never expected to love as much as I do now: I think it would be Clemont. I wasn’t expecting much from him at first. Pokemon doesn’t tend to do much with their secondary male characters, but he actually got some pretty solid development. He became more confident through his travels with Ash and it showed in both his battling skills and in his overall demeanor. He’s probably my favorite XY main character as a result of his development. His Gym battle against Ash was really good and was basically the end of his storyline. He didn’t get to do much for the second half of the series, but he still had some good moments and worked well within the group.

I’d also want to mention Kiawe here since he’s my favorite character in the SM cast. While he doesn’t get as much focused compared to some of the other characters, I think he has the best focused episodes among the cast. He kind of reminds me of Brock in being the slightly older member of the group and I like his friendship with Ash.

The character everyone else loves that I don’t: That would be Misty. I don’t hate her, but I’ve always found her to be a bit overrated. She always talked a big game about becoming a Water Pokemon Master, but she never really backed it up during the original series. Granted, aside from Ash and Team Rocket, not too many characters got a consistent amount of focus during that series, but it still affected how I see her character. Even at the time, I didn’t think much of her. She was okay, she is likable and it was still cool to see her appear in SM along with Brock, but I never understood why she’s put on such a high pedestal besides being the first female traveling companion.

The character I love that everyone else hates: While I don’t love him, I think I like Tracey more than most other fans do. He was bland, but a likable kind of bland if that makes any sense. Even though they just had him in the cast because they were worried that Brock would be considered racist like Jynx, I thought he worked fine with Ash and Misty during the Orange Islands. There just wasn’t much to do with him considering his first reaction to seeing a Pokemon was to draw it instead of battling it. For the role he was given, he worked generally fine and it is kind of too bad that he hasn’t had an appearance in the anime for years, even with Ash going to Professor Oak’s lab in BW and SM. They probably didn’t want Tracey to take attention away from Misty and Brock’s return, but he didn’t even get a throwaway mention like he did in the BW finale.

The character I used to love but don’t any longer: I would say Cilan fits that pretty well. I don’t dislike him, but after finishing my BW rewatch, Cilan was a lot more one note than I remembered. They really didn’t know what to do with his goal and it showed with turning his hobbies and his Evaluation Time into running gags. A lot of people just liked that Brock didn’t stick around for another series, even though I never had a problem with how long Brock was in the main cast, and Cilan didn’t blend into the background as often, but his character just went nowhere fast. Even I forgot his goal during the Episode N arc. No wonder the writers just sent him off to a random fishing contest at the end of BW.

The character I would totally smooch: Well I’m much older than the ten year old characters. Even if I was ten again, I’m not sure if there are any characters I’d want to kiss. I’d probably would rather challenge Ash to a battle just for fun to be honest. I’d also go find May to find out how she did in the Johto Grand Festival and see how Dawn did in the Hoenn Grand Festival because I’m still annoyed that we never found out how they did in those tournaments. Plus, I just miss Contests in the anime in general.

The character I’d want to be like: Having some of Ash’s determination and his perpetual happiness that he has in the SM series would be nice.

The character I’d slap: I don’t think that I’d slap her, but I would call Iris out on being an annoying little hypocrite. She was just as immature as Ash, if not more so, and everything was handed to her on a silver plate with little to no effort on her part. She just was so super perfect whenever she got any kind of focus and the show kept trying to claim that she had gotten stronger, but her skills never matched. Even by the end of BW, her Axew was still weak. I’d challenge her to a battle to defeat all of her Pokemon, especially her overpowered broken Dragonite.

A pairing that I love: Even after all this time, I still have a soft spot for May x Drew or Contestshipping. I just like their dynamics and how their relationship changed over the course of the AG series. They started off disliking each other, but they grew to respect and admire each other. Plus, I always like the idea of the two of them telling how they hated each other as a funny story after they got married in the future.

A pairing that I despise: I don’t know if I’d say that I despise any pairing, but I’m not really into the Ash x Iris pairing. My feelings on Iris’ personality and overall storyline play a big role in that, but I don’t think she has a particularly interesting dynamic with Ash. Ash get paired with all of the female characters in the main cast, but this is the one I understand the least since I didn’t think that they had a particularly noteworthy friendship. They had some moments, but not enough to make their relationship stand out more than what he had with the other female leads.

Thank you for asking. ^_^

#Asks #Pokemon Anime

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ninjagoat · 6 years

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Supergirl 3x14 Speculation Post

As some of you may have heard, episode 14 of this current season of Supergirl will feature Academy Award Nominee Laurie Metcalf as Winn's mother, Mary, who abandoned him as a child after his father committed mass murder.

We know that she's been out on location with Ms. Benoist, possibly with Mr. Brooks and Mr. Wood. So far, it doesn't seem much like the kind of reunion we've seen in 3x03 with Maggie and her dad, or the "I'm dying and I want to make amends" type a la Iris and her mother we've seen on The Flash. The episode title, 'Schott The The Heart' is a play on the Bon Jovi classic 'You Give Love A Bad Name', and that would suggest heavy Mon-El or, indeed, Imra involvement.

Ms. Metcalf is great. She's been great for DECADES. And, as the ever-so-slightly angry people at the Winn end of the fandom will attest, Mr. Jordan brings it pretty much every single week (which is why he gets the Jeremy Jordan Award For Doing So Much With So Little time and time again). Their scenes together will be great.

This post is not about their scenes.

This post is about the *other* big scene: who does Winn confide in? Who does he tell his sob story to?

Because that's the actual story. 'Childish Things' is not the story of the Winslows Schott, but the story of Winn and Kara. Whoever gets told that backstory is the focal point of Winn's arc for the episode and - let's not kid ourselves here, because he's not likely to get another one - the season.

So let's look at the options.

Kara

Kara seems like an obvious choice. Not only does it rhyme with 'Childish Things', but Kara's been... distant from him recently, from him more than others. She's said some questionable things about their friendship. This would be a chance for her to reconnect with him, and by extension, with Kara Danvers.

Kara will absolutely tell him he needs to give Mary a chance. When she says compassion for all, she means it. But Winn might not go for it. After all, why should it be his job to forgive the woman who convinced him, intentionally or not, that he would only ever be his father's son?

