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3vocatio · 1 year

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peeped here out of curiosity (i know u have good takes and rb good/interesting takes + filtered words don’t work when viewing blogs and i’ve filtered every single om tag ever) and uknow what? while there’s aspects of the (supposedly) satan-focused i greatly enjoyed (mostly as writing inspo and just the enjoyment of the moment itself more than its part in the overall narrative tbh) i was endlessly frustrated by the fact that diavolo got the true highlight. i couldn’t place why the hell it made me so annoyed but you’re right—the real main character of the story was diavolo and it annoys the hell out of me that satan was painted as more of the bad guy. despite having the most screen time, satan felt like he was simply a means to an end, with the end being some way to show/remind the audience all of diavolo’s princely qualities that often get sidelines in favor of his usual behavior in events.

like. i greatly enjoyed seeing satan lose his shit to the point of terrifying crowds of demons. i liked seeing him lock himself away after to try and process everything by himself. the bits of vulnerability when mc finally manages to speak to him? love. (not that much of it is actually new info but i do enjoy that it’s there)

but the rest of everything else has me pulling at my hair. especially the ending… i wanted mc to ask for something that would be primarily to satan’s benefit after all the bullshit that happened. (and also satan thanking diavolo for giving mc his stars felt… idk. it felt like it encapsulated how a lot of the story key part felt; reminding us that diavolo’s the actual ‘hero’ here and not satan.)

ahdksjakdja so yknow. just some thoughts i wanted to send you. i didnt wanna log into my om blog even though i probably should for thoughts like this >.>;; once again a majority of my real fun came from rewriting everything, which i guess is something since almost all of the non-bday om content for the last several months hasn’t even gotten me inspired enough to bother rewriting anything.

/end yet another rant abt om content shdjssjs

hello...pretend i responded to this first /j

to validate what you mentioned, i also only enjoyed snippets of that event (though as we know, it's been like this for most obey me events for a long time); diavolo aside, witnessing satan compose himself with such sincerity and generousity felt like a blessing tbh. he knows his limits, he knows what upsets him and he should be listened to, even if he gets emotional about it. so what! most of us become emotional when defending something we hold close to our hearts, and satan was no different.

i've said this in the other ask you sent, but you came back right on time as the new lore-focused obm game has been announced! satan was one of their focal points that they mentioned, as well as lore surrounding the (pre & post) celestial realm, solomon, and the attic. it's gotten the entire fandom riled up including myself, and everything looks promising so far :)

i was wondering why the spacing between events in-game have been getting longer and longer, and i'm glad to know it's because they're putting importance on quality over quantity. they began making baby steps in the previous "single character-focused" events, but i'd like to mention that i am very satisfied with the release of simeon's new birthday event, especially when you compare it to the first one for symbolism reasons.

i won't go in-depth about it now unless someone asks me to share my thoughts, but it was the right amount of promising writing i needed to give me hope. for you specifically, satan didn't delve into any cat shenanegains and when he confronted lucifer & brought up a good point, he was acknowleged and listened to. everyone did such a good job...aaaa <3

#﹒❝ birdsong #tbh if you dont wanna use your obm account then by all means--dont!#personally speaking i've found it so relaxing going on account(s) that i feel safe in--it's similar to living a new era of your life #safe isnt really the right word--liberating is more like it #if you feel like taking a longer break than anticipated who's gonna stop u from continuing it #there'll still be people waiting for you..!#besides taking breaks from familiar yet larger public circles is good for ur health #anyways im gonna say it here instead of the main post but rewriting everything becomes fun until the media u rewrite #becomes redundant and repetitive #which is why discussing/criticising those with friends is a lot better #as i said before things are beginning to look a lot more promising so im crossing my fingers hoping that this is s/lmares redemption arc

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meaningofaeons · 11 months

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-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈ drunken confession

⊹ character(s) - kaveh ⊹ word count - 1.1k ⊹ notes - gn!reader, fluff, hurt/comfort (for kaveh lol), kaveh gets drunk and basically whines to reader, reader is a lil blunt/stoic at times and is implied to be some kind of artist/have some understanding of artistry and such (and is also implied to be fairly affluent), fic is implied to take place sometime after the hangout (like after the traveler visits him in the tavern but they don't go anywhere ofc)

this idea sprouted up while I was playing kaveh's hangout quest so I had to rush something out for the loml.... kaveh ilysm (^≗ω≗^) SORRY THE ENDING IS KINDA CLICHE TOO I am cringe but free

"These clients think they can just... boss me around! All because they have plenty of Mora to throw about! I'm the architectural expert here, they don't know the half of it!"

The man across from you shouted freely, waving around his latest glass of wine as he vented his woes. Normally, this would warrant a hushing and an apology to the nearby patrons... but if you were honest, this was his regular drinking spot, and all the usual tavern-goers already knew of Kaveh's habits.

You, meanwhile, nursed your own glass of the same, glancing over at your companion.

"I know, Kaveh. You've told me that about the last..." You counted on your fingers. "Three clients you've had."

"Just goes to show nobody understands art like we do in this city!" Kaveh slurred, downing the rest of his drink as he slumped onto the table, burying his head in his arms. You eyed him concernedly.

Isn't that his sixth one?

"I think you've had a bit too much to drink," you pointed out, sighing as he waved over the tavern owner, deaf to your words. "Again."

"Nonsense." Oh, so he did hear you. "You know that the only thing that can make me feel better after a belligerent client is drinking until I have to be carried home..."

"Yet you have the gall to lecture the Traveler on the health issues caused by drinking."

"I just warned them a bit!"

"Hm."

Kaveh peeked up at you through his fingers, red eyes boring into your own. The beginnings of a pout formed on his lips, and you had to look away before he tried his puppy-dog eyes on you.

"You're so cold, Y/N... not even a bit of consolation?" he whimpered, his befuddled mind trying to appeal to your pathos in a way his composed self would never dare try. He'd be apologizing over and over for his childish behavior come tomorrow, you surmised. "Can't you comfort me?"

"I would only sound redundant. You come to me about the same problem every time we drink, so it's only natural that my advice would become repetitive."

"You sound like Alhaitham." The grumble in his voice was far too obvious.

"At least I have an artist's mindset and don't stew in books all day long."

"Hardly matters when you talk just as calculatingly as an Akademiya scholar..."

You heave a sigh. Banter wasn't going to make Kaveh feel better—if it did, he'd get along with Alhaitham far better. You opted to wave Lambad over, requesting a glass of water and the bill. You were also quick to shut down Kaveh's attempts to request a seventh glass of alcohol, promising a hefty tip if the tavern owner didn't bend to his whim.

The architect once again shot you a pout, but you merely moved to his side, rubbing circles onto his back as soothingly as you could manage. His crimson eyes began to droop at your actions.

Lambad offered you the water, and you offered him a hefty pouch of Mora, which he gladly took as he bid you farewell. You pushed the cup to Kaveh's lips, and he shot you a look.

"I can drink it myself... I'm not a child."

"You were acting like you had to be coddled like one only moments earlier. Shall I leave you to stumble home by yourself?"

"No! No... You're so mean," he sighed, downing the glass. It seemed to help him regain his bearings, even if only slightly. "Remind me to send you the Mora for my half of the bill later..."

"More like your three quarters," you joked, nudging him as you helped him to a stand. "Don't worry about it. I'll cover tonight's bill."

"But—"

"For a man in debt, you sure do seem keen on losing money." When he glared at you, you chuckled. "Sorry. Low blow."

