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stayarmytinyzenmoa-l · 3 years

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TW: Ouija Board Use, Disturbing Topics, Ghost Mentions, Possession Mention, Talks about the Sixth Sense, Blood Mention, Suicide Mention

**Don’t read this if you’re easily scared**

There’s this thing that I just can’t get out of my head.

I figured that if I shared it maybe the nagging thought would leave me alone, so I’m writing this here to account it with that hope.

Last night I was watching a horror movie with my sister and her girlfriend and it just reminded me of someone that I knew back when I first started Uni.

But first full disclaimer here, I was never really close to this person, we had just met in my English class because we sat next to each other and had a couple of group work assignments together, but that was it. I’ll only talk about my experiences while I was with this girl, we’ll call her B for the sake of this recounting. And yes, this actually happened, but as you should with anything you read off of the internet, take it with a grain of salt because even I don’t know if I’m recounting everything perfectly, it happened a couple of years ago now and I’m trying to remember them as I write this.

I’m a very superstitious person, also. I totally buy into that bad luck stuff about ladders and mirrors, but my belief stems from I simply don’t want to try it if it ends up being true. That and from my Filipino descent I have many relatives who are superstitious also, not to mention the sixth sense runs in both sides of my family and is floating around somewhere in my generation so I don’t want to suddenly awaken that shit, no way (I’ll include a bit explaining that at the end of this post if you’re curious). Hell, I’m so superstitious that I won’t watch certain movies that deal with summoning entities just in case, or at least, I won’t watch them at home. But onto the story.

Anyway, the movie we were watching mentioned a Ouija board once or twice, which is what reminded me of my classmate, and it just sent chills down my spine and I’m still thinking about this even now because, my god, I am certain that she was possessed by something.

If you don’t know what a Ouija board it, let me crash course you. Essentially it is a tool to communicate with otherworldly creatures. Its a board with letters, numbers, and a yes/no option, and you hold on to the planchet (which is a huge triangle with a magnifying glass in the middle) and theoretically the spirit you contact will move it around to respond to your inquiries. However, this is not always the case, the board serves as a portal, and it is very rare that the entity you are trying to contact is actually the one interacting with you, and such it is considered a profane object. Once you bring it into your home alone you open your home to immense amounts of negative energy and it is now somewhat of an area of thin protection in which otherworldly entities can walk in and out of.

Basically, don’t fuck with them.

Now B is a huge occult fan, she loves the stuff, has read books on it and everything but, go figure, she’s a religious studies major and she wanted to specify in more occult practices, and with that you’d think she’d know never to dabble in those things, but I think her choice of major stemmed from a different kind of fascination in it. I think her thing was that she wanted to see if this occult stuff was real, I think she was a true skeptic and she just got a kick out of playing dangerous games and inviting dangerous creatures. I remember being appalled when she recounted her experience playing the dangerous game known as the [Midnight Game], which still gives me nightmares to this day. Either way, it would be an understatement for me to say that I wasn’t worried about her.

One day around week 8 of the quarter, meaning we were finishing up the quarter and starting to study for finals, while we were working together in class, she brought up to me and the other two group members (C and D for simplicity and anonymity) that she recently purchased a ouija board. And I immediately voiced my concern.

“You’ve already fucked with spirits before in the Midnight Game and [Dry Bones], are you trying to piss them off even more?” I was genuinely worried about her.

“Come on, Crys, they’re not real.” She insisted that towards me, but me and C made eye contact, both of us being Filipino and highly superstitious, we warned her again to give it back to where she got it from but she refused.

“What are you going to talk to anyway, B?” D asks her.

“Dunno, maybe I’ll talk to my granddad.”

“Or you could open your apartment to a poltergeist who will possess you and kill you slowly,” I said with a half joking tone, or at least that’s how I intended it to be.

“If you’re going to be so uptight about it then ignore me, Crys. It’s just a game,” she scoffs.

“Sure, yeah, I just think it’s smarter not to try anything. You’re already walking around with a target on your back because of the other games you’ve played, I’m just worried that something bad will happen to you this time. They come in threes, B,” I continued on. I didn’t know if it was fear for her or for me.

Needless to say she didn’t show up the next class. Me, C, and D just brushed this off as maybe she decided to skip class, which she had done many times before, and didn’t think much more of it. Of course I was still worried, I had a feeling that it had something to do with the board, but she looked really pissed when I brought it up to her so I didn’t want to overstep more than I already did.

But when she didn’t show up for the next week’s worth of classes, that’s when we really got concerned. We asked my professor about it just in case she just dropped the class and didn’t tell us, but no, she was still on the roster. So we decided to pay her a visit and make sure everything was alright.

Now we knew where she lived, it was an off campus apartment a couple of blocks away from school so it was an easy walk, and we had been there a handful of times already for group work. It was a relatively new apartment she had moved into before school started and, to our knowledge, she hadn’t tried anything there yet up until the board. But when I stood outside of her door, something just felt off. The air felt still, and something just wasn’t right. I knocked on the door and nothing. No shuffling, no movement, we thought she wasn’t home. But right when we turned to leave, the door opened.

Now B looked horrible. Her cheeks were sunken in and the bags under her eyes were more than just concerning.

“Hey, are you okay?” D asks her.

“I just have the flu,” B responds. Her voice was hoarse.

Now here is where I am conflicted. As you all know, I’m a premed student, and as you now know I am superstitious to a fault. My rational side says “ah, I get it now” but my superstitious one told me to call a priest. Like yes, the flu can do this to you, but it’s been a week.

Either way we’re backing away from the door. She opens it wider, as if to let us in, and when I tell you the apartment looked unrecognizable, I mean it. It looked nearly unlivable actually. I swear there was probably something alive hiding under the piles of pizza boxes and clothes. And this really concerned us because we knew B to be a very clean person, she always was throughout the quarter and would even reprimand C for being so messy himself, so the change was very jarring for us.

“You can come in if you want,” she says. “I haven’t been upholding my end of the group project.”

“No, it’s fine,” I declined for the group.

“I insist.”

“You have the flu, we could catch it.”

“You won’t, I know you’re all careful,” she says. Keep in mind, C and I are premed and D is accounting.

“We just wanted to check in on you,” D steps in now, seeing that I’m uncomfortable.

“Then why did you come all the way here and bother me?” She snapped. We were taken aback and she just shook her head. “Forget it, I’ll be fine by the presentation date. Just email me what I have to do.” Then she closed the door and was gone.

She never came back to class, and I learned later from another person in our class, who I’m assuming she was close with, that she dropped out of uni altogether. She never really told us either, so we had to rush to finish her part of the project, which was horrific, but that’s besides the point.

It’s just... this superstitious nature of mine typically gets in the way of a lot of things I choose to do. It’s always the first thing I put into consideration. And it’s a bit strange considering how... bad of a Catholic I am. Either way it’s just terrifying. Maybe I’m just more hyper aware of it because of how “close” I am to otherworldly things. I have cousins who’ve played games like [The Hosting Game] or [Lady Spades]. So I can sometimes feel things when they’re not right, then of course there’s the whole sixth sense running in both sides of my family thing so there’s that too. I don’t know, the whole thing just rubbed me wrong and still does to this day. I guess I’m more afraid of these negative energies reflecting back on me somehow, who knows?

I don’t know, maybe this was just me vastly overthinking things, maybe I’m just being paranoid, but something just didn’t sit right with me with that last exchange we had, who knows? The movie I watched last night just reminded me of her so much and I started getting worried again, I just hope she’s alright.

As for the promised bit about the sixth sense running in my family, here’s an abridged version from what I’ve learned:

On my mother’s side, it skips generations (therefore it is in my generation). The most notable one with this sense currently is my Uncle, who can see the auras of spirits (white for passive ones, red for aggressive ones, etc.) he’s helped other family members and extended members for many things involving these. There’s a certain term for him, actually, in the Philippines that is. He’s definitely not a shaman, no way, but the term escapes me for now. But it stemmed far back in our family’s lineage when we did have shamans and albularyos (witch doctors), if you looked up my mother’s maiden name in the Philippines you’ll even find an extensive history behind them (Obviously I won’t share that, but they were a very prominent Clan throughout the Philippines and still are in some islands). They have a history of communicating with enkantos (which are environmental spirits), the strongest one in our family to date being my great-great grandfather. I also have a cousin who sees spirits as they died, like if they happened to jump off of a tall building (and I’ll spare you the details because the aftermath is bloody) he will see them like that, it was so bad that he even went to the best therapists in the UK to treat it, but something like that isn’t exactly... treatable. So there’s that.

