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fyeahtxt · 5 years

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Inside Tomorrow X Together's Debut Showcase in Seoul: 'We're Really Thankful We've Had This Great Reaction'

"We don't think we're deserving to be called BTS' little brother," TXT leader Soobin told local media. "We'll work harder."

March 5 would have just been a normal day in the K-pop industry with a new boy band set to meet the media at their debut showcase, except for the fact that it was no normal group about to make its first appearance.

Less than 24 hours after sharing their debut single with the world, Tomorrow X Together was making their first-ever media appearance to meet international press, perform their song "Crown" and share a bit more about themselves. As was announced multiple times throughout the conference, Tomorrow X Together -- also known as TXT -- was the "first idol group from Big Hit Entertainment in six years" marking the biggest artistic addition to the company since BTS' debut in 2013. Before and after the showcase, those familiar with the K-pop scene chatted about the large number of reporters in attendance, the band's already huge YouTube numbers on the "Crown" video, as well the fact that English-speaking interpreters were on hand to translate for international media in attendance (including Billboard).

Taking place at YES24 Live Hall in Seoul, the location had a particular sentimental significance as the venue was the location where BTS held their first-ever concert when it was known as AX-Korea. If just from the symbolism between the venues, Big Hit Entertainment's interest and standing in the industry has undoubtedly swelled, never mind the humongous posters draping the building and curious fans in school uniforms buzzing around once the showcase ended.

With how many genre barriers both BTS and Big Hit has broken in the global music industry, TXT's first moments with the media were undoubtedly K-pop. Members Soobin, Yeonjun, Beomgyu, Taehyun and Hueningkai approached the stage individually, introducing themselves by posing for photos and sharing their own unique pose -- with youngest members Taehyun and Hueningkai delivering overly adorable poses. Each member had his own tagline as Beomgyu was introduced as "the life of the party" and emphasized that he can speak in the local accent of Daegu (a fun thing for stars to share during variety show appearances on Korean TV), Soobin emphasized his ability to be supportive to his fellow members, and Hueningkai shared how "his charm is cuteness." With a nervous-but-excited energy, each member spoke with gusto, making sure to introduce themselves individually every time he spoke, thank each reporter upon every single question, and bow several times throughout the showcase.

"They look tense," the MC for the event told reporters. "But you can see their passion. They may be nervous, but please encourage them. I met them a little before the event and I could see they're a little nervous about whether they'd be able to put on a good performance."

But despite how nervous and formal TXT treated the event, their passion was on display at all moments when cameras were and weren't on them. While Soobin was delivering one last pose for photographers, Taehyun happily danced to the group's "Crown" single off to the side of the stage as it played in the background. Taehyun and his band mates would all get the chance to dance for the crowd with the first public performance of "Crown" showing off the playful and athletic choreography that included intricate formations and lifts.

During the Q&A portion of the conference, Tomorrow X Together expanded on overall themes of their group including the team name's meaning (Yeonjun said "Tomorrow X Together means you and I have come together in pursuit of one dream"), the story behind their EP's title The Dream Chapter: Star ("When you are young in adolescence, you feel like you can't do things but when you meet other people you can," explained Soobin, adding "this is a story about meeting new people") and name of their debut single ("I'm sure everyone was confused, but it's about growing pains in adolescence," Taehyun said in reference of the single's Korean title which essentially translates to "The Day Horns Grew Out of My Head").

During the reporter Q&As, TXT expanded on several lurking questions including their connection to older brother group BTS. "We really look up to them," Yeonjun explained when asked how they reacted to their seniors sharing encouraging words to the media on TXT's debut. "They work around the world, so we can't meet them very often. We saw on TV what they said, we were doing a recording, and we were watching the red carpet and [we saw that]. It's a global stage when they speak, we were obviously very moved."

Soobin further talked about how TXT first becoming known as BTS' younger brother band. "That title, or what people say about us, I think it's an honor to be the little brothers of BTS," he said. "I don't think we're deserving to be the younger brother of BTS...we'll work harder." Meanwhile, Hueningkai recognized that the initial struggle BTS had in their early years inspires this new group. "Obviously, we were able to witness the great things from our older brother BTS," the 16-year-old shared. "They struggled at the beginning and that really inspires us."

TXT also spoke about a noted difference between themselves and BTS as the five members were not involved in the writing or production of their first EP, a trait that BTS has maintained since their debut. "Unfortunately, we were not able to participate directly with the lyrics," Beomgyu explained, before adding that Yeonjun did create the group's signature pose. Still, the boys shared that songs like "Cat & Dog" showcase their personal love of hip-hop, specifically mumble rap, and that Beomgyu and Hueningkai were working on their own music very hard and that when they are "more proficient" they would like to participate in the writing and production process.

The group spotlighted how the overall message of The Dream Chapter: Star relates to their personal experiences. Beomgyu said, "When I became a part the company [Big Hit] and met the members, I was able to deal with a lot of things that were bothering me and that helped me overcome my growing pains" as Taehyun shared how "we all connected music as adolescents."

When it came to advice from their seniors, TXT explained both BTS and Big Hit Entertainment CEO 'Hitman' Bang shared key words of wisdom. "Mr. Bang told us that practice is how you build your confidence," Soobin said. "[He told us], 'If you practice hard, you'll figure out why practice is so important.'" The BTS boys further emphasized practice as Soobin added, that "they told us they also practiced very hard for their stages and their performances" helping both the band and their company become renowned for their live shows. Hueningkai commented "They also emphasized teamwork -- always think about the value and importance of the team," a sentiment echoed by Beomgyu later in the conference when he said BTS told them how "we are team, we're always watching you, we're always encouraging you."

But among the nerves and the excitement in the room, Tomorrow X Together's biggest takeaway seemed to be wanting to spend their hour with the media by showing their gratitude and ambition.

"The fact that we're here with our debut is amazing and we're really thankful that we've had this great reaction," Taehyun reflected. "We're really surprised, we think it's a little too much…we would like to thank the fans who have waited, the members of the Big Hit family who have worked so hard and thank you to the media and photographers here." One of Soobin's last thoughts came in him saying, "I'm thankful that people are calling for us. I know we have so many things to do, we're just starting out, we're still need a lot of practice. We hope to be a TXT that meets high expectations," with the band sharing hopes to perform overseas soon. As they made their way around the concert hall to quickly greet the media in attendance before being whisked away to a showcase for fans starting hours later, that same focused, excited energy remained high in the room as reporters rushed to publish photos and articles, likely confirming their suspicions that Tomorrow X Together is K-pop's next global player.

— Billboard

#txt #tomorrow x together #t: article #t: billboard #190312

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pandoramsbox · 5 years

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Game for Gaming: Lost Sphear

Game: Lost Sphear (Tokyo RPG Factory and Square-Enix; Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows; 2018)

System: Nintendo Switch

Why this game?

Were I to make a list of my all time favorite video games, Square Enix, or as it was previously know Square or Squaresoft, turn based, Japanese role playing games (JRPGs) from the SNES era would factor heavily; namely, “Final Fantasy VI” (or III, in its original US SNES release), “Chrono Trigger,” and “Secret of Mana.” Not surprisingly, when I saw a trailer for the 2017 Switch release of Tokyo RPG Factory and Square-Enix’s homage to this era of gaming, “I Am Setsuna”, I wanted to play it.

Nostalgia definitely clouds my comparison of “I Am Setsuna” to “Chrono Trigger,” the game it most closely resembles in terms of battle and equipment system. Beautiful graphics and music, interesting story and engaging gameplay make “I Am Setsuna” a fine turn based JRPG in the mold of the games that inspired it. "I Am Setsuna” is not one of my favorite games ever, but I enjoyed playing it, would play it again, and do recommend it. As soon as I finished it, or neared finishing it, I wondered if Tokyo RPG Factory was going to come out with a follow up, and as fate would have it they did, and it was about to come out: “Lost Sphear.”

When “Lost Sphear” was released in North American in January of last year though, I didn’t rush out to get it or play it. The reason was two fold: my (still relatively new at the time) job was extremely busy and gaming wise I was completely transfixed by “Fire Emblem Warriors.” “Why spend money on a game I wasn’t going to sit down and play?” I figured. Then come November, and a sale, it made sense to buy it so I had it when I was ready to play it... Then I promptly became obsessed with “Tetris Effect.”

Like many working adults, I have found that finding time to play story heavy games is hard. As a result, I am more apt to favor games that are more action, less talking.

So my first game in this series was a game that I had never given a fair play to, thus I decided to follow it up with a game I wanted to play, but had wound up forgotten in my backlog.

My playtime: approximately 5 hours:

With RPGs, or any games that were cut scene or tutorial heavy, I knew I would need to give the game at least 3 hours. I got into “Lost Sphear” to the point where I gave it closer to 5.

The game opens with a cut scene/plot battle in the ancient past, which turns out to be the reoccurring dream of the protagonist, Kanata. From there, in the grand tradition of most RPGs and fantasy stories, you round up the characters that will make up your starting adventuring party. Sword using Kanata is joined by pugilist Lumina and sniper Locke. The 3 teenage friends are orphans being raised by the village elder, and part of their chores includes defending the town from encroaching monsters and fishing.

After some expository dialogue, getting the sense of the town, and getting a combat tutorial, the party leaves the village on its first mini mission, to go catch a fish. However, when they return, they discover a white void has absorbed and erased their home, along with anyone who was there.

As they attempt to make sense of what happened, they are joined by a mysterious, Goth guy in a long coat whom goes by “Van,” and fights with beam shooting knives. Together they go find shelter for the night at a cabin in the mountains, and while they sleep Kanata has an info dump dream that breaks down the core plot of the game: to recapture what has been “lost” with the power of memories.

Thus the party has to go around and collect memories, which Kanata has the power to manifest into stones/compacted mass/crystals and use to recover the places, people and things that have been lost to the white void.

After saving the village and getting recruited by a representative from the empire to help combat this phenomenon, which is causing havoc throughout the world, Kanata and comrades discover additional nuances to his powers, including the ability to create new things that give boosts in combat.

I played far enough to discover that the game mechanics of collecting ingredients to make food, which also give combat boosts, and magic/special abilities being contingent upon equipping items called spritnite, were carried over from “I Am Setsuna.”

So “Lost Sphear” had a limited learning curve for me, and I was able to spend more time enjoying than mastering new game mechanics. Even if I had not played “I Am Setsuna,” like most games of recent generation, the game is good about succinctly providing tutorials on game mechanics. However, at the point I stopped playing, before writing this post, I had only barely unlocked, thus barely begun to understand, the magical, steam punky vector suits, which are unique to this game.

Conclusions:

Obviously, I like “Lost Sphear,” and will be playing more of it, if I put in more time than what I deemed the minimum requirement to write a post on it. However, as engaged and pleased as I am with it, in the time I played it, I cannot see it overtaking “I Am Setsuna,” or the 1990s SquareSoft SNES games, in my esteem in terms of dialogue, and possibly characters, for me.

The dialogue is simplistic and repetitive. Even keeping in mind that the reading level should be written so as to be accessible to a wide audience, and the fact that it was translated to English from Japanese, the dialogue still comes across as weak relative to other JRPGs I’ve played, including “I Am Setsuna.” It is not simplistically bad in the fun way, like the famous “spoony bard” line from the first English translation of “Final Fantasy IV” (or II, in its original US SNES release). However, the game gives you the option of rewinding or fast forwarding dialogue, which is pretty useful and something that would have been really handy in the preceding games that inspired this one.

Still, slogging through the info dumps on what the game defines as memories and what they do is both tedious and simiotically draining.

In terms of the characters, they’re stock archetypes, and that’s not necessarily bad. Kanata is the pure hearted hero. Lumina is the, at times temperamental, big sister. Locke is the precocious kid who shoots his mouth off, and hates being called out on his inexperience and shortcomings. Van is the blunt expert with a secret. The personality dynamic in the group is good, actually. I am not overly attached to any of the characters though. In fact, I am mostly just offended that the character who is the source of the most repetitive dialogue, and is basically a bratty little kid, shares a name with the romantic thief, I mean “treasure hunter,” from “Final Fantasy VI.”

Really though, the use of archetypical characters in genre and pulp narratives is something I can readily forgive. Sometimes the narrative goes in ways that subvert the archetypes, and sometimes the characters get fleshed out enough to render them into a more unique personality. Only 5 hours of gameplay in, it’s hard to fully assess what may become of the characters in “Lost Sphear.”

In terms of more positive aspects of “Lost Sphear,” it did improve on “I Am Setsuna” in terms of game mechanics. Unlike its spiritual predecessor, inns are available to heal the party. This standard of JRPGs was absent from “I Am Setsuna” and it was extremely inconvenient. Money is no longer as hard or convoluted to come by in “Lost Sphear,” which likely goes hand in hand with inns being part of the game.

In combat, since the combatants move around the battlefield, it is possible to hit more than one party member or monster. In “I Am Setsuna” this mechanic was incidental and could be optimized for maximum impact with practice. In “Lost Sphear,” they introduce the mechanic early on, and let the player see what monsters are being targeted.

This multiple target mechanic warms my tactical and strategy loving heart! And kudos for the listing the button functions at the bottom of the screen; you can either ignore them, or refer to them if you need a refresher.

While the active combat style requires full attention while playing (as it should), I found exploring the different locations and world map peaceful and relaxing. The color palate is warm and the score perfectly accents the scenes. I genuinely like this gaming environment.

For fans of SquareSoft JRPGs from the 1990s, Tokyo RPG Factory games will appeal to your genre sensibilities. It soothes and panders rather than challenges, but sometimes that is exactly the kind of media you want and need, and that’s okay. Frankly, I think it’s cool that the styles and aesthetics of these games can be retranslated with new technology to reach new audiences, while attracting longtime or lapsed fans. It’s something mainstream Hollywood cinema has done for decades, and enables more texts for genre and narrative studies. Plus, you know, it’s just fun.

#game for gaming #video games #videogames #lost sphear

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drsallygrissom · 6 years

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Why We Love ars PARADOXICA

Back in 2016, the fandom made a list of 43 reasons why we love ars PARADOXICA in honor of the 73rd anniversary of Dr. Sally Grissom’s first audio diary on October 29, 1943. When I learned that the podcast was going to end after its third season, I decided to pull together another list that was double the length of the first.

However, the fandom was so passionate that we blew past our goal, and reached triple the length of the original list!

Without further ado, here are the 129 of the reasons why we love ars PARADOXICA:

Helen Partridge, my beautiful, beautiful wife

I just love Kristen’s laugh and it never fails to make me smile.

Mischa’s outros! “Brought to you by the internet:”

The TimeSwimmers episode. That whole thing was a masterpiece

Sally and Nikhil's friendship

Petra, my sassy troubled daughter

The effort that went into making such a truly unique and ambitious take on time travel-based fiction

Sally, my favorite disaster ace

All of the characters are just so beautifully flawed in their own ways and are so well depicted it’s hard to pick a favorite

Every episode makes me feel SO MANY EMOTIONS

The sound effects are just so well done that I feel like I’m right there with the characters

The subtle yet mind blowing foreshadowing

The way it endlessly inspires me to create fan content

The decryption team, who I don't understand yet love to watch unravel codes

The ability to make us both love and hate a character at the same time as much as we do Esther Roberts.

