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floralcrematorium · 7 months

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Do you think France's real hair color is blonde, dirty blonde or light brown?

I tend to lean dirty blonde with some golden highlights. Think his hair color anywhere from The Beautiful World to World Stars. I think my favorite way to think about his hair is the way it looks is very dependent on the lighting. If he's outside it'll look like there's some gold woven in there, but when he's inside or in a dimly lit place, the darker parts of his hair appear to be a light brown.

I'm not a fan of anything season 1-4 France, which includes his bright ass yellow hair

I think the appeal of Francis' hair season 5 onwards just comes with the change in style. Seasons 1-4 was all cell-shaded when it came to color; Everyone had a base color for everything in their design with one color for shading and one color for highlight. The clothing is still rendered the same in the anime during and after season 5, but in addition to the cell shading on the hair, there's a gradient. While I'm not a fan of the gradient because it makes color picking harder (and whether or not I decide to do that is debatable), it looks more appealing to me. The image I also selected of Francis above and color picked from also isn't... the best considering he's also in shadow, but that image of him... appeals to me.

I think something the later seasons have going for them is the general color cohesion. While there's still a lot of cell shading in the clothing (because that's just easier to animate), there's more of it. There's more attention to folds in fabric and more attention to where shadows lay on the body, which helps Seasons 5-7 feel less flat in comparison to Seasons 1-4. I also think the colors in the later seasons appear more unified? I mean, considering now that most of the strips we see getting animated put the characters in clothing that aren't their early-mid 20th century uniforms, we don't get the garishly bright colors that are all different and a lot of them wear clothing similar in color palette (more neutrals). Thinking of France specifically with that blue coat/red pants wombo combo. We do still get some vibrant colors, which is nice, but the hues they choose now vs back then feel much more lively.

Here's a Sketch of Francis I started that I don't think I'll ever finish. When I color I tend to start with more muted colors and I work in more vibrant colors at the end so the whole image isn't super saturated.

#hetalia #hws france #francis bonnefoy #my art #floralcrematorium ask box

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thessalian · 2 years

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Thess vs Herb Garden Day 0 - Prep

My seeds, books, and propagators have arrived. Just waiting on the soil now. Which means I have the best part of a day to figure out some logistics.

The first thing? Where I’m going to put the damn plants. I mean, I’m assuming that until they actually become seedlings, they don’t require that much in the way of light, but actual plants are gonna. So it’s a matter of evaluating my largely north-facing windows and determining which of these would be best for a windowsill garden.

Kitchen: Pros are it’s west-facing. Cons are it’s tiny and there’s kind of a dividing wall and a taller block of flats in the way of a lot of the light. It’s workable for something that only needs four hours of sunlight but not exactly a great spot for all my kitchen gardening needs.

Living Room: The living room doesn’t really have windows, exactly. It has a patio door leading out onto the balcony. Because the balcony’s shaded and also north-facing, walled off on either side, not a lot of light gets onto my balcony. Therefore very little of it comes into the flat through those big glass doors. So that’s a nope.

Study: More feasible, given that this is officially more northwest-facing than truly north-facing. On the other hand, this particular flat is bordered by a bit of trash woodland, and that bit of trash woodland and its boundary fence extend to let the trees shade at least half of my study windows. Better than the alternative options so far, but not exactly ideal. Again, good for something that needs four hours of sun, with the added advantage of being able to put a pot on my study bookshelf.

Bedroom: The best option so far. There’s nothing to block the light - in fact, the bedroom windows in these flats are extended a little further out than the others, I guess for a slightly bigger room in general, but also means there’s little in the way of building or tree in the way. It’s also a huge window, entirely wall-to-wall where the study window has walls either side and a dividing wall between the two windows here. Lots of space, the most light in the whole apartment... Perfect.

Except for three tiny inconveniences.

1) The curtains. Look, this whole place was apparently decorated on the cheap. Don’t even get me started on the paint in here (though I guess at least no one painted over wallpaper like in the other flat). But while every other room has these thick 1970s-era beige-and-brown striped curtains, the bedroom has these slightly diaphanous blue things. Which, great, they let some light in when drawn! The material is also this cheap polyester bullshit that rips if you look at it funny. Mostly I leave the curtains closed because I’m afraid to touch them - stiff runners plus flimsy material equals a whole lot of ripping. But it’s a little hard to maintain plants when you have to fight through the curtains to get to them. And I guess I could leave the curtains in my bedroom open at all times (and might have to, at this rate) but that condemns me to always having to change clothes in the bathroom. Then again, no one can see in those windows anyway, so I might just decide not to give a fuck.

2) The windows. They are, in point of fact, shit. Again, 1970s. They’ve been sitting there decaying for something like half a century. The seals are a mess, and nowhere worse than in the bedroom. I can feel the wind through them and the cheap-ass curtains, and they let in damp (seriously; I cleaned them off to evaluate the things and a lot of what I was cleaning was mildew). Then again, by the time my propagated plants sprout, the worst of the cold will be over.

3) My bed. Currently my bed is tucked right up flush against the wall under the window. My single bed pretty much takes up all but maybe a foot of that wall. I don’t want to have to clamber over the bed to water or harvest things. I mean, I could just move the bed. There’d be a bit of a debate about what furniture I’d move where, but it’s possible.

So there you have it: I’m just going to propagate the seedlings wherever and figure the rest of it out as I go. Looks like I’m going to have to move the bed again when it’s time to invest in some window boxes. And see if I can come up with anything that might help with the situation with the bedroom windows. If nothing else, I’m a little fed up with sleeping in the coldest room in the house, heavy duvet notwithstanding.

#Thess on gardening

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danwhobrowses · 4 years

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Why ‘The Karate Kid Part II’ Deserves More Respect

So guess what film I finished watching today? Of course, the Karate Kid franchise is considered iconic mainly for its first entry; Wax on Wax off, Skeleton fights, Sweep the Leg and the Crane Kick all cemented its legacy that allowed Cobra Kai to also be such a success. But imagine my shock when the approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes for Part II is 45% - 21% lower than the Jaden Smith ‘The Karate Kung Fu Kid’ version (and Part III is scored 15%, which is also super harsh but hard to debate outside of the magnificence of Terry Silver). Originally this was just gonna be a general post of how much I enjoyed retreading Part II, but upon seeing that score I had to give it my ‘Deserves More Respect’ posts.

It is an off-chance, but if you haven’t watched this film there will be spoilers within, I encourage you to watch it before reading, and maybe watch it again if you have so it’s fresh in the mind

Let’s start with a controversial point shall we? There are several parts where Part II is actually better than the original. Now I know! There’s a lot about the original which is iconic, but nostalgia does blind you to other shortcomings and while it’s easy to sell the first part because of its mystique, a sequel has the added pressure of rising above and developing on old and new themes set by the predecessor. The Premise In case you decided against refreshing your memory. Karate Kid Part II starts with a recap of Part I, a bit of content that was meant to be Part I’s final scene (in the script, not for filming) and then a timeskip. Ali with an i is gone - brutally dumping Daniel for some Football Player before Senior Prom and after crashing his car, Daniel’s mother is in Fresno for work and Miyagi has received a letter from his home Okinawa in news of his father’s fading health. The stage is set for Daniel and the audience to learn more about the iconic Mr. Miyagi and the life he left behind. Okay, so there is bad in this film Part II deserves respect, but it’s not perfect. It definitely gets messy near the end with Daniel’s antagonist Chozen, he mainly took beats from Johnny Lawrence in physically confronting Daniel when he could with a bunch of no-named goons and he fought pretty similarly to Johnny in catch counters and leg strikes. The opening recap did take a lot of time too, while the ending remained somewhat abrupt having just beaten up Chozen to embrace Kumiko (who had a delayed recovery after being punched once). While not bad, a fair amount of retreaded content felt like downgrades of the original; Chozen and Sato lacked the charisma of Johnny and Kreese, the crane kick was far more impressive than the drum technique and the Tournament setting was grander than the O-Bon festival. But, there are Iconic Moments in this film too Part I may have the Crane Kick and the Skeletons and the Training and Sweep the Leg. But people may forget that Part II had awesome moments too.

Like Daniel chopping through 6 Sheets of Ice! If that isn’t one hell of a power play I don’t know what is. It is a moment genuinely impressive in and outside of the 80s cheese universe of Karate Kid, and it gets referenced in Season 2 of Cobra Kai.