On my father’s side it’s a bit more muddled. We don’t understand the pattern it’s in, we just know that some people have it and most don’t. And if anything, it’s more of a curse. In every generation there has been someone who’s literally gotten possessed (one of my aunt’s did in the Philippines, she got possessed by a duwende I think? I’ll have to ask again). Haven’t had a possession yet in my generation (and no that’s not an invitation), but we’ve had hauntings many a time that my previously mentioned uncle helped us out with. There’s also a spirit who appears to every male who carries the name, and apparently when she is seen said male should not travel anywhere, some cases being my grandfather’s usual transit bus which drove off a cliff, my dad’s brother’s motorcycle combusting, etc. Whatever is going on in my dad’s side likely got passed down to me so I’m being extra careful.

TL;DR: I’m very superstitious because of the shit that has happened on both sides of my family and that probably fed into my fear for B.

Anyway, if you guys want scary stories, trust me, I’ve got scary stories.

#crys talks #personal

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lostsummerdayz · 5 years

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The Sega Dreamcast is almost old enough to drink

An introspection of one’s childhood memory as we celebrate the fabled console’s twentieth anniversary.

September 9th, 1999

The four nines was a date that was met with great anticipation. Not only would it be the last date where we would see such a phenom in the 20th century with 8/8/88 before it, but it marked a date that would go down in gaming history.

It was the launch day of the Sega Dreamcast in North America.

Today marks the twentieth anniversary of Sega's final console. "It's always thinking," was the catchphrase for the console and it left many thinking about the console for years after its discontinuation. While it was Sega's Swan Song, the console gave many young gamers a glimpse into the future at the time.

I’m not here to give a history lesson on the Dreamcast however. I’m here to give my personal experiences with the console as it has been an immense part of my childhood.

My first experience with the console was at a Halloween party that my neighbors were hosting. In one of the rooms, the older kids were gathered around taking turns playing Sonic Adventure. I was six at the time, so I had to watch as the older kids took priority. When it came time for my turn, I'll never forget my jaw dropping when I saw Speed Highway for the first time.

For comparison’s sake, I was playing Crash Bandicoot 3 almost religiously on my Playstation. To compare the graphics and what you were able to do between the two games was unprecedented. I didn’t know the meaning of “generational consoles” so I wasn’t aware that the Sega Dreamcast was the first of the next gen consoles. I didn’t care either. I was enamored from first sight.

Fast forward to later that year on Christmas. My uncle had taken me to his apartment and seeing my cousins for the first time in a while, I was gifted a surprise. Wouldn’t you know it was my very own Sega Dreamcast! Bundled with it was a copy of NBA 2K.

Back in the days when Iverson was on the cover of every single 2K. Good times.

Yes, the very first original NBA 2K. To say that the 2K series had come a LONG way from it’s humble beginnings is an understatement to say the least.

What also came bundled with my Dreamcast was a demo disc. I’ll never forget it. It was the Dreamcast Generator Vol 1 Sampler, which was a bunch of game demos and trailers for current and upcoming releases. It was a great way for me to play many titles that I would have otherwise missed under my radar.

Titles such as Power Stone, the aforementioned Sonic Adventure, House of the Dead 2, and I even recall a fishing game on there. All of these games, some of which I would eventually own, further emphasized how vastly ahead of its time the Dreamcast was in my now-seven-year-old eyes.

Credit: ebay, where you can find a lot of these demo discs and many others. Demo discs that came bundled with Dreamcast magazines were also how I found out about most of the games I’d eventually play.

Unfortunately, my original Dreamcast had long since kicked the bucket, but the memories that the console gave to me are those that will live on for they played a huge part in making me the gamer I am today.

So, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the North American release of the Dreamcast, I’ll post a game each day that I remember having the most fond memories of. I cannot promise I won’t run out of games to reminisce on until the end of September, but, whichever comes first. Expect the first game tonight!

To this anniversary and many more, we’re still dreaming even as adults.

Written by Nay Holland

Remember when games came with PC wallpapers if you insert the disk in your PC’s CD drive? I had wallpapers for months!

#sega dreamcast #dreamcast #gaming journalism #journalist #video game

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beyondthecosmicvoid · 5 years

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Afterword of First Book of Dune, "Dune"

