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Can't stop laughing at the stupid wooper is angry picture
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Hi! We're introducing Important Blue Internet Checkmarks here on Tumblr. They're a steal at $7.99—that's cheaper than some other places, when you consider that you get not one but TWO checkmarks for your blog on web only (for now). Why, you ask? Why not? Nothing matters! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Night on the Galactic Railroad, or the Apple, the Scorpion, and the Stars
From a series on Mawaru Penguindrum’s literary influences.
This place is cursed with spoilers.
Night on the Galactic Railroad (1927) is a novella by Kenji Miyazawa. It takes place in the fictional fairy tale country resembling Italy. There, on the night of the annual Centuarus Festival, two boys, Giovanni and Campanella, are whisked away on the titular Galactic Railroad to tour the heavens. While on this journey, they confront the nature of human connection, transience, and sacrifice. At the end of the story, Giovanni and Campanella part ways. Campanella was on the train because he drowned during the festival and was on his way to the afterlife, while Giovanni, still alive, was allowed on the journey with his friend.
Mawaru Penguindrum specifically seems to be influenced by the 1985 anime adaptation directed by Gisaburo Sugii. It’s a faithful adaptation, but it plays up the story’s somber parts. The darkness at Penguindrum’s core seems borrowed from this version of the story rather than the original. Shouma and Kanba resemble Giovanni and Campanella as realized in this version.
Giovanni (right) and Campanella (left) on the Galactic Railroad.
Like Giovanni, Shouma is associated with the color blue and has a sensitive, demure personality. Like Campanella, Kanba is associated with red and is determined, distant, but ultimately devoted to his friends. Unlike NotGR, however, Shouma and Kanba depart together at the end. It seems to me as if Ikuhara has dwelt on the sadness of Giovanni and Campanella’s parting at the end of the original story and, in Penguindrum, created a version where they could be together in the end. Penguindrum also explicitly references Kenji Miyazawa in its first and last scenes. Near the beginning of the first episode, a pair of children are walking out side the Takakura’s home discussing what the apple means in NotGR. You can tell because they mention Campanella and someone named Kenji - the novella’s author Kenji Miyazawa. This exact conversation repeats in the final moments of the last episode, but this time the boys have Shouma and Kanba’s hair colors and the audience follows them as they keep walking into the stars.
THE SCORPION FIRE
Night on the Galactic Railroad also contains the explanation for that scorpion metaphor! A lot of people get stuck on this - Kanba is referred to as a scorpion several times throughout Penguindrum, and allusions are made to him burning up. This is actually direct reference to NotGR, where the story of the burning scorpion exists as a fable told to the main characters as they’re on the train. You can see it in this clip:
“"My father told me its story: A long time ago in a field there lived a scorpion that ate other bugs by using its tale to catch them. Then one day he found himself cornered by a weasel. Fearing for his life, he ran but could not escape it. Suddenly, he fell into a well and, unable to climb out, began to drown. He started to pray then, saying:
”‘Oh, God. How many lives have I stolen to survive? Yet when it came my turn to be eaten by the weasel, I selfishly ran away. And for what? What a waste my life has been! If only I’d let the weasel eat me, I could have helped him live another day. God, please hear my prayer. Even if my life has been meaningless, let my death be of help to others. Burn my body so that it may become a beacon, to light the way for others as they search for true happiness.’
“The scorpion’s prayer was answered, and his body became a beautiful crimson flame that shot up into the night sky. There he burns to this day. My father was telling the truth…”
From Night on the Galactic Railroad, translation by Julianne Neville.
The fable of the scorpion fire is about sacrifice. The scorpion, who lived his life as a foul predator, faces something more powerful than him - the inevitability of death - and regrets that, after a life of heedless consumption, he couldn’t die in a way that aided the proliferation of life. The gods hear his prayers and set him on fire, turning him into the red star Antares, heart of the constellation scorpio, whose light aids life.
From episode 12. Kanba offers his life to the Princess of the Crystal’s in exchange for Himari’s and, due to the purity of his sacrifice, it is acceptable. Unlike later on in the series, here Kanba is exhibiting the true nature of sacrifice.
