#notable both for its evolutions and also because apparently if you give one to someone it's like asking them to marry you or some shit?

[front-facing-pokemon]

#applin #notable both for its evolutions and also because apparently if you give one to someone it's like asking them to marry you or some shit? #was that the lore? i think that was the lore. it's just a really good gift between lovers or some shit #but i always wondered. what do you do with it… _after_ that. this is a whole creature. this is a living being #not just an apple #do they just let it go after that? do they put it in a ball and take care of it? what if your partner doesn't want a pokémon #it's like. what do you do at that point

[h2ojustaddmako]

Headcanon: The Origin of Mermaids & Magic

Wooooooo...it’s been a long time since I’ve written one of those. I can truthfully say I’m been sitting on this one for maybe over a year...letting it cook up inside me...like a dumpling of information. Okay, weird image, i get it, but that’s the truth.

Basically today I wanna go over a little idea of mine I’ve had for a long time, and every time I rewatched the show, it was fed and grew larger and larger, with more and more information to help me piece out the puzzle of mermaid powers, and why all you thought you know was absolute garbage.

As I went over in my (pretty popular, if I may) post about how the powers work, mermaids use electromagnetism in a way that helps them alter the magnetic field around them and manipulate water in multiple ways to be able to “control” it. The moon is magnetic, and so is Mako Island, therefore, something in the full moon evokes the powers. But what is it?

While watching season 3 and Mako Mermaids as a whole, you’d realize they are more similar than you’d think. Actually, the lore introduced in season 3 seems to be the base foundation to the entire world-building in Mako Mermaids. One thing that is highly notable is the appearance of the crystals. Moon crystals, as I call them, can indeed release “moonlight”, this blue, hypnotizing energy wave. But that’s not really moonlight, per se. You see, moonlight isn’t a real thing in nature; the moon doesn’t radiate like the sun, it’s just reflective, and it’s surely not deep blue. And so, the so-called moonlight in the show is actually something else. Like the stones of Mako, the crystals in them also originated from the moon, and Mako (and every other “moon pool” out there) is probably sitting on millions of them. Considering how many were inside that one piece Ryan and Sophie tried to grab, the foundation of Mako Island is rich with these blue bitches. Now, these crystals are unique because they store inside them the secret to mermaid magic. 

You see, throughout the Mako show, one of the most valuable items are these little ‘moon rings’. These little rings with a nice, big blue crystal right in the middle. While the show never explicitly reveals that the crystals are originated from the moon pool, or Mako at all, but given the pretty obvious design choice, it’s very clear to us that it’s more than just an artistic design. They also work in a very similar way - they both radiate blue energy that is very strong, and have serious powers. Mako gave us a very big hint to the origin of that, by saying the moon rings need to be recharged in full moons. That’s when the power of the moon is the strongest. Now going back a little, we said the moon doesn’t really shine a light of its own, so what are we talking about? Well, like the crystals on the rings, the crystals on the moon absorb power daily, from the sun and space. The sun uses a strong magnetic field, holding the planets and what-not spinning around it in perfect rings since the creation of the solar system. The crystals on the moon absorb that power, and every night, the moon radiates it back to earth, to its cousin, Mako Island. Simplifying things, the moon absorbs power and in return release it towards Earth, only for that power to charge the entire Mako Island crystal colony. Many have spoken about the weird sensation Mako gives them - electromagnetism, and no wonder mermaids feel it stronger, since they are sensitive to it more than most people. The girls felt the comet getting closer because a part of them is now sensing magnetism in the environment.

So Mako is charged with energy, so what? You see, the moon pool’s shape is very interesting. The decision to place it at the bottom of a volcano isn’t just a creative choice (though it is very cool). The shape of a volcano is that of a cone, of a funnel, if you may. The moon centers around the small opening above and radiates into the moon pool itself. Unlike the rest of the island, which seems unaffected during full moon nights, the shape of the moon pool allows the power to get trapped in the spacious room of crystals walls, awakening the power that is also trapped inside the crystals themselves, probably magnifying the intensity of it by a lot. Add the fact that the full moon is the stronger of the faces of the moon considering all of it is facing Earth and you have yourself a force not to be played with. That means that the moon pool as a room has very strong energy to it, one that apparently can turn someone into a mermaid. 

The mystery of why a mermaid, of all things, and what mermaids have to do with the moon is still a puzzle left to be solved. But one thing’s for sure, mermaids are not natural creatures, despite what Mako Mermaids tries to sell you. They have too many human characteristics to only be relatives to humans and go through such an evolution is a short (evolutionarily speaking) time. Plus, no power in the world can turn you into something you’re not, and for Lewis’ examinations and the medical tests they went through in the “fake sick” episode, it’s pretty safe to say that genetically, mermaids are very slightly different to humans, and it’s not something that can be detected without looking into their DNA. But that tells us enough to safely bet that the origin of mermaids is human, and not another species adapted to live in the ocean.

And yet - sea-born ‘natural’ mermaids are so different from humans. They can siren sing, they give birth to “hatchlings” (whatever that means), and heck, some can even speak to sea animals, what’s up with that? Well, these could all be considered under the umbrella term of rapid evolution. In simple words, rapid evolution is the process a species goes through in order to adapt to a new environment that is foreign to it and different from its natural habitat. While humans don’t really have a natural habitat, we are land animals, and therefore, to live in the ocean we’d have to adapt to different factors. The transformation of the full moon only does about half the work, but a mermaid like Cleo couldn’t live in the ocean forever, as we saw when she ran away. She was hungry, ‘cause she didn’t know how to hunt. She was tired, ‘cause she didn’t know where to sleep safely. And you would be too, if you were to be thrown out of your natural environment and into some place you may have the physical skills to handle, but not the knowledge.

So my theory goes as follows: in an order of events, at some point throughout Earth’s history, a piece of the moon detached and entered our atmosphere. The piece broke off, landing in several places around the world, such as China, Ireland, perhaps the Caribbean as well, but the biggest piece landed off the coast of Australia. The new mass of stone tore through the layers of the Earth, resulting in an active volcano, that eventually cooled down and turned into an island. Million of years later, ancient humans, probably a male and a female, discovered one of the moon pools around the world (probably Ireland), sometime around 3000 years ago, before the first mentions of mermaids in Greek mythology.  Said humans were probably considered as witches, gods, beings of magic and power. It is not far fetched to assume they may have escaped into the ocean. Perhaps more people were interested in getting such powers; maybe it was more than two, maybe even tens of people. Mermaids were considered as monsters, beings of evil to be feared of, and when Christianity rose, perhaps unholy abominations. The moon pools were considered supernatural places. All that led to merpeople being secluded, escaping humans, and accepting the ocean as a new home. They adapted quickly, and with time, the mermadic gene was implemented into their DNA. They were still humans, just highly adapted to life underwater. With the industrial revolution, the stories of mermaids became nothing more than folklore, one with ancient gods, monsters, and myths. Every now and then someone saw a mermaid, like Christopher Columbus, but who would believe a person that saw a being half woman half fish?

this actually started as a whole other headcanon, but go figure

#Headcanon #h2o just add water #mako: island of secrets #mako mermaids #natural history

[armorsleevedsinglehit]

the huge shippuden music meta

no one asked for this but i’m gonna write it anyway. i’m going to focus primarily on the shippuden soundtrack here, but expect some references to the original series soundtrack as well. also before i begin i know approximately two (2) music so some of my terminology is probably going to be incorrect lol, it’s been a while since college. this is a general shippuden meta but it does focus on the uchiha clan, in particular sasuke and madara.

anyway, to start off, you can pretty easily divide the shippuden soundtrack into a few general categories:

traditional and/or acoustic

electric guitar tracks

some combination of these, plus orchestra hits aplenty

there are a few odd ducks here and there, but no worries, we’ll get to them. and then within these general categories we have a series of recurring character motifs (which can be a bit muddled, because certain themes are used for multiple characters. i assume that naruto (the show) isn’t necessarily scored the way a film would be, and so the directors just slapped whatever dramatic/sad/upbeat music they could find onto a scene, esp if it’s a filler ep, which definitely generates some confusion.) but characters and groups in shippuden DO sort of get their own motifs and themes, so here is my very basic list of those as well:

uzumaki clan and its descendants/allies: “emergence of talents/hyakkaryōran” has a very cool melody towards the end that comes back in “narukami/weeping god” and “shoryu/rising dragon”. we can basically call this the protagonist theme. naruto, sakura, kakashi, jiraiya, most of the konoha 11, and even minato get to claim this one. however, VERY interestingly, narukami is what plays when tobi (as madara) is telling sasuke about the glory days of the uchiha clan... possibly hinting at greater connections between the two clans???????????

akatsuki-related themes: i won’t link a ton of these because they’re super obvious. they’re often full of choir and organ (harkening back to orochimaru’s original series theme); they also tend to be slower. not always, though; look at crimson flames, a slapper if i ever heard one. prime example of akatsuki themes: girei, my FAVORITE bit of the shippuden soundtrack. UGH.

general shippuden themes: things like hurricane suite, heaven-shaking event, etc. most of the first ost goes in here. this category also contains the closest approximation to hashirama’s theme that i could find, experienced many battles and departure to the front lines, which both make me cry lol

there are other fun little motifs and bits and bobs that appear in this soundtrack that i won’t get into here for length (remind me to talk about the angelic herald of death sometime), but it’s a remarkably cohesive piece of work to the point where it gets repetitive sometimes; why are all the super interesting tracks unreleased!!!!??? anyway the purpose of this meta is to attempt to make sense of the way this soundtrack works. we’ll investigate sasuke primarily because i feel that he really ties the whole soundtrack together, and you can extrapolate a lot from the way his theme evolves.

sasuke’s theme (wandering/hyouhaku), yes the dramatic cowboy music theme, is this wonderfully atmospheric track that makes use of the kind of negative space between guitar strums to build up this aura, this Essence of Sasuke. this alone makes it stand apart from other mostly-acoustic pieces on the soundtrack, to me. the whole thing is just humming with this simmering frustration and melancholy and it really gives you a sense of sasuke as this tortured figure who has been severely wronged and experienced the world’s faults firsthand. notably, this version of sasuke’s theme lifts its opening notes (and structure, sorta) from sasuke’s original series theme, which i assume was on purpose. it shows that he’s grown jaded as he got older, i think.

anyway, as the inevitable battle between sasuke and itachi draws closer, we get our first variation on sasuke’s theme: black spot/kokuten. it has the same melody and structure as before, but features heavier guitars, more orchestration, and, in the final bars, notes that previously fell on 1 and 4 but now fall on 1 and 3, which bring a heightened sense of urgency to the whole thing. and more importantly, it ends without resolving itself? it leaves us hanging on this almost call-and-response bit with one wailing guitar after another, before winding the orchestration down and fizzling back down to the level of “wandering.” here we see a sasuke in progress, if you will, working towards a goal that some may find sinister, but he is determined if nothing else, and the instruments match his fervor. it’s roughly analogous to “crimson flames” in terms of intensity, but it’s very distinctly Sasuke.

there are several more variations of sasuke’s theme floating around, but the next one i want to talk about is this one called “sasuke’s ninja way,” apparently, never officially released but relentlessly employed by the anime directors. it takes a more subtle turn than “black spot,” but i don’t see it as a direct sequel to “wandering” for a few different reasons. i think it represents the dilemma sasuke found himself after finally killing itachi and learning the truth about him: the realization that this whole quest for power of his was never really about revenge on one specific person, but rather about reforming the shinobi world as a whole. it’s slower than “black spot,” yet darker, more ominous; it treads the same general path as “wandering” but with added electric guitar, and, notably, choir. recall that choir is often used for themes related to the akatsuki, which i think ties in neatly with sasuke’s motivations at this point. he, like nagato before him, wants to remake the world.

