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littlemonstersau-blog · 5 years

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The Feels Awaken, Interlude 2: One Rogue Thought

Written by @jkl-fff

PART I - PART II [Interlude] - PART III - PART IV [Interlude] (you are here) - PART V [FINAL]

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Bill, putting DVD back in case: Well, now you’ve seen ‘em all (until they finish the new ones, of which only Renegade 6 will be stupendous, and that largely thanks to everyone dying—much pathos by meatbag standards, much comedy by mine). So … Whaddya think, Fordsy?

Ford, taking in a deep breath: I think … I think I’m personally going to make a working lasercutlass (with SCIENCE!), drive to wherever the hell George Dufas lives—

Bill, helpfully: That would be Skyjogger Ranch, not too far north of San Francisco. I know, because I know lots of things.

Ford: Alright then, I’m going to drive to Skyjogger Ranch, and then I’M GONNA SHOVE MY HOMEMADE LASERCUTLASS RIGHT UP HIS SCRIPT-SPEWING ASS AND ACTIVATE IT!

Stan, startling awake in easy chair: Wha?! Huh?!

Ford: THAT WAS THE BIGGEST WRECK OF TRAINS THAT WERE LOADED WITH ASS-SHIT THAT I’VE EVER SEEN! [rises to his feet, stamps around, gestures emphatically] AND I’VE BEEN TO SEVERAL DIMENSIONS WITH EXTREMELY SHODDY RAILWAY INFRASTRUCTURES AND BOOMING, FERTILIZER-BASED ECONOMIES! MEANING SEVERAL DIMENSIONS WITH FREQUENT AND NOTABLE WRECKS OF ASS-SHIT-LOADED TRAINS!

Stan, rubbing eyes: Yeah, we picked up on your meanin’ there. [yawns, scratches self] What time’s it, anyway?

Bill, grinning at this development: What’d you think of the acting?

Ford: WOODEN! FLAT! LIFELESS! LIKE THIS FLOOR!

Bill: All George Dufas’s fault. Those were all highly acclaimed, highly trained actors, and highly gifted actors. He insisted as Director they act like they didn’t know how to. Like I said before.

Ford: WHAT?! WHY?! RRRAAARRRGHGHGH!

Stan, yawning: Moses, it’s past midnight already …

Bill, egging it on: Heh. And the depiction of non-human meatbags?

Ford: MOSTLY INFURIATINGLY RACIST CARICATURES OF HUMAN MEATBAG CULTURES—er, “human cultures”, I meant just “human cultures”—AND BLANDLY UNIMAGINATIVE OR INSUFFERABLY ANNOYING (LIKE JERKJERK)!

Stan, heaving himself upright: Hey, Sixer?

Bill: Hehehe! George Dufas’s influence again. And the use of the Force? The lasercutlass duels?

Ford: THE FIRST WAS SO UNDERUTILIZED AS TO BE FUCKING POINTLESS, THE OTHER SO OVERDONE AS TO BE SHITTING BORING! THEY MADE SWORDFIGHTING WITH LASERS BECOME BORING! HOW?! WHY?!

Stan: Sixer?

Bill: Hahaha! Still George Dufas! And the script?

Ford: THE SCRIPT?! WHAT SCRIPT?! THAT WAS USED, BARGAIN-PRICED TOILET PAPER! RRRAAARRRGHGHGH!

Stan: Sixer!

Ford: WHAT?! … Er, sorry. What?

Stan: It’s past midnight. Meanin’ it’s bedtime. You comin’ or what?

Ford: Gah! I couldn’t possibly sleep now! I’m too enraged!

Stan, shrugging: Well, I am. So … keep the nerd-ragin’ at, y’know, an “indoor voice” level of volume. ‘kay? [kisses him goodnight, shuffles out]

Ford, momentarily taken aback: Um … Where was I?

Bill, helpfully: The script. Which was also George Dufas’s fault. Basically, the whole prequel trilogy is a case study of what happens if you give a man who had one or two good ideas in the past— when there was an entire team of more talented people to shoot down his one or two thousand bad ideas and sculpt the few good ones— complete creative control of a project.

Ford, remembering how disgusted he is: No, it’s a case study of what happens if a tornado picks up a barn full of diarrhetic animals— A LITERAL SHITSTORM—hits a warehouse of blank paper, then some fuckwattle decides to gather up the pages and use it as a script! It made exactly 0.0 sense as a story! According to SCIENCE! itself there wasn’t even a measurable amount of sense made in this story! And, believe me, I understand that writing isn’t easy, but they had … How long exactly to work on the scripts?

Bill, promptly: Almost exactly16 years to work on the first one, then almost exactly 3 years for the second one, and another 3 for the third.

Ford, trembling with self-control: S-sssixteen years for one script? And that mmmakes … t-t-twenty-two years total to come up with … with that p-pile of hot, fffffuck-juggling shhhhhhhhhhhit … [loses it, explodes] OH MY VARIOUS ENTITIES OF COSMIC POWER FOR WHOM THE TERM “GODS” COULD REASONABLY BE USED AS A SHORTHAND, EVEN IF IT IS SOMEWHAT MISLEADING!

Stan, from the other room: Indoor voice!

Ford, stomping around: WE COULD COME UP WITH A BETTER PLOTLINE FOR A PREQUEL TRILOGY IN ONE NIGHT THAN THAT MOVING BAG OF NEGATIVE FUCKGUZZLE DID IN TWENTY-FUCKING-TWO FUCKING YEARS! AND Y’KNOW WHAT?! [takes Bill by the shoulders] WE WILL, GODSDAMNIT!

Bill, disbelieving: Really? You wanna do something with me?

Ford: AND IT’LL HAVE COMPELLING CHARACTER ARCS, AND SUBTLY DEEP WORLDBUILDING FOR THE GALAXY, AND THE FORCE’LL BE SHOWN—

Stan, from other room: IF YOU DON’T KEEP IT DOWN, STANFORD PINES, I’LL COME OUT THERE AND SHOW YOU MY FORCE RIGHT UPSIDE YOUR FOOL HEAD!

Bill, excited: Mabel left a bunch of … of arts and crafts stuff upstairs. We can use those for this! I’ll just … just run and get them! Hang on! [scampers up the stairs]

Ford, suddenly alone: … wait a minute … [stops short, looks around deserted room) What the freeze-dried hell am I doing?

Stan, grouching back in: What you’re doin’ is bein’ a pain in my ass—a loud pain in my ass!

Ford, almost panicking: No, I’m … about to write better plots for the prequels? With Cipher? I think?

Stan: And? What’s the problem?

Ford: And I don’t … I can’t trust him! That is the problem!

Stan: You can’t trust him to help write what is essentially gonna be a Cosmos Conflicts fanfic? [rolls eyes] C’mon, Sixer, it’s not like he could write anything worse than what we just watched. You were just goin’ on about that.