“I knew Frank Herbert for more than thirty-eight years. He was a magnificent human being, a man of great honor and distinction, and the most interesting person at any gathering, drawing listeners around him like a magnet. To say he was an intellectual giant would be an understatement, since he seemed to contain all of the knowledge of the universe in his marvelous mind. He was my father, and I loved him deeply. Nonetheless, a son’s journey to understand the legendary author was not always a smooth one, as I described in my biography of him, Dreamer of Dune. Growing up in Frank Herbert’s household, I did not understand his need for absolute silence so that he could concentrate, the intense desire he had to complete his important writing projects, or the confidence he had that one day his writing would be a success, despite the steady stream of rejections that he received. To my young eyes, the characters he created in Dune and his other stories were the children of his mind, and they competed with me for his affections. In the years it took him to write his magnum opus, he spent more time with Paul Atreides than he did with me. Dad’s study was off-limits to me, to my sister Penny, and to my brother Bruce. In those days, only my mother Beverly really understood Dad’s complexities. Ultimately, it was through her love for him, and the love he gave back to her, that I came to see the nurturing, loving side of the man. By that time I was in my mid-twenties, having rebelled against his exacting ways for years. When I finally saw the soul of my father and began to appreciate him for the care he gave my mother when she was terminally ill, he and I became the best of friends. He helped me with my own writing career by showing me what editors wanted to see in books; he taught me how to construct interesting characters, how to build suspense, how to keep readers turning the pages. After perusing an early draft of Sidney’s Comet (which would become my first published novel), he marked up several pages and then wrote me this note: “These pages…show how editing tightens the story. Go now and do likewise.” It was his way of telling me that he could open the door for me and let me peek through, but I would have to complete the immense labors involved with writing myself. Beverly Herbert was the window into Frank Herbert’s soul. He shared that reality with millions of readers when he wrote a loving, three-page tribute to her at the end of Chapterhouse: Dune, describing their life together. His writing companion and intellectual equal, she suggested the title for that book, and she died in 1984 while he was writing it. Earlier in Dune, Frank Herbert had modeled Lady Jessica Atreides after Beverly Herbert, with her dignified, gentle ways of influence, and even her prescient abilities, which my mother actually possessed. He also wrote of “Lady Jessica’s latent (prophetic) abilities,” and in this he was describing my mother, thinking of all the amazing paranormal feats she had accomplished in her lifetime. In an endearing tone, he often referred to her as his “white witch,” or good witch. Similarly, throughout the Dune series, he described the heroic Bene Gesserit women as “witches.” Dune is the most admired science fiction novel ever written and has sold tens of millions of copies all over the world, in more than twenty languages. It is to science fiction what the Lord of the Rings trilogy is to fantasy, the most highly regarded, respected works in their respective genres. Of course, Dune is not just science fiction. It includes strong elements of fantasy and contains so many important layers beneath the story line that it has become a mainstream classic. As one dimension of this, just look at the cover on the book in your hands, the quiet dignity expressed in the artwork. The novel was first published in hardcover in 1965 by Chilton Books, best known for their immense auto-repair novels. No other publisher would touch the book, in part because of the length of the manuscript. They felt it was far too long at 215,000 words, when most novels of the day were only a quarter to a third that length. Dune would require immense printing costs and a high hardcover price for the time, in excess of five dollars. No science fiction novel had ever commanded a retail price that high. Publishers also expressed concern about the complexity of the novel and all of the new, exotic words that the author introduced in the beginning, which tended to slow the story down. One editor said that he could not get through the first hundred pages without becoming confused and irritated. Another said that he might be making a huge mistake in turning the book down, but he did so anyway. Initial sales of the book were slow, but Frank Herbert’s science fiction–writing peers and readers recognized the genius of the work from the beginning, awarding it the coveted Nebula and Hugo awards for best novel of the year. It was featured in The Whole Earth Catalog and began to receive excellent reviews, including one from the New York Times. A groundswell of support was building. In 1969, Frank Herbert published the first sequel, Dune Messiah, in which he warned about the dangers of following a charismatic leader and showed the dark side of Paul Atreides. Many fans didn’t understand this message, because they didn’t want to see their superhero brought down from his pedestal. Still, the book sold well, and so did its predecessor. Looking back at Dune, it is clear that Dad laid the seeds of the troublesome direction he intended to take with his hero, but a lot of readers didn’t want to see it. John W. Campbell, the editor of Analog who made many useful suggestions when Dune was being serialized, did not like Dune Messiah because of this Paul Atreides issue. Having studied politics carefully, my father believed that heroes made mistakes…mistakes that were simplified by the number of people who followed such leaders slavishly. In a foreshadowing epigraph, Frank Herbert wrote in Dune: “Remember, we speak now of the Muad’Dib who ordered battle drums made from his enemies’ skins, the Muad’Dib who denied the conventions of his ducal past with a wave of the hand, saying merely: ‘I am the Kwisatz Haderach. That is reason enough.’” And in a dramatic scene, as Liet-Kynes lay dying in the desert, he remembered the long-ago words of his own father: “No more terrible disaster could befall your people than for them to fall into the hands of a Hero.” By the early 1970s, sales of Dune began to accelerate, largely because the novel was heralded as an environmental handbook, warning about the dangers of destroying the Earth’s finite resources. Frank Herbert spoke to more than 30,000 people at the first Earth Day in Philadelphia, and he toured the country, speaking to enthusiastic college audiences. The environmental movement was sweeping the nation, and Dad rode the crest of the wave, a breathtaking trip. When he published Children of Dune in 1976, it became a runaway bestseller, hitting every important list in the country. Children of Dune was the first science fiction novel to become a New York Times bestseller in both hardcover and paperback, and sales reached into the millions. After that, other science fiction writers began to have their own bestsellers, but Frank Herbert was the first to obtain such a high level of readership; he brought science fiction out of the ghetto of literature. By 1979, Dune itself had sold more than 10 million copies, and sales kept climbing. In early 1985, shortly after David Lynch’s movie Dune was released, the paperback version of the novel reached #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. This was a phenomenal accomplishment, occurring twenty years after its first publication, and sales remain brisk today. * * * In 1957, Dad flew to the Oregon coast to write a magazine article about a U.S. Department of Agriculture project there, in which the government had successfully planted poverty grasses on the crests of sand dunes, to keep them from inundating highways. He intended to call the article “They Stopped the Moving Sands,” but soon realized that he had a much bigger story on his hands. Frank Herbert’s life experiences are layered into the pages of the Dune series, combined with an eclectic assortment of fascinating ideas that sprang from his researches. Among other things, the Dune universe is a spiritual melting pot, a far future in which religious beliefs have combined into interesting forms. Discerning readers will recognize Buddhism, Sufi Mysticism and other Islamic belief systems, Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism, and Hinduism. In the San Francisco Bay Area, my father even knew Zen Master Alan Watts, who lived on an old ferryboat. Dad drew on a variety of religious influences, without adhering to any one of them. Consistent with this, the stated purpose of the Commission of Ecumenical Translators, as described in an appendix to Dune, was to eliminate arguments between religions, each of which claimed to have “the one and only revelation.” When he was a boy, eight of Dad’s Irish Catholic aunts tried to force Catholicism on him, but he resisted. Instead, this became the genesis of the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood. This fictional organization would claim it did not believe in organized religion, but the sisters were spiritual nonetheless. Both my father and mother were like that as well. During the 1950s, Frank Herbert was a political speechwriter and publicity writer for U.S. senatorial and congressional candidates. In that decade, he also journeyed twice to Mexico with his family, where he studied desert conditions and crop cycles, and was subjected unwittingly to the effects of a hallucinogenic drug. All of those experiences, and a great deal from his childhood, found their way onto the pages of Dune. The novel became as complex and multilayered as Frank Herbert himself. As I said in Dreamer of Dune, the characters in Dune fit mythological archetypes. Paul is the hero prince on a quest who weds the daughter of a “king” (he marries Princess Irulan, whose father is the Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV). Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam is a witch mother archetype, while Paul’s sister Alia is a virgin witch, and Pardot Kynes is the wise old man of Dune mythology. Beast Rabban Harkonnen, though evil and aggressive, is essentially a fool. For the names of heroes, Frank Herbert selected from Greek mythology and other mythological bases. The Greek House Atreus, upon which House Atreides in Dune was based, was the ill-fated family of kings Menelaus and Agamemnon. A heroic family, it was beset by tragic flaws and burdened with a curse pronounced against it by Thyestes. This foreshadows the troubles Frank Herbert had in mind for the Atreides family. The evil Harkonnens of Dune are related to the Atreides by blood, so when they assassinate Paul’s father Duke Leto, it is kinsmen against kinsmen, similar to what occurred in the household of Agamemnon when he was murdered by his wife Clytemnestra. Dune is a modern-day conglomeration of familiar myths, a tale in which great sandworms guard a precious treasure of melange, the geriatric spice that represents, among other things, the finite resource of oil. The planet Arrakis features immense, ferocious worms that are like dragons of lore, with “great teeth” and a “bellows breath of cinnamon.” This resembles the myth described by an unknown English poet in Beowulf, the compelling tale of a fearsome fire dragon who guarded a great treasure hoard in a lair under cliffs, at the edge of the sea. The desert of Frank Herbert’s classic novel is a vast ocean of sand, with giant worms diving into the depths, the mysterious and unrevealed domain of Shai-hulud. Dune tops are like the crests of waves, and there are powerful sandstorms out there, creating extreme danger. On Arrakis, life is said to emanate from the Maker (Shai-hulud) in the desert-sea; similarly all life on Earth is believed to have evolved from our oceans. Frank Herbert drew parallels, used spectacular metaphors, and extrapolated present conditions into world systems that seem entirely alien at first blush. But close examination reveals they aren’t so different from systems we know…and the book characters of his imagination are not so different from people familiar to us. Paul Atreides (who is the messianic “Muad’Dib” to the Fremen) resembles Lawrence of Arabia (T. E. Lawrence), a British citizen who led Arab forces in a successful desert revolt against the Turks during World War I. Lawrence employed guerrilla tactics to destroy enemy forces and communication lines, and came close to becoming a messiah figure for the Arabs. This historical event led Frank Herbert to consider the possibility of an outsider leading native forces against the morally corrupt occupiers of a desert world, in the process becoming a godlike figure to them. One time I asked my father if he identified with any of the characters in his stories, and to my surprise he said it was Stilgar, the rugged leader of the Fremen. I had been thinking of Dad more as the dignified, honorable Duke Leto, or the heroic, swashbuckling Paul, or the loyal Duncan Idaho. Mulling this over, I realized Stilgar was the equivalent of a Native American chief in Dune—a person who represented and defended time-honored ways that did not harm the ecology of the planet. Frank Herbert was that, and a great deal more. As a child, he had known a Native American who hinted that he had been banished from his tribe, a man named Indian Henry who taught my father some of the ways of his people, including fishing, the identification of edible and medicinal plants in the forest, and how to find red ants and protein-rich grub worms for food. When he set up the desert planet of Arrakis and the galactic empire encompassing it, Frank Herbert pitted western culture against primitive culture and gave the nod to the latter. In Dune he wrote, “Polish comes from the cities; wisdom from the desert.” (Later, in his mainstream novel Soul Catcher, he would do something similar and would favor old ways over modern ways). Like the nomadic Bedouins of the Arabian plateau, the Fremen live an admirable, isolated existence, separated from civilization by vast stretches of desert. The Fremen take psychedelic drugs during religious rites, like the Navajo Indians of North America. And like the Jews, the Fremen have been persecuted, driven to hide from authorities and survive away from their homeland. Both Jews and Fremen expect to be led to the promised land by a messiah. The words and names in Dune are from many tongues, including Navajo, Latin, Chakobsa (a language found in the Caucasus), the Nahuatl dialect of the Aztecs, Greek, Persian, East Indian, Russian, Turkish, Finnish, Old English, and, of course, Arabic. In Children of Dune, Leto II allowed sandtrout to attach themselves to his body, and this was based in part upon my father’s own experiences as a boy growing up in Washington State, when he rolled up his trousers and waded into a stream or lake, permitting leeches to attach themselves to his legs. The legendary life of the divine superhero Muad’Dib is based on themes found in a variety of religious faiths. Frank Herbert even used lore and bits of information from the people of the Gobi Desert in Asia, the Kalahari Desert in Southwest Africa, and the aborigines of the Australian Outback. For centuries such people have survived on very small amounts of water, in environments where water is a more precious resource than gold. The Butlerian Jihad, occurring ten thousand years before the events described in Dune, was a war against thinking machines who at one time had cruelly enslaved humans. For this reason, computers were eventually made illegal by humans, as decreed in the Orange Catholic Bible: “Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind.” The roots of the jihad went back to individuals my parents knew, to my mother’s grandfather Cooper Landis and to our family friend Ralph Slattery, both of whom abhorred machines. Still, there are computers in the Dune universe, long after the jihad. As the series unfolds, it is revealed that the Bene Gesserits have secret computers to keep track of their breeding records. And the Mentats of Dune, capable of supreme logic, are “human computers.” In large part these human calculators were based upon my father’s paternal grandmother, Mary Stanley, an illiterate Kentucky hill-woman who performed incredible mathematical calculations in her head. Mentats were the precursors of Star Trek’s Spock, First Officer of the starship Enterprise…and Frank Herbert described the dangers of thinking machines back in the 1960s, years before Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator movies ...

