#colossal heads

[csperspectives]

AXIS MUNDI AND COLOSSAL HEADS 

written: 2 october 2022 - 10 october 2022

[disclaimer: this specific entry is actually a paper i wrote for my art of latin america class. so it would be a little different from what my previous entries are. i would say this is a well written paper considering the grade i received. my professor made comments that i will take into consideration for the next time i write my paper, anyways.... here is axis mundi and colossal heads.]

the term veracruz usually seems to be in the air when referring to or talking about cultures in mesoamerica. as more things were uncovered, archeologists and possible art historians began categorizing the the specific names and tied them with their material culture. the first "mother culture" or "sister culture" was introduced upon learning. the olmec civilization was referred to as the "mother culture" or "sister culture;" however, as far as the learning process goes, and the anthropological meaning and difference between the two, was the olmec civilization a site that genuinely revolutionized the beginning of mesoamerica cultures? before the maya culture, there were the olmecs. "olmeca" is referred to as the "rubber people," symbolizing people who inhabited the "jungle country of the gulf coast" (coe 58). the olmecs were one of the earliest large settlements out there during their time, and a couple of sites that will be discussed are san lorenzo and la venta. although there is much to talk about with the start of their civilization, the main focus will be material culture and how it resonated with the foundation of the different cultures in mesoamerica. the two main concepts that progressively show throughout the olmec civilization are the axis mundi and the colossal heads with their symbolic meanings.

a type of cosmovision that is important to the culture of mesoamerica is the axis mundi, as known as the center of the world. the axis mundi is the fifth direction of the cosmovision, and it comes in many different shapes and forms. as learned in class, altar 4 from the olmec pre-classic site of la venta is one of the main axis mundis because of its function and symbolic meaning. although not depicted well in the la venta powerpoint, four corncobs surround the person in the middle. the four corncobs represent the four directions; north, south, east, and west, making the person in the middle the essential direction: the center. the person in the center of the altar can be addressed as a royal or high-status member because of the specific ball game helment he is wearing (ellsworth notes from jhanella mae). the figure wearing the ball game helmet signifies that the person is a warrior. mesoamerican cultures commonly associate themselves with the underworld as they believe there are three worlds: the heavens, earth, and the underworld. as the viewers can see, he is emerging from the cave. the cave that he emerges from is the portal to the underworld. in this case, he is coming out of the underworld and onto Earth. the heavens are depicted through the thick sky band on top of the altar. not only that but to the bottom of the altar is a twisted band that symbolizes the sense of motion. the band will always let the viewers know that the world will keep moving. 

as archeologists surveyed more of the olmec site, they found well-preserved colossal heads. coe describes the colossal heads as “portraits of mighty rulers, with flat-faced, thick-lipped features,” which may sound unsettling but clearly expressed (coe 68). he also mentions wearing “helmet-like headgear that probably served as protection in both war and in the ceremonial game played with a rubber ball throughout mesoamerica,” which is similar to the la venta altar 4 because of the ball game helmet (coe 69). these large colossal heads were deeply buried throughout san lorenzo’s site and dated back to the early formative period (coe 68-69). the large colossal heads were made from basalt rock which can only be found near a volcano; this means that the olmec people dragged the massive basalt rock more than 50 miles north to get to their site in san lorenzo (coe 68). the colossal heads have different ball game helmets identifying their different rules during their time. their helmet could have anything from a jaguar paw to multi-drilled beads (coe 68-69). although not depicted in coe’s book, some colossal heads have destroyed mouths and noses. they create the colossal heads for the rulers to channel their power; however, once they pass away, they purposely destroy the moth and nose for the power to follow them to the afterlife. a website was posted on the key olmec sites powerpoint to understand and see the different helmets on the colossal heads. not only did the website show where each colossal head was found, but it also showed the size difference between each head. 