Ford, faltering: No, I mean, he’s still planning to takeover! No one can trust him, so what am I—

Stan: Just be the scribe yourself; that way, you maintain creative control of the fanfic and he can’t take it over.

Ford: I mean the planet! Er, the galaxy! Gah, no, the dimen—

Stan, deadpan: Oh, yeah, that’s a real dilemma right there. Can’t have Farth Bill takin’ over that nerdlinger galaxy, or we’ll hafta write a whole ‘nother generation of whiney Skyjoggers masterin’ the Force to confront him.

Ford, irritated: Damn it, Stanly, you know what I’m talking about!

Stan, rubbing eyes: Look, I’m gonna share some Old Wisdom™ I learned as a professional conman with you. And which, in fact, you yourself told me rather recently. [lays hands on brother’s shoulders, looks him in the eyes] You don’t hafta trust someone to work with ‘em, ya dumbass. And don’t hafta trust ‘em to be nice to ‘em, neither, ya dumbass. Or even to like ‘em, ya dumbass. You can do all that, while still not trustin’ ‘em … ya dumbass.

Ford, blinking owlishly: … What? I told you that? But—

Stan, slowly: Listen, I didn’t trust Bill at the start of the summer, but I still talked to him. Still interacted with him and was nice … ish and such. And only a week after? I had him workin’ for me. [gestures dismissively] Yeah, he caused some trouble at the start, but I didn’t lock him up ‘cause of it. I was patient with him, I showed him I’d work with him, and I showed the l’il bastard he can’t beat me at my own game— I always got an eye on him, so he can’t get anything major past me. And now? He’s just like any other employee I’ve ever had (except for Soos) … Slacks off and shoplifts about the same amount, too.

Ford: … And you’re bragging about that?

Stan, smugly: Heh. Yep. Think about it, Sixer. For him, that’s huge progress.

Ford, reluctantly: I guess, but—

Stan: Listen, you don’t hafta trust Bill. Okay? You know already he’s up to something (or so you’re convinced, anyway), so he can’t trick you. You’ll be suspicious of absolutely everything, so he won’t be able to get something past you in the middle of, say, writin’ your stupid, nerd fanfic. Or talkin’ ‘bout an anomaly. Or just havin’ a civil conversation every now and then. Okay? This gettin’ through that metal plate in your skull? I mean, it should be able to since—not to put too fine a point on it—you suggested it to me not too long ago.

Ford: I don’t … need … to trust Cipher … to be nice to him …

Stan: Exactly. And—Moses on a moped!—his name is Bill. [turns, goes to leave, pauses in doorway] And for fffffuck’s sake, keep it down while you two do whatever. Some of us are tryin’ to actually sleep.

Ford, standing lost in thought: … can’t believe it … so simple … really have been a silly, old fool not to see it all along …

Bill, returning: Sorry that took so long. I got buried in an avalanche of Mabel’s spare sweaters while digging this stuff out. [unloads an armload onto the table, pulls up paper and pencil] Where do we start, Fordsy?

Ford, a little overwhelmed: Um … honestly, I’m not sure …

Bill: Hmm … Well, what’re the big problems that gotta be fixed? Let’s start with that. What made you mad in the movie?

Ford, after only a split second of thought: Midi-chlorians firstly. Those go, because the Force is a mystical power-energy thing— damn it all!—and not some sorta bacterial infection!

Bill, making a note: Good. Good. How about that Rule of Two? Speaking as a megalomaniac, I can say it’s stupid to only have one agent working for you. You’d get nothing done!

Ford: Um …

Bill: What? Oh, Yog-Sothoth’s sixth soleus, that was a joke.

Ford, deciding to believe that: R-right. Um … None of that immaculate conception or prophecy crap, either. That’s gone. Came out of nowhere, served no purpose, we don’t need it.

Bill, making a note: What, you don’t like the idea of Space Jesus? How about rewriting the romance so that it doesn’t just … happen, y’know? So that there actually is a romance, and not just two straight characters who bone ‘cause they’re the opposite genders?

Ford, getting excited: Moses, yes! And rewriting Otherkin so he isn’t some whiney kid who just … just does stuff because the plot needs some action! We could do that for all of them! We could make it all as great as it deserves to be!

[hours and hours of excited fanboy collaboration transpire …]

#little monsters au #bipper #stan #ford #stancest #a bit #also a lot of swearing #the feels awaken #writing #fanfiction #also this is the chapter that was left out of the illustration lottery #by pure chance #only one more to go!#submission

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slightlybiased · 4 years

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Hello, I love your blog! I wanted to ask what the safest way to scan older books/manga is. I ordered some old bunko Eroica novels but I'm afraid of damaging them. Biting my nails enough while they're in transit. Thanks!

Thank you! I love the Eroica bunko covers, they are fantastic. I re-bought the volumes in bunko for Emperor’s Waltz just to have a few.

I’ve got a weirdly long and indepth answer for you! I’m going to put this behind a cut, and I’m going to reply publicly, which I hope you don’t mind.

Bunkobon are super-great, because they usually collect more chapters than regular tankoubon volumes, and at a lower price. There are some caveats to scanning them, but mostly you just want to be vigilant about how tight or loose the book is when you open it - the harder the book is to open, the more likely you are to damage it. Bunko tend to be good about this, but sometimes you run across volumes which have bad glue, or lost the storage lottery.

I don’t have my Eroica volumes handy, so Der Freischutz is standing in. The one in the center is a bunko volume, compared in size to the Seven Seas tankoubon on the right and an oddball deluxe edition of Der Freischutz on the left. Bunko are tiny, which can sometimes be difficult to work with depending on the art.

I just reviewed a bunch of binding BS at work, so I’m thinking about it, and this is probably a little more detail than you’re looking for. But! Here’s a comparison for the binding used on all three, with the bunko in the center again. The oddball deluxe edition happens to be a hardcover, which is bound into signatures and stitched, and also very thin. This is the kind of book which is wonderful to scan. It’s extremely difficult to damage, and since it’s thin, you can mash it as flat as you need. Manga volumes almost never come out in hardcover (though there are many exceptions), but artbooks do. The other two have glued binding, which is harder to scan if you want to keep the book intact and also get nice clear scans.

The bunko in the center is the thickest. I like bunko paper better than the pulp paper used in tankoubon (like the one on the right). Bunko paper is thinner, so it’s not absolutely massive for being 300-400 pages. You may get some art bleedthrough because of the thin paper, but it’s not terrible in this one. Bunko also tend to have nice loose binding that makes them easy to read, and lets them take a lot of abuse from scanning if the glue is good. The binding on my copy is very flexible, and doesn’t feel tight or creaky when I open it. It’s also a printing from 2008, so it’s still fairly current. I’m going to be moderately rough with it when I scan.