By the time we complete those stories, there will be a wealth of Dune novels, along with the 1984 movie directed by David Lynch and two television miniseries—“Frank Herbert’s Dune” and “Frank Herbert’s Children of Dune”—both produced by Richard Rubinstein. We envision other projects in the future, but all of them must measure up to the lofty standard that my father established with his own novels. When all of the good stories have been told, the series will end. But that will not really be a conclusion, because we can always go back to Dune itself and read it again and again, ” -Brian Herbert

This shows the appreciation that Brian had for his father. Many fans are still on the fence regarding Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson continuation of Frank’s work. Some think some of their sequels and prequels are good while others think their attempt to expand on the Dune lore is a failed attempt and don’t believe they have based their works on Frank Herbert’s alleged unfinished manuscripts. I fall somewhere in the middle. There are things I like from the Dune Expanded Universe and other things that I could care less about. Nevertheless, I love that Brian Herbert has continued with his father’s passion and is currently working with director Denis Villeneuve and others to bring his father’s vision on the big and small screens and stay loyal to it.

#frank herbert #dune #brian herbert

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likeadiamondfrost · 7 years

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Jan. Challenge #1

At Face Value: Full Name: Emma Grace Frost My name means “whole” or “universe.” Nicknames: Em [ she only allows certain people this] Frosty, Frosty-Flakes, Snowflake, Auntie Emma, Elsa [ she hates this] Birthdate: July 14, 1993 Birthplace: Boston, Massechuettes. Age: 23. Nationality: American Race: White Astrological Sign + Traits: Cancer: dominating, loyalty, suspicious, manipulative, cultured Hair color: Naturally light brunette, died religiously platinum blonde Eye color: Crystal clear Blue Prominent features: cheekbones Skin tone: Fair Bleshish, Distinguishing Marks or Scars?: Birthmark on her right shoulder, the size of a pin head, she covers with makeup. Build/Body Type: Tall and athletic; modelesque Height: 5′ 10″ Weight: 128 lbs Speech Patterns: Elevated diction, clear enunciation. Received Pronunciation [RP] accent adopted from her father and mother. (hels is just too lazy to write accents) Tag words: Darlings, blood hell Strengths: quick thinking, strategist, great conversationalist, flirtatious, brutally honest when she needs to be. Weaknesses: cold and distant, detaches from emotional problems, fear of falling/heights. Her need to help the little guy.

The questions What is your character’s name? Emma Grace Frost. Unlike her two sisters, Emma’s only nickname is Em, and it was bestowed on her by Christian and adopted by those who are closest to her. She won’t allow anyone she doesn’t trust and let in fully call her Em. Hazel Frost chose the name for it’s classical link to literature, which just so happened to be her favorite novel growing up, and regal connotation it commanded. Winston didn’t care what she was named, only that she not be named something stupid or famous for the era. Her name derives from the Germanic word: ermen meaning “whole” or universe. For the most part, Emma’s name plays no part in her story, but she’s contemplative whether the connotations with Emma have shaped her outlook on a thing.

How old is your character? Emma is 23, born July 14, 1993. She’s a third-year grad student at SHIELD having completed her undergraduate degree at E.S.U [Empire State University]. She looks a bit older than 23, but not by much. Being a telepath, Emma certainly knows more someone at her age should, in multiple areas. With multiple degrees under her belt and a little-transferred knowledge from Shaw, Winston, Edmund Buckman, and more she’s certainly got enough to create a mental library to pick from.

What does your character look like? Emma looks uncannily like Amber heard. She’s 5’ 10” and in heels—which let’s be real she wears every day she can—she’s over 6’. Emma has fair skin with pink undertones to it, upon her right shoulder she has a small almost unnoticeable birthmark. Her hair is to her shoulders now, dyed platinum blonde religiously as to avoid roots, usually with some wave or styled in some way that is in trend now. Her eyes are baby blue, though in some lights they take on a grey hint. Emma has been size 1-2 in pants since maturity and thanks to her diets and rigorous workouts that don't seem to be changing anytime soon

How does your character dress? During her youth, Emma wore a uniform daily but was very much aware of the world of fashion thanks to her sister Adrienne. She often took her hand-me-downs that Adrienne discarded after her modeling gigs. Emma wasn’t as picky as her sister though and took to wearing anything she could after her uniform from her school. It was a learning experience to watch her sister dawn lavish gowns and fur coats, come home with the latest designer handbag or better yet a whole line of clothing. Though in early childhood Emma shied away from being too revealing, feeling more ugly duckling that graceful swan, the invaluable lesson to look good and feel good was ingrained inside her. As she developed into a teenager, Emma took more time in her appearance taking after her eldest sister.

After her time in the Hellfire Club, Emma’s conservative nature was broken and replaced with higher confidence in herself and her body thus the more revealing clothing. On her days to class, Emma can be seen wearing the latest trends from jumpers to off the shoulder crop tops and jeans [some designer some bought off the rack at a 75% sale]. When she attends board meetings and such, Emma can be spotted in designer dresses or white slacks and some colored [or white] top and blazer. Never a pantsuit as those are far too 80s for her. When she's lazy, Emma is almost always in some shirt that falls off her shoulder and a pair of shorts or depending on the weather something comfortable. As of late, she can be seen sporting a pair of sweats swiped from her dare, or her cheer shorts. If Emma is attending any sort of event like a party, she almost always dresses in something tight and revealing, skin and high priced jewelry are keys. If she were to attend another wedding, she would opt for something more conservative, and not white, something that doesn’t reveal too much of her cleavage and falls to just above or below her knee. Emma’s sense of style come from the fact that she is always dressing to impression, always striving to be flawless and impeccable, but she never forgets her confidence. The way she dresses is an extension of her personality in a way—dominating and controlled—and when Emma Frosts leaves the house you can bet she doesn’t give a damn what you think. Her clothing then by definition make her feel good, empowered and as Emma’s learned is a tool to get what she wants when she wants it. While her closet is full of many colors, it’s about 75%, White.

What are some notable relationships your character has? Emma’s life is riddled with significant relationships. From her favorite school teacher: Mister Ian Kendell to people at SHIELD it’s a broad range of things.

