#subject matter is up to you star wars related
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Here’s another homework assignment of mine LOL. Assignment details below the cut. It’s sooo fun getting away with submitting this in class bahahahajhfjejsj lol(maybe one day it’ll bother my teacher enough tho). But here’s Obi and Cody outmaneuvering a seeker droid!
So uncivilized!
So our teacher gave us this room image, and we had to create a little 3+ panel comic taking place inside it, keeping to the proportions and dimensions of the room. It also had to have 2 characters, 1 animal/robot, and have 1 high and one low camera angle.
#obi wan kenobi#commander cody#you do not have to rb this im just sharing it here cause its star wars and i laugh at myself for making many of my projects where the#subject matter is up to you star wars related#🤣#also the art is kinda boring but it was a fun exercise! well maybe jt wouldnt be if i didnt make it obi and cody haha#fan art#journen#star wars#art#my art#artists on tumblr#sw obi wan kenobi#star wars art#sw commander cody#codywan#kenobi series#?#tatooine au#??#homework#maybe sometimes ill share some other art here that is school remated
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38 (fake kisses), your choice of Star Wars characters
#38 -- fake kisses
this is very silly, but the idea remains a classic one
Critical as it is to protect their strung-out ranks from Imperial infiltration, the subject in question necessarily cannot be an easy one to bring up. First, they need all the bodies they can get, if not in the least just to keep warm. Second, and more importantly, morale is at stake. If order and cohesion are to be maintained, one can't be going around throwing accusations of treason at just any guy who looks at you funny.
The assemblage has outlined this point very clearly for themselves, on the pilfered clearboard set up against Hobbie Klivian's ship wing.
"Well, sure, but we're not just going around throwing accusations," says Luke, to general mutters of approval. The fact that Luke is here lends weight to the conversation; Wes is owed money, Wedge is owed money by Wes, who cannot pay him back until he is paid in turn, Hobbie has to share a bunk with the man -- he snores -- and Han's opinions on the matter stopped being relevant the moment The Accused got that girlish giggle out of Her Highness.
Luke (much as he has his own giggle-related biases) is a decent sort. He'd never throw an innocent under the proverbial Y-Wing for selfish reasons.
"I don't know though," Luke is continuing, with a thoughtful, consternated shake of his golden head, "there's something about him that doesn't sit right with me, guys."
"Unreliable," offers Wes, referring to the unpaid debts.
"Inconsiderate," says Hobbie, of the snoring.
"He's practically a stranger," says Han, gesturing widely in the air with one hand, as he is wont to do. "What the hell do we know about him, anyway? He just waltzed in here two weeks ago and now he acts like he owns the place? Me and the kid had to prove ourselves, you know."
"Han's not even enlisted yet," agrees Wedge, as if this illustrates a grave necessity for long-term probation.
"And I'll tell ya what, Luke --" Han, who is ignoring Wedge, points with significance -- "his eyes are too close together. That's never a good sign."
The subject in question -- one Erich Telv, having committed no obviously evidenced sins outside of being a slightly below average sort of being who was unfortunately charming enough to make Princess Leia laugh -- is still in a debrief with the brass. He was sent on a scouting mission not two days ago, and with little to go on but their individual gripes and the general impression that Leia has been more stressed than usual in Erich's absence, a committee has convened. Chewie, who gracefully declined participation, has been spending the duration of the meeting cleaning his favourite hairbrush in the corner.
"Now see here, gents," says Wedge. "We gotta be real sure of ourselves here. We need evidence. Hard facts. This could be serious."
"The morale," says Wes, pointing with the wrong end of a mop at their clearboard. It reads ORGANA WILL KILL US IF WRONG in Wedge's poor Basic penmanship, underlined twice.
"Who cares about the morale!" says Han. "I'm telling you, this guy's trouble. By the time we get your hard evidence he'll have already pulled a fast one."
Chewie, who is now inspecting a matted lump of hair just extracted from the brush, makes a low growling sound that even the most amateur of Shyrriwook speakers can understand.
"WHAT?!" comes the collective outcry.
"Kissed him!" says Luke, distraught.
"When?" demands Han. "Telv? That wormy little nobody? He ain't her type!"
Nobody suggests that there is no real evidence for this declaration.
"A gambler and a snorer, you mean?"
"Hobbie, in the grand scheme of things, your insomnia is not the worst of our troubles --"
"I knew I had a bad feeling about this ..."
Chewie confirms it happened just before Erich's scouting mission. He saw Leia do it and everything -- he thought everyone knew. Wasn't that why this meeting was taking place? Because they were concerned for her safety?