the final iteration of sasuke’s theme, “sasuke’s revolution/junkyousha,” brings it all together. the akatsuki is commonly represented through choir and organ, and this theme starts out with both of these cranked up to the max. this is (pardon the pun) sasuke’s rebirth, if you will. just combine the intensity of “girei,” the anger of “crimson flames,” and the determination of “emergence of talents” and you’re there. seriously: this culmination of sasuke’s character development basically pulls from every single facet of the soundtrack and produces this MASSIVELY rich piece full of anger and rage and hate and fury, while STILL managing to include the twangy guitar bits from “wandering” (which have gone back to 1 and 4!!). we also have someone going ham on a shamisen towards the end of the track, which calls to mind the shamisen solo from “emergence of talents” and other tracks. hinting at an eventual compromise with naruto, possibly?

anyway, i started out this meta trying to find a piece of the soundtrack that could serve as madara’s theme, but i wasn’t sure that one existed. i think the susano’o has a theme, and the uchiha clan has a theme, but....madara just doesn’t?? sure there are unreleased tracks like “legendary uchiha,” but i’d argue that doesn’t really go into his character as much as it just says “watch out for this fucking guy.”

but then i listened to hurricane suite one more time, and i was like HOLY SHIT THIS IS IT. for one thing, it’s long as fuck: this track is a whole journey. it really gives the impression of someone who has lived an impossibly long life and become jaded and cruel and hardened. i realize that the argument could be made that hurricane suite is sasuke’s theme, not madara’s, or that it’s a general shippuden theme and doesn’t represent one character in particular. and yes, i think both of these interpretations are correct. hurricane suite represents what sasuke could POTENTIALLY turn out to be, given his evolution from “wandering” to “black spot” to “sasuke’s ninja way” all the way to “sasuke’s revolution.” hurricane suite warns us that sasuke can (and very well may!) make the same mistakes madara did and end up destroying himself in the process. (the middle of “hurricane suite” GREATLY resembles “wandering.”) and recall that hurricane suite is used in the very first episode of shippuden: the episode where naruto encounters sasuke for the first time, AND- are you ready for this- when madara’s name is dropped for the first time in the series.

this is why i think that, along with it being a general shippuden theme, hurricane suite is also madara’s theme. shippuden as a whole is practically suffocating under the oppressive weight of madara’s presence, right from the very first episode. even before he’s introduced, he is VERY much there. so much of madara’s character is established before he even shows up. we hear so much about him from other characters (kurama, itachi, obito, hashirama), and as such our view of madara changes drastically over the course of the series. and guess what plays when itachi shows sasuke that genjutsu of madara stealing izuna’s eyes?

anyway, in my opinion and in my interpretation of the character, the music fits him perfectly. it starts out all low and choral with these slow ominous drums and deep strings, and this violin comes in that sounds like it’s weeping. we hear something like a heartbeat that grows darker over time, before the music comes to some sort of resolution, an inflection point, and the brass comes in heavy. NOW we’re dealing with the orchestra, three quarters of the way into the song, and we’ve got strings and drums set to a marching pace, more choral chanting, climbing strings and shamisen tumbling down the scales. it sounds like grief!!

and note that yes, this track is used in the very first episode of shippuden, during naruto and sasuke’s first encounter. but it is ALSO used during the scene in hashirama’s flashback when izuna is mortally wounded and madara makes the decision to abandon the clan on the battlefield to take care of him, despite his better judgment and hashirama’s offering of peace. the inflection point in the music represents a very real inflection point in madara’s life: the loss of his last brother. (it always comes back to that, doesn’t it.)

#meta #madara uchiha #sasuke uchiha #uchiha clan #almost 2000 words churned out in one evening. [stares at fic] [sighs] #long post

[sareesonscreen]

S1 E4: Saucy Deep Dives: Third Person SIngular Number

After spending the last two months watching and examining Bollywood hits, it’s been very exciting for us to introduce our audience to hits from all across South Asia. In this episode, we are thrilled to be watching a Bangladeshi favorite made by one of the most famous contemporary directors there.

Mostofa Sarwar Farooki came into the scene in the early 2000s, at a time when mainstream television and cinema largely existed either in the form of family entertainment or copy-pasted “hero’s journey” scripts made for quick consumption. 

This is where Farooki came in with his more casual and approachable filmmaking. His stories revolved around the relatable everyday struggles of ordinary people. This also meant utilizing colloquial language in his cinema (which was rare, given that the media at the time would only depict formal Bangla or a standard dialectical Bangla [for rural stories]). 

Third Person Singular Number (2009) was Farooki’s third movie, which solidified his position as one of the most notable contemporary directors in Bangladesh.

Third Person Singular Number is conceptualized as a fairytale-like story of Ruba (played brilliantly by Nusrat Imroz Tisha, Farooki’s partner, and long-time muse), who is confronted by the challenges of being a single woman in South Asia, after her partner (note, not husband lol) is sent to jail. Ruba struggles with constant harassment as she attempts to find housing and employment. The Prince Charming character of this movie comes to us in the form of Ruba’s childhood friend - Topu (a successful musician in Bangladesh, both in the movie and IRL), whose support helps in making Ruba feel safe. Her feelings for Topu force Ruba to engage with her conflicted relationship with her mother (who left her father for her lover) as well as her fidelity to her jailed partner.

One of the most remarkable things about the film is its deliberate focus on Ruba and how it centers her perspective - this is extremely apparent in the cinematography and Farooki being able to employ the feminine gaze aptly. The first half of the movie depicts at length the various ways in which women become victims of sexual assault - be it at home, in public, or in professional spaces.

There's this one scene in particular, where Ruba becomes hesitant to go to the police station as she recalls a news story from a couple of weeks ago where a woman was r*ped at one. A male gaze retelling of this would tell the audience through action - a flashback where the woman is facing violence, or perhaps when Ruba was reading the paper, or conversing about it with someone. But in this story, Farooki chose to make this woman materialize in front of Ruba and tell the story herself. Not only giving voice to an unnamed woman who had met a horrible fate, but also creating a moment of emotional connection between the two women. It humanized what is often just reduced to news headlines, statistics, or water filter conversations. There are hints throughout that she is an unreliable narrator. Resulting in the (spoiler alert!) the fairytale-esque second half of the movie. Fairytales, historical romances, and fan-fictions often serve as great mediums for social commentary, particularly on the dynamics of power (esp. geared towards women). The fact that the only escape available to Ruba from her bleak reality is an absurd Prince Charming figure speaks heavily to the harsh reality of the real Rubas of the world. For them, her ending would not be a possibility.

The use of space in the visuals of the film was also noteworthy, with Ruba being shown to feel trapped or caged in the company of predatory men (even including her own partner, whom she feels stifled by later in the film). This is often done through the use of close and medium shots, along with physical obstructions in the shot. Meanwhile, her relationship with Topu is shown to be much more affectionate and easy-going; this is depicted with a wide shot of the beautiful kashbons of Bashundhara. Not only was this technique used to remark on the state of Ruba’s mind (which is rare given that male directors rarely highlight women’s perspectives), it also commentated on the wider issue of South Asian women and how they are often made to feel small and struggle to find space (be it physically or metaphorically).

This beautiful work with space is further used to remark on the silence of the other women in the film (notably, Ruba’s cousin, friend, and mother). Unlike Ruba, the only woman with a voice (and the narrator, of course), these women are often seen in the confines of layered cage-like homes (with distinct obstructions like columns, furniture, etc. present in every layer). These characters, like their real-life counterparts, often exist in the crevices of their own homes and are stifled by the domineering presence of the patriarchal structures and insecurities around them.

The two noteworthy women characters (aside from Ruba) are her cousin and her mother. Both of whom we know very little about. However, in their fleeting moments on the screen, some of them make attempts to defy patriarchal structures around them in small but significant ways – Ruba’s mother by being courageous enough to follow her heart and leave a marriage and her cousin by helping Ruba despite her mother-in-law’s objections.

Another interesting thing is that despite Topu being Prince Charming, his character was given depth by not making him entirely selfless and sacrificial. Topu’s expectations were conveyed to the audience in a subtle but effective manner, using scenes like his outrage in the forest after Ruba backs out of having sex with him (though sex was never mentioned, only alluded to), as well as the ever-awkward buying condoms at a chemist shop (an entirely silent and secretive transaction, btw).

Ruba’s character in the film is shown to be determined, independent and tenacious even while she struggles with the oppressive realities of being a woman under patriarchy. One of the focal points of the movie is her strained relationship with her mother (who passes away, leaving no possibility of redemption or reconciliation ). The film uses an interesting technique of showing Ruba’s internal demons manifesting as younger versions of herself, hypothesized to be metaphors for her id (6-year-old Ruba), ego (present Ruba), and superego (13-year-old Ruba) as she battles over her feelings for Topu and consequently her feelings of resentment for her mother. Though her relationship with her mother is significant to Ruba’s evolution as a character, very little is shown of her mother and her motivations. Despite trying to give Ruba some semblance of closure with her mother at the end, the film falls short in creating multiple well-written women to enhance the story and the emotional connection to the characters.

We’ve also had the pleasure of having Raidah of Raidahcal on this episode. She does wonderful work addressing contemporary feminist issues in Dhaka, Bangladesh. While we all had different takes on the movie, it was wonderful to have Raidah’s unique insights and perspectives. Be sure to check her out. We’ve also had the pleasure of collaborating with her on her podcast Raidahcal in an episode exploring feminist economics – we would love for you to check it out as well!

She also asked us a question that made us pause a bit: Why are men given passes for not portraying women's realities accurately just because they are creating sophisticated art?

And this made us realize that there is a very thin line between centering a woman's perspective in a film, versus presenting an intrusively voyeuristic gaze to watch her struggle. Ultimately if the author of the art is not able to distinguish the two for everyone watching the movie, is all that nuance pointless? This ambiguity within the film became more clear to us as we left our own echo chambers and were faced with a wonderfully challenging guest and the realization that the film is sometimes as good as the viewer wants it to be.

Even on our Sauce Meter, this film fared better than some of our previous takes. Here’s a breakdown of our scores.

1. Is there at least one character who adds a nuanced representation of a diverse South Asian identity, without stereotyping and tokenization?  

Ruba, the protagonist of the film is a complex, well-rounded character and a woman – the film also uses an unfamiliar perspective by centering the story around the experiences of a woman vs a man (which is considered the default) – but she is one of the few non-male characters that get significant screen time, so not full points.

0.5

2. Are the primary characters (especially women and marginalized characters) portrayed with agency, individuality, and motivation?

Despite Ruba being limited by the sexist nature of the social structures around her – notably her struggle to find housing and employment as a single woman, she is shown to have agency and individual motivation – she is also shown to want autonomy and finds ways to assert herself despite inhibiting circumstances.

0.75

3. Are women and marginalized characters shown to be cognizant of their identities and how they exist within the social context?

Taking half a point off because there are limited representations of women and other marginalized characters, but the glimpses we get into other women apart from Ruba all seem to be painfully aware of how their choices and abilities are limited by oppressive patriarchal structures. Notably, her cousin despite having limited control over her life and household still tries to help Ruba, and Ruba herself has several moments where she points to the tribulations of being a woman in society.

0.5

4. Do the women and marginalized characters have meaningful relationships with each other?

While the women’s relationships with each other are not given a lot of screen time, they remain focal plot points. In particular, Ruba’s relationship with her mother is instrumental in the evolution of Ruba’s character and arguably even her liberation, however, the movie does not do these relationships complete justice and dedicates very little time to other women or marginalized characters in the movie.

0.25

5. Does it challenge any flawed notions upheld by capitalism, patriarchy, and the caste system?

The movie successfully subverts stereotypical representations of women and even defies traditional ideas of marriage and power dynamics between men and women and for that, it gets a full point!

1

TOTAL SCORE ON THE SAUCE METER: 3/5

What did you think of our rating of Third Person Singular Number? Did we reach too hard? Let us know!