This fable gives insight into Kanba’s motivations but not his actions. While the scorpion discovers his kinship with all life, Kanba is rushing headlong towards a sacrifice that nobody wants but him. Kanba views himself as a predator and wants his final, massive act of predation - the terrorist attack - to lead to some concrete good: extending Himari’s life. His role as a man of action rather than a man of reflection (Shouma) binds him to Sanetoshi’s will, which offers a convenient means of achieving his goal. But those outs don’t exist in the real world, and these justifications can’t be made ahead of time. Shouma knew this and Kanba should have known. Maybe that’s why it’s Shouma, the brother with a more intuitive understanding of sacrifice, who bursts into flames and not Kanba, who fades away. Kanba’s identification with the scorpion represents misguided, emotionally selfish sacrifice - egoism - while Shouma, Ringo, and Momoka’s association with the purer flame represents true, transcendent sacrifice.
From episode 24. Ringo casting the spell (“Let’s share the fruit of fate!”) and subjecting herself to the scorpion fire.
THE APPLE
There’s a scene late in the novella where Giovanni and Campanella encounter some people who died on the Titanic. The trio consists of two children and their governor, who allowed them all to die to make room for more people on the lifeboat. These people tell Giovanni and Campanella about the scorpion fire, and this is also where apples come into play. A lighthouse keeper, traveling down the train, gives them some apples, which they disperse amongst themselves. The film actually makes it so that the flocks of birds that they see flying outside the windows turn into the apples - something that wasn’t present in the original story. Apples as a metaphor for live sacrificing itself for the sustenance of more life seems to originate here, since that wasn’t tied to the apples in the original story.
Christianity, apples symbolize knowledge and defilement. NotGR however, reclaims that image. Here, they represent people understanding their limitations as individuals and accepting community - and the necessity of making sacrifices for humanity’s greater good - as a way to make up for their flaws. NotGR stresses over and over again that people value humanity or some abstract conception of “life” over themselves, and that this path leads to profound spiritual contentment. Penguindrum borrows this idea and the apple symbolism wholeheartedly, but emphasizes valuing one’s interpersonal relationships as a proxy for loving all life.
From episode 20. Himari reinterprets the biblical Fall of Man as a good thing because it allowed humanity to experience connection and joy, however transient, alongside pain.
One of the biggest mysteries left in Penguindrum to me is what Kanba sharing the apple with Shouma represents. I know what happened between Shouma/Himari and Kanba/Himari. Shouma brought the abandoned Himari into his family and Himari brought Kanba into the family after his father’s death. But what happened between Kanba and Shouma? How did Kanba have to save Shouma by sharing his fruit of fate? It’s left purely abstract - Shouma and Kanba were starving, Kanba shared his fruit, and both were saved by the gesture. Maybe Kanba helped Shouma by being assertive and dedicated in situations where he wasn’t naturally inclined towards that? Like Giovanni and Campanella, Kanba and Shouma have complementary existences. Giovanni couldn’t exist on his own without adopting some of Campanella’s traits, while Kanba and Shouma, although they acquiesce to each other a bit, ultimately reaffirm their paired existence. I opened this up to discussion with some people on twitter and Bryan Baxter suggested that the two boxes Kanba and Shouma are in during episodes 23 and 24 are their mothers’ wombs, and that by sharing the fruit of fate they became spiritual twins (they were born on the same day). Yoni Linder suggested that Kanba helped Shouma survive the KIGA group’s brainwashing when they were children. It is odd that Shouma, the Takakura actually born into the cult, is the one least susceptible to it.
The idea that there’s something beyond what we consider life is central to NotGR, which uses Christian imagery and often seems overtly Christian in its themes. Kenji Miyazawa was a devout practitioner of Nichiren Buddhism, but like many Japanese people his life was saturated with Christian imagery and scraps of biblical scripture. Christianity exists and is portrayed positively in NotGR, but neither Giovanni nor Campanella seem to be practitioners. When Giovanni and the children get into an argument over whose god is “real,” the tutor reconciles them by raising the possibility that their gods are one and the same and reminding them that the point of religion is true faith in what you believe. NotGR is thus a neutral but positive synthesis of Christian and Buddhist images towards a more generically humanist message.
“"And who says he’s the real God? I’ll be he’s a fake!”
“How would you know? Maybe the God you believe in is the fake.”