"Gentlemen," says Wes, amidst multiple spluttered protests that yes, of course, that was exactly why -- perhaps also the good of the Alliance -- and then of course, Han's added insistence that he didn't care what the Princess did or when, or, indeed, what happened to her at all -- "I am starting a new betting pool."
The door to Command, situated across the hangar bay, opens at this exact moment.
Erich Telv is bodily thrown out into the hall. He lands face first onto the floor.
"Pathetic!" comes Leia's raised, icy voice, immediately behind him. She strides out into the bay, her sleek little blaster drawn and pointed; the occupants of Echo Base's Hangar One pause to watch with open-mouthed interest; Erich, rather visibly, cowers. "Despicable! Moronic! Really, Mister Telv, to think that I wouldn't notice your especially idiotic brand of spy games is possibly one of the most singularly dolt-headed things I have ever encountered in my natural born life!"
"Please," pleads Erich, the yellow thatch of his annoyingly abundant hair standing up wonkily as his quivers. It appears as thought Leia literally kicked him out of the command room via his backside, as he keeps rubbing it. "Please, I was only just --"
"You were trying to make a few extra credits and you tried it with the wrong Rebellion, Erich. If you weren't such a miserable slimy little freight blister I'd almost feel sorry for you. Celchu, Darklighter, put him in the brig. We'll decide what to do with him later."
The whole thing happens in less than two minutes. Afterwards, Leia walks over to them.
"Hello," she says, a touch awkwardly. She looks pleased with herself, but also hesitant, as though the events that just transpired might garner her ill will of some kind. "I'm sorry everyone had to see that -- it's awful for morale. But Telv was being so obvious about it it was starting to get on my nerves."
Hobbie, Wes, and Wedge blink; Han's mouth closes with an audible click.
"Force, Leia," Luke manages, after a beat, "you knew Telv was a spy the whole time?"
Leia looks startled. "Oh -- of course. He was using an open channel to send our supply inventory to anyone who was listening. I'm not too worried about our location, but --" Her eyebrows crease, highlighting her large expressive eyes, "Don't tell me you all had suspicions too -- oh, but you should've said something --"
They scramble to assure her otherwise.
"No -- no! Uh, ours weren't really concrete," Luke says quickly.
"Just a gut feeling," says Han, over-loudly, not meeting Leia's eye.
"We, you know, didn't much like the man, but it's a serious business, accusing someone of treason --"
"Luke just had a Force premonition or two ..."
"... Never killed a guy to have a brainstorm session, if you take my meaning --"
"Now, don't take this the wrong way," interrupts Wedge, glancing sideways at both Han (who is still staring at Leia in faint amazement) and Luke (who keeps nodding, like this will absolve him of his participation in The Committee), "but did you really kiss the idiot, your Highness?"
Leia's look of confusion is very momentary. She arches a pointed brow at Chewie before turning back to the group, whereupon she seems to notice their clearboard. Looking on in mild amusement, she says, somewhat dryly, "Well, Carlist didn't believe my suspicions. I figured the stupider Telv thought I was, the easier it would be to have my evidence."
Again, there is a tightness right at the end of her words that stops any otherwise thoughtless comments that might have emerged. Luke's distressed expression clears into one of gentle understanding. Han visibly swallows down any lingering disgruntlement and grins widely. Wes, who is in charge of the clearboard, writes down evidence: slimy little freight blister under their other points.
"Well, there you have it," says Hobbie. "One of us should've just kissed the man."
"I vote Luke, next time," says Wedge. "The Princess shouldn't have to do all the work."
"Aw, Wedge, volunteer yourself, why don't you -- I don't wanna kiss the Erich Telvs of the galaxy!"
"Yeah, give the kid a break," says Han. "He hasn't got the necessary experience to fake a good kiss."
While the others bicker, Leia catches his eye; in spite of everything already said, she doesn't expect the touch of genuine concern in Han's expression.
Wild and unplanned, she mouths I'm sorry I kissed him -- what has she got to be sorry for, Leia will ask herself later, a bit viciously -- and any lingering bad feelings over the Erich Telv debacle are forgotten in wake of the honest, stunned look on Han's usually cavalier face.
#my writing#touches prompt meme#i guess one thing that came out of watching andor is that i am once agian in a big ot mood#luke skywalker#leia organa#han solo#wedge antilles#hobbie klivian#wes janson#star wars#star wars original trilogy#han x leia#hanleia
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Fandom Meme
I guess this here needed an update. It’s been a while ... several years to be precise.