Lena

It's not going to be Lena. But I really want it to be.

It would be my absolute dream for this show if Winn showed up at CatCo after the initial encounter with Mary, looking to talk to Kara or James, he can only find Lena; and, in one of her moments where she believes she's good with people (she is, but it's an individual, case-by-case basis thing), she takes him into James office, expecting much ado about nothing.

And Winn dumps *everything* on her. His mother, his father, his time in foster care, everything. And she realises she's totally out of her depth.

Yes, Winn and Lena have paralleling backstories. But Lena's experience happened largely in isolation, both from other people and from the consequences of her family's actions: Winn's dad kills six people, he lost everything; Lena's brother tries to nuke California, and her immense wealth and privilege carries on as normal.

Winn, on the other hand, went into foster care. He'll have met ten, maybe twenty other kids while he was there. He'll have heard their stories, or at least parts of them. He probably doesn't even consider his story to be *that bad*, compared to others.

This would cause Lena to rethink her own history, and her attitude toward it. It would also put an end to the endless "Am I Evil?" stories, because if Winn can make it... she's got no excuse.

She should probably tell Winn that he should stand his ground against whatever Mary wants; but, more likely, will tell him he really needs the advice of someone else, because she is nowhere near qualified to handle this.

J'onn

Most of Winn's scenes this season have involved J'onn. Winn is also has a significant functioning relationship with J'onn's father, M'yrnn (or Mr J). J'onn's story this year is basically built around 'fathers and sons'.

You can see where I'm going with this.

J'onn being a father to Winn in this scene would be the final link between everyone being Winn's friends and people he works for to actually being his family. Plus, J'onn having lost his own mother, and known the joy of being reunited with his father, he is in a unique position to offer advice.

Mon-El

Mon-El has been, hard as it will be for some to believe, Winn's most consistent friend. He has always respected Winn: promises to let Winn make his superhero suit (even though he had no intention of being a hero when he did - I'll get to that later); congratulates Winn when he learns about Lyra, and asks Winn for relationship advice when he needs it; supports Winn when Lyra gets kidnapped; and, my personal favorite, his aphorism "Hope for the best, have Winn Schott plan for the worst".

He *also* knows which of Winn's buttons to press to get him to do things he doesn't want to do, or rather, says he doesn't want to do. This is a quality you want in a good wingman.

And, of course there's his *own* issues with his parents, which gives he and Winn a shared perspective. The most likely advice he would give about Mary would be that which mirrored Winn's previous advice to him; i.e, listen to her, but tempered with his new found leadership skills, he could emphasise that Winn doesn't have to give her what she wants, and he should stand up for himself.

ALEX

Dipping into speculation on the Winn/Mary side of the episode for the moment:

- Winn's supposed to be moving into some sort of leadership role this season (this may have just been the cross-over, or that might be foreshadowing for this arc)

- Mr. Brooks's IG pic shows him, Ms. Benoist and Mr. Wood in kind of a golf-cart, in the middle of nowhere. This feels a lot like a corporate 'team-building' exercise.

- The pic of Ms. Metcalf with Ms. Benoist appears to be at the same location, and her hair/costume choices seem... very Alex.

So, a theory. A decision is made: in order to beat Reign, Supergirl and Guardian and Mon-El will have to work as a team - kind of like National City's very own Trinity - with Winn as... not Overwatch, exactly, but in a similar leadership role as Iris currently has on The Flash; and so, in order to get them all working together, J'onn sends them all off with Alex to DEO boot-camp, where they'll get training from a legendary instructor.

Everyone's excited, but Winn's nervous too. He's never done anything like this, and he's got a huge responsibility here.

And it only gets worse when he finds out the instructor is Mary.

Now, to me, this would be very cool - which is why it's pretty much guaranteed not to be what happens - but the thing about it is that this moves the focus away from 'will he forgive her?' to 'will he win her approval?', while still being part of the main story arc.

So how does Alex fit into this?

Mary is Alex's possible future; a future where she can't balance her current life as a DEO agent with that of her desired life as a mother. Alex is going to see a woman who abandoned her child at a time when he needed her most - the kind of mother she has no interest in being - and she's going to hate her breathing guts.

And then she's going to tell Winn to kick Mary's ass at whatever challenge she's thrown at him, because that woman can go to hell. He doesn't need her approval. He can do this *his* way.

Those are the most likely candidates (and Lena). Here's my thoughts on the others:

JAMES

Please no. I can't sit through James giving his patented generic-but-somehow-uniquely-unhelpful advice on a subject he can't possibly understand (given that he never seems to go home to see his own mother at all). This is a bad idea.

(It's going to happen, isn't it?)

IMRA

An interesting idea, given that Imra's supposed to be a telepath, and particularly given the vague motions toward SaturnNerd in 3x07 and 3x09. She could put his muddled thoughts into order for him, help reconcile what he's saying with what he's thinking. But she'd need to develop a personality very quickly for that to work, because she sure doesn't have one now.

BRAINIAC 5

It'd be hilarious, but no.

CAT GRANT

There's no way. There is absolutely no way that this is happening.

BUT CAN YOU IMAGINE? :-D

So, there's my thoughts. Feel free to kick my ass/leave thoughtful comments.

#winn schott #speculation

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truheir-blog · 6 years

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renée is that bih who knows too many languages. french is her first language, and english is her second, and both are entirely fluent. fluency decreases now in order: spanish, german, portuguese, romanian, chinese, hungarian. conversationally, danish, swedish and slovenian.

renée as well as being - obviously talented in languages, is musically talented. she can play the piano, flute, organ and violin. she tried taking up art, but was never as good as celeste so gave up to avoid being compared.

her father doesn’t play a huge role in her life, even in her mother’s life he is more of an ornament for them. he merely helped her be born. she has no official sisters, however celeste is her adopted sister. she hates her guts for being better than her, renée truly started a movement against celeste and those like her due to her resentment. furthermore her relationship with her mother is hideously awful. they live in different homes, and if they have to be in the same house, it will not be in wings located near each other. they take every opportunity to ignore one another. her mother has also almost killed her on several occasions.

