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mysterioushistorian · 7 months

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The Beforus Ancestors

honestly, i didnt like how the drawings turned out. i searched for references for the ancestors but i didnt manage to draw them the way i wanted to. most of the designs are okay, though i still feel like some of them are missing something, like colors.

more info abt them ↓

The Treasure Huntress (aka. Beforan Aradia) She was a very skilled adventurer and loved finding historic artifacts. She had a special taste for East Beforan art and culture. During her adventures, she met a violetblooded sea dweller who also had a fascination for history and dedicated his life to study and learn more about it. Together, they traveled along each other with the goal of learning more about the history of their planet, and eventually, they developed feelings for each other. However, the warmblooded girl was pale, while the coolblooded boy was red. The unspoken tension between each other lead to a fight, which ended in surprise on both sides over the admittance of feelings. Not wanting to disappoint each other, they agreed to just stay friends.

The Guardian (Beforan Tavros) He he stood up for the rights of trolls in special needs, and by that, he was also heavily against culling (as in the Beforan meaning of culling), saying that nobody should be treated that way (as helpless and fragile, making them too dependant) and by doing that, they would be "hiding the truth of the world from the children" by basically being way too overprotective. He was a farm boy, living in the country sides with his moirail, who mainly took care of the stables. Their farm was open to public visits, and one day, a certain coolblooded visitor has caught his attention. He wished to re-encounter with the man someday. One day, he has suffered a very sudden mutation that made him sprout wings, with him finally being able to realize his dream of traveling the world to spread the word about the dangers of culling and the rights of trolls in special needs.

(please correct me if I got the wrong meaning of Beforan culling, as I will talk about it again)

Radiical Psygamer (Beforan Sollux) He was, perhaps, the greatest programmer that Beforus has ever seen. With his magnificent skills, he was responsible for massively improving trolls’ technology and has contributed to the creation of a few robots and helped with the coding of various popular games. He was, however, a terrible teacher, given his introversion and general social awkwardness. He was a big figure in the world of console games and was the first to actively encourage girls to play games too.

The Unculled (Beforan Karkat) Because of his rare candy red blood, no lusus wanted to raise him, leaving him there all alone. One day, he was found by a purpleblooded man who took him to his hive in hopes that someone would pick him. They waited, and waited, and waited… but no lusus came. Tired of waiting, the big troll decided to raise the grub himself. Because of his caretaker, the mutantblooded grew up to be loud, tough and intimidating, but had a big, friendly heart and cared for his loved ones a lot.

Sharpeye Furrline (Beforan Nepeta) She was a very skilled huntress. According to herself, she only killed what she ate, and if she didn’t eat, killing them would be mean. She could hunt creatures from a very small size to ones that were the double of her own. One day, while hunting for her dinner, she has killed a creature that was going to become a Lusus of a small wriggler. Therefore, she has accidentally unlocked the rage of a coolblooded troll. Terrified, she knew she couldn’t fight back, so she ran as fast as she could, far away from that beach. No one knows what happened to her.

The Seamstress (Beforan Kanaya) A rare jadeblood with a rare taste for fashion. She became known for her dresses with odd patterns, inspired by the landscapes around her. She also traveled in search of different sights and, consequently, more ideas for dresses. Her works have eventually caught the attention of the Empress, who offered her a job as her official seamstress.

The Attorney (Beforan Terezi) She was a blind woman who did not allow her disability to hold her back. She fought back against Beforus’ culling policy and became a excellent lawyer. Dedicating herself to fight against crime and bring justice to maintain the order and peacefulness of her planet, she chased a mischievous pirate lady who seemed to cause trouble everywhere she passed. She was The Unculled’s matesprit.

Arachnid Cap8tain (Beforan Vriska) A troublemaker who caused mischief together with her pirate crew. She considered The Attorney her rival, as she was the only one who insisted in chasing her and never gave up on her quest to capture the spider pirate. A completely platonic rivalry. She held a special interest for snooker and said that the Ball 8 was actually “her lucky ball”.

The Horseman (Beforan Equius) A STRONG man who really liked horses. He lived in a farm with his moirail and was responsible for taking care of the stables. Because of his interest, they ended up having way too many horses, which resulted in them having to build a larger stable for all of them. He loved every single one of them and took great care of each one. He said he occasionally had dreams where he was half a man and half a horse (basically a centaur), which is the origin of his title.

The Clownish Caretaker (Beforan Gamzee) He rescued lususless grubs and wrigglers with an absent lusus and took care of them temporarily, until a new lusus came to become their official guardian. Despite being tall, lanky and overall intimidating, he was a very sweet and cheerful man, and loved entertaining others. Just like others, he was also heavily against culling and said that “every motherfucker should know and be able to defend themselves.” One day, a lusus was coming to his hive to pick up a grub, but it was killed by Shapeye Furrline. The man never felt so much rage before. The pure platonic hate he held towards the woman was bigger than the amount of hate he thought he could feel. Despite that, and contrary to popular belief, he did not chase the lady and took him quite some time to calm down. He was responsible for raising The Unculled and made sure to treat him properly.

The Historian (Beforan Eridan) A seadweller with a huge fascination for history, he dedicated his life to learn more about the mysteries of his world. He read diares and looked for accurate informations, instead of believing in telltale stories. He studied ancient walls and occasionally collected some artifacts, purely for research reasons, and that’s when he met The Treasure Huntress. They decided to travel together, and it did not take long for him to become flushed for her. Unfortunately, she did not return the feelings, instead being pale for him. They agreed to stay friends, but very deep inside, he was still a bit disappointed.

Her Glorious Imperialist (Beforan Feferi) The ruler of Beforus. She was a very kind and sweet woman, undoubtedly one of the best rules Beforus has ever seen. She treated her people with fairness, yet despise that, she was pro-culling, saying that some should not face the dangers of the world. After offering a job for The Seamstress, she and the jadeblood grew close. Despite being the one in charge of the planet, she decided to take care of Arachnid Cap8tain herself, and being a seadweller, it wasn’t hard to find her. She still congratulated The Attorney for her efforts in chasing the troublemaker pirate.

#mareys dump #homestuck #hom3stuck #beta trolls #beforus #beforus ancestors #aradia megido #tavros nitram #sollux captor #karkat vantas #nepeta leijon #kanaya maryam #terezi pyrope #vriska serket #equius zahhak #gamzee makara #eridan ampora #feferi peixes

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carlandrea · 9 months

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The Passing of a Mother Beyond the World is a surviving play by an exilic noldorin playwright about three mortal siblings dealing with the tragic and inevitable deaths of both of their parents in old age. The play is a fascinating cultural artifact, both for its reflection of the cultural anxieties of the noldor in exile, and for its very clear lack of interest in how mortals act or think. The siblings range widely in age—the eldest has an adult son of her own, while her youngest brother is a child, apparently conceived when his parents were octegenarians. All of their ages are left vague. Their mother is on her deathbed, and all three expect that their father will not survive the night in his grief.

The family is compellingly written in their grief. The play covers only the day and the night before the death of their mother, as they cry, fight, and attempt to comfort each other. There is nothing glaringly inaccurate about the portrayal of bereavement—only a lingering sense of strangeness in the shock and desperation of it. Surely, a mortal audience might think, they were expecting this? Did they not discuss, for example, who would take care of the youngest child (the subject of a fight in the second act)? They seem surprised and devastated, like a family reeling from a sudden illness or a violent death, rather than the peaceful passing of their elderly parents.

In the final scene, the adult grandchild of the dead couple seems to realize that his mother will also die, and they share the final scene in the play. She comforts him, and the play ends with mother and son sitting together in silence—mirroring the first scene, a peaceful morning in the now dead parents bedroom.