The one on the right, the Seven Seas tankouban, has a pretty bad glue job with bubbling. That’s not unusual, but can indicate the glue is bad in the whole book, and not just the edge. The printing I have is from 1979, so it is quite old. Having said that, the book still feels pretty flexible, and isn’t creaky or stiff when I open it. It’s probably okay to open flat enough to scan, but I’d be picking images away from the gutter and at the edge of the page, so I wouldn’t have to press on the spine. I’d probably also only be comfortable scanning it a couple times. I might crease the spine even from gentle treatment, and I may also crack the glue and break the binding.

Here’s an example of the size difference between the pages in the bunko and deluxe version of Der Freischutz, which I’m now realizing isn’t great without the bottom of the image (it was hard to take one-handed). This makes it easy to see the difference in the gutter of the book - you can see the art creeps in pretty close to the spine on the bunko, which is going to make it a little harder to scan cleanly.

Unrelated - that deluxe edition has great paper. Still so bright after all these years! Most manga over 5-ish years old is going to be yellowed due to the cheap paper, so that’s to be expected when you start digging into the older stuff. Artbooks will do this too, though those usually start going after the twenty-year mark.

One last look at the deluxe edition. I used the lid of the scanner to flatten it, and pressed as hard as I could. The gutter in the center can easily be cropped out, if I want to use the whole page or sections of it, and doesn’t interfere with any of the art.

The same pages in the bunko. I’m using the edge of my scanner bed along the top edge of the pages to keep the book straight, so you can see it’s getting close to the art and words. For larger books, I usually use the fore-edge of the cover to keep the book straight, which give the art a little more room to breathe. My scanner setup makes that a lot harder with small books, and it’s harder still with a small paperback that’s very thick, but I’d recommend that. You can also see along the bottom that I wasn’t quite successful in keeping the whole thing straight the first try - that’s also harder with small books, but after the first few scans, you usually get the feel for how best to line it up.

When I scanned this one, I did not use the lid of the scanner, and instead pressed my thumb into the center of the spine in what I would call a “comfortable” amount of pressure. This part’s hard to describe! Here, I’m pressing hard enough that I’m optimistic about not creasing the spine, but hopeful that I’ll get a clear enough scan to use. The gutter shadow on this is pretty extreme, and depending on what you’re trying to get, possibly a no-go. If this was something I was posting here, I might grab the Klaus panels on the center of the left-hand page, cropping out the one closest to the gutter. It’s a shame to lose the first one from that sequence, but I’d possibly be damaging the book to do better. I could also use the landscape panels at the top of the right page, and crop them in a bit to get rid of the gutter blur at the edges.

This is a second scan with me pressing as hard as I can on the center of the spine with my palm. I will never do this with a paperback, because I’m always going to crease the spine, and I am also very likely to break the binding and cause the pages to fall out. But one or two creases in the spine is cosmetic, and usually easy to cover with the book jacket. If I’m doing this 20-30 times per book though, the cover will start to pull away from the binding and I’ll wind up with a pile of loose pages.

In this case, I was curious about how much pressure the bunko binding would take, and I was only doing the one scan, so I went for it! The book falls open to this page now, but the spine didn’t crease, and the pages don’t feel loose, so this book is very robust.

The book is thick enough that I’m still going to get that obvious gutter shadow, but I’d be okay with posting most any crop from this page to this site.

The gutter is still obvious in the Klaus panels, but it’s not... terrible, and the text is still fairly clear. If you were inclined, you could probably wipe it clean after scanning. It’s not straight though, which would drive me crazy, and would probably leave me to cropping only the left-hand panel to make it less obvious.

Shit!

The crooked scans are a Me problem, because my image editor is 20 years old and isn’t precise enough to rotate them well. The smaller the book/image, the more obvious it is when the scan isn’t Perfectly Straight. But you can see above that it’s less obvious in the context of the whole-page scan, or with certain types of crops.

One more caveat about art in the gutter - you get much less clear scans if the artist “bleeds” art into the spine of the book, especially with double-page illustrations. Aoike doesn’t do this a lot, so I don’t have an example for you, but you’ll see it some in the (formerly color) chapter title pages. There’s some art that bleeds into the spine of the bunko (unlike the neat panels on the pages above), but it’s pretty rare, and Aoike doesn’t really use double-page illustration in her chapters. I was going to post an example from Moto Hagio’s Heart of Thomas, but Hagio doesn’t do it either, or at least not in that work. The better example is early 90s CLAMP, especially X. There’s not a good way to snag that kind of thing without really damaging the book, but again, it shouldn’t come up much with Eroica.

#asks #text

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emilyplaysotome · 4 years

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The Game of Love - Chapter 1

Since I have a bad tendency to obsess over what I write until I give up on it, I’m posting the first chapter of something new I’ve been dabbling with. Think of it like an original Down the Voltage Rabbit Hole, without the characters you know.

Meeting someone special is hard for anyone, but more so when you’re famous.

I can’t tell you when it was that I went from being Hana to being Hana on a billboard, but it happened slowly enough that I went from eating virtually unnoticed at a restaurant to being bombarded with selfie requests during the short time I picked up my food. I suppose that being one of the youngest women to ever win a Grand Slam will force you into the spotlight, but I’ve never thought of myself as a superstar.

The goal had always been to win gold at the Olympics.

Maybe Roland Garros.

And Wimbledon.

The U.S. and Australian Open if I was lucky.

They never told me that if you win the Australian Open and then manage to win the others in the same year, the world goes mad. They never told me that Nike, Adidas, and Reebok fall all over themselves trying to get you to agree to let them put out the “Hana shoe” and you go from being a struggling journeywoman on the tour to being richer than you ever could have imagined, thanks mostly to your team who milks you for every free moment when you’re not on the court.

You learn how to wear dresses and talk on camera and carry the weight of what it means to be a champion, constantly looking over your shoulder at the younger, hungrier crowd behind you that works twice as hard and trains harder because they don’t need to be on Good Morning America when you do. Your identity becomes “Hana the Tennis Champion” and you forget who you were when you were just “Hana, the girl who loves tennis” – hitting balls after dinner with dad on the courts by your house or joking around with the girls on the junior tour.

Those girls become competition, and your friendship is forced to change despite wanting it to be the way it was when things were simpler. They are nice and you love them, but the feelings are complicated and you forget what it means to have friends who see you as you are. There is always a commitment, a show, a movie, a project, a product – even during the off season, and of course, there’s the training.

You’re grateful to be successful doing what you love, but you know it can’t last forever and one day you decide you want to go out on top and announce that you’re done with the game that up until this point has been your entire life.

And you’re only 32.

I’m only 32.

The day after I retired I woke up as Hana, for the first time in 20 years. I suppose it’s out of habit that I still wake up at 7 A.M. and go for a run, but it’s been a few months and not much has changed.