- Usha and Rekha

Listen Now

#Season 1

[lunatic-fandom-space]

Comparing RWBY and YGO DM: The Handling and Evolution of Themes

Hey! Its been a hot minute since I last posted anything RWBY-related but Im laying in my bed right now and Im sick and bored so I guess we're doing this. Today I will do my best to analyze what I percieve to be the main themes and messages of both of these shows, or more specifically, how theyre handled narratively. Im mostly focusing on that part because, while these series do have similar themes and messaging, they are still a few things in which they are wildly different. And with that, lets start with this essay-post-thing!

1. Theres something we need to adress first

Okay so, before we can really talk about this, theres something I feel the need to clarify here: Neither of these stories was "planned from the beginning".

Now, I dont think a story being planned from the beginning or not nesscessarily makes the story any better or worse by default, however, it is still important to acknowledge because the way the story is planned is going to affect every facet of it. Things are not going to be foreshadowed properly, things are gonna be set up only for nothing to come of it, the story might drastically change directions, characters might act differently, etc, etc.

And, this is bit off-topic but, it's much better to just admit that the story was not planned than trying to pretend that it was. Like, there are a lot of reasons why I tend to be so forgiving towards YGO even though its not very good, but one of them is definitely the fact that, as far as Im aware atleast, the guy who wrote it isnt pretending to have had this big master plan all along and neither is the fandom. With RWBY on the other hand... yeaaaah, its kinda the opposite. From what Ive seen of RWBYs fandom, there seems to be this pretty popular narrative that everything was planned even though it clearly wasnt. Thats pretty bad and honestly lowers my opinion of the writers so much more than if they would just admit to not having a proper plan.

Like, I initially consumed YGO like this: Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters, Yu-Gi-Oh (aka Season 0), like, a quarter of the Yu-Gi-Oh manga (I still havent finished it)

In all three of these we have the character of Yami Yuugi, or just Yami. Broadly speaking, he is an ancient egyptian gamer spirit who lives in a magical puzzle that has not been solved for 3000 years until this highschooler named Yuugi Mutou comes along and solves it, thus setting him free and allowing him to possess Yuugi and have access to the vague magical powers of the puzzle.

In Duel Monsters he's perfectly fine most of time, morally speaking. There is an instance of him almost murdering a guy and its a bit unclear what exactly happens to those he mindcrushes but overall he's very much a pretty good guy. In Season 0 most of what he does is set up these games for bad people, where they will go insane no matter what they do. From how I understand this whole Shadow Game, Penalty Game stuff, if you lose a Shadow Game, you get violent and intense hallucinations and you will always cuz yknow, gamer spirit. But if you try to cheat, which most of the bad people do in this show, you get violent and intense hallucinations as a punishment.

Since the two anime are generally considered two different continuities, its perfectly fine that Yamis characterization is wildly different in both of them. But in the manga both of these characterizations appear, basically one after the other with no real arc or consequences, for that matter. Why is that? Simply put, someone thought it was a good idea to try to turn an episodic, very slice of life-y light-horror manga into a more traditional, more plot-driven battle shounen. From what Ive heard, it was apparently largely because of network interference or something, but the point is, it changed directions incredibly drastically with little planning and everyone knows this and I can understand that for the most part.

In RWBY we have the character of Blake Belladonna, who, in the first 3 volumes/seasons atleast, was this aloof, more toned down loner-type character with a pretty strong sense of justice. She's an in-universe marginilized racial minority and she clearly cares about racial injustice. The way its initially framed makes it seem like she had a very hard life and no stable support system, which is what eventually pushed her to join a Civil Rights group/Terrorist organization (good god, the Faunus subplot is so awful, I could write a whole essay about it but Im already de-railing rn so I'll just save that for later).

Then, in volumes 4-5 it turns out her father is actually like, the mayor or chief of this island-place called Menagerie and she grew up in this big mansion with multiple guards/servants. Oh and also, apparently "space is a commodity" on there, so theres that. She still retains large parts of her personality but she's kinda like, worse somehow I think. I cant really describe it in a meaningful way but I hope you get what Im saying anyway. Then in Volume 6 she confronted her emotional abuser Adam (sorry for not mentioning him sooner but yeah, he was like, her abusive boyfriend, which is something that a lot of people disagree with but I wont really say anything about it either way because I dont really feel any specific way) with her friend, Yang, and ended up killing him.

After all that, she pretty much lost the rest of her personality, as well as her arc about all the Faunus stuff. She just kinda became the meek, generically nice, recovering abuse victim. Why? Well, the actual reason is that they didnt plan out shit and are just kinda flying by the seat of their oversized clown-pants and if they and the fandom just admitted it, I would have less of an issue. I still wouldnt be as forgiving towards RWBY as I am towards YGO because the crux of the issue, for me, is just that I dont particulary like RWBY but also like. Do you really expect me to take MKEK seriously as writers after admitting to not have a timeline because iT wOuLd CaUsE pLoThOlEs?

However, since they want us to believe that everything was planned out from the beginning, the explaination would be.... Idk, they deliberately butchered one of their main characters?? Because.. they hate her?? Maybe????

So yeah, that was quite a detour however, I would like you to keep this mind going forward.

2. Themes of the Early Series'

First, what do mean by 'Early Series' for both of these shows respectively? Well, for YGO that would have to be Season 0 or if youre reading the manga, everything pre-Duelist Kingdom. Basically, the part of the series thats a episodic, very slice of life-y light-horror series.

For RWBY that would be the first three Volumes, also known as the Poser-Era. Back then it was just kinda an action series that took place at Anime Warrior Academy (also known as Beacon) with some pretty bare minimum worldbuilding, character-driven plots and developments but now its more of an epic high-fantasy story with more of an emphasis on plot as opposed to just action.

The themes and messages in Early YGO are kinda vague, very confusing to me and if you were to follow any of it literally that would be pretty bad. For now Im just gonna say the main themes are Friendship and Identity and mostly focus on the Identity aspect.

Now, it took me a little while to figure out RWBYs deal but I think the main themes for Volumes 1-3 are also Friendship and Heroism. Once again, I'll mostly focus on Heroism and touch on Friendship more briefly later.

I dont have much more to add to YGOs themes right now, so I'll briefly go over Heroism in RWBY.

In RWBYs setting there are these man-eating monsters called Grimm that have basically infected the planet. In order to deal with that, they have people called huntsmen and huntresses that kill them and protect people. Theyre trained at special academies like Beacon and go on missions there and stuff like that. Our four main characters, Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang, are training to become huntresses and one day they go on this mission to clean up a grimm infested city block with one of their teachers. Obviously, that takes a long time so they have to camp out in one of the empty houses. Weiss, Blake and Yang cant sleep because theyve been thinking about this question that their teacher asked them when they were fighting grimm: "Why do you want to become a huntress?"

They have a heart to heart and we find out about their motivations; Weiss wants to bring honour back to her family, Blake want to distance herself from the White Fang (that terrorist organization I mentioned earlier) and as an extension from Adam, Yang wants to have a life of adventure. They also talk about why Ruby wants to be a huntress and it turns out that she judt wants to help people. Unlike the others, she has no motivation besides that. We're meant to listen to that and look at her as a sort-of personification of Heroism: kind, but not naive, strong and most of all, selfless. The others on her team are not portayed as bad for not being like Ruby by any means but we are clearly meant to admire her the most out of all of them.

Okay, now comes the part Ive been looking forward to the most:

3. How did these themes evolve in the Modern Series'?

Alright, before we can really delve into the way they evolved in YGO I'll have to give you a brief summary of the character progression. At the start of DM, during the Duelist Kingdom arc, Yami Yuugi is just that; A darker Yuugi. Hes more confident, bolder, his voice is deeper, hes somehow taller, more ruthless, all that good stuff. Notably, he doesnt actually seem more skilled than Yuugi even at the start of this story, but he's still dependent on Yami. Yami on the other hand, has no identity of his own or even hints at one at this point. He's just The Other Yuugi.

Then during the Battle City arc, they find out that Yami was actually a pharao prior to being sealed in the puzzle, he just didnt know because of amnesia, I guess. So now they need to find out his real name and then send him to the afterlife because hes meant to be dead, but not before saving the world from being swallowed by darkness, which is also a thing they have to do now.

Then we finally get to the Memory World arc, where Yami, Yuugi and the rest of the gang astralproject to ancient egypt via puzzle magic. Yami is trying to figure out what the hell is going on and who all these familiar people are, while Yuugi & Co are trying their best to help him. Then some weird shit happens and it turns out that all of that is not just Yamis sealed away memories, but also a giant D&D Shadow Game that will destroy the world if Yami loses. So now theres Pharao!Yami who is still clueless on the metaphorical and literal playing field and Player!Yami, who is kinda controlling himself now? I guess?? Yamis opponent, The Spirit of The Ring, has something similar to that going on where hes both controlling and properly participating in the game. So Player!Yami is now fighting against Player!TSoTR, Pharao!Yami is now fighting against Thief King Bakura (who is like, the human, ancient egyptian version of the Ring Spirit) and Yuugi is now fighting against Yami Bakura (who is like, the human, modern japanese version of the Ring Spirit). Yuugi gets Yamis real name, he and the gang go over to Pharao!Yami and tell him his name, meanwhile Player!Yami is also somehow helping as well and they defeat the Ring Spirit, thus saving the world. Then they travel to modern Egypt, the Ceremonial Duel happens and Yuugi wins, sending Yami to the Afterlife where he can finally rest and that was the series!

I originally wanted to recount the stuff that was going on with the Ring Spirit and his host as well because they parallel eachother, but this summary is already far too long and I think youll get the point without me needing to explain any more.

My point here is, that the story went from being vaguely about Identity, maybe? to being very clearly about Self-Discovery and Learning to Be Independent. I think this is a very good way to evolve the messaging of your story. How does RWBY track on that?

Well, uh... its not great. I will acknowledge that they have tried to introduce new themes and ideas since, even though I wont really be talking about them in this post. But yeah, the whole Heroism thing really regressed.

Like, I didnt explicitly say it when I was explaining grimm earlier, but theyre not going away. The grimm have always been there and people who sign up to become huntsmen and huntresses are effectively signing up for a job that will never truly be done, no matter what they do. Characters like Ruby and even more minor ones like Phyrrah have shown us that that doesnt matter when youre a hero. No life isnt worth saving, no grimm isnt worth killing, no criminal isnt worth arresting. Then, in volume 6 they find out about Salem. Salem is the Big Bad of the show, shes immortal, controls the grimm and is supposed to be very powerful.

What do our heroes do? They give up. Sike! They were just mindcontrolled by monsters or some shit, of course they didnt give up their mission (which is to bring an Important Macguffin to a city called Atlas, sorry I didnt mention it)!

But then they arrive in Atlas (which is llike, a city thats floating over another city called Mantle) and yknow, they do some plot stuff thats not really important right now until the city gets invaded by Salem and this big grimm army she has.

What do our heroes do? Well, Ruby, Weiss, Blake and some side characters are chilling, drinking tea in a mansion and Yang and the B Team were actually trying to do something, but even those efforts seem incredibly minimal.

Oh wait, I also forgot to mention that Ironwood (a fairly minor, vaguely antagonistic character up until now) wanted to lift Atlas even higher to save Atleasian civilians from danger while leaving Mantle vulnerable to Salems invasion.

What would be the most heroic thing to do?

A) Let Ironwood lift Atlas, get as much support as they can down to Mantle and save as many Mantle civilians as they can from the invasion

B) Prevent Ironwood from lifting Atlas but then split up in order to protect both Atlas and Mantle civilians

C) Prevent Ironwood from lifting Atlas and then dont do anything else

Congrats! If you choose C, you think exactly like the writers!

And I just

This is so mindboggling to me, I feel like I shouldnt even have explain how this is bad. And like, it wouldve been so easy to actually make them seem herokc through their actions, to make it seem like they did try but no.