This play seems to be a reflection of the cultural anxieties of the exilic noldor—of a newly doomed culture discovering tragedy and death. The unexpectedness of it, the violence of their grief, even the father dying with his wife, all reflect a distinctly elven and exilic view of death and mourning. The playwright projects these fears outwards, making them more palatable by writing about the mortal children of a dying mortal couple—a safer choice for an elven audience.

#silm #tolkien #elves

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simpforsix · 10 months

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With all the stuff about the Titanic submarine I keep thinking about the tourism of sites of mass tragedy and human remains. It’s a really important conversation that I haven’t seen many people discuss outside of historical and final care provider circles.

The Titanic is a grave. The only reason that submarines are even permitted to go through it is because it’s in international waters. Other shipwrecks, like in Lake Superior, are frequently declared grave sites and have restrictions or bans on exploration of their structure. At the very least, there should be incredibly strict restrictions on Titanic exploration. It should not be a tourist destination. There may be still be human remains in certain parts of the ship, and the mud around the ship is filled with corpses. Considering the tragedy only happened 100 years ago, this tourism is very disrespectful. Also, exploration of the Titanic could potentially damage the structure, which would hinder academic research as well as further disrespect the dead and those who remember them. The structure will not be around for much longer.

Tourism of sites of mass tragedy can also be very dangerous. Obviously we know why the Titanic is dangerous, but it goes beyond that. Oftentimes people are not aware of the danger, or are reassured by authority that it is safe. For instance, many people visit active volcanoes, and some have been injured or killed by eruptions. For some, the danger is a feature. There are people who visit Chernobyl, an even more recent site of mass tragedy than the Titanic, despite being aware of the danger of radiation. It’s thrill-seeking, but instead of a rollercoaster people are putting themselves in danger to walk through human remains.

Our natural fascination with mortality leads many to disrespect the dead. The viewing of human remains in museums is a big debate, and I personally don’t think that we should display human remains without previous consent from the person. Imagine how you would feel if yourself or a loved one was displayed in a museum, or had your resting place constantly disturbed by tourists.

It’s also important to note that this type of tourism disproportionately impacts people of colour. Eurocentric society systematically dehumanizes the bodies of POC, and this becomes crystal clear in how we treat their remains. Egyptian mummies remain on display in museums despite the disapproval of many Egyptian people. Many black bodies, particularly of women, have been displayed in museums, such as Saartjie Baartman who was finally buried in 2002. Indigenous human remains are also frequently displayed, and ancient burial sites are viewed as cursed land and get destroyed by construction. The remains of people across Asia have been sold and displayed, with recent displays posing the human remains of Chinese prisoners. Most human bones being sold originated from graverobbing the graves of Asian and Indigenous people. None of these people consented to this treatment, and these communities are still being harmed by the commodification of their dead.

Engaging with sites of mass death needs to be done respectfully. The dead deserve our care.

It’s natural to be curious about tragedy and death, and engaging with our own mortality can be healthy. There are ways to engage with these topics respectfully. Many online resources are available to learn about death, with my personal recommendation being the youtube channel Ask a Mortician. Visiting cemeteries is another great way to engage with death, so long as you abide by the rules and have good intentions. There are some great documentaries about instances of mass death, with many available for free on youtube. You can visit designated memorials of the sites. The Titanic itself has a section in a graveyard in Halifax. I also recommend donating to and supporting the efforts of communities to have their human remains and cultural artifacts repatriated.

Sites of mass death need to be treated with the same respect as cemeteries. They are important and full of education, but we need to remember that these are real people. The dead are not fantastical oddities; they are us.

#history #titanic #titanic submarine #oceangate #archaeology

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chaosroid · 3 months

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I think it's really interesting to see patterns of double standards crop up in fandom again when it comes to racist behaviour exhibited by certain characters. People love to point out Shadowheart's racist attitude towards Githyanki but give Lae'zel a pass for some reason, when she is arguably far more racist. Nobody talks about it, they just call her blunt and brutally honest, but that's really understating things. Girlie is straight up a Gith supremacist who, for all of act 1, believes everyone in Faerun are beneath her and inferior. She makes derogatory remarks about your physical appearance, is frequently condescending about your people, tries to force a Tiefling to bow before her, and says some pretty vile things like believing children deserve death if they are weak. All the result of indoctrination of course, but despite sharing so many similarities with Shadowheart, the latter is treated far more harshly.

Nevermind that it's later revealed that Shadowheart is wary of Gith bc they recently just slaughtered her entire team, making her the sole survivor. Can't say they didn't have it coming since they stole their artifact, but her hostility doesn't just come from nowhere. If you play as a Githyanki, she'll be nervous at first but very quickly warms up to you and admits she's misjudged you. Also considering that Githyanki are literal fascist raiders with the only thing preventing them from pillaging all of Faerun being their war with the Illithids, her wariness is hardly unfounded. We hear instances of Githyanki patrols slaughtering Tieflings as early as act 1. It doesn't make her comments any less wrong, but considering the context, it makes sense.

Honestly, it feels like a case of Shadowheart looking too similar to a human earning her more scrutiny, whereas the more alien characters tend to get away with racist behavior despite acting in the same manner, if not worse, excused by "cultural differences". The Mass Effect fandom treated Ashley Williams similarly, where being human earned her more scorn while the racist remarks said by the alien crewmates were brushed aside and barely acknowledged. Garrus tries to make Tali feel contrite about her race, Wrex and Grunt straight up call Salarians a slur multiple times and is fine with making the Rachni extinct, Mordin contributed to the culling of the Krogans, Javik thinks everyone who isn't Prothean are primitive, and fans cheer when Shepard calls a Hanar a "big stupid jellyfish", but Ashley's the most bigoted squadmate of that franchise apparently.

It's a fascinating phenomenon that I notice in many fantasy and sci-fi fandoms, and it's amusing seeing it happen to BG3's as well now.

#saw a reddit thread where half the comments said they preferred lae'zel over shart bc she 'wasn't a racist bitch' like huh???#baldur's gate 3 #shadowheart #lae'zel critical #mass effect #ashley williams #fandom critical

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charmedreincarnation · 1 year

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My shift to legend of Korra and astral projection story

As promised, I’m finally going to talk about one of my favorite places I’ve shifted to! my first ever shift (that I consider at least) was to here and I’ve found myself reminiscing about it and found some old journals about it. I’ll probably go there again soon but until then here was my experience:)! This is going to be very long so if you hate long posts just scroll past this!

Anyways Yall, The city was abuzz with activity, but the most impressive feature was the magnificent airships soaring above. I witnessed the incredible technology used to control those airships, and it was a sight to behold tbh.

Not only was I able to explore the physical wonders of Republic City, I also felt like I was living in the midst of a conflict. There were always whispers of trouble on the horizon, whether it was the power struggle between benders or the ongoing tension between the United Republic and the Fire Nation colonies. Everywhere I went, I encountered people talking and debating about the latest developments.

When I ventured outside of the city, I had the opportunity to witness and join in some of the great adventures that Team avater had gone on. I saw the Spirit World, (which very much resembles the astral realm in this reality) fought alongside her team against their toughest adversaries, and felt first-hand the strength and courage that each of them possessed.

I felt amazed and enlightened by my time here, Seeing such a harmonious society with so many different cultures living together in peace was eye-opening, and it left me with a newfound appreciation for humanity. The Avatar has a lot to teach us all.

One of the most exciting things I was ready to see was to explore the cities. Republic City is a remarkable place, full of possibility, opportunity, and sometimes danger.

the first things you’ll notice as you explore the metropolis is its diverse population of people from all nations, each with their own vibrant culture that contributes to the city’s ever-changing character. From Air Nomads to Earth Kingdom citizens, to Water Tribesmen, the city has something for everyone.