to consider the olmec site as one of the first cultures in mesoamerica is establishing. although not as significant as la venta altar 4 and the colossal heads, honorable mentions found at the sites of an olmec civilization include a stele that can depict anything about a ruler or monuments scattered throughout the site of la venta, signifying a burial or sacrificial site. nowadays, some people do not agree that altars are not altars; however, we cannot change history. la venta altar 4 will be part of history whether some agree with it. it is a cosmovision that represents the five directions of the universe. there are more statues with symbolic meanings to talk about; however, the olmec colossal heads are one statue that made its mark and significance to civilization that cannot be forgotten.

signing off: jhanella mae

(CITATIONS AFTER THE CUT)

Ellsworth, Kirstin. Lat Am 4, La Venta, September 2022 PowerPoint Presentation. Coe, Michael D. “The Formative Period: Early Civilizations.” Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs, Thames & Hudson, 2019, pp. 57–102.

#axis mundi #mesoamerica #san lorenzo #la venta #olmec #la venta altar 4 #colossal heads #archeologists #pre-classic #veracruz #mother culture #sister culture #maya #maya culture

[caterpillarcatgirl]

#Olmec #colossal heads #mural #Portland

[italianpersonwithashippersheart]

You know what pisses me off about this all PheeJin stuff. It's taken over.

No matter what happens having TaCopper be such a huge part of the anticipation, them being promoted so heavily as a ship with this series was a mistake.

About 50% of all the comments under the BTS videos and reddit posts are about PheeJin.

Either that they love the ship, or the actors, or they are mad the writers "ruined" Jin by confirming he was the one that leaked the video.

Side note: Everyone seems to be pretty much treating the confession as confirmation. So do I. It would be a stupid as fuck writing decision to have Jin be not the person that realeased the video and confess to it anyway.

Instead of focusing on the show's themes like this excellent post outlines by @syrena-del-mar or even the topics of sex and voyerism like this post by @shannankle or another post I can't find discussing the way the show subverts the tipical way sex is punished in horror. EDIT: @shannankle found the post and linked it in the notes it was from @brifrischu with addition from @lurkingshan. Or even just enjoying the theorizing like this post by @mikuni14 or this one by @tbhimnoteasyonmyself. Most of the fans (again other places I am not looking at the tag here on tumblr) are mostly discussing Jin, PheeJin and whining that Tan is a killer and lost his mind.

Also not saying anything about the Jin fans on Tumblr I am not going in the tag for a reasons. But a lot of PheeJin shippers and Jin fans on other sites are using words I fucking hate to describing New and it's starting to low-key piss me off. All the: he lost his mind, he is derenged (i also saw lost his mind like his brother - which you know ew) it's getting on my last nerve and I would appriciate if we could be a little lighter with that kind of language please.

It sucks that such a great show now wrote itself into this conrner where it only has two options: Stick to the genre and revenge plot, have team masked killer win (and kill Jin and Phee if he is indeed a traitor); everyone is dead, depressing ending no one is happy; or Phee and Jin succed in bringing down "crazy" killer New, we get some nice violence is not the answear after school message and Phee and Jin live happly ever after.

The first two will make the fans crazy, and we know the BOC shipper fans are on all other level of insane. And the third will leave the rest of us with a show that detroyed his own message for the sake of a ship, AGAIN (might I add, ofts fans will know the struggle). Leaving the show bad reviews and claim outrage because TaCopper wasn't endgame and they got ruined.

And let me very clear, If I have too see the well-off/rich character all alive while the poor characters all die and get called crazy because they dared take revenge and be angry at their mistreatment. I will actually consider this the worse BL ending ever. That will piss me off more then the Last Twilight ending ever did.

#txt #dead friend forever #typed this just to get this out of my head #i will not be entertaining the notion that the Jin confession was fake or a lie or that he only believes he did it #because it would make no sense and it would be a such a colossally bad writing decision I can't even thinking about it #hope nobody minds getting tagged in this rant post #if you do i will take it off #no problem

[fandom-trash-goblin]

why you like this, shen qingqiu? what's up with the 'denial is a river in egypt'

#colossal levels of misunderstanding and i'm grinning right through it; except when id like to hammer a nail in sqq's head #what is even going on with him; and his galaxy brain takes? #shen qingqiu #svsss #luo binghe #bingqiu #goblin reads svsss

[nightwonder7]

When the Colossal Ruin starts chasing you.