Jack Wyatt

The sass, and in general wonderful interactions with the fan base on social media.

The schoolyard brawl!

Very obviously not being afraid to have fun with ads/sponsored content.

Actually making me want to listen to the version with ads even though I'm a patron

Buttsticks…

Plasticity

The outro music is simple but so, so good

Lemon drops and Limestone

My curiosity about what Esther wrote in the letter

Golden boi and his devils lettuce

With three episodes left it felt like there was so much story left to be told and such little time to tell it

The generosity to keep us entertained between seasons

The subtle symbolism of Esther's mind being represented with card games

The heart-wrenching ups and downs of Esther and Bridget's relationship

Esther and Sally’s lesbian/aroace solidarity

Bridget, my mom

Sally's #relatable ace anxieties and Nikhil's comforting response

The super cool theme song by Mischa "i do not play piano" Stanton which they apparently HEARD IN A DREAM?!

The found footage pieces between scenes

The amount of detail put into it, and being able to notice new things on each relisten

Easter eggs like QDAM

Seemingly infinite pop culture references

The commitment to posting a transcript for each episode

The GOLDEN BOY smokes the devil’s lettuce?!

The Super LUminal Recursive Processor

All of the machine code names really

Mischa’s wonderful sound design that makes me feel like I’m actually in the location the episode takes place at and made me realize how wonderful podcasts could truly be.

Sally Grissom. The wonderful disaster ace and the first ace rep I ever found.

The sound design of the show, especially the tapes adding to world building, all those clunky sounds.

Sally Grissom, ‘I wonder what would happen if I...’, Mad scientist.

This show has the most complex, humanistic portrayal of aromanticism I’ve ever experienced

I appreciate the aP creators’ dedication to nuanced portrayal of and discussion about violence

All of Curses, of fucking course

Keeping the humanity of people who do bad thing while not trying to justify them

Their commitment to “all killer, no filler”

Reminding me that science is cool, dammit!

Petra is a lovely and nuanced, complex character that I adore with my whole heart and soul.

[BLUE BLUE 09 13 18 15 26 08 04 12 20 24 05 18 14 09 17 04 05 12 01 05 The weather in Tulsa today is: Drought. At the tone, the time will be: 5400 hours]

The creators are so so fantastic and fun! I love that they interact with fans.

Sally is the disaster stoner physicist we all need in our lives. also she’s relatable as hell

The show is not afraid to tackle issues like race, gender, or sexuality and it doesn’t overstep its bounds.

The codes are so fun (even if I don’t understand all of them)!

I love how excited scientists get when they’ve discovered something-it feels like real scientists I know

How Bridget criticizes Sally for making puns under pressure even though she does exactly the same thing

The way characters interact with one another, and grow, and learn, and develop is so fascinating and beautiful.

Plasticity might have been the first podcast episode to make me cry.

I love Sally “I only know anecdotal biology and chemistry” Grissom and how her science knowledge actually makes sense??

As a huge huge physics nerd and aspiring computer scientist, I love love love the way Sally talks about science! It’s like Kristen DiMercurio is narrating my inner monologue!

The thrill of trying to keep up with the diverging timelines

☭S̶͜͞ ̀͜҉̀͢Í͠ ̸̸͟҉X̵͘͢ ̢T̷̶͞ ̢̨͟Y̧̛͘ ̨͟͢ ̴̨͜҉S̷̶͢ ̴͝Í͢͟ ҉̢̛͝X̕͝͝☭

The consideration and dedication shown in not only writing an aro-spec ace character, but addressing issues and worries often faced by people in that community.

The mind-boggling task of trying to piece together everything that’s happening when for all we know every scene could be from a different, rewritten version of the timeline.

Anthony Partridge, the most melodramatic math nerd to ever play Tetris in a bubble outside of time.

The optimism of the show and ultimate faith it shows in both science and humanity, despite all the characters’ failings.

Sally giggling over meeting her future self both times that it happens

Sally’s book (and her attempts at pronouncing NaNoWriMo).

Maggie Elbourne, because as much as I love all my the more morally ambiguous scientists it’s nice to see one who actually stood up to ODAR’s shenanigans almost as soon as she figured out what was up.

Everything about the road trip.

TimeSwimmers was already mentioned but specifically TIME DOLPHIN RYAN LOCHTE

Characters that grow and change and learn

The 77s getting name dropped in Plasticity, way before we knew who they were

Sally calling out the English language for being problematic (“oh, you mean like morally upstanding?”)

“The weather in Tulsa today is: uhh I dunno”.

It has been quite possibly the most human exploration of time travel I’ve ever seen/heard.

Reaching a happy ending I couldn't even imagine

The weather in Tulsa is: sppoookyyy

The ever changing ways the codes were presented in season 3. Giving the feeling that the anchorites were both on the run and broadcasting these messages from different points in time.

Sally’s ace representation is the best I’ve ever seen and it makes me feel so #valid.

The sound design and detail in the writing make me feel like I’m truly immersed in the story, and it feels so authentic. Are you sure you don’t secretly have a timepiece?

The characters are people I CARE about and wanted to cry over during work all the time because they’re all wonderful and I love them.

The integration of the different storylines into Sally’s, especially Petra’s, is amazing.

Petra’s characterization was really well done, and it made me really care about her, even as she was trying to more or less destroy the world.

Out-of-date pop culture references that fit seamlessly into the dialogue despite being from literally a different time period and most of the characters having no idea what it meant. They just added an extra level of hilarious.

You may not actually know a single thing about tachyon fields and gluon walls (are they even real?) but you could definitely convince me that you know exactly what you’re talking about (or at least that Sally Grissom does).

The enDING WAS JUST REALLY WELL DONE AND I LOVE A GOOD CIRCULAR ENDING AND IT MADE ME GENUINELY GO TO THE BATHROOM DURING WORK TO CRY BECAUSE IT WAS JUST BEAUTIFUL.

The fact that the whole show is wrapped up by the revelation that the entire show is actually Nikhil and Mateo curling up with board games and snacks trying to form a story out of these tapes, patching together timelines to make it all cohesive, it just feels very right.

This story fits the medium so well, and so the fact that we don’t learn that Whickman has an EYEPATCH is absolutely wild but also wonderful because as soon as I heard that I knew that that was how it belonged, like of course he has an eyepatch, that’s a very Chet thing to have.

The ending was so perfectly, painfully beautiful. It was the ending we needed but never would have imagined.

Petra’s and Sally’s relationship being so complex and real.

Nikhil and Mateo using the archive to create the framing device for the whole podcast.

The sound the timepiece makes.

The final destruction of the timepiece.

Putting time travel in a Cold War setting makes perfect sense, and they go together like peanut butter and chocolate.

Did anyone mention Helen Partridge as a character? How beautifully she was set up and the fact that she pursued her own her life, and also, how BEAUTIFULLY Susanna Kavee can sing? Because damn.

I just. Really love this show. And everyone involved. So much.

The child characters were really well done-both the actors and the writing felt real.

To me, the show feels a bit like one of those camp friendship bracelets everyone used to make, with all these colors and threads--all of the timelines, woven together, messy but beautiful.

TEETRIS

Grissom’s Gizmo Gals!

Mateo’s non-stop flirting, even in the worst of situations

Sally “It’s Dr Grissom”ed HERSELF.

The way both the story and the characters reflect a complex view on the world with people making horrible decisions and horrible things happening to them, and yet always maintaining a positive outlook, offering the possibility of change and improvement.

The top-notch voice acting from everyone involved, helping to create the wonderful characters we all love.

Sally finger-gunning her way out of a conversation with a pun about a friend almost killing her.

All the minisodes!!

Any time Bridget, Nikhil or Lou acts like they want to adopt Petra

The series ending with two characters who had been at odds coming together

The characterization of the different Petras, because they all seem like different people even though in fact they are not (and Sylvia deciding she doesn't want to follow the legacy of Petras)

How Kristen can play 2 of the same character and make them sound different (how does she do that???)

Anthony’s will to save everyone, sacrificing himself, when the world didn't do anything good for him…

... and the constant struggle to save his friends (like when he was literally the only one aware of the Anchorites and the way their plan could have ended)

The way the show can go from time travel shenanigans to heartfelt character moments is a real testament to the talent of the writing team.

The Vegas episode, which I listened to after the finale and cried, because they were so happy and naive and everything wasn’t messy and bad and complicated.

The way gun violence is handled by the creators with respect and care

The way PTSD and mental health is handled (through Sally) is beautiful and respectful.

Partridge being named after a bird and living out his life in a cage. YOU GUYS ARE MEAN

Susanna Kavee’s absolutely amazing singing and Tau Zaman’s lyrics are an absolutely combination.

The ceaseless, unwavering commitment to puns

I love how important their friendships are to the characters (well, most of them anyways).

Sally’s conversation with Nikhil in season 3 reflects a lot of common anxieties of aromantic people, and his understanding responses

The entirety of the trial episode, which just really sort of showed the full extent of how terrible the Red Scare was by putting Esther, a Jewish woman, through it, and just shows you how defamed people in that time were.

In so many of the fictional and non-fictional representations of history, marginalized people have diminished, distorted, and stereotypical roles-but not in ars PARADOXICA. Thank you for making so many people feel seen.

All the amazing writers who started it all. 💜

Here are the signatures of some of the fans who contributed:

Signatures

Lindsay (ioniluna/drsallygrissom)

Khanan Abayev

SJ (your friendly neighborhood slauthor)

Dave (mondas-mania)

Noah (kindadisappointed)

Sana (i-am-delta-s)

Tina (espressonist)

Meaghan (lafgl)

Katherine (Rubywolfsbane)

Artimis (jp-blindperson/ap-blindperson)

Luke (martianboyy)

Ellie (joan-and-jane-and-esther-roberts/shewrites)

Bridge (cornerandchair)

Lem (aceparadoxica)

Esme (starsparadoxica)

Glory (mercutiglo)

Carly (guardianbob)

Emese (mse)

Ben (Q)

Special thanks to the ars PARADOXICA discord for being so helpful! From the time it was just a dozen people with a spork in a shoebox, this community was a shining star that helped me through tough times. Thank you for your silliness, cleverness, and support.

Brought to you by the internet: It’s weird! It’s fun! It loves you very, very much!

#ars paradoxica #aP creators #surprise!

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ancwritingresources · 7 years

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5 Common Writing Problems and Their Solutions (That I Never Use)

If you’re a writer and you’re anything like me, you know exactly what you struggle with--and maybe you even know how to fix it--but you just keep trudging along doing the same thing you always do. Why? Maybe writers just like the torture.

But maybe it’s time to make life easier on ourselves. Here are the top 5 “writer problems” I always have and am too lazy to fix. (Be better than me.)

1. Forgetting a character’s last name/eye color/scar description, the town’s name, their mother’s name, what they were wearing in the scene, etc. and then having to scramble back and re-read nearly the whole book to find one tiny description.

Solution: Take notes while you write. A great way to start would be to make a document (spreadsheet would be perfect) listing each major and minor character and jot down the basics: full name, relations to the other characters, style, physicality, etc. This way you can refer back to the little things in one simple quick place instead of fumbling through 200+ pages as you write.

2. Writing the same story for so long you forget why you were writing it to begin with, what the point was, and if it’s even worth it.

Solution: I think this is particularly true for novelists; when you embark on something that long, you’re bound to get lost and begin to wonder if you should even finish. And while the answer isn’t always yes--some books just weren’t meant for you to write them, but maybe the next one will be the one--it’s worth going back to the drawing board. The more notes you make before you start writing, the better. Jot down the big plot points, jot down the “mood” of the book you hope to convey, write down the audience you want to reach, the message you want to get across, anything and everything that you want this book to be when it’s finished. Make playlists, create art, do anything and everything you can to capture your excitement when you first get an idea. Referring back to this later--when you’re treking through the mud that is the actual writing--can help to find that spark again and give you your second wind.

3. Looking for the right word, phrase, or fact, but being unable to find it and so you stop writing and obsess over it instead for hours.

Solution: Put a bracket such as [physical description; placeholder] and move on. The first part is a note for yourself--whether it be ‘eye description, town name, personalty type’ etc. Whatever it is that you wanted to write but don’t have the write words for later, jot down a quick note of what it should be in the end, that way when you come back to it, you’ll know the basics of what you wanted. The second part, 'placeholder’ or whatever other word you might choice (but keep it consistent), is so that you can put it into the finder option on your document and easily go back to it later without searching.

You won’t always have the answers, and sometimes writing isn’t just putting words on paper--it’s research, consistency, planning. But don’t let the things you don’t know keep you from writing, especially if you’re on a role or feeling inspired. Getting too caught up on one word can put you in a rut and kill the muse. And chances are, you’ll figure it out later when the pressure isn’t on and you’ve had more time to think about it.

4. Editing while you’re writing and rereading each sentence so much that you forget/lose the energy to write any more and decide it will never be good enough. Alternatively; it takes you several hours to write one page.

Solution: Edit later. Let the words come as they may, put them on paper, let them live there for a while. You can always go back and change anything. Writing it down doesn’t set it in stone, but it does allow you to get it out of your head and into the real world where it’s easy to evaluate, adjust, and bring to life. Drafts exist for a reason; let your first draft be crappy, and then un-crappify it once you’ve gotten all the fresh ideas onto the page. You may find that you right some of your best sentences and get your best ideas when you let the editor go, when you don’t worry about it sounding right or about perfection. Allowing yourself the room for bad writing often produces even better writing because it removes the limitations on your creativity.

5. Considering abandoning the whole project because you’re worried the character isn’t unique enough, is too like another well known character, or you just can’t pinpoint their voice.

Solution: Write a character biography before you ever begin writing. Even better, write a character interview. Ask them weird questions and answer in two ways: what they would say to an interviewer and what they would only think to themselves. This allows you to figure out not only their thoughts and feelings (which will be especially important in first person narration) but how they present themselves to the world. Honing in on those unsaid things helps you to develop motivation and to begin to plant hidden meaning and clues to their inner psyche without revealing it all via dialogue (making for a far more interesting read).

Knowing your character’s home life, location, and relationships will help you to figure out how they react to their world and how their circumstances have built their character. But the nuances are what make them unique. Decide what they would buy at the grocery store five minutes before closing. What was the first book they ever read and do they peek at the last line first to see how books end? Do they steal food off of other people’s plates? Go beyond the basic biography and get specific. A quick search for ‘character development questions’ can give you hundreds of really helpful places to start.