I have never seen a central theme be this botched, how in the world did they do that? Why did they think it was a good idea for Ruby "The Embodiment of Heroism" Rose to sit in a mansion doing nothing, no planning, no organizing just ..... God, how are they this bad? Like, this doesnt even have anything to do with it being planned in any way, this is just straight up incompetence

4. Very briefly touching on friendship

The friendship is awful and its not solely because they all have the same opinions. They barely interact with eachother outside their designated pairs which leads to it all feeling incredibly hollow. Theyre also practically indistingushable from one another now, which is a shame because it wasnt always like that. Like, I dont think the characters were that well-developed in earlier volumes but they were very well-characterized. But now we've gotten to a point where you can literally copy and paste one characters dialogue onto another and literally nothing changes, it really sucks.

5. Some closing words

Damn, this took way longer than I thought it would and now Im pretty exhausted. I have no idea how yall always write these but props to you! I feel like this ended up a bit rambly but overall, Im pretty proud.

Please let me know what you think of the points I brought up! Id also really appreciate some tips on how to get better at these longer posts because I am planning on writing more in the future (not the near future, probably but yknow).

Thats all I have to say for now, thanks for reading!

#rwde #rwby critism #anti mkek #yu gi oh #ygo duel monsters #yu gi oh analasis

[weecherylita]

Continuing my analysis of Redcloak; this piece is focused on in-character signs that he could actually get some positive character growth (maybe even a redemptive arc? Who knows).

THIS POST INCLUDES MAJOR SPOILERS FOR START OF DARKNESS…

In my previous post, I pointed out that the heart of Redcloak’s character is a battle between his two primary motivations; the first (and the one he likes to tell himself is his main motivation) is trying to improve the lives of the goblin people. The second (and his actual main motivation) is his desire to hide from his own guilt for leading them on a dangerous path which has brought them a great deal of death and suffering. He has sacrificed so much for the sake of the Dark One’s Plan, he thinks the only option is to keep going – otherwise all of those deaths will have been for nothing, and the toll on his conscience will be extreme. Xykon, being a vital component of said Plan, is someone who Redcloak has used as a shield to hide behind – his servitude towards Xykon offers him “an excuse for [his] inexcusable behaviour” as Xykon puts it, and allows him to kid himself that he has no real choice.

So, what are the signs that he might be able to break out of this and change for the better? (Note I’m not arguing he definitely will change, just that it wouldn’t actually be totally out of the blue if he did.)

The hobgoblins and Gobbotopia

In his dealings with hobgoblins in particular, we have seen the part of him that genuinely cares for his people really start to come more strongly to the fore. Firstly in his major about-turn during the Battle of Azure City, where he came to realise the error of his previous racist attitude towards hobgoblins, and this produced a significant change in his behaviour. So here at least we have precedent for Redcloak examining past actions, owning up to his mistakes, and growing for the better (albeit, on a much smaller scale than what would be required to rethink his devotion to the Plan).

As this plot line develops we continue to see further evidence of Redcloak growing in his sense of responsibility and genuine concern for the lives of other goblins, and this includes two prominent examples where he does prioritise their well-being above the Dark One’s Plan.

Firstly, we have the personal battle between Redcloak and the High Priest of the Twelve Gods – a duel he could have avoided, but specifically enters into because “dueling will save the lives of any hobgoblins your spells would have killed.” And this is a risk not just to his own life, but potentially to the Plan as well, since there was a chance of the Crimson Mantle being destroyed/confiscated by Azurites in the event of Redcloak losing that duel (the best case scenario would’ve been for the cloak to get picked up by another, almost certainly less powerful goblin cleric).

Secondly, he clearly puts off continuing the Dark One’s mission in order to concentrate on the development of the emerging goblin city state, Gobbotopia. This shows a genuine desire to pursue an alternative and less risky method of securing the well-being of his people, to the point that it distracts him from the Plan. It doesn’t last, of course. A combination of Xykon’s rage and a semi-direct message from the Dark One himself serve to refocus his attention on the Plan once more. This brings about a regression of sorts, in that we once again see him prepared to tactically sacrifice the lives of other goblins for the sake of its success. For now, it appears that he believes that by delegating to Jirix, he can pursue both the Plan and the development of Gobbotopia concurrently. He is surely aware that pursuing the Plan could threaten Gobbotopia itself, but perhaps unwilling to dwell too much on the ramifications of that. Nevertheless, Gobbotopia still exists as a tangible achievement in Redcloak’s eyes, and may well come into play again in forcing a confrontation between his two primary motivations – Gobbotopia or the Plan; the well-being of living goblins, or his desire to hide from his own guilt. 

Right-Eye and Xykon

Redcloak’s efforts to hide from his guilt are becoming more strained. We get the most explicit glimpse of this when we see him talking to - himself? - in the mirror, saying: “It’ll all be worth it. You’ll see.” Except of course, he’s not just talking to himself, but also Right-Eye (Redcloak having lost his own right eye, it would seem as though he was staring at a right-eyed goblin when facing himself in the mirror).

In fact, this brings me back to that interesting statement from Xykon at the end of Start of Darkness: “as long as you’re loyal to me, I’ll let you pretend that this [Redcloak murdering Right-Eye] never happened.” Thing is though, Xykon’s gone back on his word. By forbidding Redcloak to regenerate his lost eye, and encouraging Tsukiko to call him “Wrong-Eye”, Redcloak has been getting regular reminders about his brother – and what he did to him. It’s no wonder that Redcloak has started to seem a little unsettled. And the memory of Right-Eye doesn’t just represent Redcloak’s guilt either – it’s also about choice. As Xykon pointed out, Right-Eye is proof that actually, Redcloak does have a choice – a choice about whether to rebel against Xykon, or the Dark One, or to just admit that he’s done wrong by his people and there are alternatives to following this crazily dangerous plan. Xykon characterises Redcloak as “too chicken-shit” to ever make that choice, but I do wonder. For a start, Xykon’s verbal beat-down to Redcloak at the end of Start of Darkness (when Redcloak was at his very lowest) was so utterly vicious I almost felt like it’s inevitable that one day, Redcloak will pick himself back up and prove him wrong. (Law of drama I guess? Elan would approve.)

Which leads onto another point – another way we’ve seen Redcloak develop over the course of the comic is to see him becoming more confident and more dissatisfied with Xykon. If we compare the first time Redcloak submitted to calling Xykon “Lord Xykon”, way back at the end of Start of Darkness, with the last time we heard him say it, recently in the western desert, we can see that his attitude has significantly changed. The first time is almost heart-breaking; his will is completely broken at that point. That final time, where he is practically dripping with disdain and barely contained rage, honestly gives me chills.

There is no evidence as of yet of this progression leading to any positive growth; thus far, his newfound confidence has led Redcloak to boast that he secretly has Xykon dancing to his tune, which is a dubious assertion that still hinges on his desire to fool Xykon into carrying out the Plan. Nevertheless, I think it’s interesting the way Xykon originally characterised servitude to him as a way for Redcloak to avoid his own sense of personal responsibility for his actions (”You’ll obey me forever now, because I give you an excuse for your inexcusable behaviour”). In Redcloak’s mind, preserving the relationship with Xykon is still a necessary evil for the sake of the Plan, and the Plan is beyond question (and thus he avoids the need to face up to his own wrong-doing in pursuing that goal). The more strained his relationship with Xykon becomes, the higher the chance of the whole thing unraveling. A few small cracks are starting to appear, but whether they will lead to any positive development or not remains to be seen...

Violence and non-goblins

And the final point relates to Redcloak’s attitude and violent behaviour towards non-goblin species. The Redcloak of the most recent strips is just as prepared to kill for the sake of the Plan as ever, and he does so brutally and with grim efficiency. Nevertheless, I think it’s interesting that he used to enjoy killing creatures he hated - humans and paladins in particular - yet he no longer appears to do so (or not as much, at least). He tells Jirix that murdering a paladin was “less satisfying than I remember”. He also doesn’t appear to take much pleasure in Tsukiko’s death (in contrast to his apparent glee when he set the chlorine elemental on her when they first met). And, most recently of all, he appears notably dissatisfied about killing the monsters of Kraagor’s tomb, asking “What did their deaths mean?”. Which seems an unusual question for a goblin who is long used to justifying every horrible deed he commits as being a necessary sacrifice for the greater well-being of his people. Now it could well be that Redcloak’s evolution into hardened killer who destroys out of grim necessity rather than enjoyment isn’t going to lead to any positive changes. Still, that most recent example in particular indicates a degree of weariness with needless bloodshed that might be relevant later. And we also have the very interesting example of Redcloak choosing to spare the prisoners of Azure City - people who he promised to destroy, yet eventually chose not to. I don’t believe this was out of a sense of compassion, but rather from the fact that when it came down to it, he just didn’t have the stomach for senseless destruction. And with the fate of the whole world at stake, that may yet prove significant. 

Of course, none of this is proof that Redcloak will eventually reject the Plan, let alone switch to placing his trust in the Order/the gods in general. Nevertheless, the above points make me believe it is possible that Redcloak could start to go through that path of personal growth – particularly if something dramatic happens that forces him to acknowledge that the Plan isn’t viable. As firmly deluded as he seems right now, a few small cracks have started to appear.

#order of the stick #oots #redcloak #fandom stuff #long post is long #i can't believe i wrote this much about a fictional goblin #actually wait yes i can

[ghoultyrant]

I've tried a few times to write Samus' pov before and I've had a lot of trouble. I feel like she is fairly inscrutable as characters go, being largely voiceless, and taciturn even when she does speak (not counting Other M). A lot of her dialogue is also removed from social interactions, being internal memos in scan logs. Idk. Maybe this is just me.

Samus as a character isn’t so much a cipher as an archaeological mystery.

The point of that comparison being that the Metroid series actually tends to tell a large fraction of its story through its environments, and does so quite well. Metroid II makes it clear that the endgame area is some manner of laboratory where the Metroids were apparently created, probably by the Chozo, but at some point control was lost. The laboratory is their nest because that’s where their existence as a species started, rather than the Metroid Queen selecting it as a good brooding ground for some other reason. Notably, the laboratory is unusually isolated and difficult to reach, even by Metroid II’s standards of travel distance, suggesting that the lab was deliberately cut off from the rest of the planet, and also probably explaining why the Metroid Queen didn’t wander off elsewhere to nest; she very possibly couldn’t.

In turn, this grounds a detail many players probably never questioned, but which is slightly odd on its own: that Metroids can apparently only grow into their Alpha and so on forms on SR388. As a consequence of natural evolution, this is certainly possible, but seems odd. But given that they’re clearly artificial, it’s easy to guess that the Chozo put that in as an artificial constraint; most likely the Chozo had plans for shipping them out to other worlds, and for some reason or another didn’t want them to change form once they were off the planet. (There’s a lot of plausible reasons for why they’d want this, but that’s a bit of a tangent)

Furthermore, this also grounds the Metroid Queen itself. Most players probably never question the fact that there’s literally only one Metroid Queen on an entire planet, because after all she’s the final boss. There’s obvious video game design reasons involved. But actually, it makes perfect sense in-universe: while fandom frequently assumes that any Metroid could potentially molt all the way to being a Metroid Queen, and that’s not an unreasonable assumption, it’s also entirely possible the Metroid Queen was one-of-a-kind because the Chozo carefully designed things so she’d be unique; that the Metroid Queen was built to be a Queen from the ground up, and is not supposed to be capable of producing more Queen-capable Metroids. That would be a logical thing to do to limit the damage in the event of a containment failure, and neatly explains why the planet has only one Metroid Queen even though Metroids themselves are running rampant across the planet.