Also referenced in Season 2 is Miyagi vs Kreese. While this is the intended ending for Part I, it certainly acted better at the start of Part II, especially given that is foreshadows the situation Daniel finds himself in at the end of the movie. This moment is equally iconic as it completely encapsulates the character of both senseis - Kreese the confident brute brought to a sniveling mouse when size and power failed him and Miyagi the cool-headed and vastly more intelligent fighter still with the cheeky prankster lightness to him as he honks the scared shitless Kreese on the nose. Perfect.

While I did want to cite the Tea Ceremony as well I think the more iconic moment for Part II had to be Miyagi chopping the log during the storm. The storm itself is a very well-done scene which unmasks several characters in the face of adversity. True tension, worry and stakes are sold as the village are in danger of the cruel whims of nature, an act which is all too real for Sato when the house he’s in collapses on him in the calm before his scheduled deathmatch with Miyagi. Not only is this again some great foreshadowing by the rule of three (Daniel asking if Miyagi can chop a log like Sato is doing with a banner and then Miyagi and Sato meeting and seeing Sato fail to chop a log) it proves a pivotal point where Sato turns from aggrieved antagonist to repenting ally. A great show of power and friendship as Miyagi metaphorically breaks the rift between their friendship that weighs Sato down. Okay, we hear you, but how is it better? I do have to preface that I do still love Part I, I have to because in pointing out where Part II is better I have to pick at Part I’s faults. While the ending is messy Part II definitely has much better pacing, until the skeletons scene Part I doesn’t really pick up because it has to set up, Part II while it does recap doesn’t need to worry about it. Giving Miyagi the main plot was definitely Part II’s strongest suit. Part I profited from Miyagi being the ‘mysterious old teacher’ but learning a lot more about his humanity and history was engrossing and it allowed positive development for Miyagi and Daniel, especially their bond as a surrogate father and son when Daniel personally goes out of his way to support Miyagi on a very personal matter. The main characters maintain their charm as well, still a lovely array of life lessons in Part II more than just finding balance, Miyagi teaches Daniel through words and action on taking time to breathe, to refocus when imbalanced, to forgive rather than to harbour hate, mercy, selflessness and humbleness

“never put passion before principle. Even if win, you lose.” - Mr. Miyagi

The scenes involving Miyagi and his father were some of the most deep and emotive of the series up until Cobra Kai, some still haven’t been topped such as Miyagi’s dad’s first words to his son or when Daniel talked about when his father died. And say what you will about Chozen, he does have a lot of Johnny vibes but a lot of the character we believed was Johnny due to nostalgia goggles was more fitting of Chozen’s manner. The story did a great job in making sure Chozen was always an asshole, at times Johnny did at least display honour and grace but Chozen was always sore about stuff and quick to claim dishonour even when he was in the wrong. Contrary to Johnny it’s more about his family than it is about a girl, which allowed a lot more freedom in the plot. Whether you felt Elizabeth Shue’s Ali with an i was prettier than Tamlyn Tomita’s Kumiko is up to personal preference, but the messy-haired Kumiko definitely had a slightly improved presence in Part II than Ali did, with actual focus on her own feelings outside of attraction to Daniel, her ambition to become a dancer directly linking to the O-Bon Festival - which in turn related to the Drum technique - as well as the delicately beautiful Tea Ceremony scene and actually contributing to the final fight (granted Ali wouldn’t be allowed to). Also Daniel didn’t try to eat her face which is a general improvement to the romantic subplot, extra applause has to go to Tomita here too because this was legitimately her first role - Shue had her second so that’s impressive too - and both women had good careers going forward. The increased stakes definitely worked in the favour of Part II as well, as sequel culture is forced to do, but by moving to Okinawa (actually filmed in Hawaii) we opened the door to better suit Miyagi’s world while keeping Daniel the fish out of water. I can’t speak too much for appropriation because there is still kinda some ‘white saviour’ undertones but I didn’t feel like Japan was treated negatively in this light, its culture of the O-Bon Festival and the Tea Ceremony was treated with the utmost respect and explained without pandering, the flute music had definitely stepped up its game for the soundtrack as did the imagery. Can also appreciate that Daniel does go for the Crane kick when fighting Chozen but is parried. Added hat tip has to go to costuming too. A lot of costumes would have to have distinct Kamon such as Sato’s twin fish and Miyagi’s bonsai on a lot of their clothing

Between Sato and Miyagi the colours of their clothes often code their emotions towards each other, with Sato usually in grey and Miyagi in white or cream, when Sato and Miyagi prepare for death they are in black and when Sato wants forgiveness he moves to a lighter shade. While Part I also used black and white to differ Johnny and Daniel, Part II put Chozen and Daniel in the more Japanese-themed Red and Blue. While both men wear red, blue and whites at time, Chozen’s clothes almost devolve from the white he debuts in as his darker side comes out before flat out embracing yellow after his chance to prove his honour in the storm is refused (and he’s in white then), while Daniel often moves to Red or red tones even in his blue shirt. Kumiko also moves from white to blue, sometimes even purple, in set up to the final fight to have the primary colours stand out in the colourful crowd of the O-Bon festival, but even in the blue Kumiko had red to pair her connection with Daniel. Also her Yukata at the festival is just stunning, the Great Wave off Kanagawa print is a nice touch.

Anything else we should know? It might not be much else about the film itself I can tell you, but I do appreciate something I’m starting to call ‘The Rocky Connection’ when it comes to Karate Kid. Like Part I’s ‘You’re the Best (Around)’ was shortlisted for Rocky III, Part II’s song ‘Glory of Love’ was shortlisted for Rocky IV’s theme, losing to ‘Hearts on Fire’, Bill Conti also chose to score this film instead of Rocky IV. I like to pair this with Daniel’s Rocky-esque character, he has that same kind of swagger but a lot more naive and childlike. Martin Kove also gets a nod because those bleeding hands were legit, he had an accident on-set and the footage was kept for the final cut. Tamlyn Tomita wasn’t the only film debut for Part II, B.D. Wong of...well, several famous roles including but not limited to Shang in the animated Mulan, Dr. Wu in the Jurassic Park franchise, Hugo Strange in Gotham and many more, also had his debut here in a minor speaking role when he’s handing out flyers for the dance party to Kumiko and Daniel before the Ice Chopping Scene. So, why does it deserve respect A film that adds to a beloved character in a respectful fashion without having really any god awful moments does not deserve a 4.5/10 rating. It may not have as emphatic an ending or as great a villain but it has a captivating plot and a good pace, better stakes and much more emotionally driven and responsive scenes. A lot of effort and dedication went into this film to explore new dimensions of the main characters in a fashion which was enjoyable and at times heartwarming. And characters are given human moments, even Miyagi confesses himself not to be perfect and it keeps each character grounded. Even to this day parts of Part II are remembered fondly rather than the campness that Part III had outside of Terry Silver and his magnificent ponytail, the fondness also continues to reflect in Cobra Kai with homages and fan theories of Daniel going to Okinawa again and even re-encountering Chozen. Not to mention it grossed $113m on a $13m budget and got nominated for a Best Original Song Oscar (losing to Top Gun) Part II was a good and enjoyable film which deserves far more credit than to be rated this low, for that it deserves respect.

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tonyglowheart · 3 years

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I genuinely don’t understand people who say aspecs are queer BUT NOT kinky people. If you’re into BDSM, if you’re polyamorous, if you’re celibate, if you’re hypersexual, if you’re in an interracial relationship. It’s all related. These are sexuality/relationship/lifestyles that don’t meet our society’s standards and are underrepresented or represented negatively and so i think they are all queer

Anon I am having thinky thoughts but also I lowkey don’t want to get into this too majorly bc I got into this several years back during said campaign I mentioned in the tags on that rb post lmfao and it resulted in a whole Thing and I like... don’t have the energy to get into internet arguments with people anymore because I’m old and tired and can’t deal with the back and forth of me making points, them ignoring the majority of my points in favor of some strawmen or appeal to extremes, me addressing that and also some points including maybe where they DO have a point about some facet I failed to consider but have now, them ignoring that and repeating their same talking points, me addressing their points again & pointing out their ad hominems that usually have come out at this point and other logical fallacies, them ignoring that to repeat- and ultimately, we’re kind of talking past each other and I’m mostly appealing to whatever audience might be around. (I think I might have priv’ed or deleted a bunch of posts from back then but some may still be up somewhere in my archive lmao.....).