“No! He’s the real one!”
“Then tell me, what kind of God is your God?” asked the young man with a gentle smile.
“Well… to be honest, I’m not quite sure… but I do know he is the one true God,” Giovanni replied.
“Of course he is. There’s only one true God."
"And my God is that one!”
“I agree. I can only pray that the two of you are seeing us off before that true God now,” the young man said, clasping his hands together. Kaoru also clasped her hands together.
Everyone was sad to be parting, and Giovanni was about to burst into tears.“
From Night on the Galactic Railroad, translation by Julianne Neville.
Over time, it becomes clearer and clearer that one of the railroad’s purposes is to deliver people to the afterlife, two of which are represented by giant glowing crosses. "Dying for love” thus means something more concrete in NotGR than it does in Penguindrum. There’s an actual reward for doing it - entrance into heaven. The same isn’t true in Penguindrum, where the existence of an afterlife is much more abstract. Sanetoshi and Momoka were humans with some supernatural powers who died and became ghosts, but that form of afterlife seems much more a curse than a reward. In the last episode, Momoka vanishes from this world for good through some sort of opening, but exactly where she goes is unknown. Penguindrum’s final shot is of Shouma and Kanba, having died for love, walking into the stars. While characters do allude to god, the show as a whole seems nonreligious, more concerned with taking the aspects of stories it deems meaningful and applying them towards a new, secular humanist message. Here, god is synonymous with fate, chance, or destiny - the circumstances outside human control that one is subjected to and dictate life. So what is Kenji saying? I think he’s saying that humanity’s survival up to this point has been due to our ability to love each other, to willingly sacrifice for the greater good, and that this is the foundation for human existence. That's where everything really begins.
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I’m screaming why does Mamma Mia fit every fight scene so perfectly ajkaslajjddhhajadkjfh
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fucking reposters can’t read or can’t give a shit
they stole the image from my Twitter, uploaded last week
asks and messaging are turned off, so i filed a dmca takedown request, so we’ll see how that goes but URGH
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⭐ PRE-ORDERS OPEN UNTIL 10th MARCH ⭐
Hi everyone! 鉄血の絆 - An IBO zine is an illustrated collaborative charity fanbook featuring characters from SUNRISE’s ‘Kidou Senshi Gundam: Tekketsu no Orphans’. Named and themed for the show’s 2nd ED, the 23 illustrations celebrate the bonds formed in the series - from friendship, to family and everything in-between. You can track the tag “IBO Zine” to see more previews!
Specs: 32 pages | 20 artists | saddle stitch | A5
✨ Featured Artists ✨
Roll - Koi Carreon - LAUREN - Andy - Myst-A - Meg S - Aimee R - Moo - Joy - KIU - Yun - Kitt - Kami - Hon - Stephanie Escalona Morales - MINAIka - Orio - Deads - Xed - Aeriim - ByronB
Tier 1: PDF copy
Tier 2: Book only
Tier 3: Book + sticker pack designed in collaboration with Mao + exclusive postcard (not featured in the zine)
Tier 4: Tier 3 + 1 exclusive A5 watercolor commission of any IBO character of your choosing!
The production of this book is being funded out of pocket. All sales from the initial pre-order run (once buyer shipping/transaction fees are accounted for) will be donated to Child Soldiers International.
A donation receipt will be posted publicly on my blog upon completion of shipping. Feel free to message me if you have any other questions not answered on the store. Orders will be shipped late March/early April. Thank you so much for your support! 🌟
#fanbook#gundam tekketsu#iron-blooded orphans#illustration#signal boost#please support this was made with blood and tears
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I’ll be taking part in this beautiful space-themed Yuri!!! On Ice anthology with a group of amazing artists and writers! Please check it out 🌟
🌠🚀✨ STAR ATLAS ANNOUNCEMENT: CONTRIBUTOR INTRODUCTIONS 🌠🚀✨
Greetings, cosmonauts! As we journey closer to our destination, we’re happy to introduce to you another batch of our marvelous crew. Please welcome:
🌠 Roll
Constellations
rollround • rollround
space is just a reminder of how small we are in the universe.