The first and foremost coming from her family. Emma’s relationship with Hazel and Winston is estranged at best. Though she used to be the loving daughter, upon her mutant developing did it become clear to her who exactly her parents were, though her revelation with Hazel didn’t come until later. Emma has without a doubt Hazel had the same level of contempt for her children that she did Winston. It was a tolerable situation, one she was passive in rather that active. That doesn’t mean she didn’t love Emma or her siblings. Winston Frost’s opinion of his children deals solely with their usefulness, Emma proving to be the most attuned to his mindset over her sisters and brother she was his bright pupil. The one who was meant to inherit the title and business. For a while, Emma played along until it became more than obvious she was simply a pawn to Winston, he didn’t actually care about her. Her relations with her sister fell into the same disrepair as with Winston. Adrienne being the first but not the last person Emma learned to hate. Later on when she learned how manipulative Adrienne had become Emma’s distaste for her only grew. Cordelia, on the other hand, was a different story. The two were at odds far less than Emma and Adrienne, but as they matured, it became that Cordelia’s behavior was shaped by being the rebellious daughter and the reason—without a doubt in Emma’s mind that Christian fell into drugs. It put a damper on their relationship, though Emma still talks to her sister on occasion sending a card of “well wishes” or something generic of the sort but hasn’t spoken to her since Adrienne’s funeral. Christian, was the expectation to everything. He was her closest friend growing up, someone she felt comfortable talking to about everything, except her mutation. It put a strain on their relationship immensely, and in her attempt to help him Emma lost the only person she was closest to in her family. And to this day can’t…forgive herself for letting Winston manipulator her and his admission into Snow Valley Mental Hosptial--which she would later in life attend as well.

The next, and probably the most important relationships are the ones that shaped Emma, her ambitions, drives and more important her “tastes” are the multitudes of boyfriends. Beginning with Ian Kendell. Ian was the first to show faith in Emma’s brains and ability to be more than she saw herself. While the other girls teased her mercilessly and her family care for nothing but perfection, Ian as she later called him, was helping her and encouraging her. During the delicate time in her life just at the peak of maturity when her telepathy was beginning Emma found Ian’s hopeful kindness the light at the end of the tunnel. As the two began to spend more and more time together, Emma’s school girl crush blossomed, and it was Ian who made the first move—mentally of course. Emma, being Emma and growing in confidence as her powers developed made the first move kissing Mister Kendell on her front porch after he’d graciously given her a ride home. To say she always had unresolved feelings for Ian would be an understatement. After he was forced to leave her school—at the words of Winston how was a huge donor to the school’s financial department—Emma moved on with her life. Reuniting when she graduated early and began attending ESU. Dating her college roommate Christie, Ian had found a job as a counselor to the students. And just like being struck by lightning, Emma’s old buried feelings resurfaced. When Christie and Ian broke up, due to what Emma would later find out to be Astrid’s doing, Emma and Ian began to have a relationship. It became apparent to Emma that Ian loved her and she reciprocated the feelings foolheartedly. It was the first after Troy that made Emma lose her guards. When Ian’s job was put in jeopardy due to his pervious and current relationships, Emma used her telepathy to control Christie’s testimony and have the charges dropped. Unwilling to keep secrets between her and Ian, Emma told Ian she was a mutant. She expected understanding and love, the only thing Ian had ever shown her. Instead, she was met with hatred and heartbreak. The words: “You’re a monster” are one she’ll never forget. To this day, Emma has learned her lesson of opening up to people, to letting them see the real and very vulnerable Emma Frost. Ian is the primary reason Emma doesn’t do long term relationships anymore, and the main reason she believes everyone will ultimately leave her. Tory. After Emma had graduated high school, she set her sights on New York. After years of being Winston’s personal telepathy, Emma turned down his generous offer to be the next in line to take the company and all it’s worth, Emma packed her bags and left. Multimillion dollar inheritance was all but forgotten. Being in a strange city, and still grappling with her telepathy, Emma found that she could—if she concentrated enough—trick people into giving her what she wanted. After dining in a high-class restaurant, Emma was discovered on the video camera. Forced to pick between washing dishes and jail, Emma complied never having washed a single dish in her life, much to the amusement of the busboy Troy. The two became fast friends and soon, Emma and he were living together in a small studio apartment a quick walk from their work. And for once, Emma thought things would end out okay. She should have known better. After learning that Tory owed a drug dealer money, Emma offered to tag along at his casino excursion to help him win the money to pay back his debt. Unfortunately for them, time was not on their side. While Emma was convincing Troy she could really help, more so than being a good luck charm, collectors had come. Hearing their thoughts just in time, Emma was able to give Tory and her a head start, but fate had other plans. Catching up with them, Emma and Tory were beaten and held captive. After explaining he didn’t have the money, and he could Tory’s life dangled in peril. Scared and battling the onslaught of voices in her head, Emma was no use. After bargaining for his life at gunpoint, Tory told the dealer that Emma came from a wealthy family. Not in means of helping them both, but because he was trying to save his own skin. Finding no use for Tory, Emma while gagged and caged, witnessed his death. It’s a memory that still haunts her. It was the first, but not the last time Emma would see someone’s death.

Even though she might not have come into her own until later on in life, Emma grew up beside several others including Charles Xavier, Warren Worthington III, and Tony Stark. The two latter were a point of character building. They were Emma’s solace during her time in the Frost Manor as the three banded together and alongside a few other wealthy family children created the #richkidclub. Beginning with her on again off again relationship with Warren Worthington, Emma found that she rather liked defying her father and Warren was the perfect excuse to do so. When they first began dating, Emma was mousy and quiet but soon came into her own. The two were inseparable. Showing up at all the parties hosted by people in both their schools, galas, charity balls for the families. It never failed that alongside Tony, the two could be seen getting into some trouble for stealing a bottle of champagne to drink on the roof to partying in one of their yachts. When it became apparent to Emma that Warren had the heart of a playboy, she and he called it quits only to start back up again when it was convenient for both of them. And while Emma might have loved Warren, the two were better off as fuckbuddies than actual partners, much to the happiness of Worthington II. With Warren, Emma experienced a lot and even learned that she was the type to stray given the right circumstances—meaning she’d been unable to think of a way of getting out of some Hellfire business. Though it was the first and last time, she ever did. It was with Warren that Emma found a liking for adventure and sexuality. Warren was the first real relationship, outside of the Hellfire Club Emma had while she was a dancer there and the last before she moved to Iowa. Tony Stark, is a very different type of person. Emma’s on again off again relationship with Tony had a bit more substance than the flings she had with Warren. She cares, still to this day, about Tony but knows her on again off again relationship with him and Warren was a spot of friction between the two. When she wasn’t draped on Warren’s arm or tangled in his bed, Emma was with Tony until she left New York. The two were inseparable for a while, and Emma often turned to Tony when her family became unbearable over the long breaks from ESU. For a while, Emma had even pictured being married Tony, but it became apparent that some things just weren’t for her. When they broke off, Emma and he stayed friends and even rekindled a bit of their romance during the first semester at SU. These two relationships are what defined Emma’s life after Troy, and helped define who she was as she discovered herself in the Hellfire Club and in New York. She finds them comforting and unlike her pervious relationships don’t end in heartbreak and horror.

Emma’s best friend, oddly enough, is Tiberius Stone. The two had a rocky start with her slapping him and calling bullshit on his anti-mutant hate when he didn’t know what was going on. The two are now thick as thieves. They enjoy their TLC nights and quietly—not so quiet really—judging people together. Emma would do anything to make sure Ty is in her life and to protect him. She would probably commit murder if needed. She was willing to do it the moment his powers were discovered, and he was thrown into the very cells that she had been locked into. It was a turning point in their relationship and one she keeps in mind. She's there for him for girl talk and her new favorite ritual TLC nights and knows if she finds herself in yet another bad ending relationship at least someone will let her be emotional without judgment.

Sebastian Shaw and Emma’s relationship is complex as is it intertwined. Beginning as her first friend at the Hellfire Club, Emma took a strong liking to Sebastian. Though the two frequently didn’t work close to each other, as Emma was busy on the stage and Sebastian with Buckman, the two found time to talk with each other on her breaks when she wasn’t off entertaining on of the clubs many wealthy members. Sebastian was Emma’s first real taste of the world of craft and elegant manipulation. Shaw was the first person to see Emma for who she was now in the world and help her develop her view on mutant rights. As they got to know each other, Emma developed a crush on Sebastian, and after he initially turned her down, Emma was rather cool toward him. She’s not one to take rejection lightly. Though she softened up toward him again, working her way in his good graces once again. After overthrowing Buckman, the two grew quite close and though at time Sebastian became possessive of Emma—her being his white queen and right hand—the two shared a causal relationship. That didn’t mean Emma didn’t love Sebastian as they grew closer, finding a kinship and likeness in the darker side of the world. Upon her death and the misguiding of Selene, Emma’s faith in Sebastian faltered, but as she stands now, Emma follows him. She knows every queen is nothing without a king and vice versa. And Sebastian has yet to prove to her otherwise.