If you want to do this, too, feel welcome to. ^^
Can I tag you guys, @monkey-li, @mikeilo & @aikoiya !?
I'm just curious ...
—
FAVOURITE …
LITERATURE
Fantasy & Sci-Fi
J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, etc.
M.Z. Bradley’s Avalon-Novels & Firebrand
J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter
Medieval & Antique Literature, Myth & Folklore
Ovid’s Metamorphoses
The Edda
Nibelungenlied
works of Walther von der Vogelweide
Arthurian Romances - like Erec, Iwein, Parzival, etc.
Gregorius
Aeneasroman
Iliad & Odyssee
Murasaki Shikibu’s “Genji Monogatari” (the language is really beautiful, but I can’t stand the protagonist, old philanderer that he is)
some Classics
Pride & Prejudice
Wuthering Heights
The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders
The Picture of Dorian Grey
Dracula
Faust I+II
Macbeth
The Life and Opinions of Tomcat Murr
works of the Brothers Grimm
Siddharta
some “regular” novels
Paulo Coelho’s “The Alchemist”, “Brida”
Nobara Takemoto’s “Shimotsuma Monogatari”
some fanfiction
“Father’s Heart” & “Process of Elimination” by Fern Withy
“Antiquity’s Corollary” by gonnabefamous
biographical books
Mineko Iwasaki’s “Geisha of Gion”
Paramahansa Yogananda’s “Autobiography of a Yogi”
Baird T. Spalding’s “Life and Teachings of the Masters of the East”
interesting non-fiction
such as science-related books / websites
those of a more metaphysical & occult subject matter
or those about more controversial topics, such as Extraterrestrials, so-called “conspiracy theories”, and the like (Problem!? Your loss. I don’t see why I shouldn’t look into these topics. It certainly is interesting, and it’s quite arrogant to assume we have it all figured out. Besides, no one says you have to believe anything you read, but it sure can’t hurt to approach things with a more open mind, and to just look where evidence leads us, when it presents itself.)
SHOWS
Fantasy
Game of Thrones (until D&D started messing things up)
Princess Fantaghiró
Buffy
Wednesday (it`s not too bad, but still quite entertaining)
Sci-Fi
Star Wars - The Clone Wars
The Mandalorian
Star Trek TOS
Doctor Who
some Asian dramas
Gou - Himetachi no Sengoku
Atsu-Hime
Ryomaden
Neko Samurai
some Animé
Avatar - The Last Airbender
several works of Hayao Miyazaki
Leiji Matsumoto’s “Queen Millenia” & “Maetel Legend”
Sailor Moon
Naruto (not anymore, but I still keep it here, for nostalgia reasons)
FANDOM QUESTIONS
DO YOU PREFER REAL-LIFE OR ANIMATED SHOWS?
Both, although there is a definite bias towards the former.
With the latter it greatly depends on the overall quality of the show, as well as the style in which it is presented.
WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST FANDOM?
As a child I had quite some:
Disney Ducks, Pippi Longstocking, Ronja Rovarsdóttir, Princess Fantaghirò, Queen Millenia, and The Addams Family.
While I never was a gamer myself, I very much loved to watch others play games - especially the classic Sonic games, as well as the Super Mario ones … which you can (somewhat) call a childhood fandom of mine, too.
WHAT’S THE LONGEST YOU’VE EVER BEEN IN A FANDOM? WHAT FANDOM WAS IT?
I'm in the Star Wars fandom since the age of twelve, which, in fact, was some years before the prequels came out.
WHAT WAS THE FIRST THING YOU EVER CONTRIBUTED TO A FANDOM?
A drawing of Princess Leia, if I remember correctly.
A PERSON WHO GOT YOU INTO A FANDOM. WHAT FANDOM DID THEY PULL YOU INTO?
@mikeilo got me interested in Prince Phobos (W.I.T.C.H.) several years ago, but to say that I was “involved” in the fandom is a bit too much. It was more about this particular character, though.
NAME A FANDOM YOU DIDN’T CARE / THINK ABOUT UNTIL YOU SAW IT ALL OVER TUMBLR.
No idea.
Tbh, I hardly search for fandom stuff on Tumblr - given experience showed me that the majority here and I don’t get along, taste-wise.
HAS TUMBLR CAUSED YOU TO STOP LIKING ANY FANDOMS? IF SO, WHICH AND WHY?
No, why should I let a community affect my love for a fandom!? It’s not the fandoms’ / characters’ / authors’ fault that some people are just plain disagreeable and obtrusive.