My mom suggested I get a therapist.

That this major transition would be hard on anyone, but even harder on a prodigy who has been used to a regimented training schedule since she was 11.

I laughed it off, but after a couple of weeks I could feel the unease nagging at me, mocking me, asking me, “Who is Hana if there is no tennis?”

My therapist says a lot of high achieving people struggle with their self-worth outside of their profession. She challenged me to reconnect with friends I’d made at all stages of my life and I learned that being great at one thing left little time for love, creativity, music, and hobbies.

I also learned that I didn’t make many friends in my 32 years since I was too focused, too dialed in to waste time on anything outside of the goal. To be the best in the world I had taken on the mentality that everything outside of my goal was superfluous, but now I struggle to make it through the day.

“Who is Hana if there is no tennis?”

“I am…I am…”

“What are you feeling Hana?” my therapist asks.

“Scared. Confused. Angry. Lost.”

I’d had this rosy image of retirement, where I’d leisurely wake up next to a partner and make breakfast for us. Not just any partner if I’m being honest…him.

“I wake up at 7 A.M. and run 5 miles,” I find myself saying. “Then I make a breakfast smoothie. And then I remember that I don’t have anywhere to be and the depression takes over.”

“Have you been doing interviews?”

I shrug, “Not as many. They asked me to do commentary for the U.S. Open this year and I said I’d think about it.”

“What is your hesitation?”

I pause, thinking about what it would be like to live a tournament without participating in it. To see and comment on someone’s legacy that wasn’t my own. To one day have to announce that I’d been dethroned in my achievements and smile as if it didn’t bother me, when I’d probably just wonder if I’d retired too early.

“I never wanted to be on television. And I want to be able to answer the question who Hana is if there is no tennis.”

“It sounds like this time is providing you with a beautiful gift – to explore that question and your interests without limitations.”

She’s right, and I feel guilty for pitying myself when I have the freedom to do and go wherever I want. I let out a caustic chuckle and say, “I want to live in my games.”

“The ones you used to play on the road?”

I nod, wondering how serious she thinks I am and wondering if the statement is a joke at all.

“Why do you think you like them so much?”

“It’s fun to be someone who isn’t Hana. And it’s fun to fall in love.”

“Has Hana ever been in love?”

I think for a minute and nod.

“But you knew that, didn’t you?” I ask.

She shrugs and pushes her glasses up.

“I’m asking Hana the person, not Hana the superstar.”

“But our breakup was all over the tabloids…”

“Our time together is about you, not what’s in a tabloid.”

“Superstars have to date superstars. It’s like a law,” I say laughing. “What would Instagram think if I gave them anything other than aspirational?”

I’m lying but I can’t help myself, even in therapy my pride gets in the way of being honest. Dating him was never about appearances, at least, it wasn’t for me.

“Tell me about him.”

Eight years of memories flash in my mind, 22 to 30.

“We met after I won my first major. His movie premiere had him in Australia and he got tickets to the final. We ended up at an after party together and he gave me his number. It was good until it wasn’t and then he broke up with me.”

“That’s a very condensed version.”

I shrug again, feeling bitter that he seems to have moved on just fine and I haven’t dated anyone despite the rumors that pop up from time to time. I don’t feel like talking about how I kept pushing for us to move forward, with a vision for my retirement and life with him as he kept pushing for me to stay on the road. I don’t feel like talking about how much of our time was spent apart and how I suspected he preferred things that way.

That it was better to have a girlfriend too busy to take up more than an hour of his day on a regular basis than a girlfriend who could be present the way she wanted to be when we were together.

A pleasant chime goes off and she silences the alarm, noting we’re out of time and asking if next week works.

“My schedule is free,” I joke, but I feel annoyed that there’s nothing but endless free time and nothing to do with it.

When I’m home I open the games I referenced in therapy – the ones I jokingly call “choose your anime romance adventure games” with my mom versus their proper designation of “otome” games, as they’re known with the fandom online that I’m a part of. It’s only when I’m online that I feel like I can momentarily answer the question that nags at me, and that’s because no one know I’m me.

HanaLovesOtome the tumblr user is popular because of the screenshots she posts, not because she’s one of the most celebrated athletes of a generation.

She participates in every event and has spent an ungodly amount of money on special date stories and lottery gatcha items that put her consistently in the top ten featured users of Ikemen Inc.

She’s popular because people will ask her to purchase stories and games they can’t afford, and she’ll video record herself playing or twitch live stream the sessions so everyone can get a sense of what it’s like to fall in love with Ikemen Inc.’s most exclusive bachelors.

Even when I was on tour, I loved playing otome games because for a couple of hours I could stop thinking about my life and instead lose myself in a world overseas where I get to make choices for a protagonist whose name I’ve made my own as I decide what eligible bachelor she’ll fall in love with.

I’d found the games a year before we’d broken up, mostly by chance after seeing an ad on twitter that boasted, “The Perfect Boyfriend is in your phone - meet him now!” While normally I would have continued to scroll past, something about the caption had stopped me in my tracks. Looking back it was probably because the idea of the “perfect boyfriend” being in my phone was ironic having had such a drawn out long distance relationship in which it often felt that he only existed in my life virtually.

After entering my name for the main character I would be controlling, “Decoding His Affections” thrust me into a world that consisted of a simple illustrated background, paired with a cartoon character sprite whose various expressions matched the dialogue being said in the text box where the story played out.

While the prologue of “Decoding His Affections” was free, it ended with a prompt asking me who out of the five characters I’d just met, I wanted to get to know as my Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department partner and future perfect boyfriend. For the low price of $3.99, I could purchase one of five options and determine how my protagonist would fall in love. Depending on my dialogue selections, I was either granted a “Love Ending!” or a less desired “Happy Ending!”

Throughout the course of 13 interactive chapters, Sebastian went from being my underling, to my partner, and finally, to my boyfriend. As the protagonist with my name started to fall for Sebastian, I found myself enjoying the escape from my reality with a game “self” who always met with a positive response in love.

I soon found myself lost in a world where I could be transparent with my intentions without any fear of rejection. Sebastian clearly liked my main character back, but was conflicted about falling for a woman whose time in Tokyo had an expiration date. Even though their relationship was in a grey zone for the majority of the game, he was always warm, always loving, and most importantly, had responses that gave me butterflies as I read his poetic musings from a cold hotel room after a long day of training.

Seeing as how these games were a product of Japan, in addition to the subdued romance I also found myself getting a kick out of the cultural differences that were peppered throughout the story. Simple gestures such as the time that Sebastian grabbed her hand in order to protect her from an impending explosion, resulted in a shook inner monologue where my heroine wondered if her heart was racing from the danger, or because of the physical contact. There was something sweet about this world in which men and women shared a shyness around physical touching that was unlike anything I’d ever experienced as a Western woman. Handshakes, hugs, and even kisses on the cheek were something that happened in my life on a daily basis, yet I was suddenly living in a world via my phone where every gesture was laced with romantic subtext.