"Hmph."

"Come, now. How about we go take a seat on the Divine Tree, overlook the docks for a bit? I don't suppose you want to get back to a scolding from Alhaitham anytime soon."

"Yeah... sounds good."

That's how you ended up leading Kaveh to a small root (well, small in comparison to the rest of the Divine Tree), sitting beside him and placing an arm around his shoulder to keep him upright.

He pillowed his head on your shoulder without much reservation, another byproduct of his liquid confidence.

"Have you ever thought about taking a break? I don't think I've seen you look this tired in a long while, Kaveh."

"I would, but you know... Bills to pay, groceries to buy... Not a day goes by that I can live without Mora," he sighed.

"What if I treated you to a vacation in Fontaine? I have some work to complete there. You could relax for a week or two, take your mind off of everything."

"I appreciate the offer... but I'd feel like I'm shirking my responsibilities. Besides, I don't want to bump into my mom, and make her think I'm there to barge in on her new life."

You raised a brow, a bit surprised at his thinking. You had met Faranak in the distant past, and she was as much of a doting mother as Kaveh was a momma's boy.

At the same time, though, you knew the way Kaveh felt. It was easy to fall into the habit of assuming yourself a burden to everyone, no matter how far from the truth it was.

"She would never think that," you said at last.

"I know..."

The blonde man shifted uncomfortably on your shoulder, so you moved to pull him onto your lap instead, allowing him to rest snugly. He looked about ready to protest—not even alcohol could muddle his mind that much, so as to not be embarrassed by your forthcoming action—when he was immediately shut up by your fingers carding through his locks.

It felt nice, very nice, in fact. Kaveh could feel himself nearly drifting off, the contact serving as just the comfort he needed for his down mood.

"Well, if you're willing to wait a bit longer for your vacation, let's go to Mondstadt. It sounds better for an alcoholic like yourself anyways."

"Really? I'm not that bad."

At your unimpressed glare, he stared out at the docks, blushing.

"...I'll try to drink a little less. But if you're willing to have me, I guess Mondstadt does sound nice."

You hummed, pleased at his response, staring at the moon hanging low on the horizon. With a more upbeat smile than before, you nudged him gently, beginning to weave small braids into his hair.

"Look at that moon. A lovely night. Doesn't this kind of beauty just get your creative juices flowing?"

Unbeknownst to you, crimson eyes flicked up to your smiling face, a flush that wasn't quite from any alcohol making its way to Kaveh's pale cheeks.

"...Yeah. Very lovely, indeed."

#genshin #genshin impact #kaveh #kaveh genshin #kaveh x reader #genshin x reader #genshin impact x reader #kaveh my beloved

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popopretty · 7 months

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Recently I noticed that the English translation of new bsd chapters has gradually gotten faster and we have reached the point where the English translation is released at the same time with the Japanese raw. I’ve been writing chapter summaries every month for quite a few years and it has become like a habit, but I have started to wonder if it is still necessary these days. So I want to listen to everyone’s opinion. I don’t want to do redundant or repetitive work but if there is still an use for those summaries I will continue to write them :3 Thank you 🥹

#poll #bsd

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phykios · 4 months

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Review: "We Visit the Garden Gnome Emporium"; "I Plunge to my Death"; "A God Buys Us Cheeseburgers"

Hey y'all! I'm back. It took a while to write this review, and not just because I had a busy holiday season. The more I tried to consider episodes 3 and 4, the more I realized that a lot of my critiques of them were things I had already touched on in the last two–poor exposition, bad lighting, rushed plot, etc–and so it felt a little redundant to say the same thing all over again. Luckily (or unluckily, depending on how annoying you find me), episode 5 was such a cut above over the rest of the season, I finally have new things to say! With that in mind, the format of this review will be a little different, as I will compare the episodes side by side, rather than consider each one individually.

For a brief, brief recap, the three episodes follow fairly similar plot beats: the trio travels a little, meets a mythological being that tries to mess with their heads, then they all try to sacrifice themselves for the good of the quest before figuring out an alternate way to win. This isn’t a criticism, by the way–the book chapters have similar formats, and repetitive framing is a great way of demonstrating character growth. And of course, there’s no better way to spruce up a travel montage with a little lore dump.

What makes for effective exposition? It’s a delicate balancing act between making sure that the information you need to get across gets to the viewer, but not letting them know that you’ve done it. “Show, don’t tell” is the most common expository technique, and for good reason–information is better retained and more effective when it’s not delivered to you like someone reading off cue cards. And it’s most effective when it’s withheld until just the right moment. PJO TV is not… great at this. It’s mostly little things, one-off little lines, like Luke saying “I’m the best swordsman” or “Annabeth is the smartest,” but there are some more egregious examples, mostly with Chiron explaining the world to Percy. This, I get, and it’s not like Riordan did it that much more elegantly in the books. But I’m more annoyed about Luke info-dumping than anybody else.

I was re-reading The Lightning Thief for several reasons, and one of the things about Luke is that he keeps things very close to the chest. It’s partly to conceal his villainy, but it also makes sense from a psychological standpoint, hiding his emotions not only to keep everyone from finding out the truth about him, but also to recruit kids for the upcoming war. Luke only opens up about what happened to him and Thalia once: at the very end of the book, just before he tries to kill Percy. It’s a powerful moment–the specter of Thalia haunts Percy throughout the book, the ideal of a hero he’s afraid he’ll never be able to measure up to, and we find out that she’s been haunting Luke as well, but for very different reasons. (She haunts the TV show as well, which I like very much–I just hope it pays off!) We are shown hints of his darker side earlier, but withholding the heel turn until now, and pairing it with the first time we see him actually talk about himself, is part of what makes this scene so good and so heinous at the same time. The first time we get glimpses of Luke’s true self, his motivations and what drives him, is the same moment where he crosses the line. And in the meantime, TV!Luke just lets it all hang out.

Consider:

Before camp, I was on the road. Me and a forbidden kid I met along the way. Her name was Thalia… A long time ago, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades agreed their children were becoming too powerful, so they made a pact not to father any more. And it held for a long time, until Zeus broke that pact. Until Thalia. A forbidden kid attracts trouble. Monsters everywhere, it's just a constant battle to stay alive. One day, we, uh, find this little girl hiding in an alley. Annabeth. We were worried about taking her in, exposing her to all that danger. Then we saw her fight. Thalia didn't make it. But Annabeth and me... we did. And we've been family ever since… Annabeth is the strongest warrior in camp. The only way left to prove herself is to go on a quest. [S1E2, “I Become Supreme Lord of the Bathroom”]

Why is he saying all this? Is it for Percy’s benefit, or the audience’s? What does this reveal about Luke’s character? What about this monologue reveals what Luke actually thinks about the pact, or Thalia’s death, or even Annabeth? We’re told he sees her like family, but what does he do to show us?

For contrast, here’s Ares’ lore dump a few episodes later:

You're new to the family, young one, so let me fill you in on how we work. See, years before I was born, my grandpa Kronos ate my aunts and uncles. Yeah. Then my dad made him puke them back up, then chopped him into a million pieces and chucked 'em into a bottomless pit, so that kinda set the tone right outta the gate. Olympians fight. We betray. We backstab. We will push anyone down a flight of stairs to get ahead. And that's why I love my family so much. My dad knows he's not getting this bolt back with quests or goose chases. He knows there's a war coming. And in reality, I think he's okay with that. I think he feels it's just time for a war, so we're gonna have a war. Isn't that great? [S1E5, “A God Buys Us Cheeseburgers”]

What does this reveal about Ares’ character? That he loves violence, and that the threat of war is exciting. That he doesn’t exactly hold his family in high regard. That this is something that is central to who the gods are. All of this is supported by Adam Copeland’s performance, which is flippant, funny, and immature. The details work in concert to show us who Ares is and what he wants, all without ever having him say it out loud.