renée interacts with several characters on here in her own canon. celeste has already been mentioned. in relation to nadine; they are in a relationship, certainly. however it is mostly unrequited by renée and renée does not return said feelings. in relation to daisy & nox, renée wouldn’t really have much interest in their existence, as she considers herself far, far above them. as for iris, if she knew that iris was the goddess, she would have nothing but endless respect as to what her symbol is to the coven, however, if she knew that iris and celeste were sisters, that respect would disappear really quick.

if renée had a different life, she definitely has the money to become a composer. doesn’t matter if she doesn’t take off, she can do what she enjoys but she still has a tonne of fucking money to come home to.

her style certainly screams: i’m rich. she nearly always has 2 or more designer items on, and yet it doesn’t look “ posh “ she masters the art of expensive clothing that looks casual & normally doesn’t call too much attention. like, she generally won’t wear anything that revealing nor flashy accessories, but her clothes def have recognizable logos.

her clique would definitely be the heather chandler of the school.

her moral standards are practically non existent. she isn’t above anything, and would commit any act if it could put her ahead in life.

her favourite book is probably lord of the flies. she doesn’t watch tv nor listen to music really.

#HEADCANONS.

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papermoonloveslucy · 4 years

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THE QUIZ SHOW

October 23, 1948

“The Quiz Show” is episode #14 of the radio series MY FAVORITE HUSBAND broadcast on October 23, 1948.

Synopsis ~ Liz and George need a new dishwasher, and Cory gets them a chance to win one on the radio quiz show, "His and Hers."

This script was used as the basis for the “I Love Lucy” episode "Lucy Gets Ricky On the Radio" (ILL S1;E32) first aired on May 19, 1952.

Note: This episode of “My Favorite Husband” was aired before the characters names were changed from Cugat to Cooper. It was also before Jell-O came aboard to sponsor the show and before the regular cast featured Bea Benadaret and Gale Gordon as the Atterburys.

“My Favorite Husband” was based on the novels Mr. and Mrs. Cugat, the Record of a Happy Marriage (1940) and Outside Eden (1945) by Isabel Scott Rorick, which had previously been adapted into the film Are Husbands Necessary? (1942). “My Favorite Husband” was first broadcast as a one-time special on July 5, 1948. Lucille Ball and Lee Bowman played the characters of Liz and George Cugat, and a positive response to this broadcast convinced CBS to launch “My Favorite Husband” as a series. Bowman was not available Richard Denning was cast as George. On January 7, 1949, confusion with bandleader Xavier Cugat prompted a name change to Cooper. On this same episode Jell-O became its sponsor. A total of 124 episodes of the program aired from July 23, 1948 through March 31, 1951. After about ten episodes had been written, writers Fox and Davenport departed and three new writers took over – Bob Carroll, Jr., Madelyn Pugh, and head writer/producer Jess Oppenheimer. In March 1949 Gale Gordon took over the existing role of George’s boss, Rudolph Atterbury, and Bea Benaderet was added as his wife, Iris. CBS brought “My Favorite Husband” to television in 1953, starring Joan Caulfield and Barry Nelson as Liz and George Cooper. The television version ran two-and-a-half seasons, from September 1953 through December 1955, running concurrently with “I Love Lucy.” It was produced live at CBS Television City for most of its run, until switching to film for a truncated third season filmed (ironically) at Desilu and recasting Liz Cooper with Vanessa Brown.

MAIN CAST

Lucille Ball (Liz Cugat) was born on August 6, 1911 in Jamestown, New York. She began her screen career in 1933 and was known in Hollywood as ‘Queen of the B’s’ due to her many appearances in ‘B’ movies. “My Favorite Husband” eventually led to the creation of “I Love Lucy,” a television situation comedy in which she co-starred with her real-life husband, Latin bandleader Desi Arnaz. The program was phenomenally successful, allowing the couple to purchase what was once RKO Studios, re-naming it Desilu. When the show ended in 1960 (in an hour-long format known as “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour”) so did Lucy and Desi’s marriage. In 1962, hoping to keep Desilu financially solvent, Lucy returned to the sitcom format with “The Lucy Show,” which lasted six seasons. She followed that with a similar sitcom “Here’s Lucy” co-starring with her real-life children, Lucie and Desi Jr., as well as Gale Gordon, who had joined the cast of “The Lucy Show” during season two. Before her death in 1989, Lucy made one more attempt at a sitcom with “Life With Lucy,” also with Gordon.

Richard Denning (George Cugat) was born Louis Albert Heindrich Denninger Jr., in Poughkeepsie, New York. When he was 18 months old, his family moved to Los Angeles. Plans called for him to take over his father’s garment manufacturing business, but he developed an interest in acting. Denning enlisted in the US Navy during World War II. He is best known for his roles in various science fiction and horror films of the 1950s. Although he teamed with Lucille Ball on radio in “My Favorite Husband,” the two never acted together on screen. While “I Love Lucy” was on the air, he was seen on another CBS TV series, “Mr. & Mrs. North.” From 1968 to 1980 he played the Governor on “Hawaii 5-0″, his final role. He died in 1998 at age 84.

Ruth Perrott (Katie, the Maid / Mrs. Van Tassle) was also later seen on “I Love Lucy.” She first played Mrs. Pomerantz, a member of the surprise investigating committee for the Society Matrons League in “Pioneer Women” (ILL S1;E25), as one of the member of the Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League in “Lucy and Ethel Buy the Same Dress” (ILL S3;E3), and also played a nurse when “Lucy Goes to the Hospital” (ILL S2;E16). She died in 1996 at the age of 96.

Mrs. Van Tassel only giggles. Since Perrott is the only other female in the show, the role would fall to her. In other episodes, Mrs. Marge Von Tassle is played by Elvia Allman.

Bob LeMond (Announcer) also served as the announcer for the pilot episode of “I Love Lucy”. When the long-lost pilot was finally discovered in 1990, a few moments of the opening narration were damaged and lost, so LeMond – fifty years later – recreated the narration for the CBS special and subsequent DVD release.

GUEST CAST

John Hiestand (Cory Cartwright) served as the announcer for the radio show “Let George Do It” from 1946 to 1950. In 1955 he did an episode of “Our Miss Brooks” opposite Gale Gordon.