It was clear that the only thing Ikemen Inc. changed in their games was the names of their clearly Japanese love interests, in order to better appeal to a western audience. Other than that, their games remained true to their point of origin.

Looking back, our relationship was already strained with me hinting towards my expiration date and him pushing me to stay on the tour. The day I’d played my first otome game we were bickering over text about it, him convinced it would be better for both of us if I refocused on my career instead of settling down with him in his Calabasas home. As I achieved Sebastian’s coveted “Love Ending!” thanks to my carefully selected dialogue choices, I surprised myself by tearing up in which I read an ending where Sebastian confessed to me, or moreover the woman I whose life I was intermittently controlling, his undying love.

I’d felt a bit foolish at the time, having fallen prey to simple plot devices and romantic tropes, however Sebastian had done something for me that my relationship could not.

He’d managed to touch that part deep in my heart that still wanted to believe that romance was possible in this world, and more importantly, was possible for me.

In the weeks to come I found myself leaning on these games more and more as it became clear that my vision for the future did not align with his, it felt like every free second I was pouring myself into my fantasy life. By the time he ended things, I’d made way through the entire Ikemen Inc. catalogue of premium games and started to make my way into the exclusives with a higher price point, more beautifully illustrated scenes (CGs), and the Ikemen Inc. community leaderboard.

I play them a lot lately.

Maybe too much.

When I log in to my tumblr I see a message from my friend KittyGirl.

OMG Hana! Did you see they released Tyler Holland?

I saw and I played and I’m posting the full vid on twitch later ;)

…

I wonder who KittyGirl is as she types, and I wonder if she ever wonders who I am. I wonder if she would care if I was Hana the superstar or if she even follows tennis.

A lot of the girls on here don’t.

A lot of the girls on here are much younger than I am.

I wonder if it’s weird I don’t have many friends my age and that the people I feel closest to at the moment are all usernames in my feed.

STOP HANA YOURE THE BEST!

I smile because it gives me a sense of purpose and I haven’t felt that for some time.

It’s really good. He might be in my top 5 boyfriends.

NO. Really!?

Really.

Sometimes I wish that the men in my phone would come to life. That one day I would wake up and Sebastian would be there in human form, not his two-dimensional anime character form. I’ve thought about what he would look like if he were real.

Not just him.

Him and all the others I’ve dated over the years.

I wonder what it’d be like to date someone you know would never leave you.

Who could be that perfect boyfriend, or husband, or father.

It’s just as I’m thinking about this again that my phone chimes, letting me know I’ve received an email. I’m surprised to see it’s from Ikemen Inc. and that HanaLovesOtome has been invited along with the four other top Ikemen community users for an all-expenses paid, one month vacation to Ikemen’s Dream Resort.

My gut reaction is to scream, “Yes!” but then I remember I’m Hana the superstar.

What would people think if they found out?

What would the tabloids write if they saw me?

I pause.

Who is Hana if there is no tennis?

Hana is HanaLovesOtome.

And so I write an email back, deciding not to loop in my management team, and let the team at Ikemen Inc. know that I would be delighted to experience the resort. The response back is immediate and includes additional details and an NDA.

I skim the details of the agreement, relieved that I am not allowed to talk about the experience as that means no one else will and my identity as Hana the superstar will most likely be off limits to the press and send it back.

It all happens quickly and before the hour is up I’ve managed to secure my spot in the Ikemen Fan 5.

In the two weeks leading up to my departure, I no longer feel depressed or as if time stretches out in a way that makes me feel small and insignificant. I have an event to look forward to and arrangements to be made.

My therapist thinks a solo trip will be good for me and encourages me to journal and continue with the homework she’s given me outside of our sessions. My mom agrees that it will be good for me to have a real vacation which is something I haven’t had in years.

I’ve seen the world through touring but I’ve never really had time for tourism.

To that point, when I get on the plane it strikes me that this is my first time on a plane without the purpose of coming from or going to a tournament. I check two large suitcases and still bring a racquet in case I need the release of losing myself in a training session or two, despite the fact my performance no longer matters.

I wear the sunglasses I always wear to obscure my identity in first class and a wig and baseball hat and n95 mask, which always does the trip. At Narita airport, I see a man holding a sign that says “HanaLovesOtome” and I follow him to a town car that takes me two hours outside of Tokyo proper. It’s only when we pull off the main road, down a long skinny isolated one that I take off my disguise and breathe a sigh of relief that I managed not to attract the attention of any photographers or fans.

In my head I always saw Ikemen Inc. as a small developer, tucked away on a floor in a nondescript office building somewhere in Toyko.

The reality of their facilities surprised me, and we drove 15 minutes through dense woodland, past another small road with a sign indicating guest and employee parking - up to a manicured property where at the center was a sleek looking high rise. My driver stopped under the porte-cochere and helped me with my suitcases, triggering the mechanism for the large glass double doors to open which caught the attention of a man inside.

“Please, allow me to be of assistance,” he said, quickly grabbing the roller’s handles and helping me in to a spacious reception area. “I’m Roman and I run the resort division of Ikemen Inc.”

“Hana.”

There was something familiar about the way that Roman talked and the way he dressed that I couldn’t quite put my finger on as he introduced me to the woman at reception and made small talk about my trip. I engaged in the idle banter until the persistent feeling that I knew him from somewhere became so overwhelming that I finally found myself asking, “Have we met before?”

“Yes,” a female voice called out behind me.

I turned to see a girl, no older than 20 approaching us with a suitcase of her own. She wore the same expression that countless fans wore upon recognizing me as they rushed up to me and asked for a selfie except she was not looking at me, but at Roman.

“He’s Roman Hinton, from Ikemen’s Paradise Palace.”

“Ah, you’ve stayed with us in Paradise I assume?” Roman asked the girl smiling.

“Oh you have no idea,” she said dreamily, and it was then that I realized my wish of dating one of the men in my phone might come true.

That’s the end of my rough first chapter. Let me know if you want to know where we go from here and I might post more. Tagging @nitelotus since she asked to see it

#down the voltage rabbit hole #voltage fanfic #voltage games #voltage romance sims #voltage inc #mlqc #ikemen #ikemen sengoku

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nelmaheart · 4 years

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A Critical Analysis on the Novel “The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros

About the Author

Poet, novelist, essayist, short story writer, and children’s author Sandra Cisneros was born in Chicago, Illinois, the only daughter in a family with six sons. Her father was a Mexican who was very close to his family and her mother was an American-Mexican who lived most of her life in Chicago. During her childhood, the family moved often between Chicago and Mexico. Cisneros earned a BA at Loyola University of Chicago and an MFA at the University of Iowa.