So on that kind of note I don’t... necessarily want to get into an argument or debate (not necessarily with you, possibly by some other anon passing through who is much more inclined to picking a fight with me about the Affront to Them Personally as well as the sanctity of the movement) on whether or not being kinky itself constitutes being “queer” per se bc I think the terminology is a sticking point and I do kind of see the perspective of “kink doesn’t make you automatically queer” **HOWEVER** yes I do also agree with that post I rbed that like kink/fur do rather constitute “queer subcultures” even though not every single person in there is LGBT+ in a more “traditional” sense - such as speaking more towards like sexual orientation & gender identity - and that these kinds of “alternative” lifestyles do present a “queering” (*a* queering) of ^ sexuality/relationships/lifestyles or whatever we might term that. And maybe that’s what I was struggling to articulate all those yrs ago lmao, when I was young and full of the energy of the Youthe and could get into internet arguments with ppl. The like respectability politics of trying to be sanitized enough to be “acceptable” to a hostile and rigid mainstream while alienating queer subcultures, which just results in the queer community at large cutting off parts of itself to try to be/remain “acceptable” but that just leads to self-harm to the community at large vs addressing more global/bigger picture issues.

Hrmmm okay I think what this whole issue of terminology and what gets to be called “queer” kind of gets to: they’re related, as you say, but that being varying shades or scopes of marginalized, but that doesn’t necessarily make it all “queer”? Because.... tbh I can see why the full-stop is a sticking point for people, and I do kind of think operationalized terms have more value when they ARE applied with scope instead of trying to generalize it too broadly, and queer does mean something quite specific (or.. maybe not specific, but rather that “queer” DOES have parameters, tho they may be more of like a soft-shaded parameter as opposed to some kind of hard fence)?

But I do agree that usually a lot of the language people against various other kinds of marginalized identity aspects uses, mirrors, & parallels language used against other things, like language against queer people/queer relationships & interracial relationships, and that communities would be served better with solidarity rather than trying to excise or disavow other communities - ESPECIALLY communities which have a lot of overlap with the queer community and also are historical and current allies - in a futile attempt to be “respectable” enough for the hostile mainstream and its evermoving goalposts.

..But maybe I’m just quibbling a point here, because while I don’t know if I’d call kink/fur/etc “queer” and the term “queer subcultures” seems to fit better for me, this does point to “these subcultures have room within queer spaces and in fact were there at the inception of ‘queer spaces’ as we kind of conceive of it today in USmerica” (idk fur but the kink community was definitely there). And then this gets into a more philosophical question of “well if it belongs in queer spaces is it not then ‘queer.’” This may be a “this topic is complicated and multifaceted an these different arguments based on different needs and with different axes of foci can coexist.” Ultimately, I think it does come down to “exclusionary rhetoric against a marginalized identity/community - especially one that is aligned, if not overlapping or otherwise part of the “core community” at the heart of this issue - is more harmful than helpful because the goalposts of respectability will never stay put and the language used by the hegemony against one group often is reused/paralleled/mirrored in language against another marginalized group, and can very easily be turned again back against you.”

Speaking more towards the arguments re: the 'coming out' campaign backlash, like back then I was fairly active in the m/m romance GR community & more in touch with ppl who were part of kink communities who were part of the m/m GR comm, and like based on what they told me/we talked abt following the whole backlash against “coming out kinky,” is that ppl DO in fact lose their jobs get disowned get evicted etc if they're 'outed' as kinky. Which then directly parallels the vanilla queer experience. I think a sticking point back then was that 'born this way' rhetoric was more prevalent back then, and ppl see kink as more of a 'lifestyle choice' and less about something 'inherent', and also some ppl were just flat-out like 'um ew it's sexual harassment'. But I think if you look at various dynamics of kink there's like lifestyle kink which isn't necessarily inherently or always sexual so like I don't think it's automatically a sexual harassment thing, ig for me it's like... ppl reacting with SUCH backlash against the idea that kink could/should be allowed within the concept of queer spaces and that echoes that post about assassination of queer subcultures, and like coming out isn’t always “I fuck xx” or “I fuck in xx way,” like if you come out as gay you’re not necessarily describing in explicit detail to your mother the ways fuck, you know? I think for me the “coming out” thing also was kind of like... is it safe for you for people to find out x aspect about you? And I do rather think there’s greater hostility towards these kinds of subcultures, which would then perhaps elicit or illustrate a reason why we might want to normalize or educate people better on what exactly constitutes the precepts of the subculture, vs whatever popular idea of it is prevailing at the time?

..I think ultimately we go back again to “this topic is complicated because there’s many intersectional issues as well as competing needs so there’s not a one-size-fits-all ‘answer’ to the questions/issues brought up”

#queer tag #Anonymous #asks answered #long post

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writing-prompts-for-friends · 4 years

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Notes from Robert McKee’s “Story” 14: Idea vs. Counter Idea, and Striking a Balance

(I highly recommend that you check out my previous post where I spoke about determining your Theme [referred to as “Controlling Idea” by McKee] and its values and causes, as that post’s content is necessary background information for this one.)

Idea Versus Counter-Idea

For the sake of this section, let’s pretend that we are writing a typical action/adventure story in which the Controlling Idea is “Good triumphs over Evil when the good person’s intentions are unselfish.” Here we have the values of “Good/Evil,” and the Counter-Idea of “Bad triumphs over Evil when the bad person is willing to resort to any means to win.” Basically, pretty much any recent Marvel film haha.

“A story progresses by moving dynamically between the positive and negative charges of the values at stake in the story.

Sequence by sequence, often scene by scene, the positive Idea and its negative Counter-Idea argue back and forth, creative a dramatized dialectal debate. At climax one of these two voices wins and becomes the story’s Controlling Idea.

This rhythm of Idea versus Counter-Idea is fundamental and essential to our art. It pulses at the heart of all fine stories, no matter how internalized the action. What’s more, this simple dynamic can become very complex, subtle, and ironic.”

I think the first Iron Man movie really illustrates this well. Tony Stark starts out as a selfish weapons maker who by the end of the film has become willing to sacrifice his own life for the safety of others, and the film has scenes of the Baddie Obadiah progressively making more ruthless, evil decisions in order to defeat Tony and obtain the arc reactor.

Of course, because this is a super hero movie, the audience goes in with the assumption that the hero with triumph. This is one of the genre rules, after all. However, each time Obadiah grows stronger and Tony is further challenged, the audience is left to wonder which idea will win out in the end.

The Importance of Balance

Let’s say that you have a very, very important message to instill in your readers. McKee uses the example, “War is a scourge, but it can be cured by pacifism.”

No matter how strongly you believe in something, you must make the effort to build the power of both sides of your argument.

“As a story develops, you must willingly entertain opposite, even repugnant ideas. The finest writers have dialectical, flexible minds that easily shift points of view. They see the positive, the negative, and all shades of irony, seeking the truth of these views honestly and convincingly. This omniscience forces them to become even more creative, more imaginative, and more insightful. Ultimately, they express what they deeply believe, but not until they have allowed themselves to weigh each living issue and experience all its possibilities.

Make no mistake, no one can achieve excellence as a writer without being something of a philosopher and holding strong convictions. The trick is not to be a slave to your ideas, but to immerse yourself in life. For the proof of your vision is not how well you can assert your Controlling Idea, but its victory over the enormously powerful forces that you array it against.”

I think that a lot of “hero vs. bad guy” stories fall flat because they fail to develop the counter-idea of “evil triumphs when it is smarter/more powerful/more determined than good.” I am certain you can think of at least three works where the bad guy was just...a bad guy intent on doing on bad things. There is also poor character development of the antagonist at work here, but because the audience isn’t shown enough of the counter-idea, we are left looking at our watches and waiting to see when the good guy saves the day, because we can foresee no other outcome.

“A great work is a living metaphor that says, “Life is like this.” The classics, down through the ages, give us not solutions but lucidity, not answers but poetic candor; they make inescapably clear the problems all generations must solve to be human.”

The Three Categories of Story: Idealist, Pessimist, Ironist

McKee divides all stories into three categories based upon the emotional charge of their Controlling Idea.

Sorry for the poor-quality picture. I’m just too lazy to recreate this graphic. From top to bottom we see the change in charges of the controlling idea from start to finish, for Idealistic, pessimistic, and ironic controlling ideas, from top to bottom.

Idealistic Controlling Ideas “’Up-ending’ stories expressing the optimism, hopes, and dreams of mankind, a positively charged vision of the human spirit; life as we wish it to be.”

Pessimistic Controlling Ideas “’Down-ending’ stories expressing our cynicism, our sense of loss and misfortune, a negatively charged vision of civilization’s decline, of humanity’s dark dimensions; life as we dread it to be but know it so often is.”