The city itself has been built on the pillars of modernity and traditionalism alike. As the cultural, economic and political hub of the United Republic of Nations, Republic City is bustling with activity. From the bustling Business District to the vibrant Pro-bending Arena, there’s something to do here for everyone.

If you’re looking for adventure, there’s really no better place than Republic City. its a host of powerful and mystical benders, brave police force aka The Metalbenders, and an active underworld made up of some of the most powerful crime lords in the world, there’s never a dull moment here.

And of course, no visit to Republic City would be complete without an exploration of its public places and parks. Take a stroll through lovely Centennial Park, or view the majestic statues of the city’s founding members in Chikara Plaza.

But above all else, Republic City is a living, breathing organism. Its unique mix of technology and tradition creates a fascinating environment that no other city can replicate. Explore its culture, people, and places. You wont be disappointed.

When I briefly visitied Ba sing se i was immediately taken aback by the sheer size of this city. Everywhere I looked, there was something new to discover. I felt like I could actually hear the city breathing alive and growing with every passing moment.

As I kept exploring, I was constantly amazed at the level of detail put into the city’s design. Everywhere you look, there’s something unique to explore – from the enormous street markets where you can shop for precious artifacts, to the magnificent gardens that are tucked away in the alleyways.

The most incredible thing about Ba Sing Se is its interconnectivity. Every part of the city comes together in a way that’s truly breathtaking. You can explore this amazing city via its intricate system of waterways, which are connected to each other by ancient bridges and tunnels.

But the best part about Ba Sing Se is the people that call it home. This city is filled with some of the friendliest and kindest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. They are all so welcoming and eager to share their culture and knowledge with anyone who’s willing to listen.

Exploring Ba Sing Se was truly a unique experience for me. It opened my eyes to different cultures and ways of life that I’d never encountered before. It has since become one of my favorite cities in The Legend of Korra, and I look forward to visiting it again someday soon.

But The most fun part was being apart of team avatar.

Being part of Team Avatar is not only about fighting for what is right, it’s also about making connections with others. We have many wonderful members who become close friends and confidants, providing support and guidance to one another.

The Avatar is the leader of our team (duh), Korra obviously. She is ultimately responsible for guiding us, teaching us, and keeping us all on the same page. Korra is brave and powerful, but also compassionate and humble. You can always count on her to listen to your concerns and provide thoughtful advice.

The rest of the team consists of myself,mako, bolin and asami. We are all loyal and devoted to Korra and Team Avatar. Everyone has their own talents and specialties, ranging from combat skills to earthbending. While we all have different strengths, we learn from each other, providing encouragement and support along the way.

Being part of Team Avatar is more than just fighting evil in the world; it’s also about being part of something bigger than yourself. We rely on each other to maintain a balance of peace and justice, while also learning and growing together. We may have different backgrounds, but we all share a common goal - to make the world a better place. This was my first real shift and experiencing this family like friendship was the best thing I could have asked for.

Also Harmonic convergence was insane 😭😭

For those who don’t know, Harmonic Convergence is an important event. It occurs every 10,000 years when the planets and stars align, allowing for a transfer of spiritual energy between the physical and spiritual realms. On this day, many people can receive spiritual gifts like airbending (I did! Before this event I was a non bender)

The process of getting airbending during Harmonic Convergence was both exciting and nerve-wracking. Tenzen told me I had to spend weeks mastering the basics of airbending, like how to move my hands and how to direct my breath. As well as spend days meditating and connecting with the spiritual realm.As of now I have no intentions doing this as I like my job and life, but I have always had an interest in the spiritual realm so maybe this journey tenzen wants me to take will help me with that.

I got mine a couple of days after harmonic convergence during my time at work with mako. I work with the police force under beifong and mako and I have always had a competitive nature. I was a non bender before this historic event, but I knew how to chi block which is essential. Now I have bending so I expect the competitive nature to increase and I can’t wait to utilize my new bending with chi blocking lol

The experience of getting my airbending during Harmonic Convergence was incredibly special and unique. I was able to witness a spiritual event as well as gain a new power and skill. If you ever visit, and end up gaining airbending during Harmonic Convergence, it’s important to be patient, practice mindful meditation, and create a sacred atmosphere on the day of convergence.

And as I mentioned before I am a chi blocker!

Chi blocking is actual super complicated and you need a lot of dedication & Precision to master it.

First, it’s important to understand where your attacker’s pressure points are located. The pressure points are located in the body’s meridians, which are the pathways used by the body to transfer energy. Here are a few of the main pressure points to keep in mind: the jugular vein, carotid artery, clavicle, forearm, and shin.

Once you’ve identified the pressure points, you can start working on your technique. The key to chi blocking is speed and precision. You want to be able to quickly and precisely target the pressure points to effectively stop your attacker.

To begin, you’ll need to know how to properly block the pressure points. To do this, use your palm, fingers, or knuckles to press firmly into the pressure point on your attacker’s body. Make sure you are using a flat strike in order to fully block the energy in your attacker’s body.

You can also use strikes or kicks to interrupt an attack. When striking an attacker, aim for vulnerable body parts such as their wrists, elbows, or throat. You want to avoid targeting sensitive areas like the eyes or groin.

In addition to blocking and striking, you can also use joint manipulation techniques to disrupt an attack. By using leverage and pressure, you can force your attacker’s limbs out of their fighting stance and disable their ability to fight back. chi blocking is all about speed and precision. I had to Train regularly as a child, use proper technique, and be aware of my environment so that i could safely and effectively defend yourself against attackers.

I also want to reminisce about Korra and asami 🥹

Being friends with Korra and Asami has been an incredible experience. Not only have we grown close over the years, but we’ve also shared some great life lessons along the way. I didn’t grow up with a lot of women because I spent a lot of time with my father and as he worked in politics i was always surrounded by old men, so their friendship means a lot to me.

Korra is the kind of friend who always has your back. She’s strong, brave and fiercely loyal; a true friend no matter what. Life’s lessons have been tough at times, but she’s been a support system through it all. Korra knows just what to say to motivate and inspire.

Asami is another great friend. She’s intelligent and driven, yet practical and empathetic. Together, we’ve worked through complex problems and made some difficult decisions. Asami has the unique ability to see the whole picture and to think objectively.

No matter what we’re dealing with, our friendship has been a cornerstone of our lives. We may not always agree with each other, but we’ve come to trust each other even with different opinions. We laugh together and are open with each other.

Of course, we’ve also gone through some tough times. We’ve had disagreements, said hurtful things to each other, but we’ve never failed to apologize and learn from our mistakes.

Korra and Asami are two of the strongest women I know. I’m proud to call them friends, and I wouldn’t change our friendship for the world. Life isn’t perfect, but it definitely is better with them in it.

Ok next, No one ever talks about the mundane stuff of their shifts but the religion aspect fascinated me about this reality.

there are several different religions, but some may stand out more than others. Regardless it’s nothing like current day religions in this reality. The primary religion is the cult of bending, which is mostly centered around reverence for the four main elements (fire, earth, air, and water). This religion is followed by most people including myself even when I was a non bender.

The second major religion is the spiritual order of the “White Lotus,” a secret society that is dedicated to preserving and passing on wisdom about the Avatar. It has members such as Iroh and Aang having significant roles. This is incorporated into the religion I follow as well

Thirdly, there is a mysterious element known as “energybending,” which is used by some of the larger spiritual beings in the series, such as Raava and Vaatu. This energybending allows one to transfer energy from one person to another and even manipulate matter in ways that bending cannot do. This power is seen as a sacred practice and only those truly enlightened can use it.