In short: no one’s basic biography is going to be unique. With millions of stories out there over hundreds of years, there are only so many variations of the life story: people have parents or they don’t, they have money or they don’t. Even the most unique perspectives may have been “done before” but that doesn’t mean you can’t do them again if you take the time to build them into real three dimensional people with unique opinions. Don’t rely just on their backstory or position in life to make them interesting; dig deep and make them a real person, and I promise, that will be enough.

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fountainpenguin · 4 years

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P & Q

P: How much do you plan in advance versus letting the story unfold as you go?

Story-wise, ends and general events are always planned early on (All 130 Prompts, most of Identity Theft, Hawthorn Haven, Little Imperfections, No Anesthetic, Factor It In, Devil’s Backbone, and so on are already planned even though I won’t be posting some of these things for years), so it’s just a matter of doing the actual writing. Beginnings come next and middles come last.

For me, writing is a matter of saying, “Here is my destination. Where are we coming from and how do we get there?” Depending on what I’m writing, sometimes where I’m coming from is the previous chapter, sometimes it’s a specific point in my timeline. Chapters don’t require a lot of set-up because readers should more or less remember what’s recently happened to a character, but with one-shots I have to clarify not only the setting, but recent events as best as I can. There’s a different mindset there.

Origin, Knots, and the Prompts are divided into over a hundred different files in Google Docs, so I can’t give an accurate word count, but I probably have 200k words on hand for both Origin and Knots and at least 300k for the Prompts. I wrote scenes I consider significant early on and I’m working my way towards them, correcting inconsistencies along the way.

What I plan worldbuilding-wise for a fantasy series is another topic altogether (Expanded on below the cut).

Sociopolitical Aspects

For my Mario works, for example, the first thing planned was how the Koopa Kingdom is laid out, and where the Koopalings fit into my ideas. Then it was a matter of deciding which parts of canon I want to draw from and what I want to do with it. I didn’t rule out the new kingdoms revealed in Odyssey, but I definitely didn’t erase Sarasaland and the Beanbean Kingdom either. I worked out the political systems of a few countries, what the social norms and big crimes are, and the basics of Bowser’s inclination towards violence.

I have a document noting what the people of each land are called and what their native languages are so I don’t have to worry about contradicting myself later, which has been extremely useful. I even determined populations for different kingdoms, with the Mushroom Kingdom at about 235 million people, the Koopa Kingdom almost twice that, and the Beanbean Kingdom a measly 4 million. Even if this info never comes up in story, it helps me understand how people interact with one another and fit into this system.

In my FOP works, I worked out the history of Fairy/Anti-Fairy conflicts, drawing from aspects of canon such as the known war over human godchildren. The Pixies fit in there too as the neutral party. Then there’s the matter of fitting in the aliens and humans. Deeper yet, the Ghosts and Beasts. Figuring out the international relationships up front works best for me, and then I can later determine how characters with this background interact in this environment.

In my Danny Phantom works, I drew from a comment Butch made once that although King Pariah was a tyrant, he did keep the Ghost Zone organized and it’s fallen to chaos since he was overthrown. I worked out Ghost-Skeleton relations, how the Observants play into things, and what the space within the world might be like.

In my WordGirl works, determining how Hexagon functions was crucial to what I decided to do with Kid Math: In this case, his planet is obsessed with math to the point they only have spoken language, not a written one. They use numbers and mark up blueprints, but written language is for the Lexiconians [Insert snobby scoffing].

When writing Rhyme and Reason backstory, I worked out how common powers are, how those with certain powers are treated by society, what kind of education kids with powers get pushed towards, what laws might exist, how many heroes there might be, and how police involvement works in cities that have heroes. In this alternate world, there are things called charm schools that are “finishing schools” for kids with powers, and Rhyme was almost sent to one until she ran away.

Physical Aspects

I made the Mushroom Kingdom an archipelago and chose Indonesia as my main inspiration country, researching the climate, seasons, plants, and meals typically found there. I know exactly when the dry season ends and the wet season starts and how this affects the Piranha Plants.

In FOP, I understand the landscapes of Fairy World and Anti-Fairy World, what kinds of mountains and water features they can have, and the flora and fauna found in each location. I know ways to move between locations, what travel is possible with magic, and what happens in times there isn’t any magic. I know what the major buildings are, where they are, and what they do.

In my DP works, there are certain stable parts of the Ghost Zone and certain unstable parts. It’s easy to get lost if you’re new there and not used to things moving around, but as you learn the rules of the world, you’re able to identify landmarks. I know which populations live where and what those landscapes are like. I came up with rules for how lairs work and how far things can move about the Zone. I know how things work and which characters know X amount of information about their surroundings.

Cultural Aspects

I pored over a LOT of small details in canon for my Mario works. I took painstaking notes about the Soybean civilization, the ancient Luffs, the fallen Bask Kingdom, and all sorts of historical tidbits and worked those into modern canon. Some stuff didn’t cross my path during my personal gameplay, but I like knowing about it anyhow.

I considered Peach’s pathway to becoming queen and how she fits her role, especially compared to her predecessors. I made stars important in Mushroom Kingdom culture and the moon important in Koopa culture. I created lore for why karting exists, canonizing all locations and the general idea of kart racing even if I’m not going to make every kart track canon or organize each game in a timeline.

FOP worldbuilding involved gathering as much canon from the show as possible, collecting info from folklore, plucking bits and pieces from insect and bat biology, and marrying the three together. It was important to me to give Fairy World a distinct culture different from any on Earth, and really examine how magic affects daily life in this world.

Anthropomorphizing insect behaviors gave me Fairies who lick faces as a form of greeting and who favor those with freckles above those without. Not exactly accurate to show canon, but it works great. Gyne and drone relationships have been fun to build, and I made sure my timeline included points in the past where such relations were different than modern times. Changes in relationships over time is something that really fascinates me.

Anti-Fairy World also gets a unique culture. Since they’re evil antagonists in show canon, I certainly didn’t want to race-code them like any group of people on Earth. I’ve tried to design them their own culture, heavily inspired by bats and a belief in luck above all. Bats aren’t sociosexual, but they are promiscuous, so I don’t stick wholly to bat behaviors either: they’re partially based on bonobos. Most importantly, I made sure everything I did was fun for me to write.

With my particular writing style, it works to have deep, complex culture for the Anti-Fairies. If I wanted to write short, lighthearted pieces, that would impact where my worldbuilding priorities lay (Probably lots of cute holiday traditions and less focus on why Anti-Fairy culture revolves around causing others harm).

General Research

Heights, timelines, food, and clothes are all things I settle as soon as possible, and I keep ref sheets on hand so I can fact check myself at a glance. Fairies and Anti-Fairies, being a species who live in the clouds, have easier access to silkworms than cotton plants. That determines what their clothing is made of, what products are expensive, and what gets worn on certain occasions.

I draw from canon where possible, using screenshots or known character heights (Mario canonically 5′1″) and comparing them to others. Being of a different height can impact how others view you. Dining etiquette is a fun cultural difference that can create conversation or social awkwardness and really set the mood.

With fanfics, I dig as deep as I can. Did you know Wario canonically doesn’t know how old he is because his mom never threw him a birthday party? Or that he keeps a matchbox of ants in his cabinet and is “waiting until they worship him as a god”? I drink details like this by the gallon.

I prefer nailing this stuff down before getting far in my writing because that’s what works for me personally. I worldbuild further over time as I think up new questions I didn’t already have answers for.

Unique Aspects

Magic systems are complex. They generally take me longest and are more work than play. I like to have an outline of how a magic system works, write the story, figure out what I absolutely need magic to do and what I don’t want it to do, and then tighten the system during the revision process. For example, I weakened shapeshifting in my FOP works so you can’t easily hold another form while aroused- I personally didn’t want age changes to be involved in lovemaking. That expanded to making it hard to hold a form when you’re drunk too.

It was important to me in my Mario works to have 1-Up mushrooms exist and be capable of saving your life, but I also needed a reason why people don’t walk around with 99 lives and consume 1-Ups at all times. After wrestling with plans for a while, I decided to make them time-sensitive. You have to consume them often to have more than one life on a regular basis, and they’re pretty rare. As long as I can justify why someone has access to this rare item, I can utilize a 1-Up’s power, but I can also justify killing someone off if enough time has passed since they last consumed one.

With Fairly OddParents, I’d seen enough episodes to understand the basics of wishes, magical backup, and Da Rules. When I became serious about writing FOP ‘fics, I started noting the times Cosmo and Wanda failed to use magic for reasons other than Da Rules (Not in sync with each other, low battery, lack of belief in magic, Big Wand toppled over, etc.) and built my version of the FOP magic system to accommodate as many of these “inconsistencies” as I could. My take on magic is complex, but I can stretch the system many ways, so it works great for me.

Will I use everything I’ve worldbuilt in story? I might not say it directly, but having a pool of information I can draw from helps me find ways to flesh out a character’s life. Some stuff makes it in, other stuff is only vaguely glimpsed. To me, diving into worldbuilding is fun. Taking what I have and creating something with it is even more fun. I could whip out a bunch of one-shots about basic slice-of-life events without doing all this work, but tying my stories to social, political, or culture aspects of the world is what I really enjoy.

Q: Do you have any discarded scenes/storylines/projects?

//Laughs

I don’t like deleting things, so I move them to scrap docs instead. Origin, Knots, and the 130 Prompts each have a scrap file of 50+ pages (91 pages of scrapped Prompt scenes) and I can usually remember keywords so the deleted scenes are easy to search for if I need them. Some get recycled, even back into the same chapter I originally deleted them from, but a lot stay dead because they were either irrelevant or inconsistent with the final material.

Fortunately for me, I have a good memory of what I kept vs. what I scrapped. I’ve compiled some favorites in my deviantArt Sta.sh and linked them in my FOP sideblog because they’re my version of sketchdumps. Even if they’re unfinished, I still think they’re interesting to look at.

For some reason I don’t delete much from my standalone one-shots, just my multi-chapter stuff. Most of what enters my standalones survives.

The projects I’m most hurt to have left hanging are my Total Drama stories The Beatin’ Path and Lions Under Palm Trees, keeping with my tradition of writing stories about eliminated contestants at that season’s elimination location from the perspective of the first character eliminated. I have a good 15k words written for the former and 25k for the latter, and I just… let them slip through my fingers in favor of Fairly OddParents years ago.

Arguably letting them go is for the best because I took the “cartoon physics are canon” concept and RAN with it, so I have an entire plot arc about one character coming into puberty and having his ability to utilize cartoon physics switch on for the first time. I personally consider Lions one of my best works in terms of matching my niche interests, but the acknowledgement of cartoon physics does stray from Total Drama canon, and I just couldn’t get over that enough to keep posting it.

Some of my all-time favorite scenes and characterizations are in these stories. I’m glad I have what I do for myself because these works make me smile even all these years later, buuut it’s probably best if I keep most of this nonsense private. This is probably my favorite snippet of the entire Lions draft, though:

“What’s in the box?”

Don’t say the hearts of small animals, don’t say the hearts of small animals.

“Stuff for my girlfriend.” It wasn’t untrue.

The least loved always end up my favorites somehow. I’m still so in love with my delusional wizard. I honestly might love Leonard more than I love any of the FOP characters I write about nowadays; he was the best I ever had. I mean, look at this FREAKING CHILD-

====

“Hand me my dice.”

Beardo dropped the dice in his hand. Leonard rolled them across the grass. Nine. He groaned. But, obediently, he knelt and poked his head inside the damaged zeppelin.

“Roll me an observance check.”

“Snake eyes.”

“Seriously? It’s dark. Try again. Higher this time.”

Beardo gave the dice another toss. “Lucky lucky seven.”

Leonard let out a high whistle between his front teeth. “No response,” he said after a moment. “I don’t think there are any animals down there, except maybe a few rats and some bugs. All right, I’m jumping down. Keep an eye on my back.”

He slid through the gap and dropped out of sight. Beardo heard him say, “Lux up,” and click the penlight on his keychain.

====

“Incriminatus, television.”

No reaction.

“Incriminatus, television.”

No reaction. The Christmas advertisements blared on. Leonard raised his wand to his eye, then slapped the tip a few times against his palm. “Come on, wand. Tammy isn’t here anymore. Why aren’t you working? I still believe in you.”

The door eased open. “Hey, Leonard,” Jen said in a voice of false cheerfulness. “I got your toothbrush out of… the other room.”

Leonard didn’t try to switch off the TV and faced the window instead. “Brushing teeth is for people who can’t do it with magic.”

====

“Wait.” Leonard raised both hands above his head, squeezing his eyelids tight. “Wait. What you’re saying is, Scarlett pulled a Courtney to the extreme and hid her secret identity as an ‘evil’ mastermind supervillain shaman queen this entire time. She played a character so well that even her closest friend – not to mention Chris – couldn’t see through her act until she chose to reveal herself. At which point she then convinced everyone that she was actually said ‘evil’ mastermind supervillain. You’re telling me there was a LARPing goddess in my presence, and I completely missed it.”

“I didn’t put it in those words for a reason,” Jasmine said, “but at its core, yes.”

Leonard pressed his hands to his cheeks and stared into his salad. “Holy flipping plot twist. I am so turned on right now.”

“No,” Jasmine said, jabbing him in the chest with one finger, “No you are not.”

Amy clicked her tongue. “Leonard, you have a girlfriend.”

“Not anymore. That’s it. I’m breaking up with Tammy for real this time.”

Beardo slapped him on the back of the head and made a sound like a police siren.

====

One Lions chapter was named “Baa Baa Blackmail” if that tells you anything. Ah, memories… It’s probably for the best if these projects stay retired, but I love them so very much.

Fanfic Ask Meme

#Zach needs a tag 9 #asks #ridwriting #Mushrooms and more #FAIRIES!#Satirical vocab alien child show #Going ghost!#riddleverse mention #Long post

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titleknown · 7 years

Text

Advice on Making Good Creepypasta OCs

So, as it’s about to be the start of the Spookiest Time Of The Year, by which I mean the Halloween season, by which I mean the beginning of August…

Boy does Halloween season start earlier and earlier every year, and yet nobody ever complains about it like they do Christmas. I suppose that a holiday about self-expression and weirdness is probably more welcome exposure-wise than a holiday about conformity and tradition, but that’s for another post.

Anyhoo, since it’s Almost Time, I figured I might as well do an advice guide on how to make some good Creepypasta OCs. Because, when created from scratch as characters rather than emerging from a “main” creepypasta, most of them tend to be Usual Deviantart Characters + Warmed Over Slasher Movie Cliches. And while that has its charm, I think we can do better.

So, what is my advice? Follow me after the break!

One of the main problems I see is, again, there’sso much aesthetic interbreeding, hence why you see so many Deviantart-lite pasta OCs, because so many of them come from Deviantart and copy the “pattern” they see from other Pasta OCs.

Well, first off, draw directly from the source for Creepypasta inspiration. Because, despite is use widening, the term Creepypasta does bring up what I would call a “house feel,” but a lot of people don’t know where that comes from so they end up not quite understanding the core of why it feels unique.