#alice madness returns #american mcgee's alice #alice asylum #alice liddell #colossal ruin #amr #ama #shitpost #night's art #had this in my head for ages #always shrink when he comes for you like that

[fudgecake-charlie]

Cosmic Chaos: A skyduo space apocalypse harbinger AU!

A human-turned-entitity and an entity-turned-human are given the gargantuan task of leaving the sentient Universe in ruins to prepare for Its approaching death. My beloved and incredibly not thought through AU with Grian and Pearl from September! I missed drawing them. If you have ideas or questions for this AU please feel free to leave something in my inbox! I am not great at answering questions (worse now I'm in uni) but I’ll try my best to reply. [P.S: extra thoughts in the og tags; uncropped and extra drawings on my twitter somewhere.]

#skyduo #hermitcraft #hermitcraft AU #grian #pearl is Here I am not tagging this with her! /lh #I think they'd be called angels of the rapture. goes pretty hard #omega shoutout to moonstruck by sixteenthdays for giving me the vibes of incomprehensible galaxy horror #and omega omega shoutout to the very obscure 5 y/o album by KNGFSHR for being in my head rent free with its concepts #I am bad at drawing big non human horror but please imagine the image of grian as a colossal cosmic being of terror and destruction! #as well as Pearl becoming so warped by her constant use of abilities gifted to her that she can barely been seen as human! #art out the oven #every day I realise I draw grian and myself way too similarly. every day I do not mind #tw space #cosmic harbingers AU

[marsdemo]

killing myself is the myself killer. killing myself is the myself killer [grimacing smile] killing myself is the myself killer

#eff #oh my god this shit is so dire im catching up on a bunch of late work that i put off because i was doing other shit and it literally is lik #i may not graduate if i dont get this shite in but its genuinely such a colossal waste of time that i feel like jumping into #an industrial trash compactor like JESUS CHRIST THE SHIT YALL ARE MAKING ME WRITE ABT IS SO BEYOND STUPID #literally. literally such meaningless things . i'll destroy them all #bashing my head into the wall simulator i literally need to be done w it i cant do this shit anymore i literally have other things to do #// #repetition #suicide mention #LOL SORRY AHHHH 😁

[stealingyourbones]

The want and urge to animate an eldritch horror Danny Phantom is so strong and yet I don’t have the artistic skill or knowledge of particular types of animation to fully do the idea in my mind justice

#bones speaks #you know that one arg channel? _Boisvert #that one #the angel from that #that’s the best way to describe what’s going on in my head #I feel the need to animate and not draw it bc drawing it won’t show the extent of the *wrongness* ya know #angels say ‘be not afraid’ for a damn reason when first meeting people and I need Danny to have the same vibe #sorta holy or divine and visually goes beyond human comprehension so much so that we can only see what our brain can best process #which is to say: some creepy ass bullshit of an amalgam horror creature of colossal size and power #When I look at Eldritch Horror Danny it needs to be so much overstimulation of shit going on that I instantly start dissociating #it needs to be so much at the same time that it genuinely makes you mentally break #if you check out that ARG channel: be warned that it’s main theme is depression and hopelessness. it may send you into a depressive spiral. #it has frightening and VERY unnerving imagery along with religious themes and gore and a LOT of staring #just so y’all know and I don’t accidentally make y’all dissociate or anythin cause that shit nearly instantly makes me lose touch w reality #like I should enjoy watching it bc it genuinely makes me feel bad and yet the curiosity of such an interesting take of the medium an just- #it’s just so cool ya know? stuff Beyond Comprehension and exsistential dread is just FASCINATING. #like Everywhere at the End of Time #that shit? instantly makes me have an anxiety attack and makes me off the rest of the day. #do I find it incredibly intriguing and on the occasion listen to it again knowing damn well that I’m setting myself up for a shitty day? yes #it’s just sO COOL #audio format of dementia is beautifully haunting. I worked for a time volunteering helping dimentia patients. some of them… #they were hollow. empty shells of a person that when I saw them all I could visualize was that awful static from the album just going on and #on forever. there was nothing left. that shit and morality scares the SHIT out of me and equally entices me #tw dissociation #tw memory loss #tw dementia