For all of its clumsiness, though, I actually really like Grover’s little monologue about the nature of questing as we follow the kids into New York City in episode 3. It has a very Fellowship of the Ring vibe (which I’m pretty sure is deliberate) which fits on a meta-level too, with Percy Jackson in conversation with epic stories of the past.

But you know what wasn’t in conversation with the past? The shortest Medusa battle ever recorded.

I’m being a little hyperbolic for comedy’s sake, but genuinely I hated the Medusa fight. Not the Medusa backstory–sidestepping the sexual assault in a middle-grade book was the correct choice, and it’s not like a post-#MeToo Medusa is a shocking or novel idea–but not only should the fight have been at least twice as long, it was missing a full fourth of the mythological ingredients. The mythical Perseus has four gifts: the sword, the mirror shield, the helm of invisibility, and the winged sandals. The book reinterprets the shield as a glass ball. And the show doesn’t use it at all. Is this a nitpicky critique? Maybe. But some of Percy Jackson’s strongest moments are the reinterpretation of mythological scenes, and for those to work, you should incorporate the key details.

Also, again, cannot stress this enough, it was way too short. At least the Echidna fight scene had some blocking involved. And acting.

Speaking of acting, I will say that it’s very consistently well done. I think the kids are more than holding their own against the adults, and they walk the line between playing maturity and still being young very well, which is a very difficult thing to do. In fact, rarely is the acting ever a problem. Because, once again, it’s the writing that makes it fall short.

Let’s do another comparison: Percy sending off Medusa’s head and Percy and Annabeth with Hephaestus’ chair. One is from the books, and one is new. Both are given the appropriate amount of weight in the episode’s runtime. Both are well-acted, well-blocked, well-scored. But the new scene feels out of place to me. Part of the problem is that, being a scene lifted from the books, Percy sending off Medusa’s head feels earned and supported by the material of the last few episodes. He’s pissed at his dad for ignoring him, and pissed that the gods are forcing him to do all this nonsense for reasons he only barely understands. Of course he’s going to foist a magical WMD on them.

But the chair scene doesn’t have that prior support. Consider:

Eat or be eaten. Power and glory and nothing else matters. Ares is that way, Zeus is that way, my mother is that way. He isn't that way. He's better than that. Maybe I was that way once. But I don't wanna be that way anymore. I won't be like all of you. I just won't. [S1E5, “A God Buys Us Cheeseburgers”]

In a vacuum, this would be a great scene. Walker’s fear is palpable and real, and Leah delivers a heartfelt performance in anguish at her friend’s supposed fate. That’s all well and good, except that these characters have known each other for… what, three days? A week? And for all her talk of glory, Annabeth dispensed with that idea pretty much right out the gate, as she killed a Fury rather than hand Percy over to Alecto. She tries to sacrifice herself for the quest all the time. What power and glory is she seeking?

This is an excellent scene that unfortunately doesn’t belong in this season. This scene, as my dear @frenchswissborder pointed out, does not belong after the Thrill Ride of Love (before the Zoo Truck scene as well!) but instead feels like it should be in the Battle of the Labyrinth’s Mt. St Helen confession scene. Putting it there at least would build on three years of friendship, rather than a handful of days of not annoying each other.

I don’t mind new scenes. I want new scenes. If I wanted a one-to-one adaptation, I’d just read the books again. But the new scenes have to matter. They have to bring something new to the table. Let me put it this way: when The Lightning Thief musical said, “Fuck it, Cerberus is a DJ,” it was both leaning into its own medium as musical theater and riffing on the idea of the underworld being under a recording studio. When PJO TV says, “Fuck it, exposition time,” it feels like they’re reading off Mythomagic card stats.

What makes an adaptation great, in my opinion, is how well it speaks to the subtext of the original work. The musical is excellent at this, in particular how it uses the conventions of musical theater to highlight the parallels between Percy and Luke by giving them variations on the same “I Want” song. Where PJO TV shines is how it speaks to the subtext of abusive adults. Abuse of children is sadly not always so obvious, and I like how the Mist lets Alecto, Echidna, and Ares act pretty much with impunity. They are predators, and they are able to move without fear of detection. This even applies to Medusa, too, having her pretend to offer Percy a way out, when she really is only interested in herself and her needs.

But, as the show tends to do, this only causes the story to kneecap itself by neutering Gabe as an abusive figure. I understand why it is this way, as book Sally, for all her kind and loving nature, wasn’t exactly written with a backbone. Part of this, I assume, is just that The Lightning Thief was published in 2005, and that a) the conversation around intimate partner abuse simply was not in the mainstream, and b) Riordan just got better at female characters over time. So the trade-off is that by making Sally a more formidable, dynamic character in the show, they had to dial down Gabe’s uglier, abusive nature–which is going to be really awkward in a few episodes when Sally kills him just for the crime of being annoying.

Stray thoughts:

Just taking a moment here to say that I think the set design has been really gorgeous so far. Shout out in particular to the attic in the Big House!

I’m only just noticing this now, but the trunk of Thalia’s pine tree looks like there’s a human in there–bent knee, arms outstretched, head bowed–and I think that’s awesome.

The idea of monsters sensing a demigod’s weakness and responding to that is so good, and I’m taking it.

Earlier versions of this review had a long and annoying rant about Medusa’s origins, so allow me to tl;dr: there is no original Medusa myth. Ovid’s Medusa myth in Metamorphoses comes about 800 years after Hesiod’s Theogony, which comes after Homer’s Iliad. It’s not a question of Ovid against Hesiod against Homer, it’s a question of these authors plus thousands of pieces of pottery depicting hundreds of variations on the Medusa myth, and we cannot definitively say which one is the source of the myth. That said, I don’t dislike a #MeToo Medusa, I just mostly hate the discourse around it.

It’s nice to see some architecture nerd Annabeth, but between the way the show glosses over it, and the lack of crippling arachnophobia, her character is being reduced too much to “prideful” for my tastes. It’s not that Annabeth isn’t prideful, obviously, it’s just that she has more dimension to her than the show is currently presenting.

Annabeth and Grover throwing water on Percy like a beached whale is very funny, but it did make me realize that they haven’t introduced nectar/ambrosia in the show. Maybe they’re saving it for the finale?

Ares calling them all cousins makes me extremely happy. This was something that Riordan did in the early books, but he kind of petered off, presumably so as not to imply weird pseudo-incestuous things once Percabeth started, but I always loved it.

I’m saving the Percy and Annabeth relationship breakdown until after the season, but it is coming! (But I am sad that “seaweed brain” came out of nowhere :( we just rolled right over it!)

The lighting is really bad, especially in the dark, and I am learning to live with it, but I am not happy about it.

Aryan is the breakout actor of the trio, in my opinion. Playing awkward is so, so easy to overdo, but he brings a sincerity and a quickwittedness to Grover that I absolutely adore–he’s a sweet kid, and he’s clearly scared, but he knows when to summon his courage and do the brave thing for him and his friends.