The long and short of it is, Creepypasta draws from forteana + weird fiction. So, for the former, look at the various testimonies of IRL-type supernatural or generally strange stuff, cryptids like Mothman or the Hopkinsville Goblins; bizarre natural phenomenae like strange rains or bizarre locations; or IRL terrifying cults like the Solar Temple or the Ripping Crew, and so-on.

For the latter, Lovecraft’s always a good place to start; because despite his notoriously bad (Like, even for its day) racism, the man was always good at setting a scene and creating an atmosphere and very specific feel. And check out his contemporaries too, like William Hope Hodgson; Robert Chambers or the excellent story The Night Wire, or modern weird fiction like the manga Fourteen or the works of Junji Ito. Or check out some of the more odd horror films that fit under the lable of “weird fiction,” which I will likely eventually make their own post on, but I’ll give Phantasm; Videodrome, Tourist Trap and Suspiria as a few very good examples.

But, a lot of people draw only from fiction, so my next piece of advice would be draw from yourself. Every creator brings their particular fears and aesthetic interests to the table, it’s what makes them unique, so one might ask, “What are yours?”

To talk of other Creepypasta characters, Harmburger comes from Jonathan Wojcic’s fascination with juxtposing cartoonish whimsy with absolute nightmare with hints of social satire, and Candle Cove comes from Kris Straub’s fascination with the slippery nature of memory. Find what sorts of looks you like, but also what subject terrifies and fascinates you. Even if that results in; like; a Homestuck Troll who jumps out of toilets to grab you or a buff guy with a Jojo stand that uses illegal wrestling moves, it’s still more interesting than the usual warmed-over kinda thing.

Of course, that’s only half the battle, inspiration. The rest is thinking of the character as an isolated character, able to exist independently of a work (Which a lot of Creepypasta antagonists aren’t).

So, the advice becomes think about what makes your character different from others, rather than similar. And I’m not just talking about “Mine has a bow on it!” Look at Slender Man, Harmburger, RED, the Rake, ect. They’re all wildly different, even in terms of shillouette, so go for distinct first.

If you want a quick starting point for uniqueness, try going non-humanoid with your concept; because I’m shocked at how few non-humanoids there are as Creepypasta Ocs even though they make up a good proportion of the Iconic Creepypasta Foes. Or go even weirder and make them an abstract force; like Uzumaki’s Spirals or the eponymous “show” of Candle Cove. Tho this stretches the definition of “OC,” you’d be surprised...

And, that’s another thing, add personality; not lore. Because, a horror creature gets less scary the more is revealed about it, but that doesn’t mean that; despite what Highbrow Horror People like @afloweroutofstone say; good horror can’t come from them as characters. In fact, I’d argue that great antagonists/monsters are one of the things that makes horror great; and an area incredibly neglected by that branch of Serious Analysts who don’t love monsters, but that’s for another post.

You can give an idea of how they’d act; what they’d do in a certain situation; what their motives and possible origins are; but never fully tip your hand. Always leave a “space” in the ideas behind them to perhaps fill out later; but usually to keep a perpetual mystery. Always keep ‘em guessing, but also be sure that what they do see and what is revealed is interesting and fascinating in the way the best characters are.

And, that leads to my last idea, know what stories can be told with them. Because, as much as I love characters-as-worldbuilding-elements, when it comes to rubber hitting the road; the best way to make a character compelling is to tell the dang story with them, and given they’re meant to presumably exist in multiple stories the way the most recurring Creepypasta characters are; or heck even the most recurring characters in general like Conan or Sherelock Holmes; you need to figure out what sorts of stories they appear in and what they do in those stories.

Relevant to the point before this; there always should be enough mysterious threads that you don’t quite reveal the ends to; but in every story you use them in; the reader should have enough information to understand what’s going on in the A Plot, even if the larger world has aspects left a mystery. That’s the difference between Alien and Prometheus, and that’s one of the big differences between a good Creepypasta and a bad one...

I’ll probably be adding to this article in the future, given I’m kinda writing this in a rush via reasons of irresponsibility, so feel free to let me know what I could add or how I could do better.

And, if you want to support me, feel free to join my Patreon, where you get previews and, at the higher tiers, even polls on what you want me to do next and art commissions. I

n fact, that’s how I chose this article idea. Huzzah!

#creepypasta #creepypasta ocs #writing advice #drabbles #sorta

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dweemeister · 6 years

Photo

8½ (1963, Italy)

As a bored and depressed teenager and before I ever delved into classic movies, I looked online for lists of the best films ever made. Certain titles from more reputable websites kept appearing – one of those frequently-mentioned titles was Federico Fellini’s 8½. Soon after, I began actively seeking out these films. I was fifteen years old when I first encountered 8½, and I remember thinking to myself that there was something about Fellini’s film I could not quite grasp at the time. I stopped, barely a third into the movie, made no judgments, and did not finish it. Nine or ten years have passed (this was one of the first movies in my classic movie adventure so I know how old I was; I just don’t remember which year I saw it in), and upon this revisit to 8½ and completing the film, it is the greatest artwork about artist’s block I have ever seen. The film comments on the torment surrounding artistic creation, and how an individual’s personality – their ego, ability to examine themselves, and attitudes towards others – make that struggle unique to that artist. At times a bawdy comedy, 8½ – referring to the fact that Fellini had directed six feature-length films and three short films before this production, equaling 7½ – is also a dramatic surrealist fantasia filled with behavioral inconsistencies and fanciful sequences entangling dreams and reality.

And so by 1963, Federico Fellini, who gleamed off the Italian neorealist master Roberto Rossellini (1945′s Rome, Open City and 1948′s Germany Year Zero), and directed neorealist-inspired films in I Vitelloni (1953), La Strada (1954), and Nights of Cabiria (1957), was beginning to dip into the fantastical. These later fantastical films, however, were primarily steeped in modernity – demanding much from the audience, as Fellini uses impossible images to express ideas and states of mind that would become uncinematic if explained by dialogue.

In the midst of starting production on his next movie while resting at a Roman spa, acclaimed director Guido Anselmi (Marcello Mastroianni) is struggling over how to approach the autobiographical elements he is integrating into a science fiction piece. Late in pre-production, Guido is having tensions with (and not just limited to) his mistress, Carla (Sandra Milo); wife, Luisa (Anouk Aimée); and producer, Pace (Guido Alberti). His friends, Rossella (Rossella Falk) and Mario (Mario Pisu), are unsure how to help him, as he drifts day-to-day between his loud, bickering-heavy reality and his fantasies. Those fantasies are not always clearly indicated by 8½’s editing by Leo Catozzo – the movie begins with a suffocating traffic jam, progresses to images of Guido’s childhood in a seaside village, his Catholic school days where he was punished for dancing with a prostitute (Eddra Gale), and features a handful of sexual fantasies that include the film’s darkly uproarious harem scene involving all the women from Guido’s past and present life (the movie is suggestive, not explicit, with sex – the former always more difficult to film). Claudia Cardinale stars as Guido’s fantastical Ideal Woman and as Claudia, an actress who appears briefly, but notices something about Guido’s idea and his persona that pierces his psychological armor.

Fantasy and reality, in competition across 8½, are harmonious in the closing minutes. Whether or not the ending is a statement of Guido’s (and, by the fact this film is at least somewhat biographical, Fellini himself) impeccable artistry, comic relief, or both is perhaps the most vexing question I continue to wrestle with. At twenty-five years old, I find myself giving tentative answers to the film’s questions; this write-up might read much differently if written at a later stage in my life.

The screenplay by Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli, and Brunello Rondi (Flaiano, Pinelli, and Rondi being frequent Fellini collaborators) models Guido as Fellini’s alter ego. Marcello Mastroianni, as Guido, inhabits the role with a physical fatigue similar to his role of Mario in Le Notti Bianche (1957). But if Mario was less tragic and more fashionable, he would be Guido. Mastroianni is excellent in displaying his character’s brokenness due to constant rumination over his noncommittal habits, inability to express his feelings, and his search for sexual gratification compounding his emotional and social emptiness. All of this will affect his artistry. The moment Guido walks outside his hotel room, he is besieged by the film’s crew and actors who have not even been officially cast. What do you want for this scene? When will we start shooting? I can’t wait to appear in your film! The barrage (those were paraphrases) lasts all morning until the moment late at night Guido slams his hotel door shut, readying himself to be with a woman he only seems to care for. His creative side is so exhausted that not even Mastroianni’s dialogue delivery changes tone when producer Pace fumes at the excessive production delays – no sarcasm, not even a nonplussed shoulder shrug. Mastroianni, debatably the greatest Italian actor of all time, exemplifies incredible discipline in this role.

With an unsustainable, ridiculous situation unfolding, 8½ partly becomes a tragicomedy – if the film weren’t so absurd and racy, it would be more difficult to watch. In this movie about an Italian, Felliniesque director unable to make a movie, Fellini has crafted a movie teeming with introspection and visual splendor. Guido’s sexuality seems inspired by Rubens’ portraits; his relations to everyone (but especially women – who, to him, are either maternal figures or harlots) predicated on what they can do for him. He might not fit the stereotype of the tyrannical director, but his self-worth has become defined by the most external: his professional accomplishments and his romantic conquests that seem to be without indications of abusive behavior. As the viewer intuits Guido’s character, his biographical flashbacks are understood as less reliable, more subjective. To what extent are those flashbacks colored, censored by nostalgia for a childhood or adolescence that Guido chooses to remember? There are no answers to that question in 8½. The film’s aforementioned introspection falls to the viewer. Guido, expending so much time thinking about his upcoming production, leads a life unexamined.

At this point in his life he arrives at what appears to be a spiritual dead end. That just so happens to contribute to his director’s block. Hearing from the others working on Guido’s film, we hear their concerns about the structure of the movie and nobody understanding what it is saying. To the crew, it is a jumbled patchwork of philosophical avant garde for the sake of being philosophical avant garde.

In outdoor scenes, cinematographer Gianni Di Venanzo (1962′s L’Eclisse, 1965′s Juliet of the Spirits) has his camera motion side-to-side in the direction of character movements, suggesting restlessness. When characters are shown with a shallow foreground, one feels Guido’s anxiety considering the demands and hopes of others. In moments where there are fewer characters and when they are placed further away from the camera, the camera moves more dramatically, as if floating in air. It contributes to the dreamlike quality of several scenes – including Claudia Cardinale’s introduction in the movie – even when Guido has no space to fantasize. The production design and costume design by Piero Gherardi (La Dolce Vita and Juliet of the Spirits) showcases ‘60s elegance, with Rome’s rich mingling at the spa Guido is staying. Here, 1960s Italy clashes with what appears to be Ancient Roman and Renaissance-era architecture (free-to-read English-language literature on the film does not specify if these outdoor sets were constructed for 8½ or are actual attractions, but the film was shot entirely around Rome and the Lazio administrative region – where Rome is located). The aesthetic differences in architecture at the spa are reflections of the contradictory and unsettled statuses Guido’s imagination and soul.

So too is Nino Rota’s celebratory, yet mysterious and varied score. Like his work on La Strada, Rota has a main theme influenced by circus and carnival music. Where in La Strada (that film partly inspired by Fellini’s memories of circuses and clowns) that decision made literal sense because the characters are traveling circus performers. Here, it is to echo the madness of Guido not knowing what to do and being surrounded by a gaggle of irate businessmen, sycophantic actors looking for a job, and confused craftspersons having to alter their work due to their ineffectual director. For 8½ – a fragmented story where Guido’s bitter life is intercut with his daydreams – the score lacks stylistic cohesion. Interspersed with the circus and carnival music is Rota’s take on jazz, mid-century popular music, and brief quotations of classical music. In another film about a different subject, this Rota’s score would be bothersome. Because of the protagonist’s nature and unpredictable editing (at least, for first-time viewers), these frequent and rapid musical transitions fit the film.

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Fellini also faced his own writer’s block while figuring out the screenplay to 8½. At some point during writing, Fellini resolved that the protagonist – originally a writer – would be changed to a movie director (read: Fellini himself). Bear with me on this one: everything that Guido says within the film about the film he is making can also be said about 8½. And yet 8½ never descends into self-conscious or self-referential meta humor taking the viewer out of one of the most rapturous pieces of cinema. That is because it paints a tapestry of individuals living among our troubled protagonist: rich and poor; vulgar and refined; conciliatory and uncompromising; vacuous and perceptive; and so forth. The film poses existential questions about how Guido’s self-perception is impacting how he treats others and his artistic abilities. And though you might not sympathize with Guido given his misadventures, you will wonder how similar you are to him. Reaching the answer, do you flinch at what you have found?

8½ dispenses with conventional cinematic form. Compared to films of the French New Wave – ongoing during 8½’s release and more intent on breaking norms – Fellini’s film, despite being inundated with autobiographical meta, achieves an intense thoughtfulness without ever taking itself too seriously. Fellini, himself in artistic transition, makes a stunning statement by obscuring the separation between his neorealist origins and reverie. The answers to Fellini’s questions, as well as Guido’s and ours, are found in both.

My rating: 10/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. 8½ is the one hundred and forty-seventh film I have rated a ten on imdb.

#8½ #8 1/2 #Federico Fellini #Marcello Mastroianni #Claudia Cardinale #Anouk Aimée #Sandra Milo #Rossella Falk #Barbara Steele #Jean Rougeul #Ennio Flaiano #Tullio Pinelli #Brunello Rondi #Gianni Di Venanzo #Leo Catozzo #Piero Gherardi #Nino Rota #TCM #My Movie Odyssey

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dccomicsnews · 7 years

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In the world of comics, Viktor Bogdanovic is a relative youngster. Recently on his Twitter (@VikBogdanovic) he announced that he would be working on Action Comics! This is a huge honor to any artist, to work on the original comic character on the original comic! He wasn’t just lucky though, he worked extremely hard to get to where he is today and it shows!

He started his career at image comics in 2013 working on Reality Check. The book focusing on a writer who creates a love-sick comic hero who suddenly becomes real and forces the protagonist to help him find true love, while the villain enters reality and goes on a murderous rampage. Two years later, in 2015 Viktor was brought on to DC where he worked on the comic for Batman: Arkham Knight which furthered his skills in the medium before being able to create New Super-Man!

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I reached out to Viktor on twitter after finishing a review of New Super-Man to see if he would like to interview with us. I was fortunate enough the he had the time and was able to do so. Being a fan of his work myself since New Super-Man #1, I was extremely excited to see what he would tell us! There are so many intricate and small parts to New Super-Man that can be over looked because it reaches deep into the history of the comics. But don’t take my word for it, see what he has to say!

Q: What originally inspired you to get into comics and illustration? What inspires you today?

I watched a ton of Cartoons as a kid and then soon discovered comics and that was it. I was hooked. I started drawing my own Superman and Spider-Man stories at the age of 12 or so. I have never been more productive than I was at that time. I remember filling a bunch of large sized notebooks with sequential art in record time that my dad didn’t wanna buy.

Q: How did you originally get into the comics industry?