Speaking of the Chozo and environmental storytelling, the fact that we saw their statues on two different planets back in the original trilogy was already a strong indication that the Chozo were a spacefaring species. Metroid Prime using scan logs to spell it out was a confirmation of an already-likely-true thing, not a state of canon invented by that particular entry. Again, I imagine a lot of players never questioned it because there’s game design reasons that are obviously applicable (eg that Chozo statues are frequently used to mark Important Power-Ups), but it’s extremely good environmental storytelling.

Anyway, that’s just some bits from Metroid II. Aside Other M and let me be brutally honest Samus Returns (I enjoyed it, but it mostly doesn’t try to do environmental storytelling, and probably-accidentally heavily retcons things, with the Metroid Queen’s nest no longer being set deep inside a laboratory being the most blatant example), the Metroid series does this heavily and constantly. The player is expected, if they care about the story and the world it takes place in, to look at the details they can see and make inferences.

And if they don’t care about any of that, it’s not intruding on their experience: they can just play a fun little game with blasting aliens and whatever.

Looping this back to Samus, though: yeah, we mostly don’t get Samus’ voice, both in a literal sense and in the writing sense. What we get is a ton of secondary information hinting at the kind of person she is, supplemented with concrete facts (eg that she was substantially raised by the Chozo), and then are expected to draw inferences.

As one of the more obvious examples: the first two games implicitly establish that Samus has to have a high degree of confidence in her abilities, or if she doesn’t she’s got a literally suicidal streak. She twice accepts missions to travel alone, deep into hostile territory, with the interstellar bounty hunter equivalent of nothing but the clothes on her back. Metroid II’s manual tells us that some elite corps of soldiers was sent to SR388 and never heard from again, and this didn’t dissuade Samus from going in completely alone.

This strongly implies she earnestly believes she can do the job when a literal small army couldn’t even survive: it’s not just that the Egenoid Star Marines failed at the mission, it’s that they were so completely out of their depth that none of them were able to escape the planet to report their failure!

Important and related is that starting from Metroid Ii it’s very normal for Samus to unambiguously have the option of just turning around and leaving. Her ship is on-planet, she uses it to leave at the end of a given game, and nonetheless she sticks each given mission out. She doesn’t encounter Omega Metroids and go ‘no, this is too dangerous, I’m out’. She doesn’t rampage across half of Zebes in Super Metroid and give up in disgust when she fails to find the stolen Metroid reasonably quickly. She doesn’t report the Space Pirates on Tallon IV to the Federation and leave them to clean up that particular mess while she goes to get a drink. Echoes and Fusion are the only games that actually trap Samus on-site temporarily to justify her ongoing presence, and even then if you bother to visit and scan her ship regularly in Echoes you’ll discover it’s ready for liftoff well before it’s time for the endgame, while in Fusion it actually doesn’t take that long to get back access to the Main Deck and thus her ship.

A lot of games that place a player character alone and far from civilization are very careful to explain that the player character was stranded in this strange place, and implicitly or explicitly sets the player character’s goal as escape back to civilization. The implication is generally that these are people who would never willingly inflict such a situation on themselves, and if they ever accidentally found themselves in such a situation with the ability to back out, they’d take it in a heartbeat.

Samus, meanwhile, keeps ending up in these situations and sticking them out. She doesn’t mind being alone with her thoughts for long periods of time.

It’s worth mentioning that the Japanese version of the original Metroid tracked how long you’d played, only your hours of play were presented as how many days Samus had been on Zebes. If you treat this ratio as canonical to all future games, which are generally designed so a first-time player will beat them in 4-20 hours... yeah. Samus has repeatedly spent several days or weeks in a row far away from civilization, and is just fine with sticking those situations out, and even inflicting them fairly spontaneously on herself if she has a specific reason for doing so. (eg she goes to Tallon IV in pursuit of Ridley)

Now, since this is inference there’s a fundamental ambiguity here. I personally tend to interpret Samus as being someone who finds socializing with her fellow sentients to be a stressful experience, such that going out into the wild for a week is a form of decompression and relaxation, but this isn’t the only plausible interpretation, and honestly I probably go to that interpretation because I don’t cope well with that kind of social interaction, rather than it actually being a better interpretation. One could plausibly interpret Samus as someone who, say, is actually fairly intensely social and just rates (Insert mission objective here) as more important than her own personal comfort. (In this interpretation, it would be assumed she instead decompresses from her missions by partying with her must-exist-in-this-interpretation large circle of friends) That’s certainly an excellent justification for her chasing Ridley in Metroid Prime, for example, and if we ignore Other M entirely I can’t think of a Metroid game that could be said to contradict that particular interpretation. (And Other M doesn’t count because it contradicts literally every other game on so many levels; if one game doesn’t fit while the rest are consistent with each other, you toss that one game as an inconsistency)

(Well, actually, another reason I take my interpretation of Samus is that she was raised by Ascetic Space Bird Monks, but then again plenty of people rebel against their upbringing. It’s perfectly possible to say Intensely Social Samus was driven crazy by the Chozo expecting her to be an Ascetic Space Bird Monk But As A Tiny Human, and even suggest that she takes being Intensely Social even farther than she would’ve otherwise as pushback against that whole thing)

BUT

While there’s room for interpretation and murkiness on details, Samus across the games has a fairly clear sketch of a certain range of plausible personalities. This range is also further reduced if we actually, for example, acknowledge Samus’ monologues from Fusion, which make it clear Samus concerns herself with the big picture (Suggesting that she sticks out her missions at least in part because often The Fate Of The Galaxy hinges on them kind of thing), and also seems to indicate (Consistent with her observed behavior), that Samus isn’t someone inclined toward negotiation as a problem-solving mechanism -that is, she doesn’t even countenance the possibility of trying to talk the incoming Federation goons into not trying to weaponize the X, going straight to ‘I need to make sure it’s not possible for them to try’- and that she’s got a bit of a philosophical streak to her, of exactly the sort one might expect of someone raised by Ascetic Space Bird Monks.

But even without the Fusion monologues, it’s not actually that hard to dig up a coherent personality for Samus, consistent with what we see across most of the games and compelling in its own right. It just takes a mentality that, while unusual for most writing/reading, is completely consistent with how the Metroid series prefers to convey its stories.

[sprob002-blog]

A Little About New Zealand

Like many other people, what intentionally made me interested in traveling to New Zealand was the breathtaking scenery and to visit the set of the Lord of the Rings. Just one minute into this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo4ueevKfdE), and I am ready to pack my bags and book the next flight. This beautiful country is split into the North Island and South Island, and its remoteness from the rest of the world has allowed the creation of some beautiful animals. I study marine biology, so it would be really amazing to experience evolution’s works and see things that you can not see anywhere else in the world. New Zealand is home to some unique creatures, like the kiwi, which has become the unofficial symbol for the country as well as a nickname for the native people. Another native species is the yellow-eyed penguin, which is one of the six types of penguins found around the country. 

My knowledge of New Zealand is quite limited, but I was aware that it once was under British rule until they gained independence in 1947. Even though they are now a sovereign nation, the countries flag still represents a time they were under the crown. The interactions with Great Britain and the native Maori people of New Zealand have shaped the culture of the society. An important day in history that is celebrated annually is when the Treaty of Waitangi was signed on February 6, 1880. The treaty was designed to determine who had authority over the land, but the natives and English had disagreements which subsequently led to The New Zealand Wars just five years later. One interesting fact is that New Zealand was the first self-governing nation to give women the right to vote in 1893. 

 English is the common language, but many natives can speak Maori which is the second popular language in the country. The English language in New Zealand is similar to that of Australian English in the way its pronounced, but there are some differences. They say you can tell an Australian accent from a New Zealand accent by the way they pronounce vows and by the slang that is used. Australians tend to draw out their vows more, and have their own unique slang for things such as sandals that they call thongs. Even if you have an ear for accents, I’m sure it would take a couple time visiting to truly be able to tell the difference between the two. 

Prior to searching and collecting images, I was not informed of the rich history that New Zealand has. Its culture is influence mainly by western culture, the isolation of the islands, and the indigenous Maori people. In present day, the majority of inhabitants are of European decent and the Maori have become a minority, but their influence is still strong. A big component of New Zealand culture is Kapa haka, which is the term for Maori performing arts, and is a cultural dance to express heritage through song. It has even been performed before sporting events by their national rugby team, the All Blacks. When traveling to any foreign country, it is a good idea to become familiar with traditions and cultures. This short video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB3m5Nc1BzM) was a good start for me when brushing up on New Zealand traditions. 

The Maori have a traditional way of cooking that involves digging a deep hole in the ground and using hot stones to cook meat and vegetables that are wrapped in leaves. This method is called hangi, and lets you embrace the authentic experience of New Zealand cooking. I found it interesting that schools will have a hangi because this differs greatly from the food that is known to be served in US lunchrooms. 

Another popular dish is whitebait fritter, which is juvenile fish cooked in egg whites to create an omelet. This is considered a delicacy and alternative to fish and chips, and it is a must try when I visit. It’s no surprise that seafood is a big part of New Zealand diet consider the country is an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. 

Food gatherings are a popular and common social event in New Zealand. If a native says they are “shouting” it means that they are providing the meal at their cost. If you are invited over for dinner, the same social manners follow as in the US. It is proper to offer to bring a dish or something to drink, and to be sure if you can bring an additional guest. Also, the drinking age in NZ is 18! Some people follow Maori customs within the home by not having shoes on, not sitting on tables or pillows, and saying a karakia to bless the food before the meal. Do not be alarmed if someone greets you with a kiss on the cheek, as it is a friendly and common thing to do. After dinner a favorite New Zealand dessert is hokey pokey ice cream, vanilla ice cream with clumps of honeycomb toffee, and they apparently eat 23 liters per capita a year alone! New Zealanders also like their lolly, which is slang for candy. 

Despite having deep cultural roots, New Zealand is not immune to acts of racism. Unfortunately, they have been at the forefront of world news recently because of the terror attacked at various mosques that left over 50 dead and many others injured. (https://www.mprnews.org/story/2019/03/14/witness-many-dead-in-new-zealand-mosque-shooting)

It is incredibly sad that we must fear for our lives when we walk outside, but it is especially heinous to prey on innocent people at a place of worship. This incident is the worst attack in New Zealand history, and in this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sOKzcd0Uxg) the Prime Minister explains that she dose not plan to do nothing about it. She vows that the gun laws will change to prevent further incidents like this one. However, it is uplifting to see an article in the NZ Herald that schools in the country are stepping up and trying to help students with their mental health (https://www.nzherald.co.nz/health/news/article.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=12212778). Many schools, like ones in the US, believe teachers should not intervene in a student’s life, but perhaps if we took a more proactive action to help mental illnesses then maybe terrible acts like this recent one will no longer occur. 

New Zealand has been a constitutional monarchy since 1952, and this basically means that Queen Elizabeth II reigns, but it is the government and people who do the ruling. They do not have a formal constitution, but rather a collection of documents, such as the Treaty of Waitangi, that help lay the framework for their government. The country has their own form of currency, and one New Zealand dollar equals $0.66 US dollars. Their government functions in the same way as the United States by having three separate branches: the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary. However, unlike the US their legislature branch is only made out of the House of Representatives. Another notable difference in their government is that they are a unitary state and not a federation. Their central government limits the authority of the regions and even is in charge of police and education. I am not sure if I would like the idea of a more powerful central government, but it does seem that the country would be more uniform in their actions.  

There are many aspects about New Zealand life that remind me of the United States. For starters, the gender roles are about the same in each country. Men are supposed to be the breadwinners while women stay at home with the children. For New Zealand, this role began because back in 1840 the majority of Europeans were men that came for work, and the women slowly started to move to the islands to create permanent homes. These roles were fairly common and constant and woman did not really start joining the workforce until the late 1900′s. In today’s world, women in both United States and in New Zealand are working to break that stereotype and are taking on more unconventional roles. Another similarity between the two countries is that Christianity is the main religion, and in New Zealand almost 50% of people claim to be Christians. Even though Anglicanism is the religion of the monarch of New Zealand, the country does not have an established church. The country has had the basic right of freedom of religion since the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.