Also here are some screencaps that I like. They don’t have anything to do with the review, I just think they’re neat :3 (IDs/thots in the alt)

#pjo tv #pjo spoilers #pjo tv spoilers #sasha review #this is a long one lads!

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merloksdigitaltoes · 7 months

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here's a uh, redesigned? grey knight redesign! for my s4 rewrite. Lotta repeats of re, oh no i'm doing it again this is becoming repetitive, oh no that explanation just made this redundant- OH NO- Anyways, hope you like it, I'm very proud of it.

#wizard more like rizzard #the knights are nexos #nexo knights #merloks digital toes #nexoknights #nexo #milkisvibin #clay moorington #the grey knight nexo knights #grey knight #stone clay #he's actually grey know and has a grey helmet #I'm very proud of this design #nexo knights clay moorington #grey knight redesign #nexo knights s4 #nks4 #nks4rw #milks s4 rewrite

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western-magical-girl-confessions · 8 months

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*Sigh…*

Hello everyone. I apologize for disappearing for a while. I know I promised to finish all the confessions and close them indefinitely, but with everything that has been going on in the past few months, I have just been reflecting a lot. After much consideration, I have made a decision:

On January 2, 2024, I am considering deleting this blog.

So with this said, I guess you might be wondering why, Well, I'll list the reasons. Been doing so for this long right?

I had been hesitant to admit it, but after some contemplation, I have come to the realization that this blog is becoming a negative experience for me. I've had to make confessions that I don't agree with and deal with anonymous hate for sharing confessions that I didn't even write. Trying to please everyone has also affected my own beliefs. Additionally, the lack of western magical girl shows has resulted in repetitive confessions. It's unfortunate, but my feelings about this blog may continue to fluctuate.

From then till now, I always said that not all the confessions made were by me, but I do admit that some of them were my own. I just want to be honest with all of you. I'm not proud of some of the confessions I made. Some aged like milk. Even though I know that I may still come across certain confessions that leave a bad taste in my mouth to this day, I just want to leave this part of my life behind me.

I have been a fan of several TV series, such as Miraculous Ladybug, She-Ra, Equestria Girls, My Little Pony, many others. However, some of the fans of these shows have given me negative experiences that I don't want to remember. Sometimes, reading these confessions reminds me of those bad experiences. Hence, I want to move on and forget about them. Nevertheless, I will cherish the good memories that these shows and their fandom have given me.

I need assurance that I won't be able to access this blog again, in case I give in to the temptation of making confessions once more. My desire is to move on and channel my energy towards other productive activities that will benefit me in my life. This has been a long-term aspiration for me, which I didn't do entirely.

I know I've said this countless times in the past, but I'll say this for the final time. I'm dealing with personal things that are just a real ongoing struggle, and I want to focus all my time and energy on them. Running this blog has started to feel like a chore, and I believe I've gotten all the satisfaction from it that I wanted.

Also, I've thought about moving on to focus on more original projects. I don't want to completely share these ideas publicly yet, but I've been having some ideas in mind.

Lastly, I'm just tired of constantly having to explain myself. I know that I don't owe anyone an explanation and I am not obligated to keep this blog active, but I did. I did it because I genuinely cared about you all and wanted to create something fun for fans of the magical girl genre. I wanted to provide a platform for others to express their feelings and thoughts without fear of being canceled. Unfortunately, I no longer want to do this…

Sorry guys for the redundant posts lol Let's just hope that this will be the last one until this blog closes (or goes inactive indefinitely). There’s no guarantee that I will delete this blog, but I’m just saying prepare for the possibility in the future. So if there’s anything that you would like to save or archive, then now’s the time to do so. I'm not entirely sure if I'm going to finish the remaining confessions in the box or not, because there's a strong possibility that I'll delete this blog anyway.

So if anyone has any thoughts or ideas or anything, feel free to say so. I have to admit, I'm going to miss this blog, but this is probably for the best.

Thanks again guys, and as always, stay magical.

If you wish to reach me (the mod), my main account is @misssakurapetal27

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cross-my-heartt · 1 year

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Why I don't think anyone from the batch is going to die in Season 3

Alright this was supposed to be in Part 3 of my Three Act Structure analysis but it's gotten rather long so I'm making it a separate post.

The premise here is that a large part of the third act is often the process of tying up subplots and providing closure for the audience. (Unless we get an open ending which I doubt since we have a whole season to cram full of content.)

And in my opinion killing off any member of the batch would serve to cut their respective subplots short rather then resolve them. Here's what I mean:

Let's start with Tech. Making Tech’s death final means an untimely end to not one but several subplots. First and most obvious is the goal of reuniting the batch. And I mean the batch in its entirety. Next is his romance with Phee which was in its development stage when it was cut short and finally there’s the mystery of his possible survival which, given how many casual and non casual viewers are convinced he’s alive, is an ongoing subplot, an active mystery.

And answering the question of ‘how he survived’ with ‘he didn’t’ is likely to put off a large part of the audience.

Next is Crosshair and the entire subplot of getting him back to his brothers.

Crosshair is the missing piece that has been creating tension since episode one of season one. A character who has already sacrificed himself for the good of the group making another sacrifice repetitive and redundant. Who has largely redeemed himself and has gotten his own miniature hero’s journey where the hero hasn’t been ‘rewarded’ yet. Who was once forcefully prevented from returning before making a decision to leave, a choice that he now has the chance of making again.

In short killing Crosshair now… doesn’t make sense on any front.

Then there’s Echo, another option with little narrative logic behind it. There was an immense effort made to bring Echo back after he died in TCW so there’s the element of redundancy in killing him again. It would also completely obliterate his subplot with Rex, because here’s the thing:

If at any point there is emphasis put on a character’s choice, especially one involving an interesting personal/moral dilemma, killing that character before he’s able to give his answer is an extremely unsatisfying thing to do.

As an audience we naturally want to know what conclusion the character reaches. Hunter and Echo had a conversation where Hunter asked Echo ‘when it would be enough’ and thus far we haven’t heard Echo’s answer. We don’t know whether he’s made up his mind on which life he’s going to choose, which one he will prioritize or how he will possibly balance them; whether the new circumstances introduced by the show have somehow swayed him in either direction.

These are all very interesting questions. And depriving us of an answer, a resolution, a character defining choice feels cheap. Almost like a cop out following a good baiting. What’s the point of giving us complexity if it’s going to lead to a dead end?

Next in the lineup is Omega who has been such a crucial driving force behind the batch’s decisions that killing her off would be beyond stupid. Much like Echo, she’s the source of many quandaries that I’m sure the audience would rather see answered than have them be cut short.

Character development and complexity is built through the important decisions characters make when faced with dilemmas. And taking those dilemmas away either stunts growth or leaves us without any insight into the character’s mind.

Characters who are forced into a certain path for lack of any choice can quickly become one dimensional. Deprived of the chance to demonstrate agency, personality and their values. Crosshair was such an instant fan favorite because he was allowed to make choices. He was compelling regardless of whether we agreed with him or not.

So what happens if Omega is torn away from the batch? What happens to the question of family versus being soldiers? Of safety versus risk? Of the familiar versus the unknown? Do we really want our heroes thrown back into the fight out of despair? Out of a sense of revenge? Or do we want a slow building realization brought to a satisfying conclusion. You tell me.

And finally let’s not forget how much of Star Wars centers around hope and in particular, passing the torch to the next generation. There’s a whole dissertation to be written here but I’ll refrain from it and just say that killing off the youngest member of the batch who’s supposed to carry their legacy and lessons into the future would be a pointless slap to the face of much of what the franchise represents.