If anything, it has just reinforced my aversion against the things I disliked from the get-go - especially if there is some “activist” fanaticism, connected with aggressive, proselytizing behaviour involved.
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE OTHER PEOPLE IN YOUR CURRENT FANDOM(S)?
Ambivalent.
There are some obnoxious brats, which should be ignored at best. Drama is a waste of time and energy!
Then again, there are also some very nice people out there.
Most of the time I prefer to have just a few contacts, anyway - i.e. like-minded ones I & my preferences & convictions get along with. Those, I do appreciate greatly, though.
5 FAVOURITE CHARACTERS FROM 5 DIFFERENT FANDOMS.
Star Wars
Darth Vader / Anakin Skywalker, Leia Organa, Padmé Amidala, Luke Skywalker, Mara Jade-Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano, Satine Kryze, Bo-Katan Kryze, Merrin, Asajj Ventress, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn, Dagan Gera, Santari Khri, Cal Kestis, Arc Trooper Fives, Captain Rex, Hondo Ohnaka, Greez Dritus, Firmus Piett, Chewbacca, R2D2
Tolkien
Mairon / Sauron (but only my headcanon version … the canon one is just awful + the popular fanon one is insufferable, sry), Nienna, Aulë, Olórin, Aiwendil, Rúmil of Tirion, Finrod, Maglor, Thranduil, Tauriel, Lúthien, Galadriel, Nerdanel, Haleth, Eowyn, Faramir, Aragorn, Kili, Samwise
Harry Potter
Severus Snape, Luna Lovegood, Fred & George Weasley, Hagrid, Andromeda Tonks, Regulus Black, Leta Lestrange, the genuinely nice Slytherin students that JKR forgot to mention, Queenie Goldstein, Newt Scamander
Avatar - The last Airbender
Ozai, Ursa, Zuko, Iroh, Katara, Toph, Suki, Sokka, Ty Lee, Aang, Kyoshi, Roku, Master Piandao, Cabbage Guy, Appa
Legend of Zelda
Link, Zelda, Midna, Impa, Purah, Robbie, Urbosa, Riju, Patricia, Revali, Teba, Tulin, Kass, Mipha, Sidon, Yona, Dorephan, Daruk, Yunobo, Bludo, Deku Tree, Terrako, Epona, some Koroks & Bokos (they're a bit anoying, but cute)
Only five characters per section, wasn’t it!? … Nevermind.
A CHARACTER YOU USED TO DISLIKE BUT EVENTUALLY LIKED
Jaime Lannister (book version)
A CHARACTER YOU USED TO LIKE BUT EVENTUALLY DISLIKED
Loki
THE CHARACTER EVERYONE ELSE LOVES THAT YOU DON'T
Melkor
James Potter
Sheldon Cooper
WHAT ARE YOUR FAVOURITE FEMALE / MALE SHIPS?
Mairon & Morvanië (an OC of mine - the “Vani” I happen to mention sometimes)
Finrod Felagund & Amarië
Beren Erchamion & Lúthien Tinúviel
Aragorn Elessar & Arwen Undómiel
Anakin Skywalker & Padmé Amidala
Obi-Wan Kenobi & Satine Kryze
Dagan Gera & Santari Khri
Cal & Merrin
Spock & Uhura
Ivo Robotnik & Adelia Sigrún Sharpe (another OC)
Ozai & Ursa
Zuko & Katara
Link & Zelda
King Boo & Hellen Gravely
Hades & Persephone
Vlad Dracula & Mina Harker
Gomez & Morticia Addams
Rhett Butler & Scarlett O'Hara
Mr. Darcy & Lizzie Bennett
Spike & Buffy Summers
Severus Snape & Lily Evans
WHAT ARE YOUR FAVOURITE MALE / MALE OR FEMALE / FEMALE SHIPS?
Albus Dumbledore / Gellert Grindelwald
Willow Rosenberg / Tara Maclay
I can’t say that I’m all that emotionally involved in any of these, though, other than finding them somewhat interesting regarding the dynamic between the characters.
If these weren’t canonical pairings already, I would probably never even have thought of them as a romantic shipping constellation at all, as it’s a theme that neither concerns, nor interests me when it comes to the dynamic between characters of the same sex.
Friendships are an entirely different matter, though. But that wasn’t the subject of this question here, was it!?
DO YOU HAVE ANY 3-WAY SHIPS? IF SO, WHAT?
No! I don’t like this theme at all.
A PAIRING YOU SHIP THAT YOU DON’T THINK ANYONE ELSE SHIPS.