I did a few indie books and soon got the chance to work on my first mini series for Image Comics which was called Reality Check. I kept working on my drawing skills like a mad man and eventually brought up the courage to send a few sample pages to DC. It seemed unlikely that I’d ever hear back from them but two editors responded almost immediately. They gave me a test script to draw and about a week later I was working as the main penciller on Batman: Arkham Knight. It all went so fast, I didn’t even have time to process it all. So BAK went on for almost a year. Then came the next project with Deadshot and after that New Super-Man. I’ve been working pretty much non-stop for DC since the end of 2014 producing nearly 500 pages of sequential art which seems like a really crazy number to me when I see it written down like that, haha. Like I should go to a shrink or something to take care of my OCD (obsessive comic disorder).

Q: How did your opportunity to work on Superman come about?

My editor just called me up one evening and told me that they’d like me to draw Action Comics. I was really psyched about it and also a little bummed out because I really loved working on New Super-Man. But there are just a few books in comics you can’t turn down as an artist and Action Comics is one of them so I said yes.

Q: What persona and story are you trying to tell through your work?

It all depends on the script. First, I try to figure out the right tone, rhythm and atmosphere. Then give the characters some dimension and personality through facial expressions and body language. I mostly follow a gut feeling. It’s all very intuitive. No pre-concept.

Q: What inspired the looks of each of the three Justice League of China members?

As for the costumes: they’re all derived from Kenan’s outfit. That’s the first one I designed and the other ones had to be similar because they all work for the same secret government agency. Chinese Wonder Woman is probably a mix of Sailor Moon and that Street Fighter chick. Chinese Batman looks like a young chubby Mr. Spock when his mask is off. I thought that’d fit his personality.

Q: What were the most important things you wanted to show in New Super-Man?

When we announced this we got a lot of comments on the fact that the New Super-Man is Chinese, that it all takes place in China, etc. The whole discussion about diversity in comics and all that stuff. It immediately started a political debate. Some people were very skeptical and I don’t blame them. We’ve seen enough bad examples of diversity for diversity’s sake. But I’ve read some of Gene Yang’s previous work so I knew that it’d be a good story that I could work with. And in the end that’s all that matters. A fun story is a fun story, no matter who’s in it or where it takes place. And when the political discussion ends and people start talking about plot twists and they start talking about a character, not because he’s of this or that ethnicity but because he’s cool and fun – that’s when you know you’re on to something.

Q: What led to the decision to recreate the cover of Action Comics #1 in issue 5 and why did you decide to do that?

That’s all Gene. The script said something like “Kenan is holding up a police car… etc… similar to the scene on the cover of Action Comics #1” so I drew it. Fun stuff

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Q: The “S” on Kenan’s chest is very unique from the Man of Steel’s in that it is connected to Chinese philosophy, was it originally conceived with that meaning behind it or did that come after?

No, Gene had the octagon shape and all that stuff worked out pretty early on. It’s a popular Chinese symbol with a lot of meaning so that’s why he used it.

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Q: All of the heroes and villains in New Super-Man, such as the Freedom Fighters of China, are very flamboyant and interesting, what informed the choices of how to draw and color them?

They were all created on the fly, really (except the older characters from previous comics) so I’m glad people like them. I wish I would’ve had more time to design them. Not sure they’d look better tough, heh.

Q: What advice would you give to the artist who will next draw New Super-Man? And who would be your choice to take over if you could hand pick a team?

Easy. Just give Kenan puffy cheeks and make him likeable (actually that’s not easy at all, haha) and if I could handpick a team: I think Billy than did a great job with issues 7 & 8 and I hear he’s on the next issues as well so I’m really looking forward to that. + If we could clone Erik Larsen to do an issue or two that’d be cool to (because the real Erik Larsen sure as hell ain’t leaving Savage Dragon for some Chinese Superman – or any other book for that matter). Gene Yang is a given. Nobody can write New Super-Man like he does.

Q: When it comes to the details you show in the environment, fashion and the characters, you have done an amazing job at recreating China and how it feels. What research did you do in-order to include those details?

We had a few real locations from Shanghai, etc. But the rest is just me trying to remember all the Jackie Chan movies I watched as a kid.

Q: As one of the creators of this whole world and the characters that inhabit it, what were the most important ideas that you wanted to convey to your audience?

The idea of growing up, finding yourself and your place in this world and having some fun while doing it.

Q: What can we expect to be unique about your take on Superman?

Wow, that’s tough. I don’t know. So many artists have drawn this iconic character and you’d think we’ve seen it all. He looks easy to draw on a first glance but he’s actually not. He has to look both cool and a little bit old fashioned at the same time. He’s also a brute as well as elegant. So, a lot of contradictions there but I’ll try to bring them all together as good as I can.

Q: On Twitter you’ve recently posted a picture with Zod, can we expect to see him in your first arc drawing the Man of Steel?

Most definitely! We’ll all kneel before Zod.

Q: Is there anything you’d like to tell your fans?

Yes! You should all love each other! And then go buy New Super-Man and Action Comics before somebody else does! Cheers!!

Viktor, like Kong Kenan, is such a bright person, unlike Kenan, his is also humble. He has done, and continues to do, great work. He creates eye catching and memorable characters and brings them to life on the page. I have thoroughly enjoyed the work he has done on New Super-Man, I will miss his style in the adventures of Kenan Kong but look forward to seeing what he does with Clark Kent!

Interview: Viktor Bogdanovic Artist of New Super-Man & Action Comics! In the world of comics, Viktor Bogdanovic is a relative youngster. Recently on his Twitter (@VikBogdanovic) he announced that he would be working on Action Comics!

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naomi-l-tiessen-blog · 7 years

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Tips on Breaking Out of Your Writing Hiatus

Helllllooooo everybody ~

Happy Thursday Blogday!

Well, we’ve all been there. We didn’t mean for it to happen, but it just…did.

We stopped writing.

Life got busy. I’ve never been a fantastic multi-tasker, and back in the summer of 2016, it seemed like suddenly everything was happening at once. I was playing roller derby, and had practice 3 times a week. I was still working full-time at the hospital. And on top of it all, I was in the process of moving to a different city, soooo packing, packing, packing. As much as I didn’t want it to, writing sort of went onto the backburner, and then it slipped off completely. And I let it. I didn’t even think twice about letting it not be a priority. One week became one month, then two months, then three months, and then I stopped counting.

So, when the time came that I finally decided to pick up the pieces of my nearly finished manuscript, I was sort of at a loss of what to do. I had stopped in the middle of a chapter (ouch), and said chapter was a heavy duty one (double ouch). I had no clue what to do. I knew that I had overcome the hardest part by accepting the fact that I had screwed up, but somehow, it didn’t seem as simple as sitting down and writing again. In truth, I didn’t feel worthy to write. I almost felt like I needed to confess my sins, plead for forgiveness from my abandoned novel baby, and join a Seven Steps Program or something.

All this sound familiar?

I have done a good chunk of research, and have come up with ten useful tips on how to overcome the mountain that is known as Hiatus. Some of these may work for you, and some of them may make you cringe so hard it looks like you’re seizing. But whether all of them apply to you or not, they are still little gems to put in your writer bank!

1) So, first and foremost, allow yourself that pity party your brain is begging you to have. Eat junk food, wallow in guilt, maybe cry a little (ahem *points to self* moi), and procrastinate a bit more. Get it out of your system. And then, when you are finally ready to face the music (…manuscript?), move on. I know, I know, weird tip right? “But Scarlette, everyone else tells me to stop beating myself up immediately!” Ooook. Well, you’re going to feel guilty regardless of whether I tell you to or not. So let’s all just be real about this. You’re a human being. You feel things. You’re going to feel guilty about abandoning your baby and letting it collect dust. You’re going to want to beat yourself up about it. Use that to push yourself forward. Do it. Do ittttt. And then carry on.

2) Start slow. Maybe do some writing challenges or exercises. Do a writing prompt or two...whatever it takes to get the brain juices flowing (ugh...that sounds nasty). For me, I went back momentarily to fanfiction. Writing fanfiction was my safety blanket for a long time, and it felt nice to be on familiar ground while I more or less tried to un-rust myself. And really, much to my relief, it didn’t take long to get my groove and confidence back. One thing to keep in mind is that it's not a race; you need to figure out what works best for you to get back in the swing of things. It may take a couple writing prompts, or it might take an entire fanfiction. Go at a pace that is good for you. Your novel baby knows you are working hard. It’s not going anywhere. It’ll be there when you are ready. It’s not a race. Unless you have an epic deadline….then this is super awkward…may I refer you to my previous blog regarding motivation?

3) Do research. And by research, I mean reading. A lot of it. And I don't know about you, but sometimes when I'm reading, I'll find myself thinking, "Well fuck, I could've written this better." Yes. Hell yes. Use that. DO THAT. GET WRITING.

4) Once you are actively writing, allow yourself to get into the groove, and don’t stop. Unless you desperately need a pee break, sustenance in the form of snacks and liquids, or it’s a family emergency, don’t stop. Whether it’s for a page, or thirty minutes, or 500 words, or an entire chapter/scene, write your little cynical, introverted heart out. You’re going to force that groove out of its hiding place, the stubborn bastard.

5) Set a concrete, measurable goal. “Write.” is not gonna cut it, trust me. I’ve done it before where I’ll get home after work, look at my Honey-Do List and see WRITE in big, aggressively bold letters staring back at me. I’ll then toss the list aside, grab my video game controller, and say, “Well, technically I wrote all day. Charting on patients counts as writing, right?” No, no it doesn’t. Give yourself something to work towards, such as a word count, page number, or set a timer and tell yourself that you’ll write for the next hour without stopping.

6) Don’t edit as you go. For the love of God, don’t edit as you go. Accept the fact that you are going to be rusty, and move on. Right now, all that’s important is getting words out of your noggin and onto paper. Save the editing for later. That’s what drafts (and drafts, and drafts) are for. The minute you start analyzing what you are writing, you’re going to only focus on how awkward and rough things are sounding, and you’ll lose your gumption to push forward. Instead of thinking, “Writing, writing, writing,” you’ll be thinking, “Shitty, shitty, shitty. Oh God, make it stop.” No. Bad. Don’t do that.

7) Accept the fact that your writing style has most likely changed. It's going to be almost comical re-reading and editing my first draft of HBE, considering I started writing it in 2014 and have grown so much since then. And by comical I mean I'm going to cry. A lot. But that’s the harsh truth of going on hiatus in the middle of a project. Things are bound to change. You aren’t the same writer you once were when you first started. Maybe this change is for the better, or maybe it’s for the worst. But guess what? You won’t actually know the answer unless you START FRICKEN WRITING.

8) Maybe start somewhere you were once really excited about. Now, I don't normally recommend this...I’m a fan of writing in chronological order, but if you are stuck on a killer scene and are dreading going back to it, especially now that you are feeling a bit out of touch with your writer side, maybe start somewhere a bit lighter, easier. Maybe there’s a scene you’ve been dying to get to, and you know that you could totally make that scene your bitch. If the only reason why you haven’t already pounced all over that scene is because of a fear of breaking out of chronological order, then you’re being stubborn and silly. Come on. Try it. Give in to my suave charm and give it a shot. It could be a confidence booster! And then, when you are feeling ready, go back to that killer scene and kick its butt.

9) Build up your habit/restart your ritual. Some people throw dance parties right before they get to writing. Some people like to read right before they dive into their own work as a way to be inspired. I personally like to clean my entire house about 15 times before I finally decide to sit down and write (DO NOT RECOMMEND). What was your previous ritual? Did it work for you? If it didn’t, switch it up! Instead of waiting until nighttime to write, perhaps get to work in the morning when your mind and body are refreshed and not weighed down and jaded by the day yet. Maybe try location writing. I know, I know, the idea of getting out of the house might seem awful and panic-attack inducing, but it might help stimulate your brain juices (ugh…said it again), and inspire you. Find a quiet little coffee shop, or hunker down in the corner of a book store. Get your favorite coffee/tea/cleverly disguised alcoholic beverage (no judgement), and write until closing time. Find a ritual that works for you, and perform it until it becomes a habit. Think of it as your bedtime routine. The moment you start doing this ritual, whether it’s brushing your teeth, washing your face, or putting on your PJ’s (this doesn’t work for me, considering I wear my PJ’s all day), something triggers in your brain, telling it, “Hey, it’s time for bed! Hooray!” The same will happen with your writing routine. The minute you initiate the writing ritual, your brain is going to register what is happening and jump into Writer Mode.

10) Revamp that outline. It's going to help remind you of all the hard work you’ve already put into your manuscript, how far you’ve come, and the fun things to come. Set aside some time to laze out on the couch with a glass of wine, and read your outline from start to finish. Not gonna lie, chances are it’s going to make you cringe a little *once again, pointing to self*. You might find plot holes, or god-awful ideas that sounded so good at the time but what the hell were you thinking? Were you wondering why I mentioned an alcoholic beverage earlier? This is why. You need to sift through all the bullshit and find the reasons why you fell in love with your novel baby in the first place. Get excited all over again. Review it, revise it, love it.

Bonus Tip: When you are done writing for the day and about to pack it in, set yourself up for success. Organize and prepare for your next writing adventure so that it isn't like pulling teeth when you attempt to convert brain vomit into word vomit. Personally, I like to stop in the middle of a sentence. I might know how I want that sentence to end right then and there, but I save it for the next day. So, when I open up my manuscript and see that half-done sentence just begging to be finished, I can easily do it. BAM! First sentence done. Piece of cake. I’M ON FIRE! Now onto the next one. It's a bit of a mind game, I know, but it's also a confidence booster for me.

And that’s it! See, jumping back into that novel doesn’t seem so terrifying now, does it? And keep in mind to take these with a grain of salt; some of these will work for you, and some of them won’t. Everyone is a unique, delicate flower, and not every drop of water from the watering can is going to make its mark on you. God. Cheese please. It sounded so much better in my head.

With that said, I post new blogs every Thursday, and if there is anything you’d like me to discuss, feel free to message me on here, or tweet me @ @ScarletteStone

Until next time, my beautiful, delicate flowers:

Happy writing!

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ddrkirbyisq · 7 years

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Apparently I'm not quite so great at doing a post on VBall every year (unlike with, say, Fanime). The last time I wrote about a VBall was from 2015 -- you can find that post here. I tried looking for a post from 2016 and I found one that referenced VBall, but afterwards there were a bunch of very angsty and depressed entries so apparently I wasn't in a very great place. Thinking back to it, I actually sort of =do= remember last year's vball and it was a strange mix of emotions, mostly due to certain circumstances. But that is neither here nor there, as they say...

Viennese Ball, for me, is different than Fanime in the sense that VBall isn't quite wholly different from year to year. With Fanime so much can happen and I feel like the range of experience is sort of all over the place depending on what ends up happening to me, but with VBall there's only so much that can change from year to year; we usually have more or less the same things happening over the course of the night, after all.