Frank Nelson (Smiley Stembottom, Radio Host) was born on May 6, 1911 (three months before Lucille Ball) in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He started working as a radio announcer at the age of 15. He later appeared on such popular radio shows as “The Great Gildersleeve,” “Burns and Allen,” and “Fibber McGee & Molly”. Aside from Lucille Ball, Nelson is perhaps most associated with Jack Benny and was a fifteen-year regular on his radio and television programs. His trademark was playing clerks and other working stiffs, suddenly turning to Benny with a drawn out “Yeeeeeeeeees?” Nelson appeared in 11 episodes of “I Love Lucy”, including three as quiz master Freddy Fillmore, and two as Ralph Ramsey, plus appearance on “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” - making him the only actor to play two different recurring roles on “I Love Lucy.” Nelson returned to the role of the frazzled Train Conductor for an episode of “The Lucy Show” in 1963. This marked his final appearance on a Lucille Ball sitcom.

Hans Conried (Mr. Atterbury, George’s Boss) first co-starred with Lucille Ball in The Big Street (1942). He then appeared on “I Love Lucy” as used furniture man Dan Jenkins in “Redecorating” (ILL S2;E8) and later that same season as Percy Livermore in “Lucy Hires an English Tutor” (ILL S2;E13) – both in 1952. The following year he began an association with Disney by voicing Captain Hook in Peter Pan. On “The Lucy Show” he played Professor Gitterman in “Lucy’s Barbershop Quartet” (TLS S1;E19) and in “Lucy Plays Cleopatra” (TLS S2;E1). He was probably best known as Uncle Tonoose on “Make Room for Daddy” starring Danny Thomas, which was filmed on the Desilu lot. He joined Thomas on a season 6 episode of “Here’s Lucy” in 1973. He died in 1982 at age 64.

Hans Conried played Mr. Atterbury in several episodes until the role was assumed by Gale Gordon and became a series regular in 1949.

Herb Vigran (Harry, George’s Friend / Radio Announcer) made several appearances on “My Favorite Husband.” He would later play Jule, Ricky’s music union agent on two episodes of “I Love Lucy”. He would go on to play Joe (and Mrs. Trumbull’s nephew), the washing machine repairman in “Never Do Business With Friends” (S2;E31) and Al Sparks, the publicity man who hires Lucy and Ethel to play Martians on top of the Empire State Building in “Lucy is Envious” (S3;E23). Of his 350 screen roles, he also made six appearances on “The Lucy Show.”

Rolfe Sedan (Mr. Charles Van Tassle) first worked with Lucille Ball in the 1934 film Kid Millions. When Lucy Ricardo ate snails in “Paris at Last” (ILL S5;E18), Sedan played the Chef who was outraged that Lucy wants to put ketchup on his food. He is probably best remembered as Mr. Beasley the mailman on “The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show.”

Mr. Van Tassel is a lawyer who lives in Sheridan Falls. He is also competing on "Mr. & Mrs.”

THE EPISODE

ANNOUNCER: “It's morning and George Cugat is seated alone at the breakfast table. Liz is helping Katie the maid in the kitchen by fixing the toast.”

From the dining room, George hears Liz scraping the toast and knows that breakfast has been burned - again! George has tried to fix the faulty toaster. He tightened the spring to make the toast pop up better.

LIZ: “You’d better apologize to Katie. She fell into the sink running back to catch a high fly. And if it ever learns to throw a curve we’re really in trouble.” GEORGE: “Well, what do you do? Buy a new one?” LIZ: “Either that or buy Katie a fielder’s mitt.”

The toaster proved to be one of Lucille Ball’s favorite props on “I Love Lucy”. Many episodes began with the toast popping up into mid-air and Lucy (or Ricky) catching it (or not)!

Liz compares George’s morning kisses to coffee - they wake her up.

GEORGE: “I have a confession to make. My caffeine’s been removed.” (GEORGE and LIZ kiss) LIZ: “Mmmm. Sanka!” GEORGE: “You’re welcome!”

Sanka was one of the first caffeine-free brands of coffee. It came to the USA in 1910 as Dekafa, but was re-branded in 1914 as Sanka, a name derived from the French “sans caffeine”. Sanka was a sponsor of “I Love Lucy” after their relationship with Philip Morris ended. They were included on the animated sequences leading into commercial breaks.

A commotion in the kitchen finds Katie fighting off the automatic dishwasher run-amok! Liz pleads with George to buy a new dishwasher if only to insure that they don’t lose Katie.

George insists that women have it too easy, stating that pioneer women didn’t have a lot of electronic gadgets to do their housework.

LIZ: “Of course they didn’t. And where are those women today? Dead!”

A failed attempt at getting Ricky and Fred to buy them automatic dishwashers brings the same accusation from Ricky and response from Lucy in “Pioneer Women” (ILL S1;E25) in 1952. They agree to turn back the clock to see who can cope with life without electronic gadgets - the men or the women.

Liz says that without a new dishwasher, she’ll have to help Katie with the dishes and get dishpan hands - not very kissable. George still refuses. They argue who (or whom) will tell Katie that she isn’t getting a new dishwasher.

Later, Liz invites Cory Cartwright over to ask him if he knows of any radio give-away shows where she might win a dishwasher. She notices he has bottle of Tabu on a string - fishing for women!

Tabu is a perfume from Dana that started marketing in the US in the 1940s. The scent is primarily of patchouli oils. It was called the “forbidden” scent!

Cory has friend that produces radio giveaway shows and provides Liz a long list of the many items that are up for grabs, ending with “Arrowhead Springs”!

Arrowhead Springs is a mountainous neighborhood of San Bernardino, California. It is named for a geographical formation in the side of the mountain that resembles a large arrowhead. A resort and spa sprung up at the foot of the mountains. In 1948, Life Magazine brought attention to Arrowhead Springs with a photo shoot featuring 6 Hollywood fashion models, which is likely why it is on Cory’s list!

Cory phones his friend, Smiley Stembottom, host of “His & Hers” - a husband and wife game show. Liz is doubtful George will want to participate, but promises to get George to listen to the broadcast airing that night.

On “I Love Lucy,” the radio quiz show was known as “Mr. and Mrs. Quiz” and Frank Nelson’s host character was named Freddy Fillmore instead of Smiley Stembottom.