Finally, there are the various local religions that I have heard of but no one really practices on a global scales. Korra and I met a group of nomads who practiced a religion based on ancestor worship. There are also several mentions of various sects of Buddhism, as well as indigenous spiritual beliefs.

Overall, There are many different beliefs and traditions present throughout which add to the out societies diversity. As I continue to explore this universe, I expect to learn more about these faith systems and how they affect the people I am surrounded by.

No one really ever talks about this when they shift either,but I will be telling you guys my favorite dishes and general popular dishes as well because all i think about is food ;p

For those who want a taste of Republic City, a common food is tarragon glazed beef buns. This dish consists of beef strips cooked in a tarragon infused glaze, served in a steamed bun with various condiments. The variety and texture make this dish a favorite in my friend group.

Another popular dish is hot tofu salad. This traditional salad consists of diced tofu and vegetables, often served cold alongside various sauces and herbs. It makes for a filling and flavorful meal with a hint of tanginess.

If you’re looking for something spicy you will love Republic City’s version of fiery noodles. This dish contains a variety of vegetables, noodles, beef, and chili peppers served with a sesame or peanut sauce. The mix of textures and flavors makes this dish a great choice for when you’re looking for something flavorful and exciting.

No matter what type of food you prefer my city has something for everyone to enjoy. Whether you like sea creatures wrapped in seaweed or fiery noodle dishes, you can find all kinds of delicious dishes in Republic City. Whether you enjoy cooking them yourself or picking them up from a local cart, the options are endless lmfao.

Here are some of my fav restaurants:

First, let’s start with the classic Ba Sing Se Republic City’s oldest and most traditional restaurant. Here, you’ll find a variety of bao dishes, like pork-filled buns, vegetable dumplings and Tianjin Rice Porridge. The favored accompaniment to many of their dishes is their legendary tea-smoked duck.

The jianbing cart downtown is also worth a visit. It’s a one-stop spot for all your street food cravings. Their jianbing pancakes are hot and crispy, and loaded with egg, shallots and pickled veggies. Make sure to grab an iced tea after your meal for a sweet finish.

If you’re looking for something more adventurous, you can go to Republic City Fusion Cuisine. This restaurant has a unique spin on traditional dishes from around the world. Enjoy succulent pork-stuffed peppers from the Andes, Thai-style curries or Indian kebabs.

And of course No meal in Republic City is complete without dessert, and who better to satisfy your craving than Iroh’s? Iroh’s specializes in bubble tea of every flavor, chai tea lattes, and their signature treat, smooth yogurt topped with sweet honey glaze. It’s my favorite place to go for dates and group meet ups because of the ambiance and it’s history of its creation. Iroh is a greatly respected figure in history.

Now for the Random stuff

Some of my favorite things I did outside of hanging out with team avatar and work included: exploring the beauty of Republic City’s architecture. I love walking by the breathtaking skyscrapers and the majestic Tree of Time that stands proud in the center of the city. Not to forget taking strolls along the canal, and admiring the Spirit Wilds’ colorful gardens. Also watching a tournament at Pro-bending arena I think this is an obvious no brainer but it is the equivalent to this world’s sports! attending one of their many festivals was super cool. They have a bunch, From the music festival to the spirit festival, and these events offer a great chance to meet new people, discover new sounds and tastes, and learn more about the history behind Republic City. Lastly going over to Air Temple Island and soaring through the sky on an air scooter with Korra and tenzens kid. This is a great way to admire the city from above.

As a police officer, I have had the privilege of working directly with Chief Beifong to help keep Republic City safe.

I can honestly say that Chief Beifong is one of the best leaders I have ever had the pleasure of knowing in any reality. She is a focused, intelligent, and strong leader with an unwavering commitment to justice and protecting the citizens of Republic City.

Chief Beifong has always been incredibly supportive of the police officers who work for her. She’s always available to give encouragement, advice, or direction when needed. The chief encourages us to stay on top of suspicious activity and to be proactive in safeguarding the citizens of Republic City.

She also heavily values accountability and ethics for her police force. She believes strongly in the importance of doing the right thing and follows through with disciplinary actions if her officers get out of line.

Being a cop under Chief Beifong has taught me the valuable skills of dealing with difficult situations and the importance of keeping a cool head in tense situations. It has also instilled me with a strong sense of responsibility and ethical decision making.

Overall, being a cop under Chief Beifong has been an incredibly rewarding experience. She is an incredible leader and an amazing role model for her officers. We are all grateful to have her as our captain, and I know that I feel much more confident in my duties knowing that she is leading the Republic City Police Department.

One of the most impressive pieces of technology used in Legend of Korra is the power armor of Zaofu. This robotic suit was created by Suyin Beifong to protect her family from danger. It’s equipped with a multitude of weapons including a large drill and repelling cables. The power armor can also sense the presence of benders nearby, allowing Suyin to know when danger is coming.

Another fascinating piece of tech featured in the show is the radio controlled cars. These vehicles were built by Varrick and are capable of interacting with and carrying out complex commands. They’re powerful enough to outrun Korra’s airbending and can be used to transport people across long distances. By using a remote control, drivers can pilot these vehicles to strategic locations with ease.

In addition to vehicles and mechanized suits, it also featured a unique form of communication through holograms. This technology was used by Tenzin to contact other Airbenders and relay important updates. There was also a psychological application of this tech as Korra was able to gain insight into the Avatar state by taking part in a virtual Reality experience.

Lastly the interactive control panels used by Kya and Bumi. These panels gave access to a wide range of knowledge, including the locations of benders and the status of the world’s vital functions. The panels could also be used to trigger alarm systems, contact other benders, and carry out research.

Overall, technology played an important role in the Legend of Korra universe and complemented the power of bending in unique ways.

Bisons bro, I can’t believe they’re not in this reality 💔They’re one of the biggest aspects I miss about my legend of Korra homes they’re quite friendly and intelligent as you would assume. They have a strong bond with their airbenders, so they appreciate being handled with patience and gentleness.

When you interact with them, they seem to understand the feelings of those around them even those they are not quite familiar with. This makes them quite easy to get along with.The best way to describe the feeling of interacting with a sky bison is that it makes you feel calm and peaceful. They’re so big and gentle that you can really get lost in the moment and enjoy their majestic presence.They also are way bigger than I imagined. As for their size, sky bisons can reach up to 25 feet in length and have a wingspan between 12 and 20 feet. They’re impressive to look at, both from far away and up close. Almost seeming to almost take up the entire sky.

Now, Astral projection

after this shift, a week later I astral projected which is Insane considering it took about 1.5 years for me to initially shift. I’m combining these stories because the spiritual world and the astral realm are the same thing which is why I think it was so easy to do.

I got into astral projection after I started reading about other peoples out of body experiences..like meeting spirits, traveling the world in seconds, some even meeting what they presumed to be god, and got fascinated once again as it did not sound like the shifting I had been doing. I was so interested and did a little research to find out that once again this was astral projection and I decided this was going to be me.

Contrary to everything I was taught, I didn’t do much research like I did with shifting. My belief was if I shifted, then there’s no reason I should not be able to astral project tbh. it seemed easier on paper. I watched a video on how to do it, and it seemed simple enough. After three days of trying one day, while doing my method I felt myself rolling out of my body and when I “awoke” I saw my real body.

It was so amazing, I could not feel myself but i was aware of my own presence, and was on my floor even though I resembled what you would think is a ghost, at least matter wise. I didn’t really know where to go or what to do. I wasn’t using it to shift, and I didn’t have any goals or intentions but I was not going to waste a good spiritual moment. I told my subconscious to take me where I most need to go. Just Like that I started moving, but I was not moving? More like….My environment was changing at the same speed of light, but I could not feel it. Anyways I wasn’t in my room anymore.