Ironic Controlling Ideas “‘Up/down-ending’ stories expressing our sense of the complex, dual nature of existence, a simultaneously charged positive and negative vision; life at its most complete and realistic.

On Irony

Ironic Controlling Ideas can be either positive or negative.

Positive Irony The compulsive pursuit of contemporary values--success, fortune, fame, sex, power--will destroy you, but if you see this truth in time and throw away your obsession, you can redeem yourself.

Negative Irony If you cling to your obsession, your ruthless pursuit will achieve your desire, then destroy you.

This is one of my favorite sections in the book, so I’m going to liberally quote McKee here.

“The effect of irony on an audience is that wonderful reaction, ‘Ah, life is just like that.’ We recognize that idealism and pessimism are at the extremes of experience, that life is rarely all sunshine and strawberries, nor is it all doom and drek; it is both. From the worst of experiences something positive can be gained; for the richest of experiences a great price must be paid. No matter how we try to plot a straight passage through life, we sail on the tides of irony. Reality is relentlessly ironic, and this is why stories that end in irony tend to last the longest through time, travel the widest in the world, and draw the greatest love and respect from audiences.

This is also why, of the three possible emotional charges at climax, irony is by far the most difficult to write. It demands the deepest wisdom and the highest craft for three reasons.

First, it’s tough enough to come up with either a bright, idealistic ending or a sober, pessimistic climax that’s satisfying and convincing. But an ironic climax is a single action that makes both a positive and a negative statement. How to do two in one?

Second, how to say both clearly? Irony doesn’t mean ambiguity. Ambiguity is a blur; one thing cannot be distinguished from another. But there’s nothing ambiguous about irony; it’s a clear, double declaration of what’s gained and what’s lost, side by side. Nor does irony mean coincidence. A true irony is honestly motivated. Stories that end by random chance, doubly charged or not, are meaningless, not ironic.

Third, if at climax the life situation of the protagonist is both positive and negative, how to express it so that the two charges remain separated in the audience’s experience and don’t cancel each other out, and you end up saying nothing?”

McKee makes it clear that Irony is god-tier writing. Notice that he does not provide answers to the questions he raises. If you want to learn more about Ironic films done well, here are the films that he mentions in this section:

KRAMER VS. KRAMER, THE WAR OF THE ROSES, ANNIE HALL, MANHATTAN, ADDICTED TO LOVE, THE PAPER CHASE, THE DEER HUNTER, AN UNMARRIED WOMAN, AND JUSTICE FOR ALL, TERMS OF ENDEARMENT, THE ELECTRIC HORSEMAN, GOING IN STYLE, QUIZ SHOW, BULLETS OVER BROADWAY, THE FISHER KING, GRAND CANYON, RAIN MAN, HANNAH AND HER SISTERS, AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN, TOOTSIE, REGARDING HENRY, ORDINARY PEOPLE, CLEAN AND SOBER, NORTH DALLAS FORTY, OUT OF AFRICA, BABY BOOM, THE DOCTOR, SCHINDLER’S LIST, JERRY MAGUIRE.

Source: McKee, Robert. Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting. York: Methuen, 1998. Print

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charmingyourheart · 4 years

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THE TWILIGHT SAGA- a film review

A saga that both enthralled me as a thirteen year old and left me with several questions as an adult.

Isolation clearly sent me insane because I thought picking up the Twilight books would be a productive thing to do with my seemingly endless free time. 2008 me was obsessed, posters of the cast lined my walls, and the Edward vs Jacob debate was fierce. It was a series that taught me much - like never loaning beloved books to “friends” because you may or may not get them back in the same condition. It was a series that introduced me to Fanfic, was instrumental in my love affair with romance novels, and even inspired me to write.

Though the series gets as much hate as it does love, I think we can all agree that the series has left a lasting legacy. The movies gave us absolute fire soundtracks, young adult movies were suddenly everywhere, and for better or worse 50 Shades was, ironically, spawned.

I am not ashamed to say I was a massive Twi-Hard and re-reading the books really made me see why. We all know the story; the lion fell in love with the lamb etc. As far as plot goes, it’s very straight forward, predictable, and more than a little bit of a rip off of the original vampire diaries novels. As someone who was obsessed with both series, let me tell you the character similarities between the characters right down to the “vegetarianism” are just a little too on the nose for me but I digress.

As someone who grew up to admire strong heroines, I was surprised to recall that I identified with Bella. I adored her. I wanted to be her. It’s not that I think she is a weak character, I just think she is a painfully flat character, an empty vessel we could all project ourselves into and by far the most boring character in the series.

Am I the only one who wanted to read more about the other Cullens? Rosalie was and still remains to be my favourite character from the series.Saddled with terrible wigs in the films (sadly not unique to her character), relegated to background all while being the only voice of reason. My girl was done dirty and I wanted more. Yes, this is “Bella’s story” but the book I want to read is about an avenging vampire taking revenge in a wedding dress. It kills me that such an interesting character has to play second fiddle to Isabella “not having a personality is my personality” Swan.

There is so much to say about the Twilight Saga as a whole that I’m not sure there is anything I can really say that hasn’t been said before. So without any further ado…

TWILIGHT

The OG, the numero uno, the one that started it all.

It’s not that it’s badly written. It’s that it’s so juvenile.

Maybe age has skewed my perception and I know I am definitely not the target audience anymore yet from the first page I can’t help but feel disappointed. I know where it’s going, I’d read the books multiple times in the past, watched the film dozens more and I wanted that magic to be there.

It wasn’t.

Vampires aside, it’s also wildly unbelievable.

Look I’m willing to suspend disbelief as long as it’s moderately plausible.

The most egregious example of this is the Cullen’s themselves. Is Stephanie Meyer really trying to tell me that the Cullen “children” enjoy repeating High School over and over again instead of doing literally anything else with their time? High School was and remains to be a blur of hormones, heartbreak, and Hell on earth. I can’t imagine anyone wanting to repeatedly inflict that on themselves.

Menstruation is also ignored. You know that little thing 50% of the population does. How do the Cullen’s cope in an enclosed environment with a bunch of women on their periods? Especially when Jasper attempts to attack Bella over a paper cut... It’s things like that keep me up at night.

I found Bella so mind numbingly boring and she just annoyed me to no end. We get it, you’re awkward, clumsy, and so painfully average. Edward is just a borderline stalker who routinely pushes boundaries (something 50 Shades doubles down on) and the dialogue is just so cheesy. Seriously, my lactose intolerance was flaring up. Lines such as;

“About three things I was absolutely positive. First, Edward was a vampire. Second, there was a part of him-and I didn’t know how potent that part might be-that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.”

Had me cramping worse than all those ill advised wine and cheese nights I inflict on myself.

That aside, the book is relatively engaging and even though I found my eyes rolling so far into the back of my head I could practically see my brain, I didn’t hate it. The magic was gone. The romance was unhealthy and the plot plain.

(New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn- below the cut)

NEW MOON

How this was my favourite book for so long is beyond me.

It’s so astronomically terrible I can’t even write about it without feeling triggered.

A book that basically boils down nothing more than: sad girl is sad and does suicidal things in order to “see” the love of her life.

Boo you’re like eighteen. What do you know of love? Nothing. Because you are a child. And that right there is the classic sign I’ve become an adult - I’m agreeing with the adults in this world.

There is no plot. No character development. Nothing.

Well there are the shifters but like anything remotely interesting Meyer created it’s quickly pushed to the background.

I just can’t with this book. I am a broken woman.

ECLIPSE

Teenage angst is angsty.

There’s a love triangle.

BACKSTORY!

More angst.

A minor sprinkling of plot.

More angst.

Oh look proposal.

Honestly there isn’t actually much to say about this because like New Moon it’s just a filler book of nothing. It's just meh.

As Jay says, it’s “best remembered as a fun experience in the cinema, with people yelling at the screen every time a character said something dumb".

BREAKING DAWN

Just no.

It’s too soon. It will always be too soon to relive this trauma.

I hated it as a teenager and I hated it as an adult.

Sorry. I just can’t overlook the impossible conception of Renesmee (the WORST character name in history) but am I just expecting to ignore the fact Jacob fell in love with a BABY?!

There is just so much about this book that I can’t even find the words for.

____

In sitting down to write this I have discovered that Twilight would have been better served as a single outing. While the first book certainly isn’t perfect the rest of the books are a steady decline into nothing and there is actually no reason for so many books.