After dinner, Liz convinces Liz to stay home and listen to the radio, something she rarely does and George knows it. Liz spurts out several nonsensical titles of shows she says she listens to:

“Portia Faces John’s Other Wife” ~ a mash-up of “John’s Other Wife” (1936-42) and “Portia Faces Life” (1940-53).

“Ma Perkins Can Be Beautiful” ~ a mash-up of “Ma Perkins” (1933-60) and “Life Can Be Beautiful” (1940-56)

“When A Girl Marries It Pays To Be Ignorant” ~ a mash-up of “When A Girl Marries” (1939-57) and “It Pays To Be Ignorant” (1942-51), a comedy show sponsored by Philip Morris.

“Libbey Owens: Girl Glassblower” ~ Libbey-Owens-Ford was a North American glass manufacturer in business from 1930 to 1986.

Liz suggests a quiz show, but George is resistant. He calls them “horrible” and full of “a lot of silly characters making fools of themselves in front of a microphone.”

On the radio, host Smiley Stembottom (Frank Nelson) of “His & Hers” introduces Mr. and Mrs. Paul Roni. He asks them the jackpot question: “What is stored at Fort Knox?” Liz answers “gelatine”. The answer, as George knows, is gold.

Liz is thinking of Knox Gelatine, not the Kentucky military installations that are home to much of America’s gold supply. Charles Knox developed the world’s first pre-granulated gelatine. He packaged dried sheets of gelatin and then hired salesmen to travel door-to-door to show women how to add liquid to the sheets and use it to make aspics, molds, and desserts. Gelatin is also the prime ingredient of Jell-O, a dessert that will become the main sponsor of “My Favorite Husband” in 1949. Fort Knox, the gold depository, will be frequently mentioned by money-grubbing Mr. Mooney and Harry Carter (both played by Gale Gordon) on “The Lucy Show” and “Here’s Lucy,” respectively.

Smiley signs off by announcing the contestants for next week: Mr. and Mrs. Tom LeFevre, Dr. and Mrs. Charles Van Tassle, and Mr. and Mrs. George Cugat. Liz hasn’t had time to tell him and George is furious!

The phone rings and it is Harry (Herb Vigran), George’s friend, who ribs him about being on a quiz show, comparing it to “Queen for a Day”!

“Queen for a Day” had women competing for prizes by disclosing their hardships for an audience vote. It began as a radio program in 1945 and moved to television in 1947. Its final queen was crowned in 1964. The show was mentioned by Ethel Mertz as a way for Lucy to get Ricky’s name in the press on “The Publicity Agent” (ILL S1;E31) in 1952. Instead, she pretends to be the Maharincess of Franistan!

George’s boss Mr. Atterbury (Hans Conried) calls and instead of being angry, he thinks it is a great idea as it will give the bank publicity and prove how smart bankers can be.

Next day, George brings home a bunch of reference books to bone up for the quiz. He asks Liz a history questions to test her:

“What is the Monroe Doctrine?” ~ Liz doesn’t know for sure, but thinks it is about the guy who sang “Racing With the Moon.” Imitating Vaughn Monroe in a gravlley voice, she sings a few bars before George cuts her off.

It actually refers to President James Monroe. The Monroe Doctrine (1823) warns European nations that the United States will not tolerate further colonization or puppet monarchs.

They move on to Natural History:

“What is the name of and animal with long, sharp, fangs and a shaggy head who stalks his prey at night?” ~ This reminds Liz of Corey Cartwright!

The real answer is undoubtedly wolf. In parlance of the 1940s, it was also an analogous term for a womanizing man. Hence the term “wolf whistle”.

George resolves that on the show he will answer all the questions and Liz will just stand there smiling.

The day of the quiz, Cory consoles a worried Liz by telling her that he has the answer sheet, thanks to last night’s date with Adele, the producer’s secretary. Although Liz is sure it is wrong, she sneaks a peak at the answers anyway.

Al Jolson

The sap runs every two years.

“Life With Father”

To scrap the barnacles off of her hull.

Liz memorizes the answers, even though she doesn’t know the questions.

On “I Love Lucy” there were only three questions before the jackpot question, not four. Also, the prize was $500, not a new automatic dishwasher.

Before leaving for the studio, Liz is dressing and repeating the answers to herself. George reminds her that he will answer all the questions.

At the studio, the show begins with the announcer (Herb Vigran) introducing Smiley and three couples. Mr. Atterbury cheers from the audience when the Cugats are introduced. Smiley announces that because the men on the show are so intelligent (a lawyer, a doctor, and a banker) they have thrown out the easy questions they were going to use in favor of more difficult ones.

Attorney Mr. Van Tassle (Rolfe Sedan) is first up. Whatever Smiley says, Mrs. Van Tassel just giggles. His question is:

Q (Smiley): “Who discovered the Fountain of Youth and claimed he could live forever?”

A (Mr. Van Tassle): “Ponce de León.”

In “Desert Island” (ILL S6;E8) in 1956, Ricky announces that he’s going to be in a film about the history of the state of Florida. The state’s history begins in 1513 with its founding by Spanish explorer Ponce de León. Ricky says he will appear in the ‘modern’ scenes playing with his band in the hotel nightclub.

Meanwhile, just offstage, presumably while the LeFevre’s are answering their questions, Liz and George nervously review their procedure: George will do all the talking - or so he thinks! Liz and George are called to the stage.

Q (Smiley): “Who discovered the Fountain of Youth and claimed he could live forever?”

A (Liz): “Al Jolson.”

Al Jolson was the name of a popular jazz singer of the time. He was a rival of William Frawley (Fred Mertz) in vaudeville. A film of his life was released in 1946 and in early 1948 it was done for radio starring Jolson as himself.

On “I Love Lucy” the first question is different: “To whom do you make your federal tax check out on March 15?” but instead Fillmore asks “What is the name of the animal that fastens itself to you and drains you of your blood?” The answer Lucy memorized was “The collector of Internal Revenue.” when the real answer was “A vampire bat.” [Tax Day was first set on March 1st in 1913. It was moved to March 15th in 1918 before being finally set as April 15th in 1955.]

Smiley asks the Cugats his second question:

Q (Smiley): “What is your congressman’s term of office?”

A (Liz): “The sap runs every four years.”