Also, the mainstream music in New Zealand is not much different from music I hear in America. I looked up their top 100 popular songs, and I was not familiar with #1 which was a song called “Days Go By” by a welsh band called High Contrast (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9pUR1QV3yQ). However, I was familiar with many of the other songs I saw on the list. Before researching popular artist, I had no knowledge that Lorde, who is played on many radio stations in the US, is from New Zealand. One of her most popular songs, “Royals” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlcIKh6sBtc), has an astonishing 757 million views on Youtube. I enjoyed many of the artist that I came across, like Marlon Williams. The first video of him that I saw was on NPR Music’s channel, and I was familiar with the segment they do called Tiny Desk Concert (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ab8YnmHB6tE). I found it very interesting to learn that many of the artist I have come across I’ve had no idea they were from places such as New Zealand. 

Besides Lord of the Rings I did not know of any movies made in New Zealand or by a NZ company. The film industry is definitely smaller than in the US, and many of their films do not receive international credit. The highest grossing film in their country is called Hunt for the Wilderpeople and made almost 10 billion dollars in 2016. The movie is a comedy/drama about a boy and his foster father running through the NZ wilderness because there is a manhunt after them. I came across the site “NZ On Screen” (https://www.nzonscreen.com/explore) that broadcast all different types of TV shows, movies, music videos, and even cultural art performances that have been made in New Zealand. I found this site really useful in trying to explore popular media as well as a way to learn more about their society. 

Before traveling to New Zealand, I believe it is a good idea to look up some travel blogs to get an idea of what it might feel like to be a tourist in a foreign land. One I found very useful was “The Do’s and Dont’s of a New Zealand Road Trip” (https://youngadventuress.com/2014/08/new-zealand-road-trip.html). It covers everything from the perfect campervan to rent, a review of popular tourist sites, and even to driving in New Zealand because lets be honest driving in a foreign country can be a little scary. However, the most informative blog I came across was “How to Plan Your Ideal New Zealand Trip” (https://misstourist.com/how-to-plan-your-ideal-trip-to-new-zealand/). This blog has all the information you need in terms of the best time to visit, how much you can expect to spend, and even some tips on how to score the best deals because it can become rather expensive. 

After researching and collecting images about New Zealand, I have a better understanding of their cultural roots and some of the traditions that are popular. I plan to expand my knowledge by keeping up with current news and exploring more of their popular movies and music. The collection I have so far will help me be more respectful when I travel to New Zealand, and it has made me more comfortable when I travel abroad. 

[thesinglesjukebox]

LORDE - GREEN LIGHT [7.00] Go!

Olivia Rafferty: Lorde's long-awaited sophomore album has finally been heralded by "Green Light," and, with all the weight that circumstance has placed upon it, the song actually delivers. It dances on the edge of commerciality (but by this point, it's Lorde, so who cares) with a strong pop sensibility but a subversive nature, illuminated by each of the familiar-yet-slightly-unexpected twists at the start of each new section. My only gripe is that Lorde, for all the lyrical prowess she possesses, could have come up with a bigger hook. One of the greatest rhythmic stresses in the chorus lies on the word "things," which sits unimpressively, inciting neither intrigue nor imagery with its utterance. [8]

Joshua Copperman: The way this deviates from the rest of pop music is subtle but brutal -- I can imagine an a cappella group wanting to do "Green Light," but then realizing that the constantly shifting arrangement and vocal melody are too strange to pull off. I can also imagine every other pop songwriter wanting to write their own version (or a group of Drew's Famous-esque session musicians wanting to make a knockoff), but unable to figure out just how Jack Antonoff and Lorde made that jump from the verse to the pre-chorus work, and what plugin makes that monstrous synth toward the end. It's as if, tired of musicians imitating her, Lorde decided to create something both difficult to recreate and poppier than anything she's done before. Even as this change in mood and arguably genre is divisive among fans (as demonstrated on r/popheads, the only part of Reddit worth visiting), she's more than succeeded in that regard. [8]

Leonel Manzanares: That minor/major key shift (most specifically, that G-chord that transforms the tonal picture entirely) is the perfect encapsulation of the message of the song; it's a triumph of light over darkness, and coming off from heartbreak stronger than ever. "Green Light" feels like a not-so-far relative to Chvrches' "Clearest Blue," both gradually rising in intensity until the big explosion, but Lorde keeps the build-up a bit longer, creating more anticipation, so when the claps, the beats and the other voices come, you just break into full euphoria. All hail house-piano Lorde! [8]

William John: The piano figure waltzes in unannounced and with surprising levity, interrupting a weighty soliloquy about some spineless drongo that Lorde appears to have been delivering with disdainful candour into her bedroom mirror. It proves propulsive: the build toward the chorus is hurricane-like, and swiftly twists the narrative from rueful wallowing to strident self-belief. Backed by a chorus of Malin Dahlström doppelgängers, Lorde demonstrates humanity's uncanny ability to self-actualise in unexpected circumstances, and reinforces the often forgotten notion that there's something truly exhilarating about moving forward, about accelerating through a green light before things set themselves in amber. [9]

Jonathan Bradley: Apparently Lorde has learned from confrère Taylor Swift; "Green Light" marks an evolution in Lorde's songwriting, and it is distinguished by the carefully arranged set-pieces characteristic of Swift's lyrics. The younger hand, though, is not as adept; she has been an arresting writer, but that has been through unruffled poise rather than these close observations. "I do my makeup in a somebody else's car" and "We order different drinks in the same bar" form finely cut vignettes that sketch vivid tableaux, but neither gives life to drama larger than the plain facts of the narrative; an ill-advised metaphor about sharks, the sort of thing Swift would make work in spite of itself, is bathetic. The two have in common Jack Antonoff, whose contribution appears to primarily be crescendo; if so, he pushes Lorde, who sounds most alive when biting out "you're such a damn liar," into her chorus with an awkward vivant shriek. The part that keeps drawing me back, though, is that jubilant piano run. It could be mistaken for house, but it's squarer and fustier in origin: a pop-rock pound that has none of Lorde's iciness and a baffling eagerness to please. It's incongruous and unfashionable and I recoil from it even as I'm drawn to it it as the most original thing here. [5]

Dorian Sinclair: I honestly quite enjoy the jaunty piano vamp that carries the chorus of "Green Light," but it does seem like it wandered in from some other, more cheerful song. I think the contrast could work very well if Lorde and Antonoff leaned into it just a little more, but ultimately "Green Light" doesn't quite get there. One more editing pass could have made something pretty special. [6]

Alfred Soto: For one so young she has a talent for writing songs that reflect the sounds in her head and the tumult in her imagination, and when she overdubs herself nagging I couldn't wait for the moment I'd hear "Green Light" in its entirety on Clear Channel radio. I mean, I'm not sure who else would turn a jealous intimation about the beach into a great white shark fantasy. [7]

Katherine St Asaph: Lorde couldn't exactly have helped that the industry made this sound a rising alt-pop artist's cliche just before her sophomore album. But after a decent piano verse -- albeit one that's clunky in its transitions, leans a bit too much on "see, I'm grown up!" lines like "sometimes I wake up in a different bedroom" and positions Lorde's voice awkwardly between simmering contempt and affected gargling -- arrives a chorus that suggests the sounds she heard in her mind were those of the "Dancing On My Own"-soundtracked close of a Girls episode. [5]

Edward Okulicz: Second album lead singles are a minefield. Your budget goes up, you can pick your producer and radio is probably waiting. But it doesn't mean anything if you don't come back with a big chorus. "Green Light" is not a big chorus; it is a gigantic, crushing monster of a chorus, maybe the best of the year so far. Of course because Lorde is a woman, some people will be quick to credit her co-producer, but the sense of nervous exhiliration that goes through "Green Light" is all her. The house pianos are just the window dressing on a great pop single. [9]

Will Adams: I suppose this is what it's like to hear the seams of a song's sausage or whatever. "Green Light" makes all the necessary moves to achieve that rush: key change, long build, false drop, giant drums, gospel choir. For me, a pop song has never been made worse by learning about the calculations behind it. The main drawback of "Green Light" is the way Lorde's lyrics and the pop sheen rubbing against each other like passengers on a crowded subway. It's not actively bad; once the initial shock of Lorde going house wears off, we're left with a decent Foxes song. [6]

Maxwell Cavaseno: Its a good thing to be unsure about things sometimes. The most wearying thing about Pure Heroine was that it was the relentless sound of such absolute certainty by pushing low-stakes, most notably in how WACK the production remained consistently. Lorde herself was admittedly someone's drop of fresh air, but had a relentless drive to pen the haughtiest lyrics that just seemed eyerolly for someone who, on a musical level, really played it safe. "Green Light" is real weird, just because at first her growling over piano chords and seething could be the easiest drive into singer-songwriter parody until we get a Derrick May style piano riff beneath her snarls slowly evolving into a triumphant wail that reminds me of the improbable world where Mackenzie "Torres" Scott goes dancepop. And that dramatic drum break which on the final moments gets added to with strange distortion? I can't help but think of something Kanye West would try. I can't say I like this song, but I really like the idea that Lorde wants to move past the satisfaction of certainty. After all, after getting to such success, its a nice idea to know you can be a different kind of brave. [6]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox ]

#Lorde #Green Light #TSJ Best of 2017

[centaurianthropology]

The Magnus Archives ‘Literary Heights’ (S02E06) Analysis

Oooo … Jergen Leitner’s library is back, as are a few old faces from a few old cases.  We get a continuation of the lore around Leitner, a creepy cosmic horror tale of madness, lightning, and vast unknowable monstrosities, and an Archivist who continues to unravel.  

Jonny Sims delivers a great chilling tale this week, and in my favorite subgenre of horror.  He also continues to impress me with how he can so perfectly communicate Sims’ mental unravelling in the short supplementals we get at the end of the episodes, often more through his delivery than through actual words.  ‘Literary Heights’ is an excellent episode and a continuation of my favorite of TMA’s plot threads.

If you’d like to read me break down not only this episode, but as much of the Leitner plot as it relates to, come on in!

First off, can we talk about this world for a second?  It’s come up before in passing, but it struck me this week how the notion of studying the occult, demonology, and other paranormal fields is treated as a valid academic choice.  The idea that Mike might be a student of the occult in college seems perfectly normal to our protagonist, Herbert.  The more I hear, the more I think that the TMA world is one like ours, but not quite. The paranormal, much as it is in Lovecraft’s work, is something respectable as an academic field of study at least in the same way that folklore would be, and maybe even given greater credence.  This course of study may raise a few eyebrows, but no more so than becoming a funeral director or a specialist in Nahuatl might.  This is a world where the paranormal is closer to the skin, as it were.

Sorry, it’s just very interesting to me, the subtle way that the cosmic horror elements are worked into this world, and they ways in which they change it.

Okay, now that I’ve addressed that, let’s talk lore.  Because Leitner’s library is back, and everyone knows that means fun.  We find out that Leitner died in 1994 (this was also when ‘the incident’ that Sims mentioned in ‘Page Turner’ occurred). From then up to 1998, when this statement was given, a surprising number of rare booksellers either died or went missing, and I suspect it was because quite a few of Leitner’s tomes came into their possession at that time.  If Sims is clever enough to look into it (or if he found pursuing the Leitner library a priority anymore), I would wonder if the number of sellers who died, and the chain of custody of their acquisitions, might well give him a far better estimation of how many Leitners survived ‘the incident’ than they’ve had so far.

We also get a return of ‘Ex Altiore’ from “Page Turner”, this time told by someone who could read it. The book, as it turns out, is an epic poem in the style of Virgil detailing a small town watching and preparing for the approach of something called a beast, a demon, or a god alternatively: a giant thing with its head hidden in the clouds.  Each preparation they make is foiled as the thing is revealed to be vaster and vaster until they hurl themselves off the cliff to their deaths rather than face it.  He also discusses the woodcuts, which are apparently all of the scenery in the story, and also notices that they are both crude and deeply unsettling.  He got dizzy spells throughout the week he owned it until he managed to sell it, but interestingly enough he never mentions the empty sky woodcut that so unsettled Dominic Swain in ‘Page Turner’.