My OC / canon ones … alas. T_T
WHAT’S A SHIP THAT YOU WANT TO SHIP PUBLICLY, BUT EVERYONE ON TUMBLR HATES IT, SO YOU KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT ABOUT IT?
I’m just doing my thing. If anyone doesn’t like it then that isn’t my problem.
EXAMPLES OF NON-SEXUAL/-ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP DYNAMICS THAT YOU LIKE
PARENT & CHILD
Darth Vader & Leia Organa - The father / daughter dynamic between these two has always fascinated me a lot.
Mairon & Alcanis - The "vaniron" kid, also a complicated case. (OC headcanon)
Ozai & Zuko - Dramatic ...
Severus Snape & Harry Potter - I love the snily ship, so I headcanon Snape as Harry's biological father, because why not ... it's interesting.
CLOSE FRIENDSHIPS
Anakin & Obi-Wan & Ahsoka
Luke & Han
Frodo & Sam
Finrod & Beren
Fingon & Maedhros
Ratbag & Ranger (from the Tolkien-based "Shadows of War" game - the only known orc friendship)
YOUR FAVOURITE THEMES / FANDOM TRENDS.
fantastical / mythological elements
As someone who has always been fascinated by ancient myths, I can’t help but love this stuff.
magical elements
Given I am interested in these subjects, I very much like to see (and incorporate) these themes in the fictional universes and characters I like.
anachronistic elements / fusion of different historical period styles
For example, say, Cyber Victorian (garments that combine Victorian era designs with a Matrix style twist, plus futuristic technology, and a setting in a likewise futuristic world)
scientifically sound elements and reasoning
I think this is a quite important aspect, especially in sci-fi.
philosophically & politically inspiring + visionary elements
Such as caste-free social structures & natural law anarchy (not to be confused with the “rule of force” one, let alone the woke version).
scientists, explorers, philosophers & (martial) artists
I just happen to enjoy seeing these types of characters.
sarcasm & dry humour
It certainly adds some “spice” to the mixture.
characters with a scorpionic & virgoan influence
Many of my faves have this, especially the scorpionic one.
depth and complexity in character portrayal & a well thought-out backstory
Should be a given, but unfortunately isn't, more often than not - especially these days. Shame!
complicated, long and well thought-out redemption arcs
If not canon, I’ll do it myself.
I've always been fascinated by the concept of redemption.
In connexion with my favourite villains, it is a theme I am quite obsessed with and can't do without, as I find evil as such not appealing at all. In fact, what makes these characters attractive to me is their power & potential, and not their misuse of it. The process of redemption finally brings said potential out and puts it to good use, which I find deeply satisfying.
Plus there is also the element of defying the forces of darkness, who always twist and pervert - and this is the ultimate solution to it, making everyone and everything whole again.
Imho, redemption arcs are a great "f**k you" to the devil & I love it all the more for that!
happy developments & outcomes for my faves
Because I simply can't have it otherwise.
villain/anti-hero & (anti-)heroine pairings (or vice versa)
It’s a dynamic that I find particularly intriguing - always have - also regarding the redemption theme.
partners that are of equal rank in a relationship - plus healthy relationships, for a change
Especially where you least expect it (see pairing constellation), and where both partners had to work on themselves to achieve it (i.e. realism doesn’t hurt, now does it!?).
happy and loving (not to mention enduringly passionate) committed relationships / marriage
Just like Morticia & Gomez ... *sigh*
monogamous unions + fidelity
Guys as committed as Anakin, Snape, and Gomez are the best!
eternal love / twin flames / soulmates / however you want to call it
Regarding OTPs this theme is an absolute must!
het content
Why yes, that’s just my personal preference, as that is something I can actually relate to.
not overly sexualized portrayals of relationships
I just don't want to see the gross explicit content. It's enough when it's just hinted at.
portrayal of female characters where being badass and being feminine isn’t mutually exclusive
Because it is NOT!
the apotheosis theme
Mortality sucks ... and who wouldn’t want to ditch everything awful that comes with it!? Like diseases, aging - begone!
INVENT A RANDOM AU FOR ANY FANDOM (WE ALWAYS NEED MORE IDEAS).