And last but not least there’s Hunter and Wrecker who I’m putting in the same basket as they’re similar in that there’s no immediately apparent reason or subplot keeping them safe. Well, none besides the question of why... Why do it really? The only thing I can think of is shock factor and my personal stance on that is borderline derision. It’s one of the cheapest most narratively pointless tropes out there and I expect better from the show.

If we had to go into the nitty gritty, I’d say Hunter is safer from getting the chop because a) there’s his developing parental relationship with Omega b) he’s already been in a critical situation where he’s shown to be ready to sacrifice himself (I’m talking about Daro where he tells them to leave him behind. Honestly it’s redundant to show any of the batch sacrifice themselves for the others because we get it. We’ve seen it. It’s really really redundant at this point.) and c) he’s one of the main decision making forces in the squad so we expect the answers pertaining to their future to come from him.

And honestly there’s more. There’s the fact that he and Crosshair were the representatives of two opposing worldviews so seeing them reconcile and reunite would be a satisfying moment. There’s Hunter’s guilt for leaving Crosshair behind, Crosshair’s resentment for being left behind (both things that have been largely forgotten after the Outpost despite being unresolved. There’s been this pervasive attitude of ‘haha you were wrong all the time, stupid! now grovel’ that seems to invalidate everything that’s happened before that but …sigh… another post for another day).

So I suppose the conclusion here is… Wrecker is in danger? If we believe that someone is definitely going to die. Though I certainly can’t promise anyone that the writers won’t throw us a curve ball or introduce some new narrative reason for a carnage.

#tbb #the bad batch #tbb tech #tbb crosshair #tbb echo #tbb omega #tbb hunter #tbb wrecker #tbb season 2 #tbb season two #tbb meta

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ryo-sukuna · 15 days

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Asking for a friend who's too shy to ask herself

So have you ever heard of anime or manga and tried them before? If so do you have any particular ones that you like or at least tolerated?

I’m not to fond of many categorices as it feel redundant or repetitive

Now what I do enjoy and there isn’t a specific title I could think of in the moment

Is when your precious little main character starts with a world of hell, and it slowly progresses so your protagonist has everything in their hand

Then ITS SNATCHED AWAY IN THE MOST HORRIBLE TRAITOROUS TWISTED WAY IMAGINABLE

So they’re left broke almost without redemption,

But then here they gain their final redemption in such an uncanny way, in the most hipocritical way compared to their moral compass and conscious

They’ve become what they can’t stand to see in other just to prove their cause and in the end

They still lose, they don’t get that freedom, they don’t get that peace, they don’t get that joy,

They receive trauma, they receive pain, they receive the scraps and garbage of this world after they had given everything to save it

They gain nothing, despite having given every little thing they had to their soul.

When their is no gratitude, when the ending of a series, manga, or book leaves you feeling sick from how it ended because that not how it should have ended

THAT Is what crave in entertainment, in Manga, in any series that if decide to waste my time on.

Of course it’s difficult to find but as time progresses, more things along these lines have started to surface

The hero shouldn’t always win, it fills the world with a false sense of hope and belief

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themagickingdomofdisney · 2 years

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LONG LIVE THE PUMPKIN QUEEN

REVIEW

At just over 300 pages, “Long Live the Pumpkin Queen” is a young adult fiction novel by Shea Ernshaw and serves as the official sequel to Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas. My qualifications for writing this review include a BA in English, my work as a full-time English Language Arts instructor, and a strong understanding of the source material. In order to provide a thorough analysis of the text, commentary on characters, plot points and settings are necessary, so spoilers are unavoidable beyond this point.

The story begins shortly after the events of the film (a few weeks before the Halloween of the following year), and Jack and Sally are married atop the iconic Spiral Hill. Though she is excited about this union with Jack, Sally becomes quickly overwhelmed by the new “Pumpkin Queen” title she carries. Fans of the film will recognize Sally’s partiality to avoid the attention of a crowd, and I appreciate that the author maintained the personality traits these characters.

During this first section of the story, readers are given an immersive look into one of the seven holiday trees in the Hinterlands, as the two rulers of Halloween Town enjoy their honeymoon in Valentine’s Town. This is a defining moment for Sally, because it allows her to express an innate whimsy and wonderment that does not exist in Jack - a point that one cannot fully understand until the final section of the novel. While Jack is fascinated by Valentine’s Town (comparable to an archetypal tourist), Sally feels safe, happy, and loved - even in this strange world - hinting that Sally does not quite feel at home in Halloween Town. This point is further proved as she mentions that home is with Jack, wherever that may be. After learning that Sally is not originally from Halloween Town, I was quite impressed by the subtle yet pithy foreshadowing.

After their return to Halloween Town, Sally is immediately overwhelmed by dress fittings, crown try-ons, and planning the All Hallows Eve party, and this experience causes Sally to find a moment of solace in the Hinterlands (followed by Zero). There, she discovers another section of the grove and a tree with the door to Dream Town covered in brambles and vines. Zero prevents her from entering the door, and I was thankful that this book did not follow the same “Halloween Town resident enters a strange door” from the film. Instead, Sally leaves the door open and unwittingly releases the Sandman into Halloween Town. On her return, Sally finds that everyone in Halloween Town is lost in a sleep from which they cannot wake.

What follows is a repetitive and unnecessary “mini adventure” as Sally explores all of the holiday realms just to confirm that the Sandman had put everyone else to sleep. While I didn’t mind the idea of her entering and exiting these other holiday realms so quickly, I did not appreciate the redundancy of the events, as each and every land - and her descent into them - was described in detail. Having the scenery, scents, and sounds seven different worlds described one after the other (paired with the panicked narration of Sally) was an unsuccessful juxtaposition of pacing; especially when only one of these realms - Dream Town - would be revisited in the story. I also found it out of place for Sally to visit the human world at all, but this did not take away from the enjoyment of the novel.

Repetition proved annoying in another form as well: Ernshaw’s overuse of the leaves in Sally’s body (her stuffing, as the cotton was replaced by Dr. Finkelstein) as an expression of her emotionality. Every few pages, some variation of “the leaves in my chest rustle” would appear. After it’s fifth appearance, I found myself skipping past the lines. However, I understand that this is a young adult novel, and teen readers may benefit from examples of descriptive language being repeated.

A common complaint found in other reviews of Ernshaw’s sequel is her choice to make Sally a former resident of Dream Town. As described in the text, the twelve-year-old Sally was stolen from her two rag doll parents by Dr. Finkelstein, brought to Halloween Town where he gave her a forgetting potion, replaced the cotton in her body with dead leaves, and convinced her that he created her. Technically speaking, this does not alter the lore provided by the source material because more information is provided about her past instead of changing it. Since I am a big fan of The Nightmare Before Christmas, I was sure to pay attention to and be critical of any details that might have changed the already-established plot. I am happy to say that this novel does no such thing. In fact, this works to confirm her personality from the film, as Sally never seemed to fit in with the other residents of Halloween Town. For example, while the others were rejoicing in the horrific Christmas they created, Sally felt it was wrong and actively tried to prevent it. Learning that she is a rag doll from Dream Town whose role would be to lull children to sleep helped to further establish her motivations as a character. And though Fans might feel conflicted over the nature of this backstory (and the negative light Finkelstein now finds himself in), I personally loved following Sally through her self-discovery.