We also get a return of Michael Crew, who appeared in both ‘Page Turner’ and ‘The Bone Turner’s Tale’, although not in the flesh since Dominic Swain’s childhood recollections of him (more on those in a bit).  What we now learn is that Michael seems to be pursued by a monster, much as the people in the book were: something tall and thin, with limbs that branch like that scar and a body that strobes with electricity.  He eventually “gives himself” to ‘Ex Altiore’ in a belltower, and hurls himself and the monster that pursues him out of the window, vanishing.  Could this mean that ‘Ex Altiore’ consumed Michael, integrating him into the book as that woodcut later seen by Dominic Swain?

To try to hunt down answers, I immediately hopped back and listened to both ‘Page Turner’ and ‘The Bone Turner’s Tale’.  I wanted to catch all the possible callbacks.  

Page Turner

Here’s our first mention of Michael Crew, as well as the reason he had the Lichtenberg figure scar across his back: Dominic Swain, our protagonist, was his childhood friend. Dominic refused to go in from playing outside during a thunderstorm, and Michael was hit by lightning.

The first thing I noticed in ‘Page Turner’, aside from the presence of the empty night sky woodcut, was that the ozone smell accompanied it.  This is further evidence that ‘Ex Altiore’ consumed Michael Crew as well as whatever was pursuing him. This may directly relate him to the people in the story who jumped to their deaths.  In fact, it got me to thinking about the inherent double-meaning in the title of the book: initially it seems to refer to the monster that appears from the heights, but by the end of the story it also refers to the people who eventually plunged from the heights to their deaths.  I wonder how many of those woodcuts actually represent a person driven to jump through the despair they faced when pursued by these vast, impossible horrors.  Did this book come to Michael deliberately, knowing what followed him?  Can we attribute that sort of malevolent consciousness to the book, or is something else entirely at play?  

I think it’s also notable that, when Dominic looked through ‘Ex Altiore’ at Mary Kaeye’s house, he saw thick black branching lines descending from the sky.  Could this have to do with the black tendrils that populate the dream London Antonio Blake / Oliver sees?  The fact that this book seems to tie to jumping to death might have some relevance there.

Finally, it’s interesting to hear the evolution (or devolution) of Sims from this early point to now.  His determination to eliminate all the Leitner books and ensure that they could do no more harm—the fact that he seemed more passionate about that goal than most things—can be contrasted to the very disturbing assertion this week that he wishes he could have read ‘Ex Altiore’, and his general disregard of the threat of Leitner’s library he seemed so adamant about when he first started his work in the archives.  I’ll talk more on this later, but the difference is striking.  

The Bone Turner’s Tale

The initial part of Sebastian Adekoya’s statement is interesting.  He describes words in books almost as an infection, spreading from page to a person’s mind long after the death of the author.  They mutate in new cultures and lose their initial meaning, but their core persists.  The way he describes it reminds me of the Hive.  We know that the Hive hated the Magnus Institute and particularly its desire to record and catalogue the details of the Hive and other paranormal things.  Is this why? Is the nearly parasitic nature of the written word something dangerously like a rival to the Hive, just as much as it is a weapon against it?

How, then, does Leitner fit into this cosmology?  His books are monstrous unto themselves.  The parasites that are the words inside are dangerous and deadly.  His books seem less about knowledge and more about death, but that is from a very limited perspective.  Could he have found a way to survive the horrors of the books and gain instead some sort of greater knowledge?

Michael Crew returns in this story as the person who returned ‘The Bone Turner’s Tale’ to the library in which Sebastian was working.  Was this deliberate?  It certainly seems that Michael had found himself invested in Leitner’s library long before he became involved with ‘Ex Altiore’.  Was he a student of demonology or the occult who got mixed up in something a bit too real, the way Herbert thought?  Did he acquire his strange pursuer, and only gain an interest then, after he needed to find a way to make it leave?  What even was it, and why is it after him?  Having listened to ‘The Bone Turner’s Tale’ again, I can’t think that its contents bear any resemblance to what happened to him, so why did he have the book?  Was he looking into any paranormal book, and he ran across a Leitner by accident.  Did he recognize the power in them, and think to use it to solve his problem?

And then there’s the question of why he would mock up ‘The Bone Turner’s Tale’ as a book from the Chiswick library.  Why inflict it on someone else?  Someone random?  How did we get from a childhood friend struck by lightning to someone willing to inflict Leitner onto an unsuspecting public?  I feel like Michael Crew himself is a fascinating mystery, and I hope that eventually we might get a statement from the man himself.

It’s also interesting that Sims says he’s seen first-hand what a Leitner can do.  We don’t really know what Sims’ background with Leitner’s books is, although I wonder if it either got him into the Institute in the first place, or alternatively was the first major experience he had at the Institute and it stuck with him.  Either way, it makes what he said at the end of the statement about wishing he could have read ‘Ex Altiore’ all the more concerning.  And speaking of …

Jonathan Sims

Oh, Sims, you are in such a bad way at this point.  At what point did your understandable caution regarding these books transmute to wanting to read them?  I think it’s not only indicative of his mental state, but also of the exhaustion and fear that are eating away at him.  Does the Archivist have a death wish?  Is the notion of being done in by a Leitner more appealing than the idea that he can’t trust any of his friends?  I feel like this is a quiet but real acknowledgement of how far he’s crumbled since the early days, and how badly he needs help.  Even if he doesn’t recognize it as such.

His supplemental statement this week doesn’t give us a lot more insight into his mental state, but it does give us a bit more about what’s going on in the archives.  It seems that someone else is going down into the tunnels, but when Sims tried to investigate he found spiderwebs throughout the tunnels, and large spiders eating the worm remains (a return to ‘Arachnophobia’, perhaps?).  He did the smart thing (for once) and left.  He’s going to be setting up a camera to catch whoever was doing it (my money is on Martin investigating or Not-Sasha doing something shady), so maybe he’ll lay off stalking Tim for a while.

Conclusions

A nice, lore-rich story that’s heavily Lovecraft flavored.  Between the vast horror in ‘Ex Altiore’, Mike hurling himself out of the window (and possibly into the book itself) to get rid of the horror following him, and that creeping desire to read Leitner’s works that seems to seize even Sims, I got strong indications of ‘Hunter in the Dark’, ‘Dagon’, ‘The Call of Cthulhu’ and ‘The King in Yellow’.  All of which I love, so count me in as one happy listener!

This episode was fairly lore heavy, tying into ‘Page Turner’ and ‘The Bone Turner’s Tale’ as much as it did, but I still found it very engaging in its own right.  The story itself could stand alone, even if you didn’t know Michael Crew, the significance of the Lichtenberg figure on his back, or why his connection with Leitner runs so deep.  Indeed, it was fascinating, and made me wonder a great deal about that character, and the thing that was following him.  This episode advanced the lore while raising new questions, tied two previous statements together, and still didn’t give us any real answers.  And all that? Is what I love most about this story. The deeper you get the worse things seem, and every answer leads to ten new questions.  

Consider the Leitner storyline my favorite of the Bumps in the Night that this podcast continues to serve up, and this episode a worthy entry to that plot.

#The Magnus Archives #analysis

[anarchistbanjo]

Life Energy

Early posts explained the basic science fundamentals used in the O. A. K. matrix .  It would have been nice to leave the science aspect out altogether but it is even more important to understand the foundation that this system is grounded on in case questions arise.

And questions will arise!  There is method to my madness as I will now proceed to trash a lot of current thinking about metaphysics.  We will begin with the concept of a photon driven energy system in the center of the universe that is constantly pumping or "injecting" new photons into the universe and forcing the "old" photons to evolve into new forms of energy.

This is evolution pure and simple.  The concept has been around for a long time but the process has to the best of my knowledge never been explained as well as with chaos theory.  It shows a natural progression and a unity that ties the entire universe together.

Some may find the assumption that the photon is "alive" and "aware" in its own way offensive.  Especially when "life" and "awareness" is compared to the "life" and "awareness" of a computer.  When the power is "on" the computer is "alive" and "aware".  When the computer is "off" it is dead and there is no awareness.  Anyone that really listens to some "coffee shop" conversations could argue that a computer is more "alive" and "aware" than some of the people in the coffee shop.

The important point here is that awareness constantly grows and expands into higher and more complex forms.  It doesn't really matter how it began.  What matters is how it is structured.  One thought is hooked to the next thought is hooked to the next thought as surely as one line of a computer program is connected to the next line.  In humans though we call it "flow of consciousness".  In computers we call it programming.

The evidence as I see it suggests that reincarnation is a requirement. Human awareness was at one time photon awareness.  We are "old" photons.  As new photons are injected into the universe human awareness is forced to expand into new forms of life and awareness,  in this case into new human bodies.

A million years from now we will still be reincarnating into new physical bodies.  There is no escape from the "wheel of life and death", nor should there be. Our personal heavens and hells will be experienced here physically.  It's time we faced up to our obligations to live responsibly and make the world a decent place to live!

As far as I know the idea of life forms and the earth itself being a huge "resonant" circuit is a fairly new one that is very obvious when you think about it. Auras and astral bodies have long been associated with the magnetic field around the body.  Magnetic fields are by definition "inductive" and the physical body is obviously capacitive in nature both storing and discharging energy as well as generating it.

The "tank" current within "resonant" circuit is almost unlimited and easily fulfills the definition of "life force".  In addition a "resonant" circuit attempts to maintain itself.  It "tries" to stay "alive".  This is a perfect explanation that transfers itself easily to human life and all life once we rid ourselves of the notion that "human" life is somehow more special than other forms of life.

When we consider the earth as a huge "resonant" circuit our image of the "ASTRAL PLANES" is radically altered.  For one thing a tremendous "tank" current is flowing at all times through the astral planes that is compelling specific physical events.  Human life and human events are of almost no importance when seen from the earth's "long" view.

When we consider that there are 118 astral layers, one for each element it is easy to get confused and to prefer some "occult" tradition that says there is seven or eight or nine...ect.  Others have suggested that there is an astral layer for every element but I have never seen a listing as in chapter eight where you can look at the characteristics of an element and try to determine what that element's astral energy would be like.

It is apparent that the Kabalistic Sephiroth correspond to the seven noble gases,  hydrogen,  magnetic vortex energy,  and the photon or light itself.  The twenty-two paths of the Kabala correspond to the incomplete electron shells of the other elements.  The Sephiroth are said to reflect objective experiences and the paths to reflect subjective experiences.

Mapping the astral planes in this way exposes new information about them. It becomes obvious that the earth's astral planes would be totally empty if they could be.  All that can become physical does.  The Earth's "tank" current is constantly trying to flush and purify itself.  A tremendous current goes upward and outward repelling from the north magnetic pole.  This current can't escape the earth's astral or magnetic mantle and curves back toward the equator at all points. Passing the equator the current continues toward the south magnetic pole getting stronger and more focused.

At the south magnetic pole it merges as unity and enters physical reality,  activating and impelling physical events.  Everything that remains in the astral planes is under stress that is preventing it from becoming a physical event.

The entire astral plane is a giant battle ground where competing forces struggle to outlast each other.  When the struggle is resolved the astral energies "lock" the new event into the "fixed" Akashic" records and return to their respective physical bodies.

In "rising on the planes"  it is seen that one's awareness must astrally "transform"  itself from one type of elemental awareness to another.  The noble gases or veils act as barriers that are difficult to cross unless one has enough energy.

The normal location for the astral body in dreams should be at the lowest levels of the astral where less energy is lost and more is retained for personal empowerment.  Children naturally function in dreams at these lower levels as do advanced occultists and those "at peace with the world".