Probably the most notable thing about VBall this year was that it was up in the Palace Hotel in SF again, instead of the Santa Clara Marriot (as it was last year) or the Hyatt Regency in Burlingame (as it was the year before, and a bunch of years besides that). The Burlingame location is by far the most "familiar" by now, with the Santa Clara one being the most low-stress (so close by!). I work up in the city now, so it was semi (?) convenient for me being able to drive to work in the morning, then repark my car (paying for parking twice in a day, booo) near the hotel. That being said I was still (to my dismay) pretty stressed out before the event, though I didn't want to be. Part of that was just being in an unfamiliar place and situation (always the bane of us ISFJs), trying to make sure that I was able to set aside time to do makeup, fix up my Journey dress, park my car, etc. In the end it wasn't that big of a deal, but I DID end up having to find a corner of the hotel with a power outlet and pulling out my clothing iron because one of the triangular pieces of my dress was peeling off (didn't get attached securely when I first ironed it on, apparently). So while everybody was milling around waiting for the ball to start I was off in this random corner near an elevator ironing my dress...

On the plus side everything went AOK in the end and I actually didn't end up having any issues with my costume, though there were a few moments when my scarf was trailing behind me and I was super worried that it would get in someone's way and get destroyed or something. Sigh. But enough about all that.

The ball itself was pretty wonderful! I always say that VBall is really great just by virtue of being an event where you get to see so many people from the community, even those who don't come out much and are essentially in hiding. The dancing itself at Vball is.....an interesting mixed bag, as there's usually no space on the floor and a bunch of beginners that you really have to watch out for not to run into, but everyone looks really amazing in their fancy clothes and everything. But just walking around and saying hi to everyone is always great times.

I didn't actually end up being able to catch all of the performances and such that went on during the evening, unfortunately, including some that I would have really liked to, but somehow I was just caught up between dancing, catching up with people, etc. Whoops. I was also unreasonably stressed about the waltz competitions (much to my dismay). I didn't want to admit it but I actually REALLY wanted to do well, not just because I had taken a year off and withheld from joining last year, but because I really do care a LOT about social waltz and have been dedicating quite a lot of effort to improving through the last several months.

In the end I couldn't really have asked for much better. Me and Talia were tapped out in the cross-step waltz preliminary rounds but only after dancing really hard and putting everything I knew out there. This is something that I really like about performances and competitions that makes me wish there was more of this in our waltz scene -- the fact that something about performing in front of people really makes you give it your all. I know from first-hand experience that an atmosphere of constant competition and attention-seeking can be unhealthy, grating even, but I think there is really something to be said about having an opportunity to come together with a partner and really try to put your best foot forward. As those of us who dance a lot may know, being given that opportunity that doesn't necessarily mean that things end up working out -- sometimes you fall completely flat of your own expectations, but it's difficult to really reach a pinnacle of expression if you don't have a reason to push yourself.

The rotary waltz preliminaries started and I decided that I wouldn't really hold anything back, as who could really say what would happen? I could try and put odds on whether we would make the finals but would that really help me, or should I just put 100% into it regardless? So we danced our hearts out and MAN. The thing is, I've been focusing quite a lot of cross-step waltz lately, but rotary has this super driving energy and when you are really in the zone, good rotary waltz songs just somehow propel you forward and around in this certain unique way. It's that reason that made me fall in love with rotary waltz in the first place. So there I was getting super into the first song of the preliminary round and then that song ends and......on comes another good song. And I'm like, ok, here we go...so I start putting what felt like 120% of my energy into this new song and wow, we are zooming across the floor and around each other and I feel like I'm flying... I don't really remember for sure, but I think it was at that point that I was actually able to just let go of my own expectations and pressure and just live purely in the moment. It is the magic of music and motion that lets this special thing happen to us, where nothing else really matters, just you and your partner and the dance and the music, and flying along, and as that song ended I realize that I don't think I've ever really put this much into a dance before.

...and like that, the preliminary round was over and I was.....not just happy, but more importantly, NEEDED WATER. Holy crap do you have any idea how tiring it is to dance two rotary waltzes one after another while pulling out all the stops, while wearing a big fancy dress and petticoat? So just as I did two years ago, the first thing I did was go off to get some water.........sheesh!

Fast forward to our turn -- we were the last couple to perform. And as I walk forward I'm thinking of how I've prepared and waited for this moment, a chance to show everyone what waltz can be, what it can really be, and how many possibilities there are. And as I'm thinking this, the opening notes "Time" come on and at that moment I sort of just melted a bit. And I think my thoughts at that point were basically just "oh....oh MAN.....here we go....wow" and at that point I knew that everything was going to be amazing no matter what. Not only is Time one of my all-time favorite waltzes, with a gosh-darn GREAT musical structure, but has this unique repeating motif throughout the song that I can't help but feel inspired by. It's a song that I liked so much that I even wrote my own version of it!

I have often said about my composing process that it is not about me forming melodies on my own, but rather about finding the "flow" of a song and allowing it to write itself, allowing it to speak for itself, through my hand. It's similar to the concept of the Greek Muses, in this way, in that I'm serving more as a conduit through which the song comes through, and I've found that being able to let my brain's creative half function naturally is key in writing good music, as whenever I try to stop and think or reason about what I'm doing it tends to lead to trouble. Dance is much the same way for me, which I think is why I feed off of and depend so heavily on the music that is being played, as it compels me in a way that I would never be able to replicate otherwise. I've been asked before how I am able to be so "musical" while dancing and it's an odd question for me to attempt to answer because I can't really imagine being any other way. I of course have come up with more structured responses about aligning figures to phrases and all that, and logically that all makes sense, but really at the heart of it I feel such a strong connection to the music that it's very difficult for me to dance in a way that doesn't line up properly, especially as a leader. It's funny if you think about it -- really the leader is playing "follow" to the music...

All that said, I knew exactly what I was going to start the dance off with because I really wanted to show leading from the follower's position. It's my specialty and there is really so much you can do with it. Role switching in dance has been a passion of mine for several years now and I really wish we could have more of it! The rest of the dance went by in what seemed like a flash and somehow, guided by the music, we managed to fit in almost (almost =P) everything I wanted to show. And then it was over. I took a deep breath and felt this huge wave of catharsis (and exhaustion, lol!).

I've already said it before, but it meant so much to me hearing everyone's words of encouragement and congratulations for us, and even more to hear that people were inspired by our performance. I actually had a conversation with a close friend just the day before the ball about why the heck I was so invested in this whole waltz competition thing, and why I even cared so much. And it was at that time, after our performance, when people were giving us hugs and high-fives, that I found the answer that I was looking for. I really did think for a second that I was going to start crying.

I can't thank everyone enough.

I've mentioned in the past wanting to start some sort of regular practicing or waltz-lab-like thing for people to come together and work on improving their waltz and learning new things from each other (and also just having fun dancing together!), and I'm finally putting my words to action! I'll be at Dancebreak at 10PM tomorrow night and would love to work on stuff with other people there. I don't know what will happen in the future but everything's gotta start from somewhere!

#Blogger

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aion-rsa · 4 years

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How Warrior Nun Takes Its Viewers to Church

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The following contains spoilers for Warrior Nun.

We’ve seen nuns kill a gospel medley, but not a bad guy. Fighting demons and assorted baddies isn’t exactly new, but doing it in a full habit is something we haven’t seen on television before. Buffy and the Winchesters take two different approaches to fighting evil, but Warrior Nun answers the question of what happens when we weaponize women of the faith.

Warrior Nun Areala, the manga-style comic book source material on which Warrior Nun is based, follows Warrior Nun Sister Shannon Masters and her friends in The Order of the Cruciform Sword as they fight the forces of evil. Barry says what attracted him to the comics was the “mythology of the warrior nuns order and the battle between good and evil. And the fact that there were women at the center of it.” Women-led, evil-fighting teams are still fairly uncommon on TV, despite the fact that Buffy and the Scoobies graced our screens over two decades ago.

Barry also says he liked the attitude the comic presented. “It was a little bit raw. It was a little bit in your face and it didn’t apologize. So, in a way, you could have some fun. It wasn’t taking itself super seriously, even though it was dealing with the gravitas of religion.”

Adapting a property presents unique challenges for creators, who have to decide how much to adhere to the source material. With Warrior Nun, Barry treats the comic book as more of a foundation, opting to craft a unique story around the basic premise. “We really didn’t feel like— we didn’t want to branch off of that and replace anything. We wanted to have our own little universe going.”

Consequently, Warrior Nun is more of a spiritual successor to the comic, rather than a direct adaptation or replacement. “I think that we’ll probably exist in parallel universes hopefully, if we get to do another season, or if anything else comes out of our journey, but I don’t really want to tangle with the world of the comic book universe in a way that is contradictory or anything like that, so I think we’ll live in our own space.”

Ben Dunn, who created the comic, did have a chance to confer with writers during production, and to visit the set. “We had him on a video conference in the writing room, where he really was giving us his best wishes and giving us, I guess, his blessing in a way, to go forward. Then he came to Spain with us when we were shooting, to see how a TV show works and all the madness of the film set. He was very keen to do that and very keen to learn that process.”

Dunn knew the TV show would be a departure from the comics. “For him I think it was a way of sending us off on our journey, which is independent, in a weird way, of his.”

Barry makes it very clear that the show and the comics are completely different entities. Still, we wanted to know if there were any specific things from the show pulled directly from the comics… “With characters like Shotgun Mary and Sister Lilith, we were very much inspired by the comic in terms of how they’ve put those women forward and their defining quality,” says Barry. “There were elements, I guess you could call them, that were inspired from the books that we felt like were a perfect fit for what we were doing in the television show.”

Warrior Nun perhaps doesn’t have enough fun with its source material. Asked whether there are any Easter eggs, Barry has only broad examples. “If someone who knows the book is watching the show and they realize that we have this character Lilith and what happens to her, they may have a sense of what’s going to happen to her.” There is room, even in a loose adaptation, to have fun with the fact that comics are a visual medium that offer opportunities to recreate iconic images, which honor the art, and are a treat for comic fans.

Both the Warrior Nun Areala comic and the Warrior Nun show utilize Catholic mythos and iconography to tell their stories. The comics treat the Church as a definitive force of good whereas the show allows for nuance and individual interpretation. Asked how they navigated that nuance, Barry says “It was really about the individual characters, making decisions that would then place them on either the good or the bad side. It didn’t matter where they came from or what they were doing.”

He continues: “We early on decided that we weren’t going to make comments on the good and evil of the show as it related to a giant organization or institution, we really wanted to focus on characters. Our characters would either be good or bad. If you wanted to define the institution based on the character, you have that option as a viewer, but we weren’t necessarily making a blanket statement or painting it with a broad brush.” It’s up to viewers to decide who’s good or bad.

Additionally, every episode title is a Bible verse, which gives the audience another way to engage with the show. “The audience could then go into their phone, or their iPad or computer and look up what that verse was referring to, and get a little insight into where we were coming from.” Asked which came first, the title or the script, Barry says: “We wrote all the episodes for the most part before we picked the titles. Then we were in this place where we were trying to figure out what titles would be appropriate.” One well-versed in scripture may be slightly spoiled by the episode titles —take episode 1 title, Psalms 46:5, “God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.” But mostly they express a vibe, not a plot point.

Warrior Nun was filmed on location in Spain, which was chosen because, Barry says, they “wanted to make the show in a country that has a lot of history, that was connected to religion and connected to the history of what we had invented, or what the books had invented, which was the Warrior Nun sect.” Barry continues: “Visually, Spain just has all of these amazing Gothic and Neo-Gothic and Pre-Gothic churches and you feel that you can’t escape. It’s everywhere. It’s sort of the looming history of Christianity. It’s great because it really gives a weight to the religious part of the show and the stakes of the show, which is good and evil, heaven and hell.”

Warrior Nuns Through TV History

By Louisa Mellor

Warrior Nun Ending Explained

By Nicole Hill

For a show that borders on blasphemous, Warrior Nun takes surprisingly few risks. There is a scene where Sister Beatrice is recounting the story of an explicitly gay Warrior Nun from WWII. Beatrice is clearly, if subtlely moved by this, but the show never goes as far as confirming her queer identity. When asked if this is an appropriate read of the character, and whether Beatrice’s sexuality would be addressed going forward, Barry says: “If we get a season two it would be awesome to continue down that road and really dig deeper, of course. I think we have to honor our characters in that way, by being honest about not only who they are, but why they are the way they are, and we would certainly be missing an amazing opportunity for character building and storytelling if we didn’t see more of that too.” Planning to explore a characters queer identity is okay, but establishing their queer identity, explicitly, is better.

As mentioned in the Den of Geek review, I found Ava’s internal monologue to be distracting at times. Barry admits the creative team hadn’t originally planned for voiceovers, but incorporated them into the series because of concerns that “that there might be a problem with the audience understanding everything that was going on at the time they needed to.”

“We’re packing so much information into the first few episodes,” continues Barry, “getting a sense that Ava was a person, not just reacting. It really was to try and help the audience jumpstart their relationship with Ava.”

While we may disagree on the necessity of the use of voiceover in Warrior Nun, what is inarguably necessary is for the show to have a point of view. For Barry, it was important that the show reinforce the notion of sisterhood. “I like, personally, shows that I can’t forget, and that surprise me and that entertain me. We’re obviously not a show that sees religion as something that we’re trying to use as a weapon or as a philosophy. We’re a show that’s really about sisterhood. At the end of the day, this show, really I would love it to be known as a show about how strong women are stronger together, and how they can overcome challenges, whether they be supernatural or personal, in a way that they’ll have our friendship and our support and unity. That was the guiding principle of the show.”

Warrior Nun is not just about sisterhood. It is a show where angels and devils are real, magic exists, and the stakes are high. The world is counting on the OCS to keep evil at bay, and the show so far only scratches the surface of its storytelling potential. Given that, season one ends on a cliffhanger. A confident choice, considering the show has not been picked up for a second season at the time of this writing. Thankfully Barry has plans for next season.

“We’ve thrown a lot of ideas around about where the show could go at the end of the season, of what we want to do next season. Having made several shows, I know that all of these things change as you go. Depending on how the show plays and how the audience reacts to it, you end up changing some of those ideas and rethinking them, so I don’t really want to say anything specific about that because I know that season two, if we’re lucky to get one, could redefine the show in ways that might change that.”

Barry seems hesitant to make any definitive statements about the future of the show, leaving us to wonder what he has up his sleeve. Whether or not the show continues— and we hope it does— one thing is abundantly clear, binge watching Warrior Nun should be your next bad habit.

The post How Warrior Nun Takes Its Viewers to Church appeared first on Den of Geek.

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lilac-milk-moon · 5 years

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Wealth is More Than Numbers in Your Bank — Sitting Poolside with Tom from This Online World

The Sitting Poolside interview series

When people think of retirement, scenes of beachfront homes, rounds of golf, or reading by the pool come to mind. Sitting Poolside is a series of interviews that challenges that notion and other financial misperceptions. The series name pokes fun at the stereotypes, but it’s also an opportunity to discuss people’s real stories and unique insights. So grab a piña colada and pull up a your lounge chair!