Her writing frequently engages with the construction of feminist Latina identity, folding Spanish phrases into a hybrid, spiraling syntax that crosses languages as her characters shift between cultures. In an interview for the New York Times, Cisneros discussed the experience and power of shifting between cultures and languages, stating, "I'm a translator. I'm an amphibian. I can travel in both worlds. What I'm saying is very important for the Latino community, but it is also important for the white community to hear. What I'm saying in my writing is that we can be Latino and still be American."

Source: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/sandra-cisneros

Synopsis

The novel The House on Mango Street was written by a Mexican author whose name is Sandra Cisneros. The story is about Esperanza who is living in the House of Mango Street with her family. This story tells the description of the people residing in that place with different stories as described in different chapters of the novel. Herein, she connected each on in to her own life with her own perspective as to how she sees each of them. This story might be a novel but the chapter included herein are just short just giving the audience the glimpse of the lifestyle of people in that place. And because it is evident in the lifestyle of the people there that Mango Street is a poor place, Esperanza tries to escape from that place because she feels the place is not for her to live comfortable like how she has seen Lucy and Rachel who came from Texas, Esperanza is jealous with them. Along the course of the stories, there is an arousing desire of Esperanza to stay away that is why she goes along with others like of Sally and Alicia reason why she is molested by group of boys which made her more determined to get out of the place. At the end of the day, she is perceived by the aunts of Lucy and Rachel to be special and saved them for her to stay away from that place.

Analysis

The novel might be confusing at the first glance because there are a lot of chapters included inside the novel. However, in the whole course of the novel, this story gets interesting because the narrator who is Esperanza tries to intervene to each character to connect each scenario which made the novel more interesting. The following are analyses of the novel in anchor with claims by different authors in Comparative Literature:

A. The illustration of the House on Mango Street as symbol of Subalternity

Comparative Literature has tackled about the idea of being ‘Subaltern’. According to Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, subaltern refers to people who are poor or in a low state, women, soldier, peasants, slaves and the like. As quoted, she claims that ‘the subaltern has no history and cannot speak’. This concept is very present in the novel.

Esperanza and the rest of her family members living in The House of Mango Tree

If you are wondering why Esperanza wants to escape from the place, it is because the place is so poor. Herein, there is a representation that she and her family are said to be subaltern as evident in these lines:

“But the house on Mango Street is not the way they told it at all. It's small and red with tight steps in front and windows so small you'd think they were holding their breath. Bricks are crumbling in places, and the front door is so swollen you have to push hard to get in. There is no front yard, only four little elms the city planted by the curb.” This lines describe how poor the place of mango street is and the house itself.

Esperanza’s family is poor as well, that is why her mother and her father are dreaming to have a luxurious house which is very opposite to their state in the story. Here are the lines of the dream house of Esperanza’s parents, “Our house would be white with trees around it, a great big yard and grass growing without a fence. This was the house Papa talked about when he held a lottery ticket and this was the house Mama dreamed up in the stories she told us before we went to bed.”

Women Maltreated by Men

It is very evident in the story that there is a dominance of men to women. Women are also treated as subaltern because of the social position that women have which is very present in the story.

“Then we didn't need to worry. Until one day Sally's father catches her talking to a boy and the next day she doesn't come to school. And the next. Until the way Sally tells it, he just went crazy, he just forgot he was her father between the buckle and the belt. You're not my daughter, you're not my daughter. And then he broke into his hands.” This lines talk about Sally is hardly beaten by her own father even at first she did admit it.

Another evidence is not Minerva who married at a young age. She is innocent that is why, without her husband, she doesn’t know what to do. That is why in this line although her husband causes her many troubles in life, she still forgives her husband and that makes her martyr. “She has many troubles, but the big one is her husband who left and keeps leaving. One day she is through and lets him know enough is enough. Out the door he goes. Clothes, records, shoes. Out the window and the door locked. But that night he comes back and sends a big rock through the window. Then he is sorry and she opens the door again. Same story.”

B. Women’s common experiences

In relation to the first, analysis Women as Subalterns, this next analysis talks about the common struggle of women in the story. As being discussed in her claims, Chandra Talpade Monhanty describes women as sisters in struggle. These are women who are called to be postcolonial women. And since nationality Esperanza is Spanish, she belongs to women who are in the third world, these are the women being placed in the periphery and considered as the other.

Women who are victims of male violence.

This is evident to how Sally is being maltreated by her father in the story as presented in this lines, “Then we didn't need to worry. Until one day Sally's father catches her talking to a boy and the next day she doesn't come to school. And the next. Until the way Sally tells it, he just went crazy, he just forgot he was her father between the buckle and the belt.”

Another is when Esperanza being molested by group of men and her innocence is being abused by Sally her friend, “Sally Sally a hundred times. Why didn't you hear me when I called? Why didn't you tell them to leave me alone? The one who grabbed me by the arm, he wouldn't let me go. He said I love you, Spanish girl, I love you, and pressed his sour mouth to mine. Sally, make him stop. I couldn't make them go away. I couldn't do anything but cry. I don't remember. It was dark. I don't remember. I don't remember. Please don't make me tell it all.”

Women as Universal Dependent

This means that women are powerless and that they are dependent always to the men. One of the examples in the novel is Minerva whom husband is invisibly abusing her right as woman by just letting her take good care of the children and that herein, Minerva is illustrated as one who is too dependent to her husband that without him, she has nothing to do. One day she is through and lets him know enough is enough. “Out the door he goes. Clothes, records, shoes. Out the window and the door locked. But that night he comes back and sends a big rock through the window. Then he is sorry and she opens the door again. Same story. Next week she comes over black and blue and asks what can she do? Minerva. I don't know which way she'll go. There is nothing I can do.”

C. The concept of Hybridity being present in the novel

The fact that the setting of the story is at Chicago and Esperanza’s nationality is Spanish

Esperanza’s hybridity is shown when she and the rest of her family members came from different places to reside in. Now, the setting of the story is at Chicago but she is a Spanish is an evidence that she and her family are hybrids. As evident into these following lines:

“We didn't always live on Mango Street. Before that we lived on Loomis on the third floor, and before that we lived on Keeler. Before Keeler it was Paulina, and before that I can't remember. But what I remember most is moving a lot. Each time it seemed there'd be one more of us. By the time we got to Mango Street we were six-Mama, Papa, Carlos, Kiki, my sister Nenny and me.” (Chapter 1, Page 3)

“Then the colors began to whirl. Sky tipped. Their high black gym shoes ran. Sally, you lied, you lied. He. wouldn't let me go. He said I love you, I love you, Spanish girl.” (Chapter 39, Page 100)

The existence of Lucy and Rachel in the story is also a representation of Hybridity

“We come from Texas, Lucy says and grins. Her was born here, but me I'm Texas. You mean she, I say. No, I from Texas, and doesn't get it.” (Chapter 6, page 14) In the story, there is the illustration of the jealousy of Esperanza to kind of lifestyle they have. That is why Esperanza is trying to imitate them as seen that they are both beautiful.