Astrid Bloom is and will always be Emma’s first milestone marker. Astrid was many things to Emma and continues to be many things though the two haven’t talked or seen each other in years. Starting off as Emma’s friend and mentor, Astrid was the first telepath, besides Charles, Emma had met. While she and Charles always did thing the proper way, Astrid taught Emma control. Emma felt a bond with Astrid she hadn’t felt before, and in a way Emma loved her like a sister. The two grew close and what Emma believed to be her best friend quickly turned into possession and manipulation. Astrid had been behind Emma’s back sabotaging all of Emma’s other relationships at ESU. From having a sweet boy named Max to lose his mind and strike Emma to manipulating the board and Kristy to get Ian to lose his job, Astrid was behind. When Emma found out and confronted Astrid in their dorm. What should have been the end, turned into Emma being trapped in the girl’s psyche while Ian’s trial was held. For the next part, Emma has nothing but praise for Astrid. Without her mind and her psyche, Emma would have never learned the things she did. And learn she did. Emma found a way out of Astrid’s mind, and in turn dragged the woman into her own mind where she locked the door and threw away the key. Leaving her comatose, Emma left Astrid to be found by campus EMTs and moved to right the wrong she’d done to Ian.

Over her lifetime, Emma Frost has made enemies of many people. She knows that her personality and way of going about things that don't make her privy to gaining many friends. And she’s okay with that, protecting those she cares about with a fierceness.

What is in your character’s memory? Being a telepath, Emma is able to vividly remember a lot of things, store it and recall it within in seconds. A trick she picked up muddling around Astrid’s psyche. The most vivid of course comes from the moments that happened to shape the woman she is today: her first dance, Winston’s betrayal, The Clinic, Troy’s death, Ian’s rejection, meeting Shaw, the first time she saw a dead body. She’s burned those into her memory as to never forget what she’s been through and what she’ll continue to go through all her life because she’s ‘different.'

Though she remembers most things, Emma has blocked out the harder to swallow moments of her life. She hasn’t severed the memory, but she’s diluted it enough it feels foreign to her. These are only a handful of moments: What the orderlies did to her, the feel of their hands among other things on her at the Clinic, the miscarriage, and Tory’s death are all the top of the list.

Emma’s memories begin at the age of 6. She remembers playing school in her room while Winston had some meeting downstairs. She, Christian, Adrienne, and Cordelia had been running through the halls when they’d bumped into one of their mother’s priceless vases. It had shattered and disrupted Winston’s deal. Winston never hit his children more than needed, and Emma remembers each of them being too scared to say anything or cry out. It’s one of many unpleasant memories she has with her family. Though Emma has been conditioned enough to say to the press that Winston was a role model.

Her memories with her friends are much different. She can remember the first-time Tony, Warren and she snuck away during a winter gala, a few stolen bottles of champagne between them. She remembers the giggles the first time, prim and proper Emma had tasted champagne. The feel of it on both their lips as they played spin the bottle with a few other mischievous kids who’d found them sitting in one of the offices. She remembers the time they were on Warren’s yacht, and someone had pushed some kid overboard, but they were far too drunk to do anything but laugh, it had been Warren who’d rescued him. Though many of these memories are happy, there are few not so happy in the mix. The most recent being her fight with Tony over her powers.

While Emma might have an excellent memory, she tends to make sure things are wrapped up, and there are no loose ends when she moves on to bigger things. While Emma might remember certain faces and names, they only remember what she wants them to remember, and thus never leaves any stones unturned. It’s a habit she developed with Shaw to ensure her powers and identity as a mutant were kept secret.

Where does your character live? Emma’s lives several places throughout her life. The first being Frost Manor, in Boston. Frost Manor was the epitome of what one expects from a wealthy family. Three stories, too many rooms to count at a young age. Grand kitchen, several dining rooms- one formal used for nightly family dinners, parlors, offices, library, long winding drive, grand entrance. Located in the high society part of town, Frost Manor was situated on acres of land the nearest building being a good 15 minutes from the grounds in the gated community. For the most part, the community was conservative 1% and almost always Winston’s business partners.

In New York, Emma had a loft in Manhattan. With one wall filled with floor to ceiling windows, she had a fantastic view over the city below her. Clean and modern in style, Emma made sure things were exactly as she see fit and it shows her. Its community was pretty diverse, and many didn’t know she was a sex worker on the side of being CEO, but that was neither here nor there. For the most part, Emma stayed to herself, a friendly hello or exchange in the halls but for the most part. She never entertained gentlemen or club members at her loft, it was strictly off limits. Keeping a part of it to herself and only herself. It became a rule for her. Unless she knew them like Warren, Tony or Sebastian Emma never allowed those two things to cross.

When she moved to Iowa and was forced to live in dorms. Emma took the opportunity to 1) make sure she didn’t have a roommate for the first year 2) makes sure that all the needed things are taken care of. At the expense of her wallet, Emma made sure she had the best of the best. And the included finding a way to block out the noise of the students. It’s not fool proof, but she’s still in search of something that keeps her from going insane in her head. Now that she’s in the co-ed dorm, Emma is about keeping her door closed. Whereas before she never locked her bedroom dorm, she had it to herself after all. She doesn’t care she’s sharing with two males, she’s perfectly okay co-habituating with them, but she has a feeling it’s going to be trying in the future. And yes, she wishes she was back in New York. She doesn’t and sometimes can’t fall asleep with the quiet the campus offers and often spends those hours in her bed working on her powers or bouncing from head to head.

What is your character’s room like? Contrary to popular belief, Emma’s bedroom is not all white. It’s impractical. Though the walls a white, as is her frosted glass desk, but the bed, closet doors, and wood floors are dark wood. Her style is very modern as one can see through the platform style queen-size bed pushed up against the wall that is across from the window (with storage for out of season clothing and shoes underneath), wood and glass closet doors, complete with organizers that keep everything neat. Her attached bathroom is like the others: modern in style. With white fluffy towels and white rug and her bathrobe hung in precisely the right spot. Her time with Astrid as a roommate taught her to be organized and yet lived in. After a long hard day, a few items of clothing can be seen see across the floor, heels at the inside of the door instead of putting away.

For the most part, Emma’s closet it always full of clothing, high priced and some sales rack discounts, neatly hunt and sorted by item of clothing rather than color. Her shoes hang in a shoe organizer or on the shoe rack at the base of the closet. Though it’s small because what dorm closet is big? Emma has taken the liberty of using the spare room in her shared dorm for clothing she doesn’t often wear—like summer outfits in the winter—regardless of what Alex or Tony think or care.

What is your character good at? Emma would like to think she’s perfect at everything, but that’s not always the case. Being a telepath Emma is very well adept at reading people. It comes from quiet observations during his childhood as well as her psychotherapy training more so than being in their heads, though it certainly helps. Emma was never particularly overly smart, school wise, though the development of her telepathy helped that area immensely. She was, however, smart in another way. Emma was able to, like in chess, see the way piece and areas moved together. This was a talent that Winston first manipulated and was proud to see in his daughter. It’s the trait he wished all his children had, but Emma was the only one to act on it accordingly and wisely. Being able to do such things is also what draw Emma to Shaw. She at his side learned how to craft that ability into a skill and talent. Over the years, she’s learned to make it her own of course and its one of those skills she find she needs in every given situation. Emma was always excellent at commanding the attention of a room, this came about the older she got and the less time she spent being mousy at home and with her siblings. She likes to give the credit to Tony and Warren among others in their little group for bringing that out in her. While she was certain more bookworm than an athlete, Emma excelled in her fencing lessons and equestrian training, without the use of her telepathy. Always been more physically inclined than her sisters. She took an interest in the latter as it was one thing she and Christian did together. Them and no one else. Foreign languages, due in part because of her telepathy, also come very easy to Emma and by now speaks over thirty languages fluently. Her favorite, of course, being French and Italian.