Tom from This Online World

Tom is a recent college graduate and personal finance blogger from Toronto, Canada. Tom primarily writes about side hustles, passive income, and making money online on his blog This Online World.

About This Online World

Mr. SR (MSR): Can you tell me more about This Online World? What inspired you to start the blog and where did the name come from?

Tom: I’ve always had an interest in writing, and I’ve been dabbling with blogspot blogs or other forms of writing ever since I was 14. I was actually inspired to start blogging while I was finishing my degree for two reasons: to make money, and to help other people improve their financial wellbeing.

I ended up choosing the name This Online World because I think that while my website falls under the personal finance niche, the foundation of my content is about figuring out ways to use the internet and technology to make/save money. It’s pretty incredible if you think about it! You can theoretically hop on the internet from any point in the world, and if you have some sort of marketable skill, you can increase your income within a few hours if you know where to look and how to start the process.

MSR: What has the public response been to This Online World so far? What are some of the most insightful interactions or insights you’ve had from the community?

Tom: I’m really grateful to have had some positive responses from readers, and for the most part, I think/hope people have enjoyed the honest money making/saving ideas on my site.

One post in particular, my Road to $100/Month Blog post, has actually encouraged a few people to start blogs of their own in a bunch of different niches. The fact that some of my content can encourage other people to start their own side hustle or make some additional money is probably the best part of blogging.

Plus, I’ve also learned so much from others in the personal finance community! I’ve been lucky to connect with more experienced bloggers/people who have run successful online businesses, and they have provided some truly valuable insight into how I can approach growing my own blog or making career decisions.

Marketing career

MSR: On your site, you share that you work at a digital marketing agency. I worked at a marketing agency for a few years after college, and I still work in a marketing role now in a more corporate setting — so we have that in common!

How has having an insider perspective about marketing affected your view of spending and finances?

Tom: That’s awesome, I always love encountering fellow marketers! I think this is a great question because it really has impacted how I view personal finance and how I spend.

I think that spending more money than I have ever owned before through advertising campaigns for clients has slowly helped to make me comfortable with the concept of ‘spending money to make money.’ When I first started working I was fixated on my savings rate and pretty frugal. I still am to an extent, but I think I’m also learning the value of investing into something for long-term results.

I used to bank every penny my blog made, but I’m learning to invest most of it back into growth. On a similar note, I’ve slowly learned that sometimes it makes sense to pay more for quality than to take a cheaper route that ends up burning you in the long run.

Personal finance momentum in Canada

MSR: You share that you are from Toronto — what is your perception of the early retirement movement in Canada? Among your friends and coworkers, have you seen much attention paid to a non-traditional financial path like FIRE?

Tom: Most of my friends are 22-23 like me, and I also work in a fairly young company right now. FIRE isn’t very popular or well known amongst my demographic since many of us graduated in the past 2 years or so.

I think that Canada is slowly catching up to the U.S. with some of our investing options (i.e. Vanguard coming to Canada, some Robo Advisor options, etc.) so I hope that this helps progress discussion about financial management for young Canadians and raises awareness about the options we have.

I do have some friends taking non-traditional paths to earning an income, which is pretty awesome to see! Two of my close friends actually make an income completely from gig economy jobs like Uber, DoorDash, or online jobs from Upwork. I think that these sorts of hustles help people take control of their finances even if they aren’t considering FIRE, so there is still a sense of optimism around here!

Wealth and growing up

MSR: What was your concept of wealth when you were growing up? How do you view wealth now, and what changed your perspective?

Tom: I was fortunate to grow up with a parent who works as a financial planner, so I was taught basic personal finance concepts and how to invest from a relatively young age. Funnily enough, I also played a lot of strategy-based video games set in the Medieval era as a child, and there’s something about taxing your peasant population into the ground and fighting over silk trade roads that probably influences the developing brain a tad.

Like most kids, however, I don’t think I truly understood the value of money and time to the extent that I do now. My perspective of wealth has changed since I started working because I now realize that wealth encompasses more than the numbers in your bank account…wealth is knowledge, health, time, and freedom.

Other factors have contributed as well. I think I am scared of aging if I’m honest, or having other people around me grow old. While I am immensely grateful for my health and the health of my immediate circle, the thought still unnerves me. Part of the reason I want to work remotely and acquire more time/freedom is to try to live a more fulfilling life and to also spend more time with people I care about.

MSR: Do you feel like you had an atypical experience growing up with a parent who was a financial planner? How was that, from your perspective as the kid?

Tom: Growing up with a financial planner for a parent didn’t seem too different, although in hindsight there were definitely some major benefits. I was encouraged to invest small bits of Christmas money from an early age and to take an interest in finance, and I think this helped prepped me for adulthood and managing college without losing track of my spending.

I think my parents also did a good job of blending financial education with things I was already interested in, like video games or history books wherever they could. My parents were also always very open in regards to talking about money, and they would explain basic concepts all the time like budgeting, or why we decided to shop at store X instead of Y, and pretty much any question I would have.

I think the simple fact that we openly talked about money was the one thing that was noticeably different to me as a child, since I never heard my other elementary school friends mention things related to finance. But, it was never a glaring difference that stood out to me back then.

Full-time remote work

MSR: Are you hoping to retire early? If so, what are your plans for your early retirement years?

Tom: I don’t dread work, but I do dread sitting in an office and working on projects I disagree with. I’ve been working in advertising for 3 years (2 were during school and 1 has been in-office), so from a financial perspective I am still very far away from FIRE.

However, I am looking to slowly make a shift into fully remote work. Between growing my blog and freelance work, I hope to create a fairly location independent lifestyle where I can work on projects that interest me while seeing some new places and mixing up my life a little bit. I sort of have this mini-dream of being 100% self employed through blogging by the time I’m 24, but we’ll have to see how that one goes!

MSR: To what extent are your friends and family aware of your full-time remote work goals? How have they reacted?

Tom: All of my close friends and family are aware of my plans, and they have been immensely supportive! Some of my friends are actually fully remote themselves and make their income from various side hustles and online contracts, so they certainly support the concept of being location independent.

My family also thinks it’s a good idea to do something like this at 22 than further down the line, since I’m at a life stage where failure doesn’t have too many consequences — in case my attempt goes poorly after a couple of months. Ultimately, this foundation and encouragement has been amazing to have, and I think that as long as you approach something like this with a plan and have a few revenue streams to rely on, it’s not a bad lifestyle to try out!

Plus, I think this sort of thing is going to become increasingly common as technology improves and the ‘gig economy’ continues to grow.

Advice

MSR: What do you consider to be your biggest failure or regret?

Tom: I deeply regret choosing psychology for my major in school. I minored in marketing, but I really have 0 interest in psychology (at least the way it is taught in school). I took my program because it offered internships and because it was easy. I strayed from math and science during high school because they were difficult.

Closing the math and science door really limited my current knowledge and access to certain careers. I think things have worked out alright, and working in digital advertising has been a great fit since I want to work remotely eventually, but I do regret taking the easy way out with my education.

MSR: What’s the most helpful book or blog you’ve read recently?

Tom: I’ve been reading a lot of Zach’s writing over at Four Pillar Freedom lately, and honestly, it’s greatly improved my confidence when it comes to shifting into remote work and taking control of my financial future.

Zach actually quit his day job as a data scientist a few weeks ago as he is running some pretty successful online websites, and I really find his insights on risk taking, career/personal development, and the future to be quite inspiring.

MSR: What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?

Tom: I still remember getting this email from my mom. It was an interview with entrepreneur Mark Cuban where he said ‘following your passion is terrible advice.’

This sounds like the exact opposite of what you think a parent would send you, but seriously, read the article! We generally enjoy things because we excel/are above average at them, so if you listen to what the market tells you (i.e. what the market demands from your given set of skills) and hone your craft, you will end up loving what you do.

I absolutely love history, and for a while, I was going to go into history with hopes of becoming a teacher. Ontario is oversaturated with teachers right now, and I’m not always the most patient person, so it wouldn’t have been a great move in hindsight. Instead of following this ‘passion,’ I started writing and getting into digital marketing because I found that I could make money with these 2 things, and now, I love them!

MSR: Tom, thank you for sharing your experiences with us. I’ve enjoyed our conversation and I appreciate your time!

The post Wealth is More Than Numbers in Your Bank — Sitting Poolside with Tom from This Online World appeared first on Semi-Retire Plan.

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thegloober · 6 years

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A Bread Factory, Part One: For the Sake of Gold

[Editor’s Note: This is a review of Part One of “A Bread Factory,” a matched set of films about an arts center’s effect on a small town in upstate New York, written and directed by Patrick Wang (“In the Family“). Although each part stands alone and can be enjoyed separately, they are meant to be seen together. For a review of Part Two, click here.]

Patrick Wang’s “A Bread Factory Part One: For the Sake of Gold” is half of a matched set of movies that comprises the most original filmgoing experience of the year. Part Two is subtitled “Walk with Me a While.” Each runs two hours. The halves are meant to be shown back-to-back in a theater with an intermission, but you can watch them independently and come away feeling that you’ve seen a complete work. Any way you watch it, “A Bread Factory” is a wildly ambitious yet self-effacing epic about a place and its people, written, directed and acted in the spirit of Robert Altman (“Nashville“), Richard Linklater (“Bernie“) and Edward Yang (“Yi Yi“)—muralists who paint on wide canvases, yet still treat each character as individuals worthy of their own portraits.

Part One introduces the fictional upstate New York town of Checkford, a place as vivid as Grover’s Corners, Deadwood or Maycomb. The central location is the eponymous arts center, headquartered in a converted bread factory. For forty years the place has been run by its founders, Dorothea (Tyne Daly) and her partner Greta (Elizabeth Henry). Dorothea is a tough, passionate administrator and stage director who doesn’t suffer fools. Greta is a soft-spoken, reflective, Finland-born actress who tries to rein her partner in when she’s about to lose her cool.

That’s been happening more often recently. A bigger, glitzier arts facility just opened on the other side of Checkford. It serves up flamboyant and shallow work that’s steeped in 1990s conceptual art cliches, shuts the brain down instead of engaging it, and seems designed to pull in tourists and send them home with tote bags and t-shirts. Most of the work is produced or approved by a couple of gimmicky and very successful Chinese performance artists known as May Ray (Janet Hseih and George Young).

May Ray pipe prerecorded laughter and applause through public address systems to override the crowd’s responses. They dress in outrageous costumes, including a set of retro spacesuits with tiny action figure versions of themselves dangling in front of their faceplates. They are their own logos, branding all they touch. They like to draw the audience into cutesy stunts (like “walking in another person’s shoes,” which are fashioned from hats) that momentarily thrill or amuse, then serve up banalities disguised as wisdom (like “falling is a part of walking”) so that patrons go home knowing not only that they’ve seen Real Art, but what it was supposed to mean. This is a sharp contrast to The Bread Factory, which books some out-of-towners and the occasional big name, but is mainly fueled by local work that’s steeped in a classical liberal arts tradition, and created by local artists for local audiences in a relationship that’s more reciprocal and open-ended, an exchange of traditions and values.

Dorothea and Greta learn that the town is taking of cutting their educational subsidy— which lets them teach Chatford children and teenagers, thus training a new generations of artists and patrons, and provides the core of their monthly nut—and give to the newcomers, who overmatch them in every area except parking. Suddenly they have to think like tacticians, brainstorming a plan to convince a majority of the city council to leave things as they are.

The new facility’s administrator, Karl (Trevor St. John), is a formidable adversary. He presents himself as a calm, bland, middle manager-type, but he’s smart and ruthless. He’s the kind of guy who’ll reply to a journalist’s carefully researched questions by asking why she’s resorting to personal attacks. Karl has shady funding connections, and seems to have already bought off half the school board. He even tries to strong-arm Dorothea into backing down from the impending board fight by threatening to report The Bread Factory to the state for hiring a felon (albeit one whose conviction was reversed) and employing children (actually volunteers who are being thoughtfully mentored by the staff).

Dorothea and Greta’s strategizing and politicking is intercut with scenes of the couple workshopping a new production of the Greek tragedy “Hecuba,” directed by Dorothea, translated by a scholar named Elsa (Nana Victor) who shyly declines to call herself a writer, and co-starring Greta and a grand old English actor known as Sir Walter (the late, great Brian Murray, in his last performance).

Around this core group, Wang spins a constellation of supporting players. Some have stories that intersect with (and comment upon) the main action. Others get one juicy scene or bit, then recede into the chorus. An embittered indie filmmaker named Jordan (Janeane Garofalo) loathes the boring, predictable questions of adults (“What was your budget?”), but roars to life when guest-teaching young children. One of her pupils is so inspired by Jordan’s blistering rant about the importance of passion in art that he goes home and upbraids his own mother for not cooking chicken like she means it. A school union representative named Jason (James Marsters) is secretly comparing notes with a city council member named Mavis (Nan-Lyn Nelson) who happens to be his girlfriend. Sandra, a woman with an operatic voice (played by opera singer Martina Arroyo), loves to watch plays being rehearsed. She regales strangers with stories about her late husband, who wrote appliance manuals (“He told me, ‘Sandra, more people read me than Faulkner”).

The aforementioned journalist, Jan (Glynnis O’Connor), is also the local newspaper’s editor and only employee. She keeps the tradition of an independent Fourth Estate alive from a windowless basement office. Jan is currently mentoring a teenage intern named Max (Zachary Style), who’s in love with a local library assistant named Teresa (Jessica Pimintel), who’s also acting in “Hecuba,” a production that will eventually be reviewed by a retired Pulitzer-prizewinning critic and scholar named Jean-Marc (Philip Kerr), who’s been been getting the silent treatment from Sir Walter since he panned one of performances fifty years ago.

“A Bread Factory” is about a lot of things. One is the challenge of succeeding as an artist in a market economy when you have knowledge, enthusiasm, and the loyalty of a core audience, but no money or connections to speak of, and a stubborn determination to let the work speak for itself rather than constantly hyping it. The David and Goliath dynamic between the two facilities is reminiscent of the conflict between Italian restaurants in the classic American 1950s period comedy “Big Night.” One restaurant is run by a showboat who gives the people what they want: spaghetti and meatballs with red sauce, checkered tablecloths, accordion music, and sudden bursts of flame. The other restaurant specializes in Northern Italian food unfamiliar to 1950s Americans, cooked by a uncompromising chef who wants to give every diner a surprising and authentic experience, and would rather brood in his kitchen than put on a show. You can guess which place makes money.

Beyond that, “A Bread Factory” is an idealistic statement about the importance of art in everyday life. It’s about how a scene from a play or a line from a poem can cast a new light on your problems or dreams, maybe put a whole new frame around your life, your community, and the culture and nation that helped shape you. A big part of Dorothea’s frustration—brilliantly communicated by Daly, in a performance that sums up everything that makes her such a treasure—comes from having to explain any of this in the first place. She’s old enough to remember when Americans of all social classes thought of art as a birthright, as integral to life in an advanced democracy as well-funded public schools.