Liz is wrong. The answer is every six years.

This is the same question that will be asked on “I Love Lucy”, although on radio we never hear the original question that Lucy / Liz is answering: “How do subfreezing temperatures in the arctic affect the growth of trees?”

George begs to be allowed to answer. Smiley asks question number three:

Q (Smiley): “What has caused America to have such a large increase in population?”

A (Liz): “Is it ‘Life With Father’?”

Life With Father holds the record for being the longest-running non-musical Broadway play in history. It opened in November 1939 and played until April 1947 amassing 3,224 performances. The play was written by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, adapted from stories compiled in 1935 by Clarence Day. The play was adapted into a 1947 feature film and a 1953-55 CBS television series running concurrently with “I Love Lucy.”

Smiley asks his fourth and final question:

Q (Smiley): “Why did the French people put Marie Antoinette under the sharp blade of the guillotine?

A (Liz): “To scrape the barnacles off her hull!”

Liz is wrong again. George never got a chance to answer. They become the first couple never to get any of the answers right.

The real answer is not given on the show, but after the French monarchy was abolished in 1792, Marie Antoinette was convicted of treason and executed by having her head cut off in a public square.

Since the jackpot counts for 100 points, George and Liz could still win the electric dishwasher - plus the bonus prize of 300 dirty dishes. Liz finally realizes that they switched the questions after she memorized them!

Jackpot Q (Smiley): “At the last session of the big four foreign minsters in Paris, when Russia and the United States were in disagreement, what did Andrey Vyshinsky say to Secretary of State Marshall?”

A (Liz): “I give up, George. Let’s go home.”

A Big Four Conference of foreign ministers in June and July 1946 involved much haggling between the Soviet and Western ministers. However, the attendees managed to agree on final treaties with Italy, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Finland. George C. Marshall was Secretary of State under Harry S. Truman between 1947 and 1949.

Liz gets it right. She has won the new dishwasher!

On “I Love Lucy” the bonus (aka jackpot) question was "What did George Washington say when crossing the Delaware?” Ricky is truly queasy at how poorly he’s doing on the show, so he blurts out to Lucy, “Please let me sit down. This is making me sick!” which was the correct answer!

LIZ: “I didn’t even know I spoke Russian!”

In the usual bedtime tag scene, Liz and George are in bed trying to sleep. She wonders if George ever pretends. George appeases her.

GEORGE: “I pretend I’m all alone on a deserted island and I see coming toward me a girl with flowers in her hair. Now what do you pretend?” LIZ: “I pretend she’s ugly. Goodnight, George!”

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iriscomplimentarymedicine · 3 years

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Iris publishers-Online Journal of Complementary & Alternative Medicine(OJCAM)

Experience of Integrative Medicine in the Hospice Ward of the University Hospital San Martino in Genoa, Italy

Authored by Nicola Traverso*

Introduction

During the last two years or so, I (NT) have been allowed to attend, as a tutor to a thesis medical student (SB), the Hospice Ward of IRCCS University Hospital San Martino, Genoa, Italy. The IRCCS Hospital San Martino is associated with the School of Medical- Pharmaceutical Sciences (ex-Faculty of Medicine) of the University of Genova, Italy.

In this Ward, the Head physician, Prof. Michele Gallucci, has introduced the possibility of carrying out integrative medicine interventions, and in particular

- massage therapy

- art therapy

- music therapy

- meditation

- writing short stories.

The patients admitted to this ward are essentially patients with advanced stage cancers, for which the only useful therapies are considered to be the palliative ones, since the therapies against cancer would cause more harm than good. The hospitalization of such patients usually lasts for a maximum of a few weeks; many of them end their lives in the ward, while others prefer to return home before death.

The ward environment is absolutely different from a typical hospital ward, and it is very reminiscent of a family environment. Each patient has his/her own private room, which is not numbered, but named after Streets of the historical center of Genoa. There is also a large terrace available for patients and their relatives, and a lounge where all patients who wish and feel can go, and where tea is served in the afternoon. In the lounge there is also an upright piano, which can be played by volunteers, of course in agreement with the medical and nursing staff, who supervise the lounge as well as all the other rooms.

Use and aims of Integrative Medicine in the Hospice Ward

Some years ago, Professor Gallucci decided to introduce Integrative Medicines, whose aim is not to replace conventional therapies, which are used in any case to alleviate the symptoms and physical suffering of patients: Gallucci’s opinion is that the available drugs are sufficiently effective in this sense. The introduction of integrative therapies was specifically designed to evaluate their possible effectiveness on the patient’s quality of life, on his/her acceptance of the disease, on the self-awareness of the near end of life and to observe whether these therapies are able to allow patients to fill with more intense meaning their last weeks of life. More specifically, reporting the words of the research protocol: “The patient, thanks to integrative therapies, explores his/her own condition and expresses his/her life experiences, becomes more aware of his/her own body and its complex balances. The general objectives are to improve the quality of life and well-being of patients, reducing the divergence between their expectations and what is really happening; to give shape to one’s existence and continue to build one’s life plan”.

Organization of work and Integrative Medicine in the Ward

The ward holds plenary staff meetings about weekly, which my medical student and I have occasionally been able to attend. In these meetings, the head physician professor Gallucci plays the role of coordinator and stimulator of the discussion, but he is “primus inter pares” with respect to all the other participants, whether they are doctors, nurses, doctors in training, integrative therapists or guests.

The objective of the meetings is to make a point not only on the clinical progress of patients and the situation in the ward, but also to discuss the Integrative Medicine interventions that were carried out during that week.

It must be remembered that not all patients are eligible for Integrative Therapy, and sometimes even some eligible patients do not accept the intervention of the integrative therapist. The patient’s specific sensitivity to each of the proposed integrative therapies must also be taken into consideration.

Opinion of the Staff on Integrative Medicine

Even though the number of patients accepted is small (the ward welcomes about ten patients at a time), and therefore it is difficult to obtain significant statistics, the members of the staff meetings claim to observe a positive effect of integrative therapies on patients; this effect can be different from patient to patient, and can consist in a better compliance with the therapies that the medical and health staff prescribe or administer to them, in an improvement of the acceptance of their condition, or even in a better acceptance of the conscience that life is coming to its end. A further often observed benefit is that the patient establishes a less medicalized relationship with the integrative therapist and is more inclined to reveal to the integrative therapist aspects of him/herself that seem to be more difficult to reveal to medical or healthcare staff.