🌠 Mimi
Asterisms
haedraulics • haedraulics
my favorite thing about space is how incomprehensibly tremendous it is, and how it inspires our human desire to discover! it’s one of the rare things that can unite people, whether in wonder, awe, or fear (which, when it comes to astrophysics, nearly always go in tandem haha) .
🌠 Kyle
Asterisms
insecticidesoap
When I cant sleep at night I just chill on my back and stare out my window at the stars. Right now I have a really clear view of Orion so I’ve been spending some time with that dude. Aliens are also the best thing ever.
🌠 Angel
Constellations
okw_tr • plstskys • harlequindreaming
I love the everythingness of space, how there’s so much universe out there, and how tiny you really are against the whole cosmos. Also, galaxies are pretty.
We very much appreciate your attention! Please continue to watch over us as we tread closer to our destination. See you in the next transmission 💫
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Please take a look! I’m in this enormous Ghibli fanbook tribute along with a ton of amazing artists!
✨ Preorders now open for SPIRIT: A Studio Ghibli Art Book! ✨
Spirit is an unofficial charity fanzine, dedicated to the many stunning and unique films created by Studio Ghibli! With over 70 pages, our bundles will also include a variety of merch. Preorders will close March 10th!
Info: artist list | 6 x 9 | 70+ pages | perfect bound | charities | stretch goals
We’re also hosting a giveaway: Reblog or retweet for a chance to win a physical or digital copy of the zine, or to have your entire order refunded!
PREORDER NOW! reblogs appreciated 💕!
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Preorders for DEVILSTEW are now open!
A collaborative fanzine dedicated to the world and characters of Q Hayashida’s Dorohedoro. Physical copy preorders end on the 2nd of March before digital copy sales begin.
Zine specifications: A5-sized booklet, 40+ pages (36+ illustrations and 1 written piece), 128gsm interior pages, perfect bound.
Preorder here: Dorohedorozine.bigcartel.com
+++Collaborators+++
ARST ♦️ Ash (artist) ♦️ Ash (writer) ♦️ audi ♦️ aurelia ♦️ bok ♦️ Bree Sullivan ♦️ Ellen Mei ♦️ Geisterbahn ♦️ Issa ♦️ Jackie Lee ♦️ Jan Rhee ♦️ Jay ♦️ Jothelion ♦️ Kaitlin Edlund ♦️ Lachlan Herrick ♦️ mmebu ♦️ motion ♦️ Nahon ♦️ Nata ♦️ Nico ♦️ niico ♦️ QTT ♦️ Reem Al marri ♦️ Rem ♦️ Rin ♦️ roll ♦️ shuuzaar ♦️ tokimekiwaku ♦️ Vanda Kovács ♦️ V-Raider ♦️ Witnesstheabsurd ♦️ wscale ♦️ Xzoni ♦️ yokaiy ♦️ Zellk
Although profits go into compensating the collaborators with their own bundles first and foremost (as well as making sure buyers receive their purchases), we’re hoping to have enough leftover profit to donate to a researched charity that people can vote on. Read more about that and vote on your charity of choice here!
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Wandered into an article with 140 iconic cinematic shots, the comments complained there was no explanation to their composition. Decided to give it a run down and keep it to myself.
The compositions are mostly self explanatory but I wanted to see what patterns I could find. That’s just how you learn stuffs.
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Right now, I’m sifting through 50+ applications for a new entry-level position. Here’s some advice from the person who will actually be looking at your CV/resume and cover letter:
‘You must include a cover letter’ does not mean ‘write a single line about why you want this position’. If you can’t be bothered to write at least one actual paragraphs about why you want this job, I can’t be bothered to read your CV.
Don’t bother including a list of your interests if all you can think of is ‘socialising with friends’ and ‘listening to music’. Everyone likes those things. Unless you can explain why the stuff you do enriches you as a person and a candidate (e.g. playing an instrument or a sport shows dedication and discipline) then I honestly don’t care how you spend your time. I won’t be looking at your CV thinking ‘huh, they haven’t included their interests, they must have none’, I’m just looking for what you have included.
Even if you apply online, I can see the filename you used for your CV. Filenames that don’t include YOUR name are annoying. Filenames like ‘CV - media’ tell me that you’ve got several CVs you send off depending on the kind of job advertised and that you probably didn’t tailor it for this position. ‘[Full name] CV’ is best.