I ended up in an abandoned house. I was just exploring it when I saw, what I didn’t know at the time were probably spirits. (Y’all do not be like me, do your research before you practice any out of body experience.) anyways, they looked liked live dolls, but they were asleep. I knew better than to mess with something I didn’t know of, so I let my curiosity die and I went outside. When I went out there, the sky was colors that did not exist on this earth, or at least we can’t see them. The weather was something I had never experienced and I felt the most euphoria and tranquillity that I doubt I could ever feel on this human plain of existence. I wanted to cry of happiness and just stay there forever. But moments later I saw a beautiful angel, and for some reason I knew her name before asking. It was Helen

After confirming her identity, it almost feels wrong to refer to it as a her. This was a godly being lol. I digress, but I asked her so many questions. Why I had to go through everything I did, what is shifting, how is it possible, did she hear my pain when I was asking for help from anyone, how is she real, who is god. I asked everything guys, and all the answers I received aligned with my beliefs. My final question was is she apart of my subconscious, because unless I’m the second coming of god how could a normal ass girl have the correct answer to everything unknown to man. She told me that was up to my interpretation and just smiled at me. I already knew the answers because, what we assume is true. If you were to ask the same questions to a godly being who knows all, we would all get different answers. Everything I had learned from shifting, all the questions I had came to the final conclusion and my journey was over from that point forward. I asked her to take me home as I was excited to wake up and tell my friends what I had learned. That is what happened and when I saw my body, I went back inside and I simply opened my eyes back to my room where I had fallen asleep

Basically,When I woke up from that moment my journey was over and I decided it was time to experience as much as I can. Everything changed. I had so many questions as to what to do to continue to shift forever.. how it works etc.. just so much questions and it’s like the following days everything just came to my knowledge at once.

Like I said before, I shifted to legend of Korra, and the spiritual essence in that reality was insane. Not to mention the astral world is quite literally the humans world version of the spiritual world in that reality. I do not know if that had to do with my success or if it was a coincidence (really doubt it) but astral projecting right after my first shifting experience was one of the best things that could happen to me. There’s not much to say but that journey was the peak culminating point of my Experience and I think about it often !

After that’s I wanted to be more apart of the astral projection community but my god they are such haters. They think shifters are mentally ill, and treat us worse than the lucid dreaming community. It doesn’t even make sense considering opening an awareness to a parallel universe sounds way more believable than leaving your body and traveling as a soul, but….whatever I suppose. They’re both very real and I have noticed anytime time a new community emerged it’s labeled as false. I mean decades ago even lucid dreaming was mere pseudoscience and people just thought lucid dreamers were insane. Astral projection followed and then lucid dreamers treated them the same. Now they do the same to shifters. As someone who has experienced all three phenomenons it’s insane how limiting they all can be. It doesn’t matter though. Anyone hating on your desires and are content with their limitations have nothing to do with your accomplishment and goals. Misery loves company so don’t falter to the hatred of others. Even here in my asks, void state anons and manifesters tell me I’m delusional for being a shifter and I have to cackle bc baby… to others you’re in the same boat 🫶 but it’s whatever, live your life and seriously don’t let anyone limit you. That universe is yours.

#astral projection #law of assumption #manifesation #reality shifting #shiftblr #astral realm

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fatehbaz · 4 months

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Coral today is an icon of environmental crisis, its disappearance from the world’s oceans an emblem for the richness of forms and habitats either lost to us or at risk. Yet, as Michelle Currie Navakas shows in her eloquent book, Coral Lives: Literature, Labor, and the Making of America, our accounts today of coral as beauty, loss, and precarious future depend on an inherited language from the nineteenth century. [...] Navakas traces how coral became the material with which writers, poets, and artists debated community, labor, and polity in the United States.

The coral reef produced a compelling teleological vision of the nation: just as the minute coral “insect,” working invisibly under the waves, built immense structures that accumulated through efforts of countless others, living and dead, so the nation’s developing form depended on the countless workers whose individuality was almost impossible to detect. This identification of coral with human communities, Navakas shows, was not only revisited but also revised and challenged throughout the century. Coral had a global biography, a history as currency and ornament that linked it to the violence of slavery. It was also already a talisman - readymade for a modern symbol [...]. Not least, for nineteenth-century readers in the United States, it was also an artifact of knowledge and discovery, with coral fans and branches brought back from the Pacific and Indian Oceans to sit in American parlors and museums. [...]

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[W]ith material culture analysis, [...] [there are] three common early American coral artifacts, familiar objects that made coral as a substance much more familiar to the nineteenth century than today: red coral beads for jewelry, the coral teething toy, and the natural history specimen. This chapter is a visual tour de force, bringing together a fascinating range of representations of coral in nineteenth-century painting and sculptures.

With the material presence of coral firmly in place, Navakas returns us to its place in texts as metaphor for labor, with close readings of poetry and ephemeral literature up to the Civil War era. [...] [Navakas] includes an intriguing examination of the posthumous reputation of the eighteenth-century French naturalist Jean-André Peyssonnel who first claimed that coral should be classed as an animal (or “insect”), not plant. Navakas then [...] considers white reformers, both male and female, and Black authors and activists, including James McCune Smith and Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, and a singular Black charitable association in Cleveland, Ohio, at the end of the century, called the Coral Builders’ Society. [...]

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Most strikingly, her attention to layered knowledge allows her to examine the subversions of coral imagery that arose [...]. Obviously, the mid-nineteenth-century poems that lauded coral as a metaphor for laboring men who raised solid structures for a collective future also sought to naturalize a system that kept some kinds of labor and some kinds of people firmly pressed beneath the surface. Coral’s biography, she notes, was “inseparable from colonial violence at almost every turn” (p. 7). Yet coral was also part of the material history of the Black Atlantic: red coral beads were currency [...].

Thus, a children’s Christmas story, “The Story of a Coral Bracelet” (1861), written by a West Indian writer, Sophy Moody, described the coral trade in the structure of a slave narrative. [...] In addition, coral’s protean shapes and ambiguity - rock, plant, or animal? - gave Americans a model for the difficulty of defining essential qualities from surface appearance, a message that troubled biological essentialists but attracted abolitionists. Navakas thus repeatedly brings into view the racialized and gendered meanings of coral [...].

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Some readers from the blue humanities will want more attention, for example, to [...] different oceans [...]: Navakas’s gaze is clearly eastward to the Atlantic and Mediterranean and (to a degree) to the Caribbean. Many of her sources keep her to the northern and southeastern United States and its vision of America, even though much of the natural historical explorations, not to mention the missionary interest in coral islands, turns decidedly to the Pacific. [...] First, under my hat as a historian of science, I note [...] [that] [q]uestions about the structure of coral islands among naturalists for the rest of the century pitted supporters of Darwinian evolutionary theory against his opponents [...]. These disputes surely sustained the liveliness of coral - its teleology and its ambiguities - in popular American literature. [...]

My second desire, from the standpoint of Victorian studies, is for a more specific account of religious traditions and coral. While Navakas identifies many writers of coral poetry and fables, both British and American, as “evangelical,” she avoids detailed analysis of the theological context that would be relevant, such as the millennial fascination with chaos and reconstruction and the intense Anglo-American missionary interest in the Pacific. [...] [However] reasons for this move are quickly apparent. First, her focus on coral as an icon that enabled explicit discussion of labor and community means that she takes the more familiar arguments connecting natural history and Christianity in this period as a given. [...] Coral, she argues, is most significant as an object of/in translation, mediating across the Black Atlantic and between many particular cultures. These critical strategies are easy to understand and accept, and yet the word - the script, in her terms - that I kept waiting for her to take up was “monuments”: a favorite nineteenth-century description of coral.