Some Interesting Cases and Possible Interpretation

Personally, I have observed some cases that I considered of particular interest.

a) A patient followed the Story Composition Therapy and wrote a short story, which represented for him the awareness of having left a last sign of his existence. This experience made it possible for him to face death in a more serene way, with the conviction that he could continue to live beyond his death through the words of this story.

b) During a Music Therapy session, another patient evoked an image of calm waves gently crashing on a sandy shore. The patient also gave a title to this image, as if it were a painting: “Spring”.

I believe that the evoked images can be comparable to unconscious images that can emerge during psychotherapy sessions. Here, we are faced with a limbo, a border between land and sea, which could be the representation of the border between life and death. But it can also be the representation of the moment of birth, with the detachment from the amniotic fluid, represented by the gentle water waves. We could therefore suggest that the patient evokes her close death as a possible rebirth, in an environment of calm and tranquility, and therefore we could perhaps conclude that the patient is able to visualize her near future, unfortunately inauspicious, with relative peace of mind.

It can also be noted that in this case, art therapy and music therapy interact.

c) A third interesting case was that of a patient who, during a Music Therapy session, evoked the image of a village on which the snow fell gently; she looked up and saw that it was the full moon literally snowing from the sky.

It is obviously a surreal image, and therefore most likely evoked from the unconscious of the patient. It is night, but the moon is full, and we know that this can give a peaceful brightness to the world, sometimes clearer and more significant than blinding sunlight. The Moon, perhaps a celestial mirror of the Great Mother Earth, dispenses a cloud of tranquility, a blanket of serenity on the village below, which awaits its destiny.

Also, in this case, we can sense the patient’s ability or need to give a meaning of peace and calm to her destiny. In the embrace of the Great Mother, the patient seems to feel a security that will probably help her in the moment of her death.

Conclusion and Limitations

Of course, it should be noted that each interpretation would require longer times and numerous sessions to be confirmed, but, unfortunately, in the conditions of the patients of the Hospice, this possibility does not exist, due to the terminal condition of the patients.

Therefore, one of the objectives of Integrative Medicine activities could be that of approximating the goals that psychotherapy could achieve in much longer periods of time, unfortunately not available for this kind of patients.

So, at least sometimes, Integrative Medicine could open shortcuts to reach the depth of the patients’ unconscious and possibly resolve or at least attenuate anxieties and conflicts of these patients in a much shorter time than classic psychotherapy would do, and accompany them to their destiny, providing them with a greater sense of resignation, acceptance and peace.

To read more about this article: https://irispublishers.com/ojcam/fulltext/experience-of-integrative-medicine-in-the-hospice.ID.000623.php

Indexing List of Iris Publishers: https://medium.com/@irispublishers/what-is-the-indexing-list-of-iris-publishers-4ace353e4eee

Iris publishers google scholar citations:

https://scholar.google.co.in/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=irispublishers&btnG=

#Complementary Medicine #traditional medicine #Peer reviewed journals of Traditional Medicine #IrispublishersLLC

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logh-icebergs · 6 years

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Episode 30: Lost Things

March 18, 798/489. In the Empire, Reinhard’s fleet prepares to warp Geiersburg Fortress into the Iserlohn Corridor. On Iserlohn, Yang prepares to submit to a dubiously lawful inquiry by the hostile—but democratically elected!—Alliance government. Hilda convinces Mecklinger to pay a visit to her sick cousin, who teaches us all about the importance of having hobbies. And Geiersburg’s test warp, thanks to Kempf and Mueller’s adept leadership, goes off without a hitch. Meanwhile, Reinhard sinks deeper into depression, Julian blows off steam at the shooting range, and Reuental and Mittermeyer (you guessed it!) go on a date.

Reinhard Alone

Reinhard may be dead inside, but he still looks amazing. Episode 30, in particular, has some of my favorite animation in the series, so please enjoy all the ridiculously beautiful heartbreak as much as you possibly can through your tears.

We haven’t spent much time with Reinhard since the traumatic season 1 finale, so we’re long overdue for a check in with our fast-rising Empire-side hero. How’s he been doing?

Not great! (From episode 28.)

Once you're immersed in how LoGH tells stories, it’s tempting to say that Reinhard’s newly sour affect “should come as no surprise,” given what he’s been through. And though that is true on an in-universe level—nobody who suffered the tragic loss of a long-time romantic partner only months ago should be expected to have recovered already—it would be disingenuous of me to suggest that surprise at the way LoGH treats Reinhard’s grief is unwarranted.

In my episode 26 post, I talked about how my past experiences as a queer consumer of media had primed me for LoGH to handle Kircheis’s death poorly, and what a surprise it was when my expectations were subverted. In that light, Reinhard’s grief—the way it changes him, the way it has a tangible presence, the way other characters tiptoe around and discuss it—is a surprise. It’s a constant reminder not just of how important Kircheis was (and still is) to Reinhard, but also of how committed LoGH is to treating its queer characters and their relationships with respect.

LoGH can be a difficult show to watch. Not only does it have over a hundred incredibly dense episodes to get through—some of which are basically impossible to parse unless you watch them more than once—but it’s also deeply, sometimes overwhelmingly sad. Depending on the context, though, that can be good, or at least validating. And Reinhard’s grief, upsetting though it may be, is fundamentally important to a queer reading of LoGH.

Like I said during episode 26, Kircheis’s death is a turning point for the slow dissolution of LoGH’s heteronormative surface reading. And the unflinching portrayal of Reinhard’s grief from here on out is evidence of an ongoing decision on the part of LoGH’s creative team to allow what was formerly confined to subtext to remain above the surface.

The Locket

The way Reinhard’s voice softens when he talks to “Kircheis” via his locket is dramatic and says a lot more on its own than is possible to express in a mere text caption. If you missed it the first time, definitely go rewatch this scene in episode 28 (the timestamp is 3:45) to get the full effect.