[anghraine]

Every time I read P&P closely, I’m struck by how carefully constructed it is. The plot is deeply bound up in Elizabeth’s and Darcy’s characters, both supporting and reflecting their character arcs, and the overall story is precisely calibrated to give a sense of balance between them without forcing them to be too similar.

The centerpiece of this dynamic is the first proposal+Elizabeth’s rejection+Darcy’s letter. In this sequence, they both make major mistakes and are allowed to stake ultimately reasonable and moral positions.

Put another way, Elizabeth is clearly framed as right in rejecting Darcy’s awful proposal and denouncing his arrogance and selfishness. But she’s also wrong about his basic underlying character and it leads her into reductive and then outright false accusations.

This puts Darcy in a position to (also rightly!) defend himself, and he does it in a way which does show his faults—thus Elizabeth’s glorious rejection isn’t completely undercut—but also which gradually exposes how deeply mistaken she (along with many readers) was about him. On top of that, he ultimately takes the high ground of excusing her for the worst of her mistakes and wishing her well, so he comes out of the whole thing looking pretty good, too, without any need to sugar-coat his real flaws.

And yes, there are some people who resent the way this doubled structure complicates our sympathies; I occasionally see people arguing that, essentially, Elizabeth bringing up Wickham in her rejection isn’t fair because it gives Darcy a legitimate complaint when he’s the asshole. I think that drastically misses the point of the book and Elizabeth’s character arc (some people really want Darcy to be the only one who grows), but in any case, that definitely seems a minority view. For most people, it’s clear by the end of Darcy’s letter that Elizabeth’s and Darcy’s characters are balanced and bound together in a way that’s immensely satisfying to see wind out through the rest of the novel.

#anghraine babbles #long post #i think it's one of the reasons they're so iconic #and also why aus that upset the balance of their missteps feel so weird #like if elizabeth is largely righteous and darcy is just an asshole: no #if darcy is simply awkward and elizabeth is just misunderstanding him: no #probably also part of the reason that they're such a colossal juggernaut within the fandom #the entire structure is built from the ground up for them and their relationship #in such a neatly balanced way that tearing them apart can feel kind of intrinsically ooc #and i've done that! but at some level i can't /really/ make it work in my head bc they're such a matched pair in the narrative #austen blogging #otp of otps #elizabeth bennet #fitzwilliam darcy

[pensiveant]

Imagine being an early human and settling near the ocean with your tribe and one day you find a whale carcass washed up on the beach and it's the first time you've ever seen an animal of that size. I would literally give up all of modern life's commodities to experience that.

#the fact that humans saw these colossal monsters they drew on the edges of the map to warn others of unknown dangers #and STILL decided to brave the seas in their lil wooden ships #the indomitable human spirit of it all...... #whales #i pet thy head foul beast

[solcarow]

.

#rewatching the cora flashbacks bc i am . ill . #i am sad to report that it is actually good . in my brain . #now whats compelling to me about law and cora is that theyr basically a 26yo trying to entertain a 13yo kid as if that kid was a 5yo #so weird to me how the fans call cora his dad like . rlly . r u sure . #laws not his son and coras not his dad but cora IS in fact . his dead mom . do u get me #his best friend perhaps.. #and also . his . his corazon #brb im gonna frow up #gah listen i canNot resist characters who made a colossal impact on eachothers lives without even knowing eo for a single year . #how much does waterloo even remember of cora im bashigng my head against the wall #<- guy who is an orvie #solar-talks

[feedthemadness-sweetie]

monthly check in bc it’s september 🤭🤭

how have you been!!!! i hope fall has been treating you gently so far!!! and you’re doing so so well!!! i miss you and love you always 🩷💗🩷💗🩷💗🫂🫂🫂🫂

Fay my angel !!! I've been holding onto this because I wanted to do it justice and give you some good news but i fucked up (like always) and waited too long and also didn't really find anything to say. I'm okay? I think? Ive been blessed with great friends who've held onto me (like you) when i probably didn't deserve them and I'm grateful for them every day.