My final criticism is in regards to the Sandman himself. I would imagine that when providing a canonical sequel to a well-known piece of media, the task of imagining a new character should not be taken lightly. I do not know the image of the Sandman Ernshaw had in mind while writing, as it does not come through in the writing. From description, the reader is unable to describe the Sandman beyond “an old, tired man who floats.” I struggled imagining the Sandman as a character from Burton’s world, and that is disappointing.

In all, I found this quite an enjoyable read and will certainly read again. Despite the grievances listed above, I believe that Ernshaw was successful in delivering a satisfying sequel to the beloved story. The ending was endearing and heart-felt, leaving readers satisfied and that much more obsessed with the world’s most famous rag doll heroine. For the Disney company to provide the sequel as a novel is something I absolutely adore, and would rate the novel eight out of ten stars.

- - - - - - - - -

Recap:

Despite Shea Ernshaw’s occasional redundancy and momentary pacing issues, her novel “Long Live the Pumpkin Queen” serves as an exciting and successful canonical sequel to Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas. Fans will appreciate that the characters and lore alike maintain their pre-established qualities, and many will enjoy the truths learned about Sally’s past. To provide the sequel in the form of a novel is a creative endeavor in itself, and I enjoyed it thoroughly enough to want to read it again.

8/10 ⭐️

#disney #the nightmare before christmas #long live the pumpkin queen #Stephen says #jack skellington #Sally

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whatsk-poppinhomies · 1 year

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"Please tell me I'm wrong." Pairing : Lee Felix x F!Reader TW : general angst ; nothing else really ; Word Count : 1.5k

It was only natural, right? Things become mundane, boring… What was once exciting and new becomes just as boring as going to work every day. There was nothing wrong exactly, it’s not like you didn’t love him, it’s just that every single day began to feel like a repeat of the day before.

The relationship was beginning to feel like Groundhog Day. You wake up in the morning, and there he was. A shared morning kiss before climbing out of bed and having breakfast together at the small breakfast nook in the kitchen. Then you’d both go to work, short texts asking about each other’s day were sent as you sat at your office desk and he practiced for the next concert or album he was about to put out. After work, you’d come home with carry out, the both of you too exhausted to have a home cooked meal and he’d look at you with love and adoration and you’d try your best to mirror the look.

Every day was the same, eat, work, eat, sleep, repeat. The weekends weren’t much different, instead of going to work, you’d both spend the day inside watching movies or going about the chores that had been backed up from the busy work week. It was always the same thing, and while he was happy with the way things were, just waking up in the morning had you drained.

You tried your best to be happy, you tried your best to adapt to the constant repetitiveness of your days, but it wasn’t possible. You used to love the surprise dates he’d take you on, or the spur of the moment late night visits when he’d miss you so much and just wanted to spend the night.

The worst part was that you had always wanted a relationship like this, you had always dreamt of living together with the one person you loved the most. What you hadn’t expected was for that dream to be ruined by none other than yourself. You didn’t want this life, and sadly, living it was making you fall out of love with him.

“Hey..” Felix whispered out the greeting as he walked out of the bedroom. The sun shone high in the sky this morning, casting its rays through every leafless branch along the sidewalk and through windows. It was Saturday, one of the days that the two of you spent the most time with each other, one of the days that you looked forward to the least. You had to pretend that you were happy much longer, you had to keep up this facade that everything was alright when he was around you, and he managed to be around you the entire day.

You had slept on the couch the night before, hoping to avoid the redundancy of the morning ritual, and he had obviously taken notice of the lack of you being there by the way that he spoke. “Morning.” You responded as cheerfully as you could, but the only thing you heard behind you was a soft sigh before he appeared around the arm of the sofa, dropping down onto the loveseat that was across from you. “Did you sleep well last night?” It was better to make some sort of small talk instead of letting the awkward silence fill the space around you and him.

“No, I didn’t…” He responded, a tang of bitterness in his voice that was rare with him. “You never came to bed… It feels like you’re growing distant.” His hands were folded in his lap and his thumbs rolled over one another, something he only did when he was extremely nervous. Why wouldn’t he be though, he was under the assumption, or at least, you had tried to keep him under the assumption that everything was perfect because you didn’t want to hurt him, but he had figured it out anyway, he had caught on.

“Lixie…” You whispered out his name, your stomach twisting into knots as you thought about how he might feel. You might not love him the way you used to, but you still cared about him, and you never wanted to hurt him. You thought that you might have been able to break it to him softly, but he was already well aware it seemed of what was coming next. “I’m sorry… I-”

“Is it something I did?” He cut you off, his head whipping up but his hair curtained his eyes, casting a shadow along his features that made him look even sadder. “I’m… I’m starting to feel like… This might be the end of us… Please tell me I’m wrong.” The lump that had began to form in your throat only got thicker and thicker until you couldn’t swallow it down anymore, it cut off your airways, you couldn’t breathe, it felt like you were choking on the words that you wanted to say.

“You’re… You’re not wrong…” You said it quickly, breathlessly, sinking down into the couch as you felt his eyes burn into you. “I wish you were… But, this just isn’t for me. It’s not something you did though, I swear it’s not… You’ve been perfect, you’ve been amazing…” You tried to explain but his head only shook as you heard him sniffle quietly, his head hung low and his hair curtaining his face in an attempt to block out the tears that were falling.

“Don’t give me that… That It’s not you, it’s me bullshit… I had to have done something wrong.” The sound of him gulping thickly let you know that he was struggling with the same blocked up throat from trying to hold back his tears for so long, but it was all for nothing as you watched them drip from his chin and land against his gray sweatpants, the droplets creating perfectly darkened circles on the material. “Is it because I’m not here enough… Do I not love you enough? What is it? Please, tell me… I can do whatever it is that you ask me to do. I love you.”

It wasn’t fair that you had to do something like this to someone like him. He was a ray of sunshine, as bright and as heart warming as the sun that was shining bright in the sky this morning. You didn’t deserve him, you never did, and now to know that you were causing him this much pain, this much heartache, you knew that the hurt you felt was nowhere near close to what he was feeling right now. “You do… You do love me enough. You are here enough… You’re perfect in every single way… Too perfect for me. I just wasn’t ready for all of this, I thought that I was but I wasn’t. I was so scared to hurt you because you’ve been nothing but amazing to me… That’s why I didn’t tell you sooner… And that’s my fault.”

Every intake of breath was shaky for him, his entire body was shaking with sobs as he ran his hands through his hair. “So… you never… you never wanted to be with me?” He practically whimpered, his face bright red from crying. “All of this was… just all… pretend? You let things go on this long… and you didn’t even think how that would hurt me?”

Your bottom lip trembled as you tried to control your own crying, you felt like you didn’t deserve to cry, not in front of him. “It wasn’t all… I wasn’t pretending at first… I loved being with you… It just all became too much of the same… Everything was the same and… I’m sorry… I’m so sorry Lixie…”

He sniffled loudly, his head nodding slowly as he tried to take it all in, his hands slapping against his lap as he got up, standing still as stone in front of the chair. “I think I need to be alone right now… You don’t… You don’t have to leave the apartment… I’ll just… I’ll be in the room. I need to think.”