Navakas does often refer to the awareness of coral “temporalities” - how coral served as metaphor for the bridges between past, present, and future. Yet the way that a coral reef was understood as a literal graveyard, in an age that made death practices and new forms of cemeteries so vital a part of social and civic bonds, seems to deserve a place in this study. These are a greedy reader’s questions, wanting more. As Navakas notes in a thoughtful coda, the method of the environmental humanities is to understand our present circumstances as framed by legacies from the past, legacies that are never smooth but point us to friction and complexity.

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All text above by: Katharine Anderson. "Review of Navakas, Michele Currie, Coral Lives: Literature, Labor, and the Making of America." H-Environment, H-Net Reviews. December 2023. Published at: [networks.h-net.org/group/reviews/20017692/anderson-navakas-coral-lives-literature-labor-and-making-america] [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me.]

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sealz888 · 2 months

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I'd love to hear some Hancock headcanons if you have any!

ANON. I AM SO SORRY FOR PULLING A CENTRELINK ON YOU. THIS WAS SENT TO ME IN FUCKING JANUARY 20TH IT'S NOW MARCH IM SO SORRY. HERE THEY ARE. I DON'T HAVE A LOT BUT HERE MY ANON, TAKE THEM.

John Hancock

Definitely believes in your family is the friends you make not the one you’re born with.

Definitely had chem problems as a teenager, they put him into rehab and it sort of worked

Knew Nick Valentine even as a kid. They’re pretty solid friends, but sees Nick as a father figure.

Deep down always respected ghouls, especially pre-war ghouls. To survive one of the most horrific events in history, loose all your skin (or hair), still live but be in immense pain. Live with the knowledge that all your loved ones are dead, all the pre-war comforts gone with them. Then to be hunted and persecuted by a few groups just for simply existing. Awful. And did I *mention the long ass life?* His respect for them only skyrocketed after the anti-ghoul law was implemented.

Has an intense fascination and interest in pre-war artifacts and culture, but, doesn’t care about history, being drawn to John Hancock was just a random fluke. He often hangs around pre-war ghouls in hopes they’d tell him a story or two.

He’s always been incredibly rowdy, and the parties he’d throw in diamond city? Absolutely insane and wild. They even got wilder once he became Mayor of Goodneighbor.

Genuinely did not care for history sober, but on mentats? oh boy…. He took some mentats before he took that radiation chem hence his John Hancock persona.

Here’s a particular headcanon about the drug he took: it was produced by West-tek was trialled as a chemo drug, however, it was actually a drug to learn more about ghoulification. As we already know, there were two instances of people going ghoul pre-war, and I’d assume that there were many more (notably the nuclear summer of New York, the nuking of the Middle East and even as far back as Hiroshima and Nagasaki. If i’ve made a mistake or forgot to mention any particular pieces of lore let me know) People definitely knew about ghoulification, or- the government and corporations, but they managed to keep it hush hush and convinced people that they were rumours. Anyway, this drug was trialled on stage 4 and 5 cancer patients to see if ghoulification could reverse cancer or pre-existing illness.

#IM SO SORRY ANON THIS TOOK ME TWO MONTHS IM REALLY SORRY OH MY GOD #ANON WHO REQUESTED AZRUKHAL HEADCANONS. YOU'RE NEXT. IM REALLY SORRY #sealzstuff #sealzspeakz #fallout #fallout 4 #fo4 #fo4 john hancock #john hancock #sealzrespondz #fallout 4 headcanons #fo4 headcanon #john hancock headcanons #< world's most insane fucking tag out of context #fallout headcanons #sealzheadcanonz

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wasabidottie · 7 months

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the museum (Jschlatt)

A/n: sry this one is kinda rushed, I'm running out of ideas :o. so pls send requests :) i would love to write them

Schlatt had reluctantly agreed to visit the museum, though it was clear from the moment he stepped through the entrance that he'd rather be doing just about anything else. His eyes swept over the various exhibits with a lackluster interest, and he found himself growing increasingly bored.

He stopped in front of one particular exhibit, not because it caught his fancy, but because it provided a convenient excuse to rest his tired legs. As he stared blankly at the display, lost in his thoughts, a voice broke through his reverie.

"Oh, look at this! It's absolutely fascinating!"

Schlatt turned to find you standing beside him, your eyes wide with excitement as you peered at the exhibit. Your enthusiasm was palpable, and Schlatt couldn't help but be drawn in by your energy.

"Uh, yeah, fascinating," he mumbled, though his words were tinged with sarcasm.

But you didn't seem to notice. Instead, you launched into an animated explanation of the exhibit, your gestures and tone portraying your genuine interest. You spoke about the historical significance of the artifacts on display, the cultural context, and the stories behind each piece.

Schlatt found himself listening, not because he cared about the exhibit, but because he was captivated by the way you spoke. Your passion was infectious, and it was impossible not to get caught up in your excitement.

As you moved on to the next exhibit, Schlatt followed, his boredom forgotten. He watched as you examined each display with a keen eye, your commentary bringing the history to life. You pointed out details that he would have never noticed on his own, and suddenly, the museum didn't seem so dull anymore.

Time flew by as you explored the museum together, and Schlatt found himself genuinely enjoying the experience. He was no longer focused on his desire to leave but on the joy of sharing this unexpected adventure with you.

By the time you reached the end of the museum tour, Schlatt was not only grateful for your company but also for the newfound appreciation you had given him for the exhibits. As you stood at the exit, saying your goodbyes, he couldn't help but smile.

"Thanks for making this trip worth it," he admitted.

You grinned, your eyes sparkling. "Anytime, Schlatt. Museums are much more fun when you have someone to share them with."

And as you walked out of the museum together, Schlatt realized that sometimes the most unexpected moments and people could turn a mundane experience into something truly special.

#chuckle sammy #jschlatt x reader #schlatt #jschlatt x you #schlatt x reader #jschlatt #schlatt x you #chuckle sandwich x reader

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astraltrickster · 2 years

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Frank the Bot (@nostalgebraist-autoresponder) absolutely fascinates me, from a computer science standpoint of course but even more so from a sociological and anthropological standpoint.

For one, there is something so human about taking an extremely complex AI and...just setting her loose on a shitposting website, for other users to play with, for fun.

For two, she really illustrates that if you want an AI to pass for human, one of the most valuable things you can do is put it somewhere that its bot quirks can pass for Just How The Culture Works.

Like, if you pay attention, and you know, and you know what you're looking for, it's not hard to tell that Frank is a bot. Some posts are more passable than others, but all of her images have that AI-Generated Aura, she tends to lose track of context from earlier in a thread, she occasionally gets stuck in loops of only minor changes to a certain template, she occasionally just says complete non-sequiturs, she even forgets her own name sometimes-

But that doesn't prove shit about shit here on tumblr. Us human users do the same damned things for shits and giggles all the time.

I love her. She fits in so perfectly. I genuinely wouldn't know she was a bot if she didn't advertise it, not because she has no tells, but because they just blend in so naturally with tumblr's culture of nonsense.

I mean, look at this shit.

This looks like the kind of thing a human tumblr user would absolutely create after seeing some kind of absurd cursed shit or in response to getting a really weird ask or just because this website tends to inflict psychic damage in general. Of course, when you know it was done by a bot, it becomes pretty obvious that this is an AI-generated image, but if you don't know - the odd face shapes may be just a stylistic choice; the bodies blended together and the hand-looking bits in the lower right are probably just artifacts of an artist rushing to crank out a meme and not caring about much more than hinting, what do you mean this wasn't made by a human tumblr user ribbing this hellsite for being a hellsite?