I love you so so so much you have no idea and every time you're on my dash I light up and I miss you so so so much too I promise I'll stop being an idiot soon im so sorry !! 💕💕💕💕

#one day I'll strangle the voices in my head #and finally become a real person #im so sorry fay #you're my fairy godmother and i love you #and also im a colossal ass and you should ditch me immediately because im not worthy of your love T_T #ive been in my head a lot its driving me nuts #madness is an idiot #I swear im going to try to be normal #im so sorry #madness answers

[ersatz-anomaly]

“If you’re not constantly battling 24/7 you’re transphobic” maybe we’re just completely burnt out from the endless uphill battle you single braincelled amoeba

#i hate these kinds of posts #no room for nuance or understanding #just fucking #surzfuxtixgisit #you do your best day in and day out for years but if you dare grow tired from fighting both yours and others battles #you get labelled as uncaring and on the side of bigotry #I’m tired of being made to feel guilty for not having infinite mental energy #‘’if you’re not fighting every second forever clearly you hate trans people’’ #first of all I AM TRANS YOU RUBE #Second of all I’ve tried arguing against the bigot-minded in my family #it’s literally the brick wall meme. and I’ve learnt some refuse to consider others (you learn this quick as an Autism Creature) #when minor disagreement is forced to be backed up with a colossal argument in defence you get life sucked from you like in The Mummy(1999) #black and white thinking helps few and hinders all #but I digress. I’m fucking exhausted from battling my own head and toxic unstable living situation #label me whatever I don’t give a fuck anymore I’m just venting and craving peace #I’ve forgotten how to relax. literally. my muscles are tense all damn day and night #i just want to relax for a second without seeing 200 posts saying if I’m not engaged in constant battle I’m siding with bigots and phobes #whatever

[barrenceallence]

i LOVE vaurien scapegrace btw. best zombie king ever

#who is doing it like him he’s been the killer supreme. who has never actually killed someone. presumably he’s been around since The War #so. in all the time he did not manage to kill one person which seemed to have been a goal of his. #they were right inmortality do make procrastination worse #and then. this hundred year old loser looking a middle aged loser gets the shit kicked out of by a 12 year old. #can’t even manage to throw a punch. he’s a wet little dog #tries to join a super villain club. gets killed by his own crew bc they useless what a useless windbag he is. #zombie phase. he’s a shit zombie. tries to recruit as heterosexually as possible but ends up marrying Some Guy called Gerald #who he christens thrasher #loses control of his zombie horde. is shit at speeches. gets dommed by necromancers. loses his body. is a head in a jar. #all the whole oblivious to his colossally homosexual behaviour with thrasher. boy he drove you around in an ice cream truck. gay #becomes Jessica rabbit. becomes karate kid. becomes Batman. #ends up saving the world bc he finally realizes he loves thrasher. love wins #he’s just. the most character of all time. no one will come close #skulduggery pleasant #vaurien scapegrace #anyway bear with me

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

Famous Monsters cards (1963)

#Famous Monsters Of Filmland #cards #card #60's #60s #monsters #the corrugated brute #haunted fear #b&w #the colossal beast #the ghost #the iron mask #the melting head #educated skeleton #konga #1963 Rosan Famous Monster Series #trading cards #rosan 1963

[yugiohcardsdaily]

Chronomaly Colossal Head

“You can banish this card from your Graveyard to target 1 Level 3 or higher Attack Position monster on the field; change it to face-up or face-down Defense Position. The effect of ‘Chronomaly Colossal Head’ can only be used once per turn.”

#chronomaly colossal head #yugioh #yu-gi-oh #yu-gi-oh cards #duel monsters