And what were you supposed to say? No? You weren’t going to tell him to stick around just so he could cry in front of you, and you were sure that the main reason he wanted to be alone was so that he could cry, so he could let it all out. You had delivered him the biggest blow, you had broken his heart, and why? Because you were bored. And you didn’t even have the common courtesy to tell him when you had first started feeling that way. You hadn’t given him the opportunity to even try to fix things. And maybe… Just maybe…

That was what had hurt him the most. Knowing that you didn’t give him a chance, that you had been feeling this way for so long, and instead of trying to fix things, you had just let them continue to fall apart until it came to this. He loved you so much, and he had come to the final realization that you just didn’t love him enough.

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shamandrummer · 5 months

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The Shamanic Horse

The drum, often called the shaman's horse, provides the shamanic practitioner a relatively easy means of controlled transcendence. Researchers have found that if a drum beat frequency of around three to four beats per second is sustained for at least 15 minutes, it will induce significant trance states in most people, even on their first attempt. The drum becomes the practitioner's mount, and the drumstick becomes a riding crop. Riding the rhythm of the drum at the speed of sound, the practitioner journeys to the inner planes of consciousness and back.

Through the sound of the drum, which is customarily made of wood from the World Tree (axis mundi), the practitioner is transported to the cosmic axis (spinal column) within and conveyed from plane to plane. As noted Tuvan Siberian ethnomusicologist Valentina Suzukei explains: "There is a bridge on these sound waves so you can go from one world to another. In the sound world, a tunnel opens through which we can pass, or the shaman's spirits come to us. When you stop playing the drum, the bridge disappears."(1)

The shamanic horse, namely the single-headed frame drum, originated in Siberia, along with shamanism itself thousands of years ago. Shamanic drumming is considered one of the oldest methods for healing and accessing inner wisdom. Practiced in diverse cultures around the planet, this drum method is strikingly similar the world over. Shamanic drumming uses a repetitive rhythm that begins slowly and then gradually builds in intensity to a tempo of three to seven beats per second. The ascending tempo will induce light to deep trance states. Practitioners may progress through a series of trance states until they reach the level that is necessary for healing to occur.

Basically, shamanic drumming is a technique of accessing and directing archetypal or transpersonal powers for healing and manifesting what is needed to benefit the community. It is a simple and effortless way to still the incessant chatter of the mind, thereby inducing a shamanic trance state. Shamanic drumming carries awareness into the transcendent realm of the collective unconscious, the infinite creative matrix of all that we are, have been and will ever be. It is an inward spiritual journey of ecstasy in which one interacts with the inner world, thereby influencing the outer world.

During shamanic flight, the sound of the drum serves as a guidance system indicating where the journeyer is at any moment or where they might need to go. The drumbeat also serves as an anchor or lifeline that the traveler follows to return to their body when the trance work is complete. One of the paradoxes of rhythm is that it has both the capacity to move your awareness out of your body into realms beyond time and space, and to ground you firmly in the present moment. It allows you to maintain a portion of ordinary awareness while experiencing nonordinary awareness. This allows recall or recollection of the visionary experience. When ready to exit the trance state, the practitioner simply slows the tempo of drumming, drawing consciousness back to normal. Shamanic drumming continues to offer today what it has offered for millennia -- a simple and effective technique of ecstasy.

Although sounding simple and redundant, the unique connection between the drum and the practitioner gives this drumming great power, richness and depth. According to Valentina Suzukei, "shamanic drumming is not monotonous at all. Constant changes in timbre and volume keep them interesting…If you don’t listen for timbre, but only for pitch and rhythm the music is boring, monotonous. But the player's every smallest change of mood is reflected in timbre."(2)

It is the subtle variations in timbre and ever-changing overtones of the drum that allow the shamanic practitioner to communicate with the spiritual realm. Drumming opens one's inner, spiritual ears and eyes and also calls the helping spirits. By changing and listening to the tones, pitches and harmonics of the drum, the practitioner is able to send messages to and receive them from the spirit world.

The Shaman's Steed

The role of the horse in Siberian shamanism is predominately that of an animal that transports a shaman in his journeys, especially his journeys to the World Tree. In the shamanic traditions of East, Central and North Asia, winged horses symbolize the shaman's soul or the shaman's steed carrying the rider to Heaven. Among the Yakut people of Siberia, the drum was symbolically called kulan-at or "wild horse." The drum was the very heart of the shaman's steed. The Buryat, a Mongolic ethnic group native to southeastern Siberia, make their drums out of horse skins. The Buryat see the stars as a herd of horses tethered to the World Tree, which is represented by the pole star.

Throughout Mongolia, the drum is called Omisi Murin, which translates as Spirit Horse. The repetitive, rhythmic cadence of shamanic drumming is evocative of a horse on a journey. Mongolian and Siberian shamans describe it as the blissful, transcendent state that one mounts and rides from plane to plane. As Siberian shaman Tania Kobezhikova puts it, "My drum can connect me to the earth or carry me like a flying horse."(3) We can ride Spirit Horse on journeys through the inner realms of consciousness. As a form of transport for the body and the soul, Spirit Horse will let you ride him and will take you where you want to go. Do you need to get somewhere physical or spiritual? Spirit Horse will assist you and serve as your guardian spirit, giving safety in your physical and metaphysical journeys.

Kira Van Deusen, "Shamanism and Music in Tuva and Khakassia," Shaman's Drum, No. 47, Winter 1997, p. 24.

Kira Van Deusen, Singing Story, Healing Drum: Shamans and Storytellers of Turkic Siberia (McGill-Queen's Press, 2005), p. 124.

Van Deusen, Singing Story, Healing Drum, p. 122.

#shamanism #shamanic drumming #drumming #shaman #shamanic practice #shamanic journey #shamans #consciousness #horse power

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castielsbees · 4 months

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For a personal introduction discussion board for my anthro class I decided to full send it for one of the prompts and straight up expose my love for all things fandom and fanfic on the first day of class oops

When I hear “community,” I am inclined to think of the idea of fandom, though it may seem like a trivial thing. Whether it be for a movie, TV show, or book series, various pieces of media become a source of connection and community for many people of all ages. One of the things I love about fandoms is that you get the chance to see a plethora of countless different opinions, concepts, and spins on the fictional places and characters that are loved by so many people. For example, I consider myself to be a part of many different fandoms, such as Harry Potter, Sherlock (BBC), Supernatural, Good Omens, and Hannibal (NBC), for instance, and I love finding fanart, fanfiction, analyses of the media, and more, relating to those shows and movies. There are countless incredible works out there, whether it be fanart, music, meta, writing, or more inspired by the different pieces of media that people love, and these bring people together and bring light to many talented and creative individuals out there. Anyone can be part of many different fandoms, and there are many roles people play in them, from authors to artists, and those who just like to consume and appreciate the work that others share within the community. I am an artist, for example, and as I’ve already said, love to make art of the characters that I have grown up with that I love and sharing them within various fandom spaces. I also love to read written fan works. I have read many fanfics I would actually consider to be even better written than some published works I have read, and the amount of time and work put into them is incredible. There are many stereotypes and preconceptions people have about fanfiction, but many of them are extremely lengthy, detailed, and impressively well-written works that deserve much appreciation for their plots, character development, and expression of events and characters that people already have grown to love. It could be seen as a challenge for people in the sense that creativity can be difficult to master, as well as originality, but the beautiful thing about fandom and creation is that most people don’t even care about redundancy and repetition in content, whether it be in tropes used in writing, relationships depicted, art produced, and more. In fact, fanfiction is largely consumed for the exact purpose of people looking for a certain trope or type of story that they love so much that they actively search out that type of story/art, and artists and authors in fandoms should not feel bad about or hesitant to sharing art and stories that they think are overdone because the truth is that their work will be appreciated by someone out there, and the best way to get better at writing, drawing, etc. is to keep writing, drawing, and creating.