Star Wars
Darth Vader doesn’t die and gets the chance for an actual redemption arc, atoning for his ill deeds as the Dark Lord - as an act of purification and reclaiming his original, true name - as well as helping the Alliance free the galaxy. (given how powerful he is, his contribution would be immense)
more importantly - he finally has the opportunity to make up with and actually get to know his children - especially Leia. That has always bugged me a great deal. Ani didn’t even get the chance to talk to his daughter. There is just too much focus on the father-son dynamic anyway. Nothing against Luke – love him, but it’s just not right that Leia was being left out of it almost entirely. Plus she is the one that resembles her father more (personality-wise) after all. I’d so have loved to see a confrontation of these two. (not to mention some cute father-daughter moments, eventually)
not a must, but - ideally, Padmé didn’t die, either, and just fell into a coma / was kept in a stasis until after the events of RotJ … I want a Skywalker family reunion! T^T
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Granted Star Trek canon sort of did this first so it’s unfair to entirely blame the fandom for it, but I really wish people in the fandom would stop equating eugenics and genetic engineering. This is something I’ve seen in a fairly large number of posts here recently, particularly in relation to DS9 and SNW. I am far from being an expert on this subject, but I do know that eugenics is a specific real-world ideology with a specific historical context, founded in racism, ableism, and colonialism. Regardless of your opinion on genetically engineering humans, eugenics and genetic engineering are not synonymous terms. In the actual history of the real world, eugenics has never been enacted through genetic engineering because genetic engineering of humans has not been done yet (at least not successfully to any extent similar to what is depicted in Star Trek and other science fiction). Eugenics has involved forced sterilization. It has involved straight up murder. But it has never to my knowledge involved genetic engineering.
If/when genetic engineering of humans is successfully developed, could it be used to further the goals of eugenicists? Of course it could, and that’s what Star Trek describes as happening prior to the “eugenics wars”. I don’t necessarily take issue with science fiction depicting a future where eugenicists use genetic engineering to further their goals. What I do take issue with is the assumption that all genetic engineering of humans is inherently equivalent to eugenics. Again, even if you believe that genetic engineering of humans is morally wrong under all circumstances, that does not mean that it is inherently eugenics. Two things can both be bad without being equivalent to each other. Eugenics is a specific ideology – it does not encompass all of the possible reasons that anyone might genetically engineer a human.
Why does this matter? Well, diluting the meaning of the term “eugenics” could have negative consequences. If we adopt a vague definition of eugenics as meaning anything related to genetics that we don’t like, we risk missing or misidentifying actual eugenicist rhetoric when it isn’t openly advocating for something like genetic engineering (and the majority of eugenicist rhetoric I have seen is not advocating for genetic engineering). Also, if we equate eugenics with genetic engineering, we would be functionally closing the door on all debate about whether genetic engineering of humans is ever acceptable. We would basically be saying: eugenics is inherently a terrible ideology (correct), and genetic engineering of humans is always eugenics (incorrect), therefore genetic engineering of humans is inherently terrible. This is not a good argument. I personally don’t know what I think about the inherent morality of genetically engineering humans, but I don’t think that using terms like eugenics to describe it regardless of the underlying ideology or situation is helpful.
There’s a potentially interesting conversation to be had about how this treatment of eugenics and genetic engineering as synonymous has happened not just in the Star Trek fandom, but also within the Star Trek universe itself. The Federation bans genetic engineering supposedly because of the harms of eugenics as an ideology. The Federation therefore sees genetic engineering as equivalent to eugenics. This causes people who were genetically engineered against their will such as Julian Bashir to face a lifetime of secrecy and fear of the government, despite the fact that they are not eugenicists at all, and are, if anything, victims of it.
There are many other possible interesting discussions about the depictions of eugenics and genetic engineering in Star Trek canon. For example, by depicting eugenicists as having successfully created “superior” superhumans, is Star Trek in some ways supporting eugenics as an ideology? What are the potential complications of Star Trek discussing eugenics without exploring or even mentioning its fundamentally racist and ableist foundations? What does it mean for the Federation to treat people who were genetically engineered against their will and people who voluntarily chose to genetically engineer themselves the same way? How are questions of bodily autonomy relevant to these discussions? What does it mean for some Star Trek episodes such as SNW Ad Astra Per Aspera to depict genetically engineered people as marginalized groups within the Federation? But having any of these conversations would, in my opinion, remain impossible as long as we treat genetic engineering and eugenics as inherently synonymous.
#star trek ds9#star trek snw#lane posts#again i’m no expert on this subject#i have only very cursory knowledge of the history of eugenics#if anyone knows more about this topic and there’s anything here i've gotten wrong please let me know
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Ao3 First Lines Tag Game
Thank you so much to @alexx-dax for the tag! I love doing things like this!
I am tagging @gamebird, @hiersinddrachen, @esmethesciencewitch and @eleonoraalva if you want to do it! If not, no pressure!