And also, aside from Lucy and Rachel, there are other characters in the novel that illustrate hybridity because of different lifestyles Esperanza has described all throughout the novel.

D. Noticeable act to Emancipate

Emancipation means an act to escape from one’s culture to the other. This concept is first coined by France Fanon. He believes that the reason for someone’s emancipation is the lost of identify when a person is in a particular society. And emancipation is evident in the story and the most manifesting to the main character Esperanza. If you are going to integrate those of the ideas above, those are the reason why the main character wants to impasse.

Esperanza’s companionship with Lucy and Rachel; Esperanza being with Sally

This is anchored to the idea of emancipation because Esperanza wants to stay away from the kind of a lifestyle she has with Nenny and her family. That is why, being with Lucy and Rachel is such a relief for her and her envy to the both of them is an illustration of her trying to be like them, “Nenny and I don't look like sisters ... not right away. Not the way you can tell with Rachel and Lucy who have the same fat pop side lips like everybody else in their family. But me and Nenny, we are more alike than you would know. Our laughter for example. Not the shy ice cream bells' giggle of Rachel and Lucy’s family, but all of sudden and surprised like a pile of dishes breaking. And other things I can't explain.” (Chapter 7, Page 17)

“Sally, do you sometimes wish you didn't have to go home? Do you wish your feet would one day keep walking and take you far away from Mango Street, far away and maybe your feet would stop in front of a house, a nice one with flowers and big windows and steps for you to climb up two by two upstairs to where a room is waiting for you.” (Chapter 32, page 81)

Esperanza has finally decided to leave the Mango street

At the end of the story, Esperanza realizes that the Mango Street is a place which is always be part of her but will not be her. “One day I will pack my bags of books and paper. One day I will say goodbye to Mango. I am too strong for her to keep me here forever. One day I will go away. Friends and neighbors will say, What happened to that Esperanza? Where did she go with all those books and paper? Why did she march so far away? They will not know I have gone away to come back. For the ones I left behind. For the ones who cannot out.” (Chapter 43, Page 110) . And that she is dedicated to leave the place because the place brought her so much pain and that she does not want to be there anymore.

Even if it is hard. If a thing does not make us happy anymore, then let go.

#TheHouseOnMangoStreet

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coinretreat · 4 years

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Book Review – CoinGecko’s ‘How to DeFi’

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) is certainly the buzz-phrase in the cryptocurrency world right now. But although we are hearing more and more about the potential of this technological breakthrough to revolutionize the world of traditional finance, many are still unsure of what DeFi actually involves.

CoinGecko has just released its very first book, called ‘How to DeFi’. This book aims to provide an easy entry point for those wanting to learn about the subject.

Why to DeFi

After an obligatory slew of quotes from industry figures, recommending the book as the ideal starting point from which to enter the world of DeFi, we get straight into why it matters.

With over $1 billion worth of assets locked into the DeFi ecosystem it is currently one of the fastest growing sectors in the cryptocurrency space. The most radical change that it promises to bring is the removal of a need for centralized institutions to control the financial system.

The three areas in which DeFi currently aims to improve on centralized banking structures are cost and speed of remittance payments, providing financial services without censorship (including to the 1.7 billion global unbanked), and transparency of governance.

After explaining what DeFi is, the book lists the categories of financial service currently available through it. From stablecoins, lending and borrowing, through exchanges, derivatives and fund management, to lotteries, payments and insurance, every aspect of the current DeFi ecosystem is covered.

How to DeFi

Part Two of the book explains the workings of the Ethereum network, as the most popular platform for DeFi applications. Smart contracts, Ether, and Gas are explained, before looking at the pros and cons of decentralized apps (Dapps).

Finally, different wallet types are compared, with a step-by-step walkthrough of getting up and running on both mobile wallet Argent, and Metamask for desktop. All that done, we move on to Part Three, the deep dive.

Each of the aforementioned categories of DeFi service are given a full chapter, focussing on one or two key providers in each case. We learn about stablecoins through the example of the MakerDAO platform, Compound is used to illustrate loans, decentralized exchanges (DEx) are explained using Uniswap and dYdX, and so on.

Each chapter gives an overview of the services available, with diagrams helping to explain some of the trickier concepts. It then explains how the service works on the chosen example platform, along with a step-by-step guide for those who feel compelled to jump straight in.

The target audience of the book is DeFi beginners, so some of the finer details of the chosen platforms are left out, but the level is generally pitched about right. Does a DeFi novice, for example, really need to know the intricacies of the Maker Protocol’s incentive scheme, or is the fact that it is soft-pegged to the dollar knowledge enough?

Whether to read

While the earlier chapters do a great job of leading a beginner into the world of DeFi, with a wealth of explanations and diagrams, later chapters seem to assume some existing knowledge of the subject.

For example, the chapters on derivatives and fund management will be more useful to those who already understand these concepts in traditional finance. Although, it is perhaps wise not to encourage a beginner to let loose with leveraged derivatives trading, so that may not be a bad thing.

The final challenge was the ‘Dad test’; i.e. could my father, a man in his seventies with only a very basic knowledge of cryptocurrency, gain a reasonable understanding of DeFi, simply through reading this book? I received this message when he was around 50 pages in:

“… although I don’t understand everything I have enjoyed reading it. It is written in a very easy style that I think most people who are interested in the subject would be able to follow.”

Of course, my dad isn’t exactly the book’s target audience, but he still found the information accessible, and felt that someone with a greater background knowledge of cryptocurrency would get more from it. He also liked the step-by-step walkthroughs showing how to perform certain functions on the platforms featured.

The book is certainly well written and thoroughly researched, with links to references used, suggested further reading, and a glossary of terms at the very end.

The post Book Review – CoinGecko’s ‘How to DeFi’ appeared first on CoinRetreat.

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coinfirst · 4 years

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Book Review – CoinGecko’s ‘How to DeFi’

CoinGecko has just released its very first book, called ‘How to DeFi’. This book aims to provide an easy entry point for those wanting to learn about the subject.

Why to DeFi

After an obligatory slew of quotes from industry figures, recommending the book as the ideal starting point from which to enter the world of DeFi, we get straight into why it matters.

How to DeFi

Whether to read

“… although I don’t understand everything I have enjoyed reading it. It is written in a very easy style that I think most people who are interested in the subject would be able to follow.”

The book is certainly well written and thoroughly researched, with links to references used, suggested further reading, and a glossary of terms at the very end.

The post Book Review – CoinGecko’s ‘How to DeFi’ appeared first on Coin First.