NOTHING ACTUALLY HAPPENS IN THESE BOOKS.

While it is a series I once adored it just doesn’t hold up against all the other young adult offerings out there. If you want some suggestions? Hit us up. But Twilight beyond the first book, and really even that is kind of a stretch, is just not worth the pain.

+ Stalking aside pretty inoffensive.

- Literally everything else.

Final verdict: better left in 2008.

#film review #vampire week #twilight #new moon #breaking dawn #eclipse #honest react #review by: sian #vampires #twilight review

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asheternal · 5 years

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i wanted to weigh in on the trans nora drama as a person who is generally super relaxed with stuff and can maybe have less bias (but as a human being, we all have biases inherently to an extent but that’s for a youtube debate, not a tumblr post) and be a bit more... not a total asshole lol

full disclosure- i’m not trans myself, i’m just around a lot of trans people (women especially, love yall) in my day-to-day and friend groups. i can’t speak for trans people, but i can speak in solidarity with them

1. while nora has always had whites and pinks in her color scheme, saying she has a shade of blue anywhere near the volume 7 appearance is factually incorrect.

Here’s a color tip for yall who like character design: never use a solid black for large spaces of color, because it looks flat in comparisson. Thus, on the model it’s gonna be black with a color highlight that’s dark enough to not stand out, but light enough to give the target some depth. This is best seen in her vol. 1 colors vs. her vol 4. colors. her vol. 4 design definitely pops out more in 2-d and 3-d through this choice.

for that matter, the shade of blue in the vol. 7 design is a drawing accent, meaning your eye will trail to it due to how it contrasts with the surrounding colors. it’s deliberate. it has the same functionality of her boob window in that sense, it draws you to her heart essentially, which is a big part of Nora as a character.

what i’m more worried about is the fact homegirl here is lookin like my girl lightning more and more, when’s nora gonna fight god

i guess nora and lightning shop at the same louis vuitton or something. jokes aside, saying that there’s no resemblance to the trans flag is flat out wrong. plus i don’t think they’d color pick the flag’s colors by the exact hexcode like some weirdos think, they’d saturate it a bit like in the first image in this post.

2. “she was poor and living on the streets from age 8 and also trans women don’t have huge tits.”

there’s a lot to unpack here, so let’s just burn the suitcase. if you believe for a second that HRT would work like the real world in a setting with MECHAS, OLD MEN WHO TURN INTO BIRDS, whatever zwei is and the whole concept of HAVING SUPERPOWERS you’re really, really ignorant. holding this ridiculous standard is dumb, it’s incredibly likely that remnant has a lot of advances in science we don’t in the real world. like legit. this isn’t a counter when the world the narrative is in has MAGIC.

the counter to “trans women don’t have big tits” is one of my wrestlin’ idols, Nyla Rose, who is a transwoman! (and a huge nerd, she loves pokemon, someone get her and nora to be ring buddies)

also if you ask me, she looks pretty androgynous as a child. both ren and she do tbh. “female coded” in a flashback told by a friend, who loves her and wants to support her? yeah he’d address her as a girl, she is a girl, trans women are girls and women

the real shame is nora doesn’t have beefy arms with all that stronk she packs, come on #givenoramuscle let’s make it real, nabs and yabs for all

3. i’m not even gonna refute the point made with the skirt thing- anyone wearing a skirt in her situation would do that. if people wanna reach with that bit, let them realize over time it’s a weak leg to stand on, since it’s not indicative of anything other than “don’t look up my skirt.”

4. “trans flag colors don’t matter.” except they do and you’re doing a really bad job of fence sitting, chief. why is it a bad thing that people find some hope and joy in something that is a modern day “HEY SHE’S TRANS” notifier? like.. god. gamers got mad that a tiny trans flag was in celeste recently, to the point it was accused of agenda pushing- but i guess those people were wrong! it was just a flag! no meaning! it does have meaning. it’s a signal in modern media to hint at something, like a hey... she’s in the cool club yall kinda deal. like a secret handshake only it’s pastel colored and also 100000 volts of electricity.

just let the trans people have their joy, if she isn’t trans let people let themselves down and don’t argue with brick walls over a fight not worth having. if it’s an issue? quit rwby. write a poison pen letter or whatever you people do when you’re mad.

i swear some of yall sound like cinder screaming “MY EEEEVIL TRAAAAANNNNNS” or something. get over it. let people be happy and stop being so lame lmao.

#long post #fndm discourse

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doomonfilm · 5 years

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Review : Brightburn (2019)

I’ve always been a sucker for movies about individuals with super powers. Be it established comic book heroes translated to the screen, or entirely new characters created to tell familiar (and sometimes new) stories, there’s something about these modern-day mythical figures that intrigues in a way that the average story structure cannot. As a Marvel fan, the ‘What If...?’ realm with the super-powered always fascinated me, as there seemed to be an inherent (but unspoken) ‘moral’ code that went with this level of power. That’s why I was hooked when the ‘what if Superman was evil?’ premise was presented to me via Brightburn.

Tori (Elizabeth Banks) and Kyle Brewer (David Denman) are a young couple in Brightburn County, Kansas attempting to start a family, but facing infertility issues along the way. One night, a mysterious object crashes in the woods on the edge of their farm, and Tori discovers an infant boy among the wreckage, whom she adopts and names Brandon (Jackson A. Dunn). Over the next ten years, the couple raises Brandon, but as he becomes a young man, everyone begins to take note of changes in Brandon’s behavior, including his obsessive drawing of a symbol and a more aggressive nature. As secrets that the couple tried to keep from Brandon become unearthed, a change begins to take place in him that nobody can prepare for, putting everyone in danger as Brandon seeks to fulfill his newly-discovered destiny.

Taking a look at the Superman mythos under this lens is refreshing, as other directors (who shall remain unnamed) have done their best to try and make Superman a dark character. With Superman being such a modern-day folk hero, using him to study the opposite side of the absolute power and nature vs. nurture debates can be stifled, but using a similar character with inverse characteristics allows the examination to occur without many of the pre-conceived opinions and notions present. Ultimately, it is fertile grounds for debate to toil over whether an alien with powers of this level and a base-level lack of empathy for humans could eventually be shaped and molded into a hero figure, or if his superior nature would always put him at odds with those lesser than.

Though this movie is being marketed as a horror film, I did not find it to be one... I would say it is more of a violent suspense film. The narrative is not full of twists and turns, but it is not meant to be, as the premise is the primer. With the information given in the premise, our mind is forced to dwell on the ticking time-bomb that is Brandon, and knowing that he can turn a bad situation infinitely worse in a heartbeat carries the suspense of the film. Brandon’s tendencies are clearly psychopathic, but seeing as he is not ‘one of us’, it puts the definition of pscyhopathy (in this case) in question... can we truly expect a non-human to value human life the way we do? Essentially, those in the world of the film (and us as viewers) are held hostage by the hopes that what equates to a pre-pubescent God-figure chooses to regulate his own urges and behaviors, for our sake.

The special effects for this film are pretty impressive... the superhero powers are portrayed effectively, and the violence that Brandon implements is executed well enough to make me watch most of these sequences through my fingers. The movie is well-shot, and the lighting throughout (especially in the night scenes) ratchets up the tension further. Color is used wisely throughout the film, as most of it relies on a flat interior, green (read natural) exterior... the two real colorful presences are Tori’s art (possibly to symbolize her as a loving presence), and the red that follows Brandon around (in his costuming/symbolism, the ship hidden in the barn, and the wake of his destruction). Speaking of Brandon and red, the Brightburn costume design was simple, but wonderful, with the hood/cape combo being a nice touch. The button in the credits featuring Michael Rooker was also a nice closing point, but for more feelings about that, see the final paragraph.

Jackson A. Dunn and his quite, brooding sense of power he communicates through his stillness and his piercing stare make him a silent monster on the level of Jason Vorhees, only with the skills of Superman in tow... it’s surprising how well the young actor is able to ground his performance, considering most young actors would probably run a bit wild with the character. Elizabeth Banks has always possessed dynamic range, and her ability to project unconditional motherly love (even in the face of the obvious) plays well. David Denman plays the powerless dad to a tee, easily communicating a man that is used to being at the head of the power table now at his wit’s end and acting desperately, though trying to hold it together. Meredith Hagner brings a lighthearted energy to most of her performances, displaying the love of a family member while managing to keep the distance of an Aunt and counselor, keeping her from direct involvement into the problem. Matt Jones brings his loveable, true-to-life characteristics to his performance, becoming an audience connection point in a film full of the unbelievable. Emmie Hunter and Becky Washington both play solid shades of those who sense and fear the threat that Brandon is. Appearances by Michael Rooker, Steve Agee, and other supporting cast round out the world of the film.