What does your character want? Emma wants a lot of things in life. Always have and perhaps always will. But Emma’s driving force is her want to do something meaningful with her life and help others. She doesn’t want to be the next Winston in the world where all she does is to benefit for her and her alone. It’s what drove her to choose education and psychology as majors at ESU, later obtaining her master in psychotherapy at a rapid pace and it’s what drives her to want to help mutant kind now. While her methods of going about it haven’t always been morally correct, the end results have never altered. Emma Frost at her core wants to contribute to the world and make it better for mutants. Whether it be teaching, leading a team, protecting them when they don’t want her defending, brokering backroom deals Emma Frost has never, in her life, lost sight of that. It’s become clearer to her, as she’s aged and even more so recently, that her passion for teaching, to be that force in someone's life is still very much a goal of hers. What good is having money, having power and control if all she does it waste it on furiously things. She’s always dreamed of opening her own school. One exclusive to mutants. A place where they can train, learn and grow as a community rather than ostracized in mixed company or selected as the next scapegoat.

It’s from this that Emma’s want for mutant rights comes from. To see to it that, though they’re superior and different from humans, they are no less human and worth the same. It comes as no surprise to her or others how far Emma is willing to take things to see her goal through. She has, after all, died for mutant rights and activism. Has died to make a difference in the world and would gladly do it again if it meant a change for her people. She has no qualms about using people, manipulating situations, brokering shady contracts and other such immoral things to see that what needs to be done is done. In short, Emma will stop at nothing to make it a dream, even if she knows that for every step forward they take humans will always fear them. And in that case, Emma would be more than willing to get even and prove just how big a mistake that is to anyone who stands in her way.

While her primary goal might be the help, Emma’s learned over the year this goal has been tainted by the want to be accepted and if not loved. She chalks this up to the lack of love she experienced as child and daddy issues, but it remains that unlike others Emma has never been able to fully say she is loved. That someone sticks around. It’s not something that she expresses or cares about (openly) because she finds it’s silly and stupid to base one’s desires and ambitions on something like love and acceptance, but she’s come to realize, more recently especially at SU, how profoundly influencing that can be when she’s making choices. Then again who doesn’t wish and hope to be loved in their life? Especially given her relationship with love and emotions it comes to no surprise to her that this is something that motivates her. She’s found that when she loves, she loves ferociously and falls fast—even if it’s only one-sided—and protects them with everything she can offer. While it might not be easy for her open, Emma tends to be more honest and more forthcoming with people she cares about. She feels guilt and questions herself more as well. She would willing put herself in harm’s way if it meant someone she cared about was save in the process. [ Examples: Halloween Dance 2015. Punching Logan in the face, Cure Plot 2016.]

What does your character do when they’re not at home? Mainly when Emma is out with her friends, she is usually in their dorm room or having coffee and at the campus bar. Nothing overtly fancy. When she’s out by herself, Emma tends to find ways to avoid people and thus the constant banging of thoughts against her head. This includes running, working out in the danger room/rec center, meditating, gardening, horseback riding and spending time curled up in bed with a book or Netflix.

She’s never been religious, always saying she’s an atheist because she’s learned that if there ever was a god he certainly didn’t care enough to notice what was going on in life, and thus doesn’t attend church. She doesn’t understand the process of those who do but allows them to believe what they wish as long as it doesn’t impact her life she could care less.

What does your character like to do? Emma has always loved horseback riding. Even as a young girl it was her favorite activity. She can’t explain the draw of spending time with horses or the calmness it causes in her. Perhaps it’s the reminder of when things in her life weren’t so messed up, or perhaps it’s the idea that such a beautiful creature can be deadly and a force to be reckoned with. Beyond this Emma has a deep love dance and art. While she can’t draw to save her life—though she’s downloaded the information from Ciaran and others she knows –shes more into admiring artist at work and the product than making it. While she’s taken many dancing classes through her life, Emma’s favorite has always been ballet. She often as a child dreamed of being a ballerina but that quickly disappeared with age.

How does your character love? Emma’s always been more of an open relationship type of person, but somehow it always ends up being exclusive. Except for Warren, Emma typically dates one person and one along. She has always identified as female and straight, though she’s been known to experiment from time to time and has no qualms about others sexuality. This comes from the hellfire club and how she was known to entertain. Not all dignitaries and members were male. Either way, Emma’s consideration that looks are just as important as personality is titled more toward looks. While she’s not one to complain if the person of her affections happens to be below average in appearance but has a better personality. She’s shallow and mostly gravitates toward someone of handsome features rather than not.

Emma is a hard person to know in general. She’s closed off and cold because she’s learned from her past not to let anyone in. They leave. They hurt her, intentionally or not. But when she falls in love with someone she falls in love with them. It’s not coated with unrealistic ideals or expectations. Emma only ever expects—and foolishly lets herself believe—they’re going to be different than the last. For the first few moments that she realizes she’s in love, she knows it’s panic setting in instead of giddiness. Love means mistakes and getting sloppy. It means letting them in and seeing her at her most vulnerable and weak and accepting that she’s allowing them to see her as such. It means Emma Frost showing them the real, raw Emma without hiding something or pretending it’s a fluke. Most of the time, with few exceptions, Emma doesn’t act on her feelings. She doesn’t let it progress, like stomping out a flame. But there are exceptions to this rule. People who get past the cold and hard exterior. Individuals who make her wish she wasn’t how she is. Make her want to be better, to feel more openly. And then they leave, and she’s left feeling empty in a way she can’t explain. There’s only so many times a person can go through that before it begins to affect their outlook. And as of late, Emma has begun to realize that she will never be anyone’s first choice—nor has she ever been—and has come to accept that while she can have any many she desires for a night, she will never have someone beside her to last.

Because of this, Emma’s ideal partner doesn’t exist. She doesn’t spend nights daydreaming of her wedding, or who they’ll be. She doesn’t lie to herself like that.

While her romantic love life might not be so happy, Emma does loves platonically and just as fiercely. Unlike romantic love, Emma allows herself to express and feel this type of love. She showers those she loves, like Ty and Tony with gifts and things they might not need and spends most of her time with them to express it.

Regardless of how they feel about her, platonically or romantically, Emma is willing to do whatever she needs to or can to protect them and show them she cares. While it’s harder for her to open up, she has no problem proving she cares and making sure they are safe before going about her business. Emma is exceedingly vengeful as well. If someone or something hurts someone’s she loves there will, without failure, be fallout from her. And when it happens there is no spot in heaven, hell, or earth anyone can hide. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorn, has nothing on the wrath a Frost can rain down upon anyone who deserves it.

What will ultimately destroy your character? Emma Frost’s ego and personality are probably the worst things to happen to her. She is her own worst enemy. While, the tearing down when she’s left by yet another romantic interest, losing someone she cares about or being hurt, harm her, it’s her choice after these events that cause the most damage. She’s more likely to be reckless rather than rational and won’t let other’s influence her decisions or actions. Her ego, while she tends to keep it in check can and does get the better of her. Highly competitive, Emma strives to always be the best in the room—unless she knows she’s outmatched and then she settles for second best. The best example of this coming from the Cure Plot 2016, There really is no way to prevent it from happening, as one can’t battle themselves but Emma knows now more than ever if anything can bring a queen to her knees it’s her whims, ego, and the king.

Emma was her own demise, and nothing in the world can change that. The only thing that comes close is Sebastian Shaw. He’s the closest thing to someone important in her life, someone who hasn’t left yet. He is and might always be, the only man that Emma fears. Not because of brute strength but because he knows her too well. Knows just where the holes in her armor lie. Being open and honest with someone does that. While she trusts him, Emma can’t help but feel as of late that perhaps things will change and she’ll need to be ready for what’s to come. She doesn’t worry about this too much as they are on good terms but if the winds were to change, Emma would like to think that she can and would be able to bring him down. For she knows just as much about him as he does her. But physically isn’t a match for him. If this were to happen, Emma knows the end result would not stack in her favor. The results of losing Shaw as an ally would be disastrous in more than one way. There’s a good chance, though Emma would bounce back quickly, she’d sink into a slight depression—losing someone close can do that to even the mightiest of people. Shaw is the closest thing to family she has—nix Tony and her friends at SU—and is the only person who has seen Emma as Emma. Not as some force to be taken down, or as just a lover or the telepath with loose morals. It would be like losing a part of her. Her outlook on everything she’s ever done for and with Shaw would change, and the excuses that she doesn't see as excuses would cease. There would be a shift in everything she does, how she handles things, how she sees the world.