#fandom #fanfic #ao3 #fanfiction #spn

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echoesofidentity · 5 months

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Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh- Review

Eileen is Moshfegh's debut novel published in 2015, although it certainly does not read like a debut. This dark thriller feels years ahead of the trope of 'disgusting women', the popularity of which is booming in current mainstream and literary circles- and largely in part because of Moshfegh herself. In Eileen we follow young woman Eileen Dunlop, who lives in squalor with her abusive alcoholic father. Her only respite from her family home, saturated with addiction, violence and mental illness, is her job in a juvenile youth detention centre for teenage boys. We learn very little about Eileen's work, except she is infatuated with one of the male guards and infuriated by her female colleagues- Eileen is not a girls' girl. That is until Rebecca starts working at the prison, and very quickly Eileen develops an obsession for the beautifully glamorous education director. Again we learn little about who Rebecca really is outside of Eileen's growing preoccupation with her, and Eileen is the true unreliable narrator. The final act of the book culminates in a shocking twist in which we discover Rebecca has developed an obsession of her own and taken it to the extreme. However, as the book is written from a first person limited perspective, and Eileen's focus is on Rebecca herself, there is little foreshadowing of the twist as our focus is directed elsewhere. Some reviewers have therefore criticised the novel for its sudden change in pacing from the slow meandering stream of consciousness of the first two acts, to the comparatively more action-packed final one. Whilst the drastic change in pace is definitely noticeable, in retrospect it is clearly not without warning, and an astute reader would likely predict the 'twist'. Eileen is not a mystery novel and its clues are hidden in plain sight.

The online popularity of the subversive genre of disgusting and unlikeable women seems to originate from Moshfegh's second novel, My Year of Rest and Relaxation, which has proven an undisputed yet controversial BookTok hit. Yet Eileen feels like its repellent older cousin, the black sheep of the family with the ultimate unlikeable but uncomfortably relatable protagonist. In Eileen Moshfegh pushes the emotion of disgust to its absolute limits with its deeply unlikeable main character, not through her actions but primarily through the internal monologue to which the reader is privy. Eileen has little in the way of plot, so the stream of consciousness from our main character is the main sustenance of the novel, which at times makes for uncomfortable reading yet at others feels repetitive and redundant. Eileen has a fixed hatred for fat people and aspires to be as thin as possible, a fact which we are reminded of repeatedly throughout the book. It is clear Moshfegh wants her readers to intensely dislike Eileen, and for the most part she achieves this, but there are certainly times when Eileen's hatred for fat people- among other groups of people- loses its shock value and simply becomes tiresome. In other instances, the repetition is an effective technique employed by Moshfegh to demonstrate progression of the story even whilst Eileen herself fails to show any character growth. The most notable of these is the repeated imagined imagery of the icicles falling from her house and causing injury to herself or others; Eileen's character arguably shows no progression from the start to the end of the novel, holding many of the same views despite the very influential circumstances she is forced through. However, the icicle imagery migrates from a figment of imagination to an event in reality, and Eileen's lacklustre reaction to it highlights how, despite the horrors she has just experienced, she continues her life largely unchanged in her outlook.

Throughout reading I could not help drawing parallels between Eileen and Eliza Clark's Boy Parts, a more recent dark comedy that again leans heavily on the disgusting women trope, and another BookTok hit. Both novels encourage the reader to think beyond black and white likeability of their female protagonists and seem to instead beg the question as to why we find their thoughts and actions so abhorrent in the first place. Both Eileen and Boy Parts' protagonist, Irina, are staunchly un-feminist characters through their utter contempt for other women. However, it is debatable whether in fact they are unfeminist, when in actuality they are portrayed as hating everyone equally, except for those with whom they become obsessed. For Eileen this is Rebecca, and for Irina it is a male subject of her photography, but both end up in a self-destructive spiral as a result of their passionate fixation on another person. Regardless, it is interesting that a generation of readers widely considered to hold strong feminist principals have become obsessed with this emerging genre that does not portray its female protagonists in anything close to a positive light, and perhaps this is its strength. The portrayal of disgusting women frees female characters from the societal expectation to be pretty, clean and kind, and allows readers to live vicariously through them, testing the limits of what women are and are not allowed to do.

#book review #eileen #ottessa moshfegh #my year of rest and relaxation #boy parts #eliza clark #my writing

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nazmazh · 5 months

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Etymological Weirdness I learned today

FULL Spoilers relating to today's Semantle Puzzle (#669) below the fold. Go do the puzzle yourself before reading, if you're so-inclined.

As part of my participation on the r/semantlegameplayers subreddit, I like to include some hints for the words, including basic facts, like word length, part of speech, and first letter.

And one not-so basic fact I've become fond of - Word Origins:

Okay, so today's answer was: remain

And you might expect it's a weird orphan of sorts.

"Main" as a verb these days is more of a modern back-formation after all. One context is a re-shortening of the compound word "mainline", used in the context of drugs, but then expanded out to any addiction (ie: you might mainline TV all day in the same way that an addict mains heroin all day). The other context that I see main as a verb in is pretty much a game thing - When a game has multiple classes/playstyles/modes/etc., you can *main* a specific one of those - A strong preference over all others, but not necessarily 100% exclusive. "I main Reaper in Overwatch"; "I main Tank for group stuff in MMOs", for example.

So maybe the original use of "main" as an English verb that the re- prefix was applied to was lost to time?

Well, here's the thing. It never existed in the first place.

Main and remain are completely etymologically unrelated.

Even going back to Proto-Indo-European, it appears as though they stem from entirely separate roots.

They're the result of a bit of meaning-divergence and then spelling/pronunciation-convergence

Main, in the English sense is a adjective and noun (with occasional/specific context usage as an adverb, and the later back-formation of the verb) derived from a Germanic (most likely Old Norse) source, related to strength, power, and eventually stemming from those, prominence. It is an old word that existed (in some form) in Old English prior to 900 CE.

There was no verb form to prefix.

Remain, in the English sense, didn't appear until sometime between 1375-1425, and was a verb (and noun, though generally with some modification in English, ie: remains/remainder/remnant) adapted from French. It has Latin roots, which are believed to go further back to Persian, with a Greek intermediary.

It actually came about as a bit of a pronunciation/stress change on the French word remanoir, with the emphasis being moved to the prefix.

Now, the re- prefix means "back", which makes it a little redundant with manoir and the Latin root manere, which also mean "to stay/ to remain" - We do have "stay back" in English, so that's kind of the same idea - The repetition of ideas for emphasis in-context.

But, that meant that manoir as an independent word was easy enough to discard for English.

Except, you might notice a similarity to another English word there. And you'd be right. The noun meaning of manoir, as "a dwelling / a place for remaining/staying" did carry on into English as "manor" and other related words like "mansion" and "manse".

In a weird bit of re-convergence, you could describe a manor house on an estate as the main house, taking the Norse-derived adjective and turning the likewise-Germanically-derived "house" and arriving at a more similar-sounding / meaning as the French-derived manor/mansion by sheer coincidence as the two sources of the "main"/"man-" sound are completely etymologically unrelated.

I honestly never would have thought that "remain" was more closely related to "manor" than "main" was to either of them.

#linguistics #etymology #semantle #word nerdery #semantle spoilers

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