For what it’s worth, I really enjoyed Brightburn, but I do hope that it is a standalone project. While highly entertaining to me, it certainly falls more into the world of the pulp-film or cult-classic more so than the establishment of another ‘cinematic universe’, and hopefully it encourages others to tell similar one-off stories as well, similar to films like Chronicle.

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vladimir-nabokov-official · 5 years

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Having followed with fascination the intricate discussion of who invented whom, and gleaned some intriguing peripheral details along the way, I cannot resist, with malice toward none, [quoting] the equine mouth. When the speculation first began many years ago, I asked my father, during a visit from Monza to Montreux, whether such theories might have any substance. He laughed a characteristic, friendly laugh and said of course not — it would be just as implausible to say Shade and Kinbote had invented each other. For my part, I expect an e-posting any day suggesting both were invented by Pnin. Why […] must anyone other than the author have perforce invented anyone, even within the macrocosm of the book? And why not, while we're at it, override the Bogomil catharses by positing that both God and the Devil were invented by Man, and throw in the Earth and the Universe for good measure? Of course such a Weltanschauung would bear a separate, obsolescent buzzname, as we all know.

It is possible, of course, that Father might have perused the more brilliant [“arguments”], rubbed his chin between thumb and index, then perhaps pursed his lips as he sometimes did in mock chagrin, and said “Maybe I didn't realize it and they're right.”

But it remains dangerous to take VN’s chance, or planted, clues at face value. Many of his writings – among them, in particular, he said, was INVITATION TO A BEHEADING – contain enigmas with no simple or single explanations. In the case of PALE FIRE, I suggest paying particular attention to the most poetic – and Shakespearean – sense of the word “shade,” as well as to the surviving fragments of the unfinished SOLUS REX, which in large part represented the genesis of PALE FIRE and would have been Father's last Russian novel had not, as he told me, inspiration been interrupted by emigration (from wartime France). A translucing othersense and otherworld (concepts understood in depth by some, uncomprehended and used unidimensionally by others) are perhaps the most entrancing, enchanting and exciting traits of Nabokov’s work. Maybe a prerequisite for reading him should be Eschewing Reduction to Pat and Flat 101.

— Dmitri Nabokov’s response to the numerous theories as to whom is Pale Fire’s “real” author – Shadean vs Kinbotean & all other cleverly worked out guesses besides, etc.; this filial contribution also contains a charming anecdotal nugget about VN’s own response to the debate when it raged after Pale Fire’s 1962 publication!

#dmitri nabokov #vladimir nabokov #pale fire

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juniawrites · 2 years

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Junia's Journey-Where to? I

As my recent post have been leading up to the present, the question now is, where do I want to go. And why do I want to go, where I want to go?

In this post, i want to limit myself to clothing, interior design, make up and the likes. I shall debate bodily changes in a different post.

As I already mentioned in a different post, when I was a child I saw an advertisement of Cameron Diaz in a pink see through dress, and thought to myself- when I grow up, I want to have a dress just like her. And now, to my great pleasure, I can anounce, that I have.

Ever since my coming out, my color palette has changed drastically. While I was in the closet, I wore next to no colors, mostly black and white, and dark blue. Now that has changed, my main go to colors are green and pink, and some times different shades of red/organe. I love it so much. I have a hard time expressing my euphoria, because all my life, I have been surpressing these desires. I aspire to be a bimbo. I want to wear pink dresses, skirts, I want to have revealing dresses. I want to wear nail polish every day. In short, I want to be very feminine. In all aspects of life. When I sleep I want to sleep in a cute night gown or negligee.

When I go to work, I want to wear a dress suit or a pant suit, if pink doesn't look nice there, I will have to choose a different color.

When I am with friends I want to wear a cute skirt and a blouse or a dress. In the summer time, I want to wear a summer dress showing off my long legs. When I go swimming, I want to a one piece suit and a bikini for chilling at the pool. When I do sports I want to have cute leggins and a fitting top.

I also like wearing make up, eyeshadow, mascara, highlighter, lipstick. I don't quite know yet how to use foundation properly.

But I guess after this lookbook you get the message, I really crave being feminine and being percieved as such. Which is really the whole reason, why I would like to invest in such a wardrobe, I want to ensure, that what ever situation I am in my life, I feel feminine and am seen as feminine. No matter where I am be it at the yoga studio, in the office or on the street, people should think, thats a woman, like so obviously a woman. I want to think like that about myself.

This should also be reflected in the interior design of my flat. The natural question is, what makes a flat feminine, why has any flat ever been feminine. I debated this with my wife, it was easier to agree on what made a flat "male", their are two archetypes of male interior designs. There is the I don't give a fuck, there is one shitty table with two uncomfortable chairs and a bed with out bed covers. The other is this Bauhaus "function over form" paradigm of design . Hence, ex negativo, we decided that we should paint our walls in pink and green. Repaint some pieces furniture, buy new bed sheets, buy new mirrors, decorate more, with pictures, maybe more plants etc.

The Bauhaus dichotomy "function" vs "form" really cuts to the core of the what percieves to be the main difference between men and women and this is also obvious in the clothing I chose to display. The night gown has ruffles, Cameron Diaz' dress is to short and thin to provide either warmth or protection, a skirt is less practical than pants. Make Up is completly "form" and no "function". The yoga outfit I proposed is also adorned with colors. Colors in general a seen as decoration and not as a part of function if not for colors like red which are supposed to warn you.

The "no thoughts just vibes slogan" of a bimbo than ultimately boils down to this-reject funtion completly, be form and enjoy it, stick a finger to patriarchy of necessities, discipline and hardship.

But isn't form a function? Doesn't applying make up every morning need discipline? Of course ! Our mode of thinking about gender is just one possible mode of thinking about it, there are other possibilities. But for the time being, I shall enjoy being firmly entrenchend in this thinking and encasing myself in silk, lace and satin, to finally be the woman, that I was also meant to be.

#trans women #transgender #bimbolife #dollcore #pinkcore

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donovanhglc082 · 2 years

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The Sims 3 vs The Sims 4 - which is much better?

The dispute over The Sims 3 vs The Sims 4 and also which is much better is a story as old as time ... or the last seven years, at least. The Sims 3 released back in 2009 as well as The Sims 4 got here 5 years later on, so you would certainly believe it would certainly be hands-down that The Sims 4 would take the crown by being the shinier, more recent model, right? Nope. The Sims neighborhood has a split point of view on which one preponderates with some significant differences in between the two games.

We're lining them up against each other and putting The Sims 3 and also The Sims 4 to the best examination, fighting them out on their distinctions to see which one is much better, or at the very least developing a list which will certainly assist you choose. Sure, The Sims 4 is statistically the very popular as well as longest-running of the life sim franchise business but with each video game has actually come something a little different as well as we intend to resolve a few of those solid points around gameplay, graphics, and also features below.

The Sims 3 has a smooth open globe yet The Sims 4 has faster loading

Sims 3 vs Sims 4

( Image credit report: EA).

We'll begin right here due to the fact that it is without a doubt one of the most contentious point of The Sims 3 versus The Sims 4 debate. EA excited gamers when it introduced the capability to avoid filling displays when circumnavigating in The Sims 3. The open world technician made the video game a lot more smooth than its predecessors by permitting your Sims to relocate from lot to great deal, area to area, like it was all one, huge linked world. Fancy standing out next door without staring at a rotating Plumbob? Sure, The Sims 3 has you arranged. You can also control your Sim when they're not on a whole lot. Its successor, The Sims 4, eliminated it.

Whilst The Sims 3 has that seamless nature of taking a trip between areas, it comes at a cost. The Sims 4 overall runs quicker and as a result has much shorter loading screens anyway.

The Sims 3 has Produce a Design but The Sims 4 has Create a Sim.

sims 4 produce a sim.

( Image credit report: EA).

Successive, The Sims 3 is commended for its Develop a Design, also known as CAS, that allows for a level of customisation that had not been seen in The Sims franchise prior to. You can alter nearly anything, like your Sims furniture or their garments, making it exactly just how you want. From shades to structures, for the players around who love making their Sims world their own, this is and constantly will certainly be a huge hit.