The most obvious manifestation of Reinhard’s grief is, of course, his locket, in which he keeps a family photo and a lock of Kircheis’s hair. Some of Reinhard’s colleagues, as I’ll get to in a minute, worry about him because of how much he’s changed since Kircheis’s death. But I would argue that a lot of what’s so disturbing about Reinhard’s transition into Life Without Kircheis is the lack of change, at least in one respect: He still relies on Kircheis for emotional support, as is evident in the gifs above, and for strategic advice, which we see a bit of in episode 30 (below), and will see more of in the future.

Hilda is particularly attuned to Reinhard’s new habit of playing with his locket whenever—were Kircheis still alive—he might have looked to him for input, approval, pushback, or whatever.

There’s nothing inherently unusual about accessing one’s memories of a departed loved one for guidance, but Kircheis was Reinhard’s only intimate relationship before he died, and now that he’s gone, Reinhard still shows no interest whatsoever in diversifying his support network. As a result, his only intimate relationship is now with an inanimate object—or, to put it another way, he has nobody.

Of course, Reinhard’s isolation isn’t entirely self-imposed. Annerose was also a source of strength and comfort before she voluntarily withdrew from his life. If things had gone differently and Annerose had stayed, Reinhard might not feel so lonely—but would that have been healthier, for either of them? I’m not sure. My guess is: not significantly.

Other People

I’m not sure Reinhard realizes how obvious it is to everyone around him the extent to which he’s been utterly destroyed by Kircheis’s death. The fact that he wouldn’t care even if he did realize is, well, not unrelated.

From the relatively trivial to the life-altering, rumors and hearsay play a substantial role in our understanding of LoGH’s world and characters. Reuental and Mittermeyer, who have already spent a good deal of time gossiping about Reinhard and will continue to do so far into the future, are responsible for a good portion of the Empire-side gossip that we see—probably as a factor of their daily standing date. In episode 30, Reinhard’s two highest ranking admirals discuss the depths of his grief in vague terms:

It’s worth mentioning (as always) that Reuental and Mittermeyer’s bodies during this scene are beautifully aligned, without being symmetrical. The line of Mittermeyer’s torso is precisely parallel with Reuental’s left arm! Look at it! In case you hadn’t noticed, I am in awe of the animation team’s treatment of these two.

Reuental and Mittermeyer’s discussion of Reinhard and Kircheis is, of course, about more than just Reinhard and Kircheis—this is Reuental we’re talking about, after all, and he is pathologically incapable of saying one thing without also meaning at least five other things. For the time being, though, this scene mainly adds another, third-person dimension to Reinhard’s grief: We already know how it is affecting him personally; now we also know that it is affecting the people around him, that they’re aware of it, and that these are important enough facts to merit scenes of this length devoted to conveying them.

Hilda, on the other hand, is a lot less prone to gossip than Reuental and Mittermeyer—or maybe she just hasn’t found the right gossip partner?—so her feelings about Reinhard’s situation are communicated to us differently, mainly via looks (above) and internal monologue:

Worry not, dear reader: I’ll be spending tons more time on Hilda and her well-articulated emotional intelligence in the very near future. For now, feel free to repeat “Hilda knows everything” to yourself whenever you see her on your screen, because that basically sums it up.

I also love this little exchange, after Reinhard shuts himself away (again) in the room on Geiersburg where Kircheis died:

Kempf and Mueller’s quick look of mutual understanding here is so simple, but goes a long way towards expressing that the topic of Reinhard’s grief is never far from anyone’s lips among the admiralty.

These are all—even the lengthy conversation between Reuental and Mittermeyer—comparatively small moments in the overall landscape of LoGH. But taken together, they convey that Reinhard’s grief is not small; not for him, not for the people around him, and not for the galaxy.

Reinhard’s Oberstein Eyes

On a subtler character note, remember a few episodes back when Rebecca likened Reinhard’s eyes to Oberstein’s? Well, you may have thought she was being facetious, but she extremely was not. Allow me to demonstrate:

Here are Oberstein’s eyes as they appeared in episode 4. Their most noticeable trait is, obviously, the fact that they’re flashing red. But another distinctive characteristic of Oberstein’s eyes is that they don’t have any highlights or other details beyond the pupil and flat, uniformly blue iris.

In contrast, this eye-heavy moment from episode 28 is a good example of how eyes are typically animated throughout LoGH—with the remarkably consistent exception of Oberstein’s which are, of course, artificial. Mittermeyer and Reuental’s eyes here both have distinct highlights, and seem to move naturally.

Here’s an example, from episode 9, of how Reinhard’s eyes in particular have been depicted before now: Note the visible highlights that change and move with his expression. Reinhard’s eyes do a lot of characterization work for him, and obviously got a corresponding amount of attention from the animation team.

Compare that to Reinhard’s eyes here, in this moment from episode 27. Like Oberstein’s eyes, Reinhard’s irises are now flat and lifeless. They don’t move with the rest of his face and have none of the energy we’re used to seeing from him.

But unlike Oberstein’s, Reinhard’s eyes aren’t synthetic. So when he lets his guard down—which he can only do when he’s alone with his memories of Kircheis—we see unbridled pain and anguish flood back into them. Poor Reinhard.

Stray Tidbits

Can someone please explain to me exactly what is going on here? Why does Yang’s desk only go up to Schenkopp and Cazellnu’s knees? Why is Yang proportional to his weirdly tiny desk? Why is his entire head smaller than Schenkopp’s crotch? This single screenshot keeps me up at night with questions.

Maybe the furniture store that sold either Mittermeyer a tiny chair or Reuental a huge chair also has a location in the Alliance.

Try to imagine something more suspicious than not having a pet. How about liking books more than pets? Yeah, that’s what I thought.

Time for some fun facts: Other than Da Vinci, the three historical figures that Hilda’s cousin mentions are Cao Cao, Lazare Carnot, and Tughril Beg. Biographical info on Cao Cao and Lazare Carnot makes it pretty clear they were both, like Mecklinger, Renaissance men who had a wide variety of cultural accomplishments in addition to their political/military careers; it’s harder to find information on Tughril Beg but my guess is that he falls into the same category.

#Legend of Galactic Heroes #Legend of the Galactic Heroes #author: Elizabeth #Empire #Reinhard #grief #queerness #eyes #Reinhard's locket #Geiersburg #gossip

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