A major subtext in all the scenes that involve Dorothea, Greta, Karl and May Ray is the way a capitalist economy encourages the public to think of all art as just another product, forcing independent creative artists to package and present themselves like rock-star entrepreneurs, even if they don’t have the temperament for it; and how the postwar tradition of publicly funded art and art education in America has withered in the last 30 years, to the point where many people hear the word “art” and think “decadence” or “indulgence” or “a thing that taxes shouldn’t fund.”

“You must have seen rough times before,” a board member tells Dorothea. “Honestly,” she says, “I’ve never seen it worse.” Her pessimism is independently echoed by Jean-Marc, who says of the arts facility, “They once baked bread here, but now we live in an age of crumbs. But what they make of these crumbs is miraculous, and we are lucky to have them.”

This is my favorite film of the year by far—and when I say “film,” singular, I’m referring to both halves of “A Bread Factory,” because they flow together in the mind. As of this writing, I’ve seen both parts three times. With each viewing, I notice new things and am more moved by the characters, who are unique and eccentric in the way that real people are, but written and acted with the economy and directness that distinguishes characters in well-constructed plays or short stories—ones where the storytellers know what they want to say and how best to say it.

Readers should know going in that this is not a film (or pair of films) that you can half-watch while looking at your phone. You have to give yourself over to the story, characters and atmosphere with an open mind and heart, and be a peace with the fact that the movie is going to throw you into the middle of scenes without immediately spelling out who everyone is, and what, exactly, you’re looking at. Wang takes his sweet time setting up a moment, and the punchlines in comedic scenes are as likely to be visual as verbal (as when the camera stays fixed on Jordan as she sits in a theater where her movie is about to be screened, asking the projectionist to run different parts of it to check the picture and sound; finally, the camera pans up to reveal that the projectionist is an eleven-year old boy).

To paraphrase a friend who’s a minister as well as a film buff, this is the kind of movie where Mohammed goes to the mountain, not the other way around. But the journey is worth it. This film is miraculous, and we are lucky to have it.

Source: https://bloghyped.com/a-bread-factory-part-one-for-the-sake-of-gold/

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Stations: Changing Your Life – Changing Your Career by Dr. Lynda Mubarak

The current global workforce has changed tremendously during the past decade and your workplace is part of that change. Labor trends, increased use of technology for goods and services, and the reduction of workers at all levels has generated a need to view employment and self-sufficiency in a new light. If you have children, they will need to be able to work in a 21st century work environment with a diverse workforce, which will entail jobs which are being developed as they enter elementary grades or high school. STATIONS is the quick resource guide that offers suggestions and time-proven strategies for parents and professionals who interact with children and young adult workers.

STATIONS is a collection of essays that provides food for thought as we make our way through the different situations, events, stages, circumstances and parental decisions that will ultimately affect personal lifestyles and career options.

STATIONS examines childhood academic and social skills, and addresses the challenging task of teaching children to be healthy and financially sound while preparing them to thrive and survive in a global workforce driven by cutting edge technology and ongoing competition.

STATIONS is concise, amusing, informative and frank in its discussion of life’s everyday circumstances, including social media and proactive workplace practices that affect all of us from childhood through adulthood.

Review from Amazon

“The aptly titled STATIONS is probably best appreciated as an extended Public Service Announcement on personal, social and professional fulfillment and wellness from the perspective of a visionary educator and citizen invested in the survival of present and future generations. The fact that the experience opens with a shout-out to grandmothers is creatively deliberate, as the persona compares her world with that of her grandchildren and mentees. But this grandmother is not a despairing, garment-rending fossil lamenting the passing of the good old days. Rather, she rejoices in the new social, cultural and technological realities that were unimaginable in her youth, exhorting millennials and older folk in transition to employ these new realities on the journey toward healthy self-realization.

In reading Stations, three sayings from my own childhood were reinforced: “An old man sitting down can see farther than a young man standing up” (African proverb); “The child is the father of the man” (Freud); And gladly would he teach, and gladly learn’ (Chaucer, describing the divinity student in The Canterbury Tales). And while each station on the narrative journey dispenses advice, it is never preachy or condescending. In fact, Mubarak, an experienced educator, skillfully combines personal narrative with a somewhat controlled stream of consciousness, revealing her own vulnerabilities and past mistakes along the way. The result is a light-hearted, easy-to-read exploration of the relationships between skills identification, education and training, fulfillment, project commitment, success, and personal and communal responsibility. The tone and structure of each chapter, or vignette, is designed to reach a generation where sound-bytes and images are the preferred mode of communication. Advice and encouragement are underscored by non-intrusive statistics, anecdotal accounts, imagined scenarios, and resource references.

As an educator in global languages and cultures, advisor and mentor, I recommend Stations to all students, parents, teachers, employers, and friends. School Guidance Counselors, and college Student Affairs and Career offices would do well to include this tome on their lists of recommended readings.” (Ezra S. Engling)

STATIONS EXCERPT

Are Your Kids Competing in STEM?

You spent too much money and time in Lost Wages, Nevada, purchased the latest versions of Kindle and the iPhone, and shared your summer vacation report with anyone who cared to listen to the back lot or front office at work. Now what? You have used up your bragging rights for the summer season. How about something new, exciting and educational for the kids?

Do you know that the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) are begging for sharp young minds with fresh ideas and innovative thinking? Your child represents one of those young minds. You don’t need to be reminded that your children are highly intelligent. They can name every space-related cartoon character, identify their mutant friends or foes and describe the planets they inhabit. Do you notice how their eyes light up when an enemy craft is landing?

Their toy boxes are filled with action figures that represent long, hard battles and conquests. In other words, your children are already playing games containing futuristic models and know which channels to surf on Saturday morning to find the leaping, flying creatures!

So, instead of the usual Disney World, SeaWorld, Six Flags, or the expensive, tropical island family trip, consider enrolling your child in a NASA Summer Day Camp next year, and make it a family affair. This unique hands-on experience will put your child in touch with several categories of STEM and open another world for career investigation.

The online interactive activities will also teach them to appreciate the world of internet technology on a different level. At NASA your children can actually explore the many occupations connected with space exploration and meet the people behind the scenes who plan and execute the missions.

It’s also important for children to know that behind every highly visible occupation there are hundreds of people in the background who work very hard to make the overall project successful. Just think, after this trip your daughter (yes, daughter) might announce that she will be designing space suits for future astronauts instead of fashions for movie stars. Likewise, your son may decide to create the next generation of transformers or robots used for planet exploration or spaceship repair. It’s even possible that the little cook in your family may consider a career as a nutritionist for space travelers. Who knows? Your youngsters may even develop a new interest in astronomy.

When your coworker brags about his trip to the islands, smile and tell him about your five-year-old daughter’s NASA Camp Kennedy experience and her new aerospace vocabulary. If your coworker is still standing, tell him your sixth grade son loves basketball and soccer, but is also involved in the U.S. Army’s eCybermission competition. His team has a chance to win $5,000 in cash if the members can identify and resolve an issue in the community using the classic scientific method. Checkmate. Blast off!

( Continued… )

© 2016 All rights reserved. Book excerpt reprinted by permission of the author, Dr. Lynda Mubarak. Do not reproduce, copy or use without the author’s written permission. This excerpt is used for promotional purposes only.

Purchase STATIONS: Changing Your Life – Changing Your Career by Dr. Lynda Mubarak Urban Education, Elementary & High School Student Success College & Workplace Readiness, At-Risk Youth Programs, Displaced Worker Programs https://www.amazon.com/STATIONS-Changing-Your-Life-Career/dp/1478766670

Intimate Conversation with Dr. Lynda Mubarak

Dr. Lynda Mubarak is a native Texan, Army veteran, and grew up in Waco and Ft. Worth. She is a retired teacher and special education facilitator with 37 years of experience in special needs instruction, ESL education at Tarrant County College, and developmental writing at Strayer University. Lynda is a graduate of P.L. Dunbar High School, Ft. Worth, TX. She earned her BS in Elementary/Special Education from Texas Christian University, M.Ed. from Texas Wesleyan University, and Ed.D in Higher Education from Nova SE University. Dr. Mubarak is an active volunteer with several Ft. Worth organizations. She loves crossword puzzle competitions, live theater, contemporary music history and traveling with her husband.

Dr. Lynda is currently a Co-Host on The Author’s Lounge Radio Show, airing on Tuesdays at 3:00pm – 5:00pm CST on the Fish Bowl Radio Network. Listen to the show: Go to the Grey Stream – http://fbrn.us

Could you tell us something about STATIONS? STATIONS is my debut book. It is available on Kindle and also published in paperback at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. The book is composed of essays I have written over the years. Each essay covers a phase, decision, transition, pathway, or challenge that ordinary people experience during the course of a lifetime as children and later as adults.

STATIONS: Changing Your Life – Changing Your Career is my book of essays and my way of assisting you in making life decisions now that will affect your quality of life later. The 21st century is very fluid. You and your children are part of it!

If you are caught in the gridlock of making a transition in some area of your life, the first thing you need to consider is: whatever you need to do to reach maximum success in any category is located in two places; your head and your heart. But change also means there are some things you need to begin and some things that you will need to end, and involves both head and heart. Both areas are connected, very powerful, and one will eventually affect the other. STATIONS will guide you through some areas using common sense suggestions that you have heard from family, friends, associates or even a stranger.

What inspired you to sit down and actually start writing this book? I have always wanted to write a book, but only discussed it briefly (and quietly) with a few friends over the years. I assumed that my thoughts and ideas had been written and discussed many times over and there was no need to ‘repeat’ what others had done. I began to write down my observations and thoughts several years ago and decided to publish them after a chance meeting with a former colleague in a restaurant. She and I were teachers at the same middle school over twenty years ago. During those years, she told me weekly about her desire to write a children’s book. When I asked if she had accomplished her dream, she explained that she had published four books and that I should move forward and contact a publisher. I did, and the rest is history!

Introduce us to STATIONS FOR KIDS. STATIONS FOR KIDS is dedicated to early literacy and community service. The best way to ensure your child’s personal and career success is to begin the learning process as soon as possible. Academic success is always necessary, but your child also needs to see how he or she fits into the world community. A combination of community service and applicable educational concepts will give your child a balanced view of the world. CARVER PARK provides a view of a young girl’s early learning experiences about the world. SHORTY and THE SULLIVANS, CARVER PARK and STATIONS can be purchased at Melanin Origins, Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

How does your book STATIONS relate to kids and their care-givers? It relates to the various circumstances that families face when raising children from early social skills and financial responsibility, to proactive soft skills and behaviors required of students, new workers or tenured employees.

Are there any under-represented groups or ideas featured in your book, STATIONS? Yes. STATIONS addresses many issues and concerns of young parents, first generation college students, at-risk youth, adults in job transition, and ex-offenders in re-entry programs. Some persons have not been exposed to the nuances of a college campus, support group interaction, workplace protocol, or even networking practices. STATIONS attempts to cover these areas in a simple, but practical manner

How does your book relate to your present situation, education, spiritual practice or journey? I think my book is a condensed version of the positive and negative experiences of my life and the lives of persons I have encountered over the years. The topics I selected were the ones that had the most profound effect on me as a child, parent, educator, college adjunct, observer, confidant, advisor and caretaker of aging parents.

Did you learn anything personal from writing your book, STATIONS? The personal lesson I learned from writing this book is acknowledging that we often have things (gifts) in us that we do not investigate, promote, develop or expand. Many times the hesitation stems from fear and doubt. My husband had been trying to persuade me to publish for over 20 years. I simply had one excuse after another to delay my dream of writing a book. After my parents died, and I talked with my former teacher, colleague, I realized that I had run out of excuses. Finally, I learned that often when it is time to act, we create reasons or hurdles to slow down or hinder the decision to move forward. My excuse had been my parents’ declining health.

What were your goals and intentions in this book, and how well do you feel you achieved them? My goals and intentions of this book were to encourage and inspire others to move forward while making better decisions, utilizing time wisely, and identifying those skills and competencies necessary for living a life filled with achievement and personal success. Most important, teach all children the concepts and behaviors required to survive in the fast moving world that becomes more competitive each day. In the end, they will be working on jobs that were not created during your lifetime. I think I wrote in a way that was thought provoking and parent friendly!

What projects are you working on at the present? I am currently working two projects. The first one is about my childhood memories of living in segregated Waco, TX during the 1950s. The name of the book is “Carver Park”. Carver Park is an African-American community area east of the Brazos River and downtown Waco that was designed years ago by public officials for people of color. The second project is a handbook for novice writers who are seeking a theme or focus for a book. My objective is to provide strategies for identifying the plot and planning the initial phases of a novel.

Readers can find out more about Dr. Lynda Mubarak at: www.lyndamubarak.com Visit Dr. Lynda Mubarak on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100011551415498

Purchase STATIONS: Changing Your Life – Changing Your Career by Dr. Lynda Mubarak First Generation College Students, Urban Education, Elementary & High School Student Success Parenting, College & Workplace Readiness, At-Risk Youth Programs, Displaced Worker Programs https://www.amazon.com/STATIONS-Changing-Your-Life-Career/dp/1478766670

Author’s Lounge Radio Show

Tune in: Tuesday Evenings at 3PM – 5PM

Listen: Go to the Grey Stream – http://fbrn.us

Hosts: Sheryl Grace and Lynda Jones-Mubarak

Dr. Lynda Mubarak is a native Texan. She was born in Mart, TX and raised in Waco and Ft. Worth. Lynda graduated from P.L. Dunbar HS in Ft. Worth. She is a retired special education teacher and facilitator and has served as a crisis intervention teacher, student teacher supervisor, and private school administrator. She earned a BS in Education from TCU, M.Ed. from Texas Wesleyan University, and a doctorate in education from Nova SE University. She and husband, Kairi, live in Ft. Worth, TX. She loves to travel, live theater, and crossword puzzles!

Sheryl Grace is a Louisiana native currently residing in North Texas. Sheryl began her love for writing in high school. Her inspiration to become a writer was prompted after reading Maya Angelou’s, “ I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”. She continued her love for writing in college where she wrote fluid poetry. After graduating with a degree in Mental Health Counseling, she began her career as a Licensed Professional Counselor. Through her life and work experiences, characters begin to formulate in her head that she had to share. The desire to create a female character that could overcome even the worse of life events, filled her day and night dreams. Her debut novel “He Calls Her Blue” has received numerous five star reviews and this is just the beginning.

Author’s Lounge Radio Show Show page: http://fbrn.us/shows/authors-lounge

Stations: Changing Your Life – Changing Your Career by Dr. Lynda Mubarak Stations: Changing Your Life – Changing Your Career by Dr. Lynda Mubarak The current global workforce has changed tremendously during the past decade and your workplace is part of that change.

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