In The Sims 4 though, it's CAS once more, however this time around it's Create a Sim. Whilst The Sims 4 got rid of the customization of Produce a Style seen in The Sims 3, they did update the way you can make your Sim appearance. Up until this factor, Sims just had modification with sliders changing different and also minimal functions. In The Sims 4, you can make your Sims far more practical by just clicking and dragging factors of change from their head to their body. You can also transform the method they stroll.

The Sims 3 has limitless great deals however The Sims 4 has smoother gameplay.

Sims 3 vs Sims 4.

( Picture credit rating: EA).

In The Sims 3, you can position all kind of great deal dimensions throughout the world any place they fit on a flat story of vacuum. You can additionally change the land surface to make it ideal for a great deal to stand out down onto it. In The Sims 4, the great deal placement is particularly allotted and also you only have a lot of free spaces to select from. Which leads us to The Sims 3's bountiful offering of 170 lots to select from and fill (if you want!). In The Sims 4, the most significant world is presently San Myshuno from The Sims 4: City Coping with 30 lots. 170 lots will really include weight to the video game though depending on just how you play.

Thankfully, as you may anticipate from a more recent game, what The Sims 4 lacks in whole lot area it offsets in its capacity to run more efficiently, as well as with more security than its predecessor. Whilst The Sims 3 has the open globe, as we have actually previously pointed out, sometimes that includes a cost of slower handling as well as glitches. It's no surprise actually that a game that appeared later would certainly have access to a brand-new game engine and it does.

The Sims 3 has tale development but The Sims 4 has SmartSim.

Sims 3 vs Sims 4.

( Image credit: EA).

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The Sims 3 presented the ability for the rest of the families in your area to continue regarding their lives when you were having fun with your energetic family. This suggested that if you after that went back to a household, life had transformed because you were last there. They could have got a work or had a kid. It's something that is presently just offered as a mod for The Sims 4 which informs you that it's something the gamers want.

The Sims 4 sought rather to focus on enhancing each Sims feeling and also individuality by presenting SmartSim, the ability for Sims to be affected by their surroundings. As an example, the style you choose to put in an area can have a genuine result on just how your Sim feels. Similar to the state of mind gameplay function of previous Sims, emotions enable a Sim to be much more quickly affected by in-game occasions and also social communications creating a more realistic gameplay experience.

The Sims 3 has cars but The Sims 3 has structured construct as well as buy.

Sims 3 vs Sims 4.

( Picture credit history: EA).

Automobiles were introduced in The Sims 2 permitting players to drive and own their own flight to ensure that they can circumnavigate. In The Sims 3 though, it's said that it's the very best they have actually incorporated automobiles and also other transportation into the Sims universe with more to select from and even more methods to connect with them. In The Sims 4, they're simply decorative products you can place outdoors your residence but not get in.

While not directly related, The Sims 4 has actually introduced a much more streamlined, easily accessible develop and purchase setting, integrating the 2 settings which were separate before. In The Sims 3, the Gallery isn't the easiest to access or search through and in The Sims 4 they have actually included a Gallery switch as well as maximizing scribd.com/document/536229242/44049PSA-You-can-obtain-Sims-4-for-FREE-on-your-laptop-computer-or-PC-now the search performance.

The Sims 3 vs. The Sims 4 - which one has far better growth packs?

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Sims 3 vs Sims 4.

( Photo debt: EA).

They've both obtained 11 to select from with The Sims 4's newest web content release, The Sims 4: Home Living, looking to breathe new life into the video game. It's also worth keeping in mind that The Sims 3 perhaps had the ideal first offering at base level. When The Sims 4 initially came out, it did not have essential products like swimming pools and the toddler phase of youth.

Which is better out of the Sims 3 as well as Sims 4?

Sims 3 vs Sims 4.

( Photo credit score: EA).

If you're looking for a gameplay experience with a plethora of personality option and customization, after that The Sims 3 is for you. If you're looking for Sim-specific personalization, a growth of feeling, and a smoother, faster running game, after that top sims 4 child mods The Sims 4 is your go-to.

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Naturally, we're waiting for The Sims 5 to show up and then we'll have a whole new dispute to address. For now, if you have an interest in looking extra into The Sims 5, we have actually put together our ultimate The Sims 5 wishlist of things we're wanting to see in the most recent installment, when it lastly shows up. You may identify a couple of from The Sims 3 ...

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sol1056 · 6 years

Link

Concise and thorough summary about dark (gritty, grimdark, etc) stories, but I wanted to highlight this part in particular:

Moral dilemmas are what dark stories are made of. Sometimes there isn’t a good solution, and the only options are various shades of bad. Audiences thrive on confronting difficult questions, and storytellers are happy to provide them. Except all too often, storytellers are actually taking an easy question and pretending it’s difficult.

False moral dilemmas have two big problems. First, they are obviously contrived. Anyone who stops to analyze a false dilemma will realize that the story is based on a lie, which destroys emotional investment.

The problem is that straight-up stories of good-vs-evil, where the bad guys always wear black hats and the good guys never lie and everyone ends up happy... are really boring. Writers introduce conflict because the alternate is a flat story; a moral dilemma can make for a complex story with a huge amount of emotional heft even without character death.

But if the story is fixed on good-vs-evil, the dilemma has to come from something else: which good, among many options.

I’d say Lord of the Rings is a solid example of a well-done good-vs-evil story, and a lot of that is because the various protagonists all have different agendas. Some aren’t aware, some are but don’t care, and others are aware and doing everything they can to stop it. Half the time, an obstacle in LotR doesn’t even come from Sauron, it comes from so-called allies getting in the way because their agendas mean they have a different goal, or they have the same goal but disagree on how to get there.

For that matter, a fave mecha trope is when allies (or potential allies) end up on different sides of a battle. The emotional heft lies in each character having a sympathetic perspective and understandable agenda, yet the combination of those plus intel, personal experience, other allies, etc, divides them. It can be agonizing; boy, these two would get along great but because of this position or that agenda, they’ve taken up arms against each other.

The clearly evil genocidal megalomaniac (whether this is Kazundo Gohda, Dewey Novak, Muruta Azrael, Nobliss Gordon, or whomever is this week’s iteration) doesn’t really have to do a thing except continue being evil at stage left. Which is to say, it’s not actually necessary to give Zarkon (or Haggar) a motivation beyond, well, being evil. But if that’s how you’re setting it up, then you really do have a simple story that amounts to ‘good guys get strong enough to beat the obviously bad guys.’ There’s no doubt, there’s not even really any conflict. A lot of plot, possibly, but not a lot of actual conflict.

One maneuver you can do with multiple ‘good’ choices is that the protagonists can change, as a result of those intra-protagonist conflicts. A character might start by saying, “it’s obvious we just need to do X”, and before this has even been tested against the bad guy, another character’s choice of Y can result in a clash, with the protagonist’s choice ‘losing’, and the protagonist adjusts, learns, modifies their position. In other words, the protagonists can act as antagonists to each other, in the absence of a villain who mostly just, well, sits over there being evil.

This is why I get so frustrated with VLD, because it’s skipped this aspect, too. There are no factions. There are no rebels who want X while others want Y. There are no debates over using a massive giant robot, or whether this is the best approach. There’s no table-pounding from characters who are equally right, just seeing it in opposition. There’s no setup for potential allies to be at each other’s throats. Could I get some conflict on aisle 7, please.

In the absence of legitimate, differing approaches, the story has fallen back on the most boring of all: the protagonists having to do duty as their own antagonist. Lance’s insecurity, Keith’s fear of rejection, Allura’s doubts, etc. The characters aren’t held back because they’ve slammed up against a ‘good’ character with a different approach, they’re only and completely held back by their own internal demons. If that’s the entirety of the story’s conflicts, the risk is an audience yelling at the screen for the characters to grow up, grow a spine, and get the hell on with things already.

#voltron legendary defender #voltron meta #writing #conflict #voltron critical

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youwillfindplasmasfluidmotionand · 3 years

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pass-the-bechdel · 6 years

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Supergirl s02e16 ‘Star Crossed (1)’

Does it pass the Bechdel Test?

Yes, twice. Barely.

How many female characters (with names and lines) are there?

Five (41.66% of cast).

How many male characters (with names and lines) are there?

Seven.

Positive Content Rating:

Three? I guess.

General Episode Quality:

Nevermind, they’re back to stupid. So, so stupid.

MORE INFO (and potential spoilers) UNDER THE CUT:

Passing the Bechdel:

Kara passes with Rhea when they meet. They speak again later. There’s a lot of Mon-El involved both times, but they get there eventually.