The rest of us climb higher and higher up the astral planes desperately trying to prevent something from happening to us or trying to get something that we want.  While we are doing this we are wasting tremendous amounts of personal energy trying to "push" back the earth's "tank" current.  This often results in physical inactivity and depression.  We live in our heads in a fantasy world that has little to do with real life.  We don't have the energy to do any more.

A common belief about the astral planes is that it is inhabited by other beings.  This goes directly against the "resonant" circuit theory which requires both a physical body and an astral body for self-awareness.  It is possible that as long as a physical body exists some type of awareness will anchor itself to it.  This implies that we may not be able to reincarnate into new bodies until our old ones are destroyed or mostly destroyed.  In this manner perhaps the dead do inhabit parts of the astral  as long as their physical bodies remain intact.

Somehow people don't want to believe that fairies and trolls and nature spirits are personality fragments of real people.  In three years of lucid dreaming with an average of three dreams per night I have never experienced this type of phenomenon.

Instead I propose a very simple truth about the life forms that we encounter on the astral planes.  Distorted belief systems give distorted astral images.  Any astral image that is distorted reflects our own thoughts about that particular energy or person.

My dreams are almost always very life like with non-distorted images. They  reflect encounters with real life people, animals, plants, and objects.

Two notable exceptions are occasional dreams of "intelligent" reptile people and spider life forms.  To me these suggest that UFOs may truly physically exist and be active in some human affairs.  I might also note that these "alien" life forms have affected me in a sinister way.  I can not believe that these life forms have our best interests in mind.

As long as I am confessing I might add that I have two friends that are trees!  Still I never had dreams about them and I only talk to them once in a while when walking through the woods.  They do have physical bodies and seem more intelligent than some people that I know.

Spiritual growth is a mechanical process that requires only effort and works in spite of our self-destructive efforts.

You produce and produce this energy and pump it into the astral until it finally returns to you.  The astral is a finite place and your energy build up will be cumulative.  If one astral level is full your energy will transmute itself to a type of energy and level that isn't full.  If the earth's astral level is full it will back the energy up inside yourself and develop the appropriate astral body.  Because of the nature of magnetic flux lines and astral material in general,  once something is created like an astral body it will tend to make itself permanently activated.  It will resist efforts to destroy it or alter it.  

If someone tries draining your energy away you just pump more and more into them until they are sated and can't take any more.  Then you continue pumping energy into the astral.

There is a cosmic law that requires half of your energy to go to others before you can use the other half.  Any astral creations that you may build require society's energy to activate them.  Where does that energy come from?  It comes from what others have drained from you!  You just paid in advance.  When its time to cash in the chips you are entitled to that energy because you generated it.

In this respect this is white magic.  You do not take energy from others or use them in any way.  The only conflicts arise when others try to stop you, and they will try to stop you.  As you begin you are an innocent energy source to be exploited.  As you gain control over the energy that you are generating and begin to use it constructively it won't be available to others.

They will struggle to keep "your" energy for themselves because they can't or won't generate their own energy.  They have a limited source of energy to fight with and you have an unlimited source because you generate your own.  

These "black" magicians don't stand a chance against you.  But you will have to regain your energy back from them at some point.  It might be mentioned that the astral circuits share properties similar to hydraulics as well as electronics.  This is because there is only a finite amount of space available and every piece of it is already spoken for.  

Your efforts will crowd out the energies of other people.  It will do this in two ways.  First it may impel the other person's astral creations into physical reality whether they want it to happen or not.  The second is that your energy will destroy the other person's astral creation regardless of if it is positive or negative.

Nature doesn't recognize right or wrong.  It only recognizes energy and reacts to it.  Your efforts will help some people and harm others in the sense that it will force their energy into a resolution to make room for your own.

The only way that you can be psychically "attacked" is through your own weak spots and fears.  The process of generating this energy automatically brings the "dark" side of your personality into conscious awareness where you can recognize it as a part of yourself and control it.  This leaves no weak spots that can be "attacked".

The only way to describe this process is as a type of advanced "therapy" that safely and effectively purges emotional pain and trauma from your subconscious.  See chapter five.

Energy appears to flow through astral creations via magnetic flux lines or "astral cords".  These lines or cords connect astral objects and entities much as wire connects the parts of an electric circuit.  At times these connections can be reversed and the energy flow backwards.  An example of this is in a dream where you are driving down the road and suddenly the car is pulled backward or off the road or the breaks don't work and the movement is beyond your control.  In this type of dreams the energy is flowing and overpowers your own.

Astral objects and entities represent complex and very specific amounts of inductance within the resonant circuit formed.  They can be replaced easily by an equal type of inductance,  but the amount of inductance within the circuit tries to maintain itself at all times.

This gives the effect of having several small dreams that build up a certain type of inductance.  They are all part of the same circuit.  A time comes when all the little ones can be replaced by a big one and you have a deep and intense dream at the time of the switch.  This could reflect a big change coming into or going out of your life depending on the dynamics involved.

#life #blog #thoughts #self improvement #spirituality

[jorgerbastos]

Porto (sometimes in English Oporto, but we really dislike it so PORTO it is) is our hometown, we lived, studied and worked in Porto most of our lives! 20 years ago Porto was dying, now the city is full of people and alive like never before. Porto is trending! It has been awarded the best European destination for the third time (2012, 2014 and 2017) and it’s a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage since 1996. As locals we are inspired by the revolution that is happening  in the city and want to share it with you!  What better way of inspiring someone to travel than showing them the attractions, the culture, the food…? And who better than the locals to do the job? This is a tour made by locals to foreign travelers. We want to inspire you to visit Porto!

Porto’s downtown is quite small and everything is very close to each other. We are proposing a walking tour with 11 stops and only roughly 5 km! We will start in one of Porto’s main train station, where most of us arrive and leave the city!

Estação de São Bento (S. Bento Station)

S. Bento is the perfect place to start the tour because it’s both the central and easy to access and a city attraction. In S. Bento you will find an excellent example of “azulejos“. A very traditional Portuguese art of blue painted titles which constitute a major aspect of Portuguese architecture as they are applied on walls, floors and even ceilings. In S. Bento there are 20 000 “azulejos” illustrating the transport evolution and events of Portuguese history and life.

  Rua Santa Catarina (Santa Catarina street) with a stop in the Majestic

From São Bento we go to Santa Catarina Street, which is a major shopping street in Porto. This is where we have a typical Portuguese morning coffee. An espresso! Portuguese love their coffee, but only espressos! If you want to go full Portuguese have an espresso and a custard tart! In the Majestic you will have it in style, but in our experience neither the coffee or the tart are the best of Porto. However, this is most beautiful coffee shop in Porto, and sometimes referred as one of the most beautiful in the world!

Mercado do Bolhão (Bolhão Market)

After the typical Portuguese coffee we are ready to walk up the remaining of Santa Catarina street and turn left into Bolhão Market. This is the most symbolic market of Porto. The market has two floors and it’s a neoclassic building. However, the most interesting thing about it is walking around and check everything that is sold in it, both in the inside and outside. One “funny” thing about the market is that since the 90’s have been discussions and projects to renew it but until now it hasn’t still been done. Note: apparently Bolhão is again close to renewal so we can’t get inside…

Aliados

Aliados is the main avenue of the city of Porto. In the main square the buildings around it make a beautiful skyline with domes and pinnacles  with the city hall as the central feature of the square. It is marked by a large central square completely paved with granite cobblestones. This is where people from the city gather to celebrate, manifest or riot. It’s the true city center.

Livraria Lello (Lello Bookstore)

After Walking through Aliados we head to one of the most interesting attractions of Porto’s downtown: a Lello bookstore, nowadays also known as the Harry Potter bookstore. This is the bookstore that inspired J. K. Rowling and you can easily recognize it from the movies. Lello bookstore was built in 1906 and it’s a sumptuous and magical building. It is considered an Art Nouveau gem and a must visit in Porto to any traveler, but especially to Harry Potter fans.

Torre dos Clérigos (Clérigos Tower)

Very close to Lello Bookstore it’s the Clérigos Tower. Built in the XVIII century the Clérigos Tower is a major baroque building. Curiously it was supposed to be two towers, but the second was never built. The tower is 76 meters high and it is possible to climb 240 stairs almost to the top. From the top you can see the amazing  panoramic view of Porto’s landscape. This is obviously one of the most striking attractions of Porto. Opposite the tower is Cordoaria Gardens and an imposing Neoclassical and Pombaline building which used to be a prison. The gardens are a great place to rest a bit after climbing and descending all those stairs.

Rua das Flores (Flores street)

Flores Street is a great example of what tourism can do! It was a dead street 10 years ago, and now it’s full of stores, coffee shops and restaurants. It’s very touristy but it’s also loved by locals. Flores street is always full of people and became one of the most lively places in the city. We are going down the street into the Stock Exchange Palace. This is obviously a good place to have lunch.

Palácio da Bolsa (Stock Exchange Palace)

Built in the Stock Exchange Palace of Porto is a cultural and conference center in the heart of the city center. It is ideal for concerts, fashion shows, commercial exhibitions, auctions and various other kinds of events. It is even possible to privately rent these rooms to private ceremonies. Here we have to highlight the fascinating Arabian Room. It was inspired by Alhambra Palace in Spain and has an unbelievable detail and beauty.

Igreja de São Francisco (S. Francisco Church)

Right next to the Stock exchange Palace is S. Francisco Church. It was built in the XIV century in a Gothic style but the inside of the church is one of the most important works of the Baroque, by its gilded interior from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This decorative richness is the most notable feature, covering the roofs of the aisles, pillars, window frames and chapels.

Ribeira

After these stunning buildings we head down to Ribeira, aka the riverside of the Douro River. From here you can see Gaia and the caves on the other side of the river and the D. Luis I Bridge (and the other Douro Bridges) connecting the cities. It’s quite a wonderful view so we urge you to sit down, rest and have a nice cold drink. If you are into more culture and history you can visit the “Casa do Infante”.

We are now very close to the end of the tour and we will have to climb some stairs and head to D. Luis I Bridge upper deck.

Ponte D. Luis I (D. Luis I Bridge)

D. Luis I Bridge was inaugurated in 1886 and it is composed by two overlapping iron deck. The bridge is 395 meters long and 8 meters wide, and its arch is still considered to be the world’s biggest one in forged iron. It was designed by Teófilo Seyrig, a disciple of Eiffel and we can really see the similarity in style with the Eiffel Tower. From the upper deck of the bridge we have an amazing view to both cities (Porto and Gaia) and the Douro river!

Therefore we finish this tour with probably the best lookout in Porto!

    If you have time and energy you can easily add a few more Porto downtown destinations to this script:

Se (Cathedral of Porto) – From D. Luis I Bridge to the Cathedral is just 200 meters, so you can add it easily. It is one of the city’s oldest monuments (construction began in 1110) and one of the most important monuments. It’s also architecturally heterogeneous, featuring a Baroque porch and a beautiful Romanesque rose window under a crenellated arch, giving the impression of a fortified church.

Carmo Church – considered to be one of the most remarkable rococo buildings of Porto and with beautiful tiles (Azulejos) on the lateral;

Church of Santo Ildefonso – a XVIII century church with façade is decorated with Portuguese tiles;

Casa do Infante – It was the birthplace of Infante D. Henrique, the Navigator and a Museum about Prince Henry the Navigator and the New Worlds. It’s in Ribeira, so it’s very easy to go there while on this tour.

  In a hindsight, Porto is rightfully trending and totally worth a visit, don’t you agree? Have you been to Porto?

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Downtown Porto as a local – Come to Portugal Porto (sometimes in English Oporto, but we really dislike it so PORTO it is) is our hometown, we lived, studied and worked in Porto most of our lives! 

#city guides #porto #portugal guide #Travel to portugal #visit porto #visit portugal