#[ inside the mind of a telepath: characterization ]#suchallenge1 #//i am not sorry #//DO NOT QUESTION MY DEVOTION OR LOVE FOR EMMA FROST. I WILL SHUT YOU DOWN #//this is like 6700 words read at your own risk

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survivingart · 5 years

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GETTING YOUR STORY ACROSS (MARKETING AND BRAND AWARENESS)

It doesn’t matter if you’re the CEO of a design studio, a student at the Academy or working retail by day and creating art by night — a day only has 24 hours. If then you want to make something out of your life, time management is imperative.

While all of the people who work a 9-5 job have time management enforced into their lives by their workplace, those of us who are self employed don’t have a boss to tell us when to work and when to have our lunch break. And with no HR person breathing down our neck and telling us what to do and when to do it, we have to do this ourselves.

From calculating taxes, checking contracts, planning meetings to learning about our craft and following some sort of news platform so we actually know what’s happening in our field. Oh, and making art, right?! Sometimes freedom can be quite constraining.

But where in this incredibly dense equation of the-things-we-should-be-doing and having-no-time-to-do-them should we squeeze in the most important job of all — marketing?

Not as cool as being a bohemian artist, not as rewarding as making a sale or signing a new licensing deal but probably much more important than everything else mentioned, marketing our work is the only functional way to propagate our ideas into the world.

And today’s world is already quite full — full of people like us, doing things that are similar to ours — so saying we need to have a strong game would be an understatement.

But while many of us think we need to be creating Hollywood-like movies about what we do or making some blown-up statements on how our work will “change the world as we know it”, it really could and should be much simpler:

Make your art simple to understand by making your process transparent.

Not by showing boring two hour videos of us mixing paints and priming our canvases, but by maybe sitting down in-between the drying coats of paint and speaking about our work. We should be documenting our process — not by defending our right to have one, but by explaining our motivations with simple language and a good story.

Give those who are interested in your work a glimpse into your mind and your process. Document how you clean your brushes (or how you never do), why you use a certain brand or type of canvas (even if it’s because it’s the cheapest — sincerity is gold) or show pictures and write about the books you like to read.

There is always time for a short piece of content.

When you don’t have time to set-up a video camera; why not take out your phone and make a short handheld IGTV video or Facebook video or even a story on any topic that you like — connected with your art or maybe even just about what makes you tick. Lots of content on the platforms you feel comfortable with is the best way to go if you can’t afford to run ads on Facebook or Instagram.

Your work, life or personality aren’t boring, and they surely aren’t unimportant!

Some people religiously reread a few books that are special to them every year (something I could never do), and the intentions and the drive behind doing so are actually fascinating to people like me, who after finishing a book usually toss it away and find another one to read.

My point is; even the minuscule things that we do in our lives can be immensely interesting to some people and in reality, usually exactly these minuscule parts of our personalities give others the ability to connect with us on a personal level.

You don’t become best buddies with someone just because they like art as much as you do, because liking art is too broad of a subject to be relatable. You get close because of having or liking the same kind of artists and their works and only if both of you understand them in approximately the same way.

To get there, both need to first share their personal aspirations towards a certain topic, and be sincere about it. Otherwise it’s like opening your Facebook news feed and looking at vaguely interesting ads about pant tubes — you kinda like them, but just couldn’t care less about them being there.

In the end, we shouldn’t just be painting pictures on canvases and Fabriano paper, we should be painting mental images onto the minds of our followers and soon-to-be-followers. Only so can we ever succeed in expanding our reach to the people who really care and genuinely like our work.

CREATING ATTENTION

Art is obviously emotional and as such its value is determined absolutely subjectively. The big question though is how, because even though ambivalent, subjectivity can still give us a lot of various starting points to think about our target audience.

How people recognise a good story in objects and experiences differs from person to person — that’s why it’s subjective — but usually we can find basic guidelines that can help us define this perception. The main idea behind this exercise is to find what is most important for each person, that we are trying to understand.

What are their needs? What do they wish for? Do these wishes and needs have a certain urgency? Do they provide pain or discomfort for them and can our art elevate or even completely fix their issues?

Even though art is seen as the complete opposite of utilitarian — especially is we look at contemporary art — it could not be further from the truth. If nothing else, the baseline of what art can do is to catch attention. To intrigue and incite curiosity about itself in those that experience it.

Art has to be interesting. It can be either “avant-garde” or challenging, but at the same time it can be personal and quaint; there is no “standard” that defines what interesting is, except that whatever it is we are creating should stand out in the context of everything around it.

An apple on the ground of an orchard is about as interesting as a grain of sand on a beach, but that very apple, placed in a vineyard will catch people’s attention, because they ordinarily wouldn’t have expected it to be there. The same goes for art; anything we do should aim to be exceptional, compared to the environment it resides in.

But this doesn’t mean that we need to run naked in the streets while reciting the Yellowist manifesto, because there are much more subtle ways to stand out, and truly great art is always made in a subtle, but disruptive way. Think about all the one hit wonders in the music industry — they might have been successful with one song, but after the initial boom, they slowly fade into the background.

Their problem is, that they have been trying to impress and communicate to the kind of people that need constant novelty and excitement to give them their attention. And because they focused on people that needed cheap thrills, they themselves become one in the end.

Only those that build their novelty and intrigue with a long timeline in mind and cultivate the attention of the people as a friend or acquaintance, not a passing circus or magician, are able to find true success with their creative business.

Because, while a magician may be able to entice and amuse us for a few hours, after we’ve seen the show, there’s really no point in going back another time. We’ve seen all of her tricks, laughed at all of the jokes and it just wouldn’t have the same novel effect on us as it did the first time.

But comparing it to our favourite book, that we have reread a thousand times, or our favourite TV show, that we know by heart and still binge watch from time to time, these objects and experiences never seem to really get dull.

Quite the opposite, they get better and better over time.

QUALITY AND QUANTITY

A lot of people today speak of quantity as the defining factor in getting your message into the world — with Gary Vaynerchuk being at the forefront of this movement.

But I think we do need to take a closer look at this model.

I still think quantity plays an enormous role in content production — especially as the amount of blog posts, podcasts and images on the web is increasing exponentially — but there is one important truth that many of us may overlook in this conquest of trying to reach the eyes and ears of the masses.

Quality is king and quantity is his servant.

I get why the amount of information is being pushed as the most important factor; too many of us focus endlessly on tweaking and re-editing our content, too many of us spend hours making our images, texts and videos “perfect” and thus miss a lot of opportunities of growth and consequently reach.

The 80/20 rule still applies to everything in the universe; 80% of effect is produced by 20% of our effort. Of course, we shouldn’t confuse this with the idea that we only have to do 20% of the work and get 80% of the rewards.

We still need to do all of the work. And regardless of how much “all of the work” actually is — 5 min or 5 years of input, it doesn’t really matter — the effect is always more or less the same; most of what we do will not bear any fruits, but a fraction will. And that fraction will create the most effect.

Here the real argument for quality begins to take shape; if 100% of what I did was only average or “merely” good, the effects of it will embody the same kind of qualitative force. Good things lead to good results, average work produces average products and services, but excellence, excellence can’t but create exceptionality.

In order for any one of us to reach excellence, we have to first begin our path with average tools, common techniques and boring (and many times tedious) practice. But after such a rhythm has been established, after the almost masochistic pleasures of repetition and rigorous practice become part of our being, I believe all of us need to again venture further into the unknown.

And this means reevaluating everything we have been doing up to this point. A child may have enormous dependence on his training wheels when learning how to ride his bike, but after they succeed in mastering balance, speed and manoeuvring, the support has to be taken away, exposing the reality that all they have done up to that point was mere practice for the real thing.

In the end, all we do — regardless of whether we write, sing, paint or dance — we do so as a form of diary, a succession of traces that we leave upon the world. It doesn’t matter if our creations ever get exposed to the public; even those of us that never publish our creations and keep our diaries, paintings and songs to ourselves , we inevitably all do the same.

We create marks upon the world, knowingly or not, by accident or in order to be remembered. Regardless though of why we do what we do, I believe one thing is for certain.

Such marks should be born out of the highest efforts that we can endure, if not to grow, at least to know that whatever we did mattered, perhaps to some, or maybe none, but always to ourselves.

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#artist life #contemporary art #surviving art #make art everyday #blog

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