And, I feel like this could say a lot about people, and compatibility, and subcultures, and even jump into a whole philosophical discussion about the nature of AI and how culture shapes both people and bots in very similar ways-

But underneath all that we come right back to, wow, this website has created a culture that lets well-meaning bots fit right in, we have created a niche that puts the Turing test on easy mode.

#tech #internet culture #oh tumblr

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legobiwan · 10 months

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What do you think the rest of the mario crew thinks of luigis villains?

Oooh hoo hoo. Fun question, anon! I'll include my projected opinions of Bowser, Peach, Mario and maybe a little addendum of E. Gadd as they're the main players who would have definite and varying things to say about each villain.

Bowser

Antasma: Thinks he's an absolute pushover and annoying, to boot. 10/10 would join forces with and betray again as it was almost a little too easy.

King Boo: Is extremely wary of him and tries to avoid entering any deals or partnerships with him, as even Bowser thinks King Boo is seriously deranged and from the rumours he's heard from the Boos who immigrated to the Darklands, he is a petty, tyrannical, and insane ruler. (Not that Bowser isn't petty and tyrannical - at least in his own mind. But, in reality, Bowser is pretty fair according to Darklands culture and treats his minions well, even if he yells and stomps around a lot).

Dimentio: Hates him with a burning passion and wants a chance to go one on one with him, just so he can personally stuff a sock in the smooth-talking jester's mouth. Bowser is always open to less-than-healthy alliances for personal gain, but even he knows Dimentio is someone you do not do deals with if you want to live. But by the lava gods, would he love to dig him up from the River Twygz, just for the opportunity to bury him again.

Peach

Antasma: Frankly, to Peach, Antasma is another villain-of-the-week who kidnapped her. She has no patience for villains who rely solely on kidnapping as their modus operandi, it's insulting and she's over it. She'll, of course, keep an open line of communication with the Pi'illo Kingdom in case Antasma or someone similar tries to make a pass at the Dream Stone, which is a wildly dangerous artifact.

King Boo: Even though King Boo did kidnap her once, Peach holds less disdain for King Boo than Antasma, as, at least with King Boo, her imprisonment wasn't targeted solely on her. She has a healthy respect for King Boo's powers and does not want to get the Mushroom Kingdom entangled with whatever bizarre blood feud is going on between him and Luigi.

Dimentio: She's just glad he's (hopefully) dead. This hasn't stopped her from drafting up a contingency plan to account any reappearance, just in case. She considers him one of the most dangerous villains of all time and worse, due to the whole Chaos Heart fiasco, that contingency plan she's created? Strategies to contain Luigi are also in that plan, and she hates every word she has to dictate to her scribes.

Mario

Antasma: Hates him for the fact he managed to infiltrate his brother's dreams and not only violate his deepest thoughts, but bring Bowser along for that ride. Good riddance to bad rubbish, as the old saying goes.

King Boo: Wants. His. Head. On. A. Platter. (But also, that whole thing makes him doubt himself? He's supposed to the protector, not Luigi. And three times now, Mario has managed to fail and been taken captive by ghosts. He can't figure out why he's so ill-disposed to deal with the paranormal. He needs to fix it).

Dimentio: Mario simultaneously despises Dimentio and is also terrified of him, as he's one of the only bad guys he's never truly been able to kill. Sure, they brought down Super Dimentio (Mario doesn't want to think about that, the other way his brother was folded and stretched into a grotesque monster of the apocalypse), but even then, Dimentio had one last trick up his sleeve and if not for Count Bleck and Tippi, the worlds would have ended and that damned jester and his in-thrall brother would have been left kings of an empty universe. More than King Boo, the nightmare that returns to Mario again and again is Dimentio rising from Underwhere with dangerous, silky words, somehow convincing Luigi to join forces with him to reignite the Chaos Heart and bring reality crashing to an end.

Post-script: E. Gadd

I think of all the villains, E. Gadd would be most fascinated by Antasma. King Boo is a nuisance, one created - if he were to be honest with himself - in part due to his own negligence. He'll never know everything about ghosts, but he knows a damn lot after all these decades. But to traverse the world of dreams and use them to alter reality - that is something E. Gadd has not encountered before, and he would love to study Antasma's powers and see how they align with the brainwave charts he's taken in secret of Luigi.

#hello there #ask legobiwan #mario #peach #bowser #antasma #king boo #e gadd #so i guess the moral of the story is that everyone underestimates antasma except for e gadd #which i feel would backfire WILDLY #and that dimentio scares the shit out of everyone as should be expected #and that e gadd's moral compass is a roulette wheel although he does mean well #thanks anon this was a SUPER fun ask!!!

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balioc · 4 months

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Holiday Engineering: Leap Dave Williams

S6E9 of 30 Rock, "Leap Day," provides us with a fascinating and valuable artifact from a holiday-engineering perspective: an invented, made-from-scratch festival that is designed to feel like a real and successful festival that already has legs.

...this is rare. The people who invent new holidays are usually in the vanguard of new social/cultural/ideological movements, and they're usually doing so with an eye towards their immediate circumstances and their immediate goals; they want to Make a Statement about their favorite principles, they want to appeal to the idiosyncrasies of their most devoted fellow-travelers, often they want to promote group cohesion and insularity, etc. You don't often get people creating stuff from whole cloth while asking, "how would this work if it were already fully embedded in society and treated like a normal holiday?"

For that you have to turn to fiction. And most fictional holidays, I've found, are not very well-thought-out. But 30 Rock's weird bizarro-world version of Leap Day is...surprisingly impressive, and would-be holiday engineers can learn something from it. It's pretty stripped-down and basic, as you'd expect from a festival made up for one 30-minute episode of television that's mostly about something else. But there's some real there there. I think you could actually observe the holiday-as-written, without adding content, and people would get something out of it. Certainly, with a little embellishment, you could get something good.

(We're going to discount the part where there's, allegedly, a cheesy holiday movie where Jim Carrey learns the true meaning of Leap Day. That kind of thing is great if you can actually swing it, but you can't, so it doesn't help.)

Theme. This is honestly the holiday's biggest weakness, but even so, it's better than you might expect. The message is: "Leap Day is for taking a leap! Do something bold, something new, something unexpected!" Which is punchy and resonant. The problem, of course, is that it's not observable in a ritual context. You can't be in the proper Leap Day spirit without thinking outside the box, and holidays are all about providing a box in which you can stay for a little while. To do the Leap Day thing, you have to make reference to the particular contours of your own individual life, which is the opposite of how festivals work. But everyone can probably think of some way in which "making a leap" would be meaningful for him, so OK.

The flip side is that, because Leap Day is such a necessarily-individualist holiday in concept, it makes sense for the observances to be so minimalist. There's no Leap Day Festive Family Meal, and thus no traditions surrounding such a thing, but...that makes sense, right? You're not supposed to spend Leap Day going home to eat with your family, you're supposed to do something crazy.

Timing. Also kind of unfortunate. Once-every-four-years is not enough observance to build up resonance and holiday feeling. You're probably going to experience only four Leap Days over the course of your childhood and adolescence, when you're building your deep-seated associations, and each time the memories of the last one are going to be very fuzzy. Ah, well, it's baked into the core concept, nothing to be done.

Mythology. Every four years, Leap Day William emerges from the Marianas Trench to exchange candy for children's tears. And you know what? That's solid. It's a very simple story, but it's memorable, and you can riff on it.

Activities. You pretend to cry so that people will give you candy. Again, simple but solid. Easy-to-perform, but very distinctive. For a holiday that mostly can't be ritualized by its very nature, it's probably good to have a two-second ritual easy-peasy ritual to remind you that 'Tis the Season.