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noisyunknownturtle · 4 years

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Book Review – CoinGecko’s ‘How to DeFi’

CoinGecko has just released its very first book, called ‘How to DeFi’. This book aims to provide an easy entry point for those wanting to learn about the subject.

Why to DeFi

After an obligatory slew of quotes from industry figures, recommending the book as the ideal starting point from which to enter the world of DeFi, we get straight into why it matters.

How to DeFi

Whether to read

“… although I don’t understand everything I have enjoyed reading it. It is written in a very easy style that I think most people who are interested in the subject would be able to follow.”

The book is certainly well written and thoroughly researched, with links to references used, suggested further reading, and a glossary of terms at the very end.

The post Book Review – CoinGecko’s ‘How to DeFi’ appeared first on For Crypto.

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cryptowavesxyz · 4 years

Text

Book Review – CoinGecko’s ‘How to DeFi’

CoinGecko has just released its very first book, called ‘How to DeFi’. This book aims to provide an easy entry point for those wanting to learn about the subject.

Why to DeFi

After an obligatory slew of quotes from industry figures, recommending the book as the ideal starting point from which to enter the world of DeFi, we get straight into why it matters.

How to DeFi

Whether to read

“… although I don’t understand everything I have enjoyed reading it. It is written in a very easy style that I think most people who are interested in the subject would be able to follow.”

The book is certainly well written and thoroughly researched, with links to references used, suggested further reading, and a glossary of terms at the very end.

The post Book Review – CoinGecko’s ‘How to DeFi’ appeared first on Crypto Waves.

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angryconnoisseurface · 4 years

Text

Book Review – CoinGecko’s ‘How to DeFi’

CoinGecko has just released its very first book, called ‘How to DeFi’. This book aims to provide an easy entry point for those wanting to learn about the subject.

Why to DeFi

After an obligatory slew of quotes from industry figures, recommending the book as the ideal starting point from which to enter the world of DeFi, we get straight into why it matters.

How to DeFi

Whether to read

“… although I don’t understand everything I have enjoyed reading it. It is written in a very easy style that I think most people who are interested in the subject would be able to follow.”

The book is certainly well written and thoroughly researched, with links to references used, suggested further reading, and a glossary of terms at the very end.

The post Book Review – CoinGecko’s ‘How to DeFi’ appeared first on Tip Crypto.

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williamemcknight · 7 years

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The grass is greener where new public artwork can be found

A stunning new outdoor art installation has been created for the Attenborough Arts Centre at the University of Leicester. Artist Graham Ensor has used mown grass to imprint Leicester’s industrial past into its natural landscape, with an artwork created in the city’s Abbey Park for the public to appreciate and enjoy.

The installation ‘Indus Tree – revolution’ forms part of ‘Leicester: Memories of Industry’, two new exhibitions by the Attenborough Arts Centre, the University of Leicester’s arts centre, from 10 June to 20 August that explores the influence of Leicester’s industrial legacy on its urban and natural landscapes.

Graham’s mown installation takes systems and patterns from industries historically associated with Leicester such as textile designs, formal garden knot garden forms and mechanical shapes, and marries them together in a circular form. The circle is a theme that runs throughout the project, symbolising the cyclic and repetitive nature connecting ‘People, Pattern and Process’.

Graham said: “The piece will evolve as the summer progresses and as I tend to it. Some areas I may let grow and other shapes may be added. The project finishes in August at which point the design will be left to fade away and recorded as nature and the park management reclaims it.

“The work began by collecting and researching designs and patterns relating to parks, industry and observing similar in the museum objects we chose to use for the show in county and city stores. The designs were then worked up in various forms using Photoshop and Illustrator to use in graphics and vinyls for the exhibition and for one final version that was commissioned for the Abbey Park to tie in with the EXPO 72 industrial exhibition, a major celebration of industry and science held at Abbey Park in 1972.

“I then begin simply with sticks and strings measuring and marking out the design with line marking paint to scale it up. Some parts involve the use of repeat large stencils. Finally the design is drawn out and mown using a garden strimmer.

“I always hope that the public can enjoy the work on various levels, simply as a decorative garden design that can be explored or indeed used by children to run around and play in, or read into it more deeply by studying the interaction of the designs and thinking about their origins or connections with history.

“In most of my work I like to try and blur the boundaries between fine art, design, craft and the other arts or to make pieces that ask what art is and if what might be seen at first as pure decoration can have a much deeper meaning. Above all I enjoy seeing people smile at my work.”

Graham took his inspiration from the work of other land artists such as Richard Long and Andy Goldsworthy. He has previously worked on many pieces drawn in the snow and mown at botanic gardens and parks, plus the National Trust’s Calke Abbey, all of which were site-specific pieces bringing together systems and patterns from the natural landscape and manmade environment. His work as a garden designer in the early days also informed the works.

Graham added: “The idea of mowing in the grass came from working as a garden designer in my early career with some inspiration from seeing how other land artists rework the landscape. It is also a way of working I have developed as an alternative way of creating works since recovering from a head injury which caused me to give up lecturing in Art and Design. I used to work on very detailed small drawn and painted works that were much more figurative and the injury affected some perceptual skills making it difficult to continue.

“Through the help of the skilled staff and friends at the Attenborough Arts Centre I have been able to find new ways of working, such as the mowing, layering processes and assemblages that allow me to still explore the arts.”

‘Leicester: Memories of Industry’ comprises two new exhibitions to mark the 20th anniversary of Attenborough Arts Centre, which explore the influence of Leicester’s industrial legacy on its urban and natural landscapes. The exhibitions have been developed by g8artists Diane E Hall, Graham Ensor and Robert Thacker, alongside sound and visual artist Lucy Stevens. The artists were supported with a grant from Arts Council England to produce new commissions for the exhibition. Collectively, their work will aim to reflect the cyclic nature of the landscape, from industrial use to the reestablishment of the natural environment.

In Gallery 1, People, Pattern and Process brings together seldom seen artefacts and contemporary art work in unexpected ways, provoking interaction between science, technology, philosophy and art.

In Gallery 2 Park Life Hall, Ensor, Thacker and Stevens present a collection of objects relating to the history of Leicester’s green urban spaces. Inspired by Leicester EXPO 72, a major celebration of industry and science held at Abbey Park in 1972, the display draws connections between the development of the city’s parks and the industries that funded them.

Councillor Piara Singh Clair, Assistant City Mayor for Culture, Leisure and Sport, said: “This exhibit links with our Heritage Lottery-funded Story of Parks project, which celebrates the important role that our city’s parks have played in the lives of Leicester people for generations. This collaborative exhibition is an opportunity to explore another fascinating chapter in this history.”

More information on Graham Ensor’s work can be found at: http://www.g8artists.co.uk/gallery/section.asp?section=graham+ensor_0017

And on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/g8artists-1530546090536626/

Find out more about the Attenborough Arts Centre: www.attenborougharts.com

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