USE. A. PDF. All the meta information, including how long you worked on it, when you created it, times, etc, is right there in a Word doc. PDFs are far more professional looking and clean and mean that I can’t make any (unconscious or not) decisions about you based on information about the file.
I don’t care what the duties in your previous unrelated jobs were unless you can tell me why they’re useful to this job. If you worked in a shop, and you’re applying for an office job which involves talking to lots of people, don’t give me a list of stuff you did, write a sentence about how much you enjoyed working in a team to help everyone you interacted with and did your best to make them leave the shop with a smile. I want to know what makes you happy in a job, because I want you to be happy within the job I’m advertising.
Does the application pack say who you’ll be reporting to? Can you find their name on the company website? Address your application to them. It’s super easy and shows that you give enough of a shit to google something. 95% of people don’t do this.
Tell me who you are. Tell me what makes you want to get up in the morning and go to work and feel fulfilled. Tell me what you’re looking for, not just what you think I’m looking for.
I will skim your CV. If you have a bunch of bullet points, make every one of them count. Make the first one the best one. If it’s not interesting to you, it’s probably not interesting to me. I’m overworked and tired. Make my job easy.
“I work well in a team or individually” okay cool, you and everyone else. If the job means you’ll be part of a big team, talk about how much you love teamwork and how collaborating with people is the best way to solve problems. If the job requires lots of independence, talk about how you are great at taking direction and running with it, and how you have the confidence to follow your own ideas and seek out the insight of others when necessary. I am profoundly uninterested in cookie-cutter statements. I want to know how you actually work, not how a teacher once told you you should work.
For an entry-level role, tell me how you’re looking forward to growing and developing and learning as much as you can. I will hire genuine enthusiasm and drive over cherry-picked skills any day. You can teach someone to use Excel, but you can’t teach someone to give a shit. It makes a real difference.
This is my advice for small, independent orgs like charities, etc. We usually don’t go through agencies, and the person reading through the applications is usually the person who will manage you, so it helps if you can give them a real sense of who you are and how you’ll grab hold of that entry level position and give it all you’ve got. This stuff might not apply to big companies with actual HR departments - it’s up to you to figure out the culture and what they’re looking for and mirror it. Do they use buzzwords? Use the same buzzwords! Do they write in a friendly, informal way? Do the same! And remember, 95% of job hunting (beyond who you know and flat-out nepotism, ugh) is luck. If you keep getting rejected, it’s not because you suck. You might just need a different approach, or it might just take the right pair of eyes landing on your CV.
And if you get rejected, it’s worthwhile asking why. You’ve already been rejected, the worst has already happened, there’s really nothing bad that can come out of you asking them for some constructive feedback (politely, informally, “if it isn’t too much trouble”). Pretty much all of us have been hopeless jobseekers at one point or another. We know it’s shitty and hard and soul-crushing. Friendliness goes a long way. Even if it’s just one line like “your cover letter wasn’t inspiring" at least you know where to start.
And seriously, if you have any friends that do any kind of hiring or have any involvement with that side of things, ask them to look at your CV with a big red pen and brutal honesty. I do this all the time, and the most important thing I do is making it so their CV doesn’t read exactly like that of every other person who took the same ‘how-to-get-a-job’ class in school. If your CV has a paragraph that starts with something like ‘I am a highly motivated and punctual individual who–’ then oh my god I AM ALREADY ASLEEP.
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PSA
You feel like shit is a website set up to help you get out of that funk/improve things just enough to not feel horrible and miserable all the time. It’s amazing.
Whether you struggle with mental health problems all the time or whether this is a new/temporary state for you, this guide is an easy and judgement-free self-care tool.
PLEASE TRY IT OUT! Really! You just click through the questions to answer and follow simple instructions that in the end, ideally, will help you to feel more comfortable and stable on a daily basis.
Good luck! Have fun!
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George Leonnec
The Ride
“La Vie Parisienne” (1924)
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Can’t be sad about final fantasy if you never got on the boat to Altissia
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「Viviamo, Amiamo」
My Yuri!!! On Ice fanzine is now up for preorder!
Bundle includes bonus merch that only comes exclusive with the bundle preorder.
Preorders will ship May 2017
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