Rules: Share the first lines of ten of your most recent fanfics and tag ten people. If you have written fewer than ten, don’t be shy and share anyway.
Upcoming Fic - Untitled What We Do in the Shadows AU for the Star Wars OT (featuring Veers/Piett, Motti/Jerjerrod, either going to be T or M depending on the sort of jokes I end up going for)
Disclaimer: The following documentary is approved for viewing only by loyal Imperial personnel for educational purposes. Any viewing of this material by Rebel Scum will be subject to criminal charges under the Axxilan Antipiracy Laws.
[INT. THE EXECUTOR – INTERVIEW WITH CAPTAIN FIRMUS PIETT]
PIETT: For me, the Change was really a matter of personal security. After I was assigned to the Death Squadron, I knew the chances of dying at the hands of Lord Vader were terribly high. I knew I’d much rather be undead than dead.
OPENING TEXT (cont.)
In the year 2 AFE, our esteemed Emperor Palpatine began the Initiative for the Enhanced Survival of Imperial Officers (IESIO). The initiative aimed to reduce the rate of Vader-related fatalities.
PIETT: As with any transition, I’ve had my challenges. It was a little difficult shifting to a nocturnal schedule, but the fact that I rarely sleep at all certainly helped.
[He looks away from the camera and stares off for a moment of particular exhaustion and sorrow but quickly snaps back at attention.]
The Sands of Wrath (Crack Fic; Veers/Piett, Motti/Jerjerrod; Rated T)
The Imperial Security Bureau was having a bad week. Interrogation booth timeshare sales were at an all-time low. The Division for Relaxation and Illusions of Pleasure was under scrutiny for providing genuine emotional wellbeing and stress relief. Major Partagaz had suffered a ruptured eardrum following a malfunction during the Death Trooper Holiday Choir’s New Years Fete Week Performance. Worst of all, Figrin D’an and the Modal Nodes had filed a lawsuit against the ISB for copyright infringement in light of the Interrogation Department using a high-pitched remixed tape of “Mad About Me” to torture captives.
There were also some reports that the Rebels had stolen some unimportant classified information, but the Imperial Command wasn’t particularly concerned about that in the face of other pressing issues.
So, when Director Gideon received word from a trembling supervisor that Lord Vader was in the lobby demanding an immediate audience, he counted it as one of many unideal occurrences.
“Send him in,” Gideon said, scarcely looking up from his paperwork.
The supervisor gave a frightened “yes, sir” and hurried away to the lobby. A few moments later, Lord Vader swept into the room followed by a very exhausted captain.
Witness (Crime/Thriller; Piett/Original Male Imperial Character, Motti/Jerjerrod; Rated: M - warnings in tags for the whole fic though the brief excerpt below doesn't feature have any)
“Try it again.”
For the fifth time that evening, the conveyer let out a pained whir before sputtering to a stop. Firmus Piett gave the machine one last disgruntled look before giving up the fight.
“We’ll have to make do without it,” he addressed the crew. “The storm karked up the engine. I’ll put in the repair order tonight. In the meantime, we’ve got a heap of manual lifting to do. Get on it.”
He took no offense to the groans and sour looks thrown his way. Another officer might have insisted on a “yes, sir” or some other gesture to that effect, but Firmus had far greater things to worry about than illusions of respect.
#admiral piett#firmus piett#veers x piett#motti x jerjerrod#tiaan jerjerrod#moff jerjerrod#admiral motti#general veers#maximilian veers#conan antonio motti#captain needa#star wars fanfic#my writing#tag game#needa features prominently in a lot of my writing though he's mostly third wheeling or fifth wheeling#he does have a wife in the wwdits fic and this revelation shocks the entire imperial navy
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💘 for the prompt and what specifically would you change about it?
💘Is there any posted fic you want to rework/re-edit/re-write?