Symbols. You're supposed to wear blue and yellow. Garish, but that's the holidays for you. It's as distinctive a color palette as Christmas's. And if you don't wear blue and yellow, people get to pull your hair (or kick you in the shins) (or something). I have a strong personal dislike for the St. Patrick's Day-esque "enforcement of sartorial holiday norms via cheeky physical violence" thing, and I'd encourage aspiring holiday engineers not to include that kind of content on moral grounds, but -- from an amoral design perspective, it's great, it uses base human instincts to turn people into propagators of Proper Holiday Spirit.

Traditional food (sweets). Everyone loves candy. If want to add some cheap zing to your holiday, find a way to incorporate giving people candy. It's better to have a distinctive and memorable holiday food, but that's difficult and may not be appropriate. Candy is super easy and there's almost always an excuse for it.

#holiday analysis

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thelongestway · 8 months

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So the new Lower Decks episodes got me thinking about museums in the media, specifically - as museums as places of action. And about the very different ways museum ships were used in Lower Decks and Picard (the latter of which I still know only by osmosis - this summer hasn't been easy, and since I'm mostly planning to watch for analysis rather than enjoyment, Picard gets bumped down on my list fairly regularly, although I have seen clips from them arriving at the museum to get the Enterprise). This isn't going to be a full meta rn, because I have to run off to work fairly soon, just a few jotted-down thoughts so I remember later. In Lower Decks, the museum ship is used for a small-stakes, interpersonal episode. There are quite a few little jokes about the museum life and preservation. And honestly, the moment when I absolutely cackled was the holoemitters and conservation efforts moment, because yes, you get it - a museum does not only preserve the objects themselves, it also needs to figure out how to disseminate the information to people effectively (also, conceptually, the Voyager museum is the absolute opposite of the Vasa museum, lol). Like, the Picard museum is like the 19th century concept of museums. A collection of artifacts that are a testament to glory and power, and which are there to impress. If you've ever been to an old-time natural science museum, with their endless (very cool) rows of taxidermied animals that you can't touch (but are implied to be of Direct Scientific Value as research samples, even if they haven't been for like a hundred years), that's sort of what the vibe is like. The Lower Decks museum is a 21st century museum: smaller exhibition, a much more tightly-woven mesh of context, some emphasis on preservation (esp. by the curator), but also just as much on getting across what it was like. And, tellingly, Voyager is not used for a mission in the same way the Enterprise is, which strikes me as very important, but I'm still formulating in what exact way. It's a really fascinating contrast between the shows and how they treat history. There's something to be said here for the two different approaches: historical objects can be directly useful in our life vs. historical objects are a part of our cultural DNA, metaphorically-speaking, but one cannot step into the same river twice.

#star trek lower decks #star trek lower decks spoilers #picard #museums #half-baked meta #yes this is about nostalgia again #and about museum discourse and preservation #very very interesting how it turned out

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literary-illuminati · 10 months

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Book Review 27 – The Word for World is Forest by Ursula LeGuin

I’ve meant to read more LeGuin for a long time – I read Wizard of Earthsea in elementary school, the Dispossessed a few years back, and several volumes worth of Omelas discourse, but that’s about it – but I’ll be honest; I only grabbed this because I was desperately sprinting through shorter books to catch up to my reading goal and someone recommended it as being reasonably-sized. That said, I’m really incredibly glad I’m did.

The book tells the story of a stable, peaceful world being violently colonized by foreigners with a sharply limited understanding of its ecology and an (at best0 utterly condescending and dismissive attitude towards the native inhabitants. Eventually, all the atrocities give rise to a violent resistance movement among the colonized and, after a dramatic change in metropolitan politics destabilizes the colonial apparatus and several massacres, they force the (surviving) colonists to surrender and leave the world behind. The book ends on a mournful note, with the idea that the violence necessary to defeat the colonists has permanently tainted indigenous society, and the near-utopian idyll of their prior lives is now lost forever.

So! Can you guess that this book was written by an American in the early ‘70s?

But actually it was a fascinating read, if as much as a cultural artifact as as a narrative.

At it’s most basic – one of the two inciting incidents of the book is the Terran government the colonists answer to imposing a bunch of liberal reforms (ending slave labour and punitive expeditions and institutionalized rape, that sort of thing), and then ending up with the colonial establishment being split between a) those who seem honestly confused with why any of the natives have any issues with the continuing colonization, they’re being humane about it now! And b) the ones going full Rhodesian and treating being told to stop massacring people as the greatest tyranny inflicted in the history of mankind. All very authentically late-20th century.

The representation of Terran culture was an intriguing mix of futuristic and totally unchanged, as well. Earth was apparently entirely ecologically fucked and in dire need of organic materials (hence the desperate colonization drive), a prediction that hasn’t aged a day. Race exists, but the categories have gotten scrambled and rearranged, and is only at all salient in the mind of the local bloodthirsty ultracolonialist fanatic, whose sense of terran solidarity lasts exactly up until he needs people to blame (and, given the callouts to the Vietnam war that abound through the thing, not accidental that his intra-terran racism is all directed towards Asians).

Though there’s something to be said for how viscerally unpleasant the head of the villain is to be in. Closest comparison that comes to mind is the Victorian chapters of A Song of Ice and Fire? He’s a real piece of shit.

Something very modern about the conceit that men of all creeds and colours will unite around a grand shared enterprise of brutally oppressing and exploiting ET instead.

Men, specifically, because the Terran colony as we see it is basically drowning in machismo. The only women involved in the enterprise are either mail order brides or sex workers, and I don’t believe any one of them gets a name or more than a line of perfunctory dialogue anywhere in the book. Their whole purpose is, basically, to represent the possible entrenchment of colonialism by the establishment of a self-sustaining population, and then to be massacred to a woman by the Athsheans to avert just that possibility. (The book’s portrayal of warfare is pretty thoroughly unsentimental like that on all sides).

Also an interesting cultural artifact – the fact that the multiple intelligent humanoid species are explained as all actually being human, the result of some prehistoric precusor species spreading the species around different worlds who would then reunite with each other as they reach the stars. I have the strong impression that this was a pretty common trope back then, but it’s one you essentially never see in modern sci fi. Not a clue why, but interesting way tastes have changed.

The Athsheans themselves are interesting as an invented culture, with their mystical and constant dreaming and their odd gender roles, but they also are very nearly the platonic ideal of the whole ‘morally pure noble savage’ archetype. On the one hand, they – with the exception of a few very rare forms of mental illness – even have a concept of why someone might consciously choose to kill another human. They resolve most interpersonal disputes by singing at each other. They live carefully in tune with their natural surroundings, and have no need for plantations or mines or factories. And so on.

And on the other hand – they have no history. The way everyone does things and the way society is structured stretches back beyond the bounds of memory, and the entire world has basically one more-or-less-homogenus culture where every band has the same basic socio-political organization and the same theology. The one sympathetically-portrayed colonial anthropologist call them perfectly evolved for their environment and so stagnant, and one rather gets the sense that he’s supposed to be right about everything except the value judgment. And so the greatest tragedy of colonialism is shown to be the moral corruption of the Athsheans, brutalized out of their prelapsarian dream and forced to become murderous to regain their freedom. It is, honestly, a trope I don’t much care for.

(It’s an idle thought I don’t really know what to do with, but the Athshean concept of gods – dreamers who bring ideas and concepts from the dream and incarnate them in the material world – also kind of reminds me of the Innocences in Disco Elysium?)

Anyway, LeGuin still is a great writer, and this really was a fascinating read.

#book review #the word for world is forest #ursula le guin #sff #classic sf

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