Female characters:

Kara Danvers.

Alex Danvers.

Lyra.

Rhea.

Maggie Sawyer.

Male characters:

Mon-El.

J’onn J’onzz.

Winn Schott.

Lar.

James Olsen.

Boris.

Mandrax.

OTHER NOTES:

“To make Daxom great again.” Oh, no.

Ok. That flashback. I have mentioned before, how disturbed I am to find that the original confrontation of Kara’s prejudices towards Daxom have since been shown as actual deserved disdain, and how Daxom being actually exactly as bad as she said (to a caricaturish level) undermines Kara’s supposed lesson as well as treating Krypton as holier-than-thou despite all the huge flaws in its culture that have been made so evident, creating this huge us-vs-them divide with a really clear ‘good side’ and ‘bad side’ and absolutely zero nuance, etc. The flashback to Mon-El’s departure from Daxom as it actually happened does no favours to any aspect of the narrative: Mon-El is shown as hesitant and concerned for the safety of others in defiance of the prevailing Daxomite attitude, because the show is too afraid of the audience backlash if they show him being truly callous instead of just passively allowing it, while at the same time the narrative gives no quarter for Daxom and its people as a whole despite their undeserved fates. We are supposed to see Mon-El’s guard and think him awful, but what do we expect any ‘good’ guard to do? Maybe not kill that one guy, but the rest, with the ignoring everyone else in order to focus on rescuing the person he’s pledged to protect? Even killing the Kryptonian makes sense (is not morally ok, but makes sense) in the context of being exactly the kind of targeted violence that happens in the real world when people are ‘othered’. The coding of the behaviour is so transparent it’s disgusting, and coupled with that not-even-veiled MAGA line just before? Daxom’s Republicans to Krypton’s Democrats is a pretty fucking gross parallel to draw. I am very disappointed in the show for all of this garbage.

Remember when I fucking flagged Lyra as using Winn for her own ends the second she stepped on screen? Fucking flagged it.

This is a much better Hamilton joke right here than the one a few episodes ago, but that one a few episodes ago was still too much, and that steps on this, because, really? Two sizeable Hamilton gags with only a couple of episodes between them? You’re trying WAY too hard to be current, show. It’s embarrassing.

Uurrrgghhh, and now we’re doing the ‘oh actually Lyra had a good reason for being terrible!’ thing? This shit is so predictable and empty and I am so over it. Remember one episode ago when this show was momentarily good again?

Is Guardian fighting in a fucking glass factory or what? So many glass panes to be thrown through.

So, we pretending that Lyra’s lie and Mon-El’s lie are the same? Just ‘they lied’ is not a parallel, show. These are not comparable situations.

See, Mon-El says in his apology that ‘I was a spoiled, useless person, but I didn’t know’, and that’s a big part of what is making this whole storyline, all season long, so poor. The total lack of nuance in Daxom. The clear-cut morality of Kryptonians which, also, lacks the nuance of reality. If Mon-El was raised in that life, how much opportunity did he have for seeing the flaws in it and recognising them as such? We have no concept of his level of self-awareness, and refusing to allow people room to grow is not how you achieve progress. At the same time, Mon-El’s process of self-improvement on Earth has been so paint-by-numbers simple, it’s hard to take it seriously. If he’s found changing so easy, how entrenched were those ‘spoiled, useless’ teachings that made up his entire formative existence? Real people take years to overcome such things, not least because when it’s a commonplace feature of how you were raised, it’s hard to recognise that there’s even a problem, let alone dismantle the rationale in your own mind that has allowed you to be unthinkingly complicit. Expecting Mon-El to change like flipping a coin is unfair; blaming him for the circumstances of his birth is unfair; telling this story in the way that they have, with his self-awareness and capacity for immediate total overhaul not just of personality but of ideals apparently uninhibited and detailed with only the slightest of backslides? Utterly unrealistic. What should have been a long, hard journey of self-reflection, questioning, and honestly ugly behaviour has instead been casual comic relief and romantic faux pas, and that’s so insulting. I can’t support Mon-El as a character because I can’t support the ill-constructed narrative that made him; in basic terms, he doesn’t make enough sense. He’s too unrealistic to function.

URGH. This is such a fucking mess I am annoyed at myself for even trying to untangle it. That kinda happens when you’re trying to over-simplify your storytelling to this extent: the break from reality is too intense, and you end up with a heap of confusion that your audience can’t figure out how to engage with on a meaningful level. In university, the single most important word I learned was ‘ethnocentricity’ - the belief that your own culture/background is inherently superior to all others. On the surface level, this is plain ol’ racism - and can be many other ‘isms as well, as cultural background shapes our perceptions of gender, sexuality, religion, etc. Looking deeper, we see ethnocentricity manifest when we assume that our social or moral codes are automatically the correct ones, without pausing to question where we got those codes from, and whether or not, actually, there might be better ways to do things. I actually debated this directly, back in 2016 when two Australian men were executed in Indonesia for drug smuggling, and the debate over the morality of the death penalty was rife throughout the country. I’m not going to get into that debate again here, but as an example of ethnocentricism, it was a case in which a lot of Australians flat refused to acknowledge the possibility that just because another country has different laws which conflict with our way of doing things, doesn’t necessarily mean that the people of that country are corrupt, lesser beings with an under-developed sense of morality which we need to step in and correct. Different ways of doing things can be shocking to our sensibilities at first blush, but we have to think about why they are that way and how the backdrop of that logic informs the constructs we see, before we pass high-and-mighty judgment over others.

Supergirl’s Daxom narrative is a perfect example of ethnocentricism at work, with zero reflection: Kara is right, Mon-El is wrong, this cultural division is all-encompassing and without exception, the end. To be clear: I’m not suggesting that there’s a way to argue for, say, slavery being ok, but what there is is nuance to how people reach such a conclusion, and if we refuse to engage with the nuance we can’t engage with cultural learning, sharing, or understanding, and that’s how you end up with blank hostility instead of working towards more positive futures. Something being ‘obviously morally correct’ is (as evidenced through the entirety of human history) not enough to change systemic issues outright; if it were, the systemic issues wouldn’t have developed in the first place. Supergirl has run into trouble here because it’s trying to be topical, addressing the divisions in current US politics, but it also doesn’t want to actually have a nuanced conversation about the subject, and so instead we get heavy-handed black-and-white morality that only alienates the two sides instead of identifying common ground and building upon it to bridge the gap. Moreover, the show cripples its ability to explore these concepts in a better, more thorough way in the future, because it refuses to commit to the shades of grey in its situation and instead builds a two-camps concept in which any dithering or olive-branching between the two looks like ideological compromise and moral degradation instead of the complicated and painful process of learning that it represents in the real world.

The truth is that as nice as it is to sit on your moral high horse feeling pure and special while everyone else scrabbles on the muddy ground, you can’t understand the people down below and you certainly can’t help them unless you’re willing to hop down and work through the mud as well, and what use is ideological purity if you’re the only one who benefits from it? That doesn’t mean that we should all start behaving in ways that conflict with our moral compass because, hey, some people are bigots, but it does mean recognising that we are all in a process of self-improvement and if you’re not at least open to the possibility that your way of doing things isn’t the best way, you can’t progress yourself, nor does treating others with condescension help bring them to your way of thinking or at least to a middle ground from which you can proceed together. That’s all a much messier and trickier prospect than what this show wants to deal with, and yet it’s exactly the story they’ve blundered into the middle of with the ridiculous notion that they’re gonna be able to clear-cut their way out. Mon-El’s process should involve a lot of questions: not ‘this thing is correct because obviously it is’ or ‘this thing is correct because Kara says so’, but rather ‘I’m being told that my way is wrong: why? Why is it wrong? Why was I taught that it was right? In what ways has my belief in the correctness of this thing influenced my perceptions of other things? Is it possible that this thing I believe actually is right, and Kara is wrong? Why should her perspective be infallible? What are the consequences of either possibility? Does that jive with the rest of my understanding of the world? What else is altered by this change? Are these alterations also correct?’ and so on, and so on, ad nauseum. Exhausting, repetitive, and complicated, yes, but that’s the reality (not least because he’s supposed to be a literal alien from another planet, but, whatever). At first, I thought it was stupid of them to introduce Mon-El without bothering to spend time on his integration into Earth culture outside of a handful of gimmicks; now I see that it’s much worse than that. I don’t expect this whole arc to end well; I only hope that it ends quickly.

#Supergirl #Supergirl season two #Bechdel Test #female representation #Star Crossed (1)

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