There are a few parts of "do you job and keep them safe" (WHICH I AM ALWAYS DOWN TO TALK ABOUT I PUT SOOO MUCH WORK INTO THAT SHIT) I'd change, but the one I can remember at the moment is: there's this one little part from canon that basically only me and my bestie have noticed, and I would 100% add in if I could because HOLY FUCKING SHIT BENREY GO TO THERAPY JESUS CHRIST HOLY FUCK. There's also two words- TWO FUCKING WORDS- in "You're still here, and you're beautiful to me" that I DESPERATELY want to remove because they kinda take some of the punch out of one moment and it frustrates me SO MUCH. Like, those two words don't add anything!! I didn't have to add them!! If I'd held back on saying those TWO WORDS, it would've made that one moment hit a lot harder because then, it would've been the first time I explicitly said it. (If you've read the fics you can DM me to ask what either of these specifically entail, since they're both related to the very dark and heavy subject matter of the fics)
The reason I don't change my fics after posting them (outside of some typos) is pretty well-summed up by CJ The X in their video on 7 Deadly Art Sins. In the section on Wrath, or "taking back what is no longer yours," he basically talks about how once you've released a work of art, once it's touched an audience, it is no longer just yours. It belongs to both you and the audience. It has altered their soul, and so changing parts of it would be taking their soul and fucking with it, morphing it. And even if it's a positive change, artists change their mind! You may think of something as a positive change now, but you're not static. Five years from now, you might look at that change and change it again, and then people who that work touched will just be like "Hey I hate this, stop changing this piece of art that has touched my soul, I fell in love with the ORIGINAL work you don't have to change it over and over." For an example of this, see George Lucas fucking with Star Wars (which was used as an example in CJ's video go watch that video right now).
And the reason I wouldn't like, rewrite a fic is because A) when I write, I generally consider the finished product really good, and B) even if, a year and a half from now, I looked at something like "If ten million fireflies lit up the world as I fell asleep" (my titles are so fucking long jesus) and went "This sucks actually, I can do better now" and rewrote it, a year and a half later I would look at that rewrite and go "This sucks actually, I can do better now" and rewrite it again. It'd just be an infinite loop for what would be at the very least a very similar product. It's not like redrawing art, where you can SEE the improvement in lighting/shading/anatomy/whatever. When you redraw art, everyone can see "Holy shit, they've improved in this way or that way, their art style has changed in this way or that way," it's easy to understand. But unless it was like, ten years in the future, I feel like if I rewrote a fic, spotting differences would be, at the very least, difficult. It'd be kinda useless. If you wanna see my writing improving over time, read my writing over time and see how it improves.
This got off-track. Anyway djnsfjndksn
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ix/felix or my rl name, he/him
18, butch lesbian
looking 4 a beta reader !! refer to this post and this tag or just send me an ask :)
essential tags, the rest are under the cut:
- #langblr - langblr related content
- #ix.txt/en - textposts in english
- #ix.txt/no - textposts in norwegian
- #ix.txt/한 - textposts in korean
- #ix.txt/yu - textposts in serbocroatian
- #ix.txt/fr - textposts in french
- #ix.jpeg - photos by me
- #ix.txt/docx- my fics n other writings
i'm not making a dni i'll simply block if ur making me uncomfy <3
read under the cut for more tags, my language goals and more about the languages i know and am learning !
the rest of the tags:
- #star wars - star wars related
- #good omens - good omens related
- #hannibal - nbc hannibal related
- #mcr - american rockband mcr related
- #formel 1 - formula 1 related
- #art - art tag for rbed art
- #modern rights - for current events and issues
- #lesbianisms - lesbian tag
- #butches - butch tag
languages i'm fluent in:
norwegian (native): i'm born and raised in norway, which kind of speaks for itself. i speak a dialect close to standard østnorsk. (send me an ask if you're curious!) if you want a language exchange partner or grammar explanations or general help with the language, i'm here to help! my primary målform is bokmål but i know nynorsk too because i'm cool and sexy obviously. i will also talk at lenght about norwegian sociolects and dialects if you prompt me!
serbocroatian (native, heritage): my mum came to norway some thirty years ago and raised me in serbian, so this one's technically a heritage language, but i deem myself native :) i speak ekavski and i read and write in latinica and ćirilica, cursive as well. if you want grammar or language help or a language exchange partner or tips for learning cursive i'm here! i didn't learn cursive until a few years ago so the memory's still pretty fresh...
english (fluent): i started learning english when i was six and kept learning it for eleven years, so by now i'm pretty much fluent to the point where people ask if i'm british because i (unfortunately) acquired a scottish/northern english accent on the way to fluency... here too i am always up for a language exchange and ready to help with anything :) i write british english as well as i can, but american slang makes its way into my sentences no matter how hard i try ...
languages i'm learning:
korean (ttmik 5): i know ttmik 6 isn't really a good level signifier for those who don’t use the ttmik curriculum, but i haven't taken any official tests yet. i've been self-studying korean since august of 2020, so close to three years now. while i can't give as extensive help in korean as in the languages i'm fluent in, i'm always up to help, give tips and do language exchanges ^_^ (and rave about the history of the language)
french (b1): i studied french for five years in school, now i’m continuing on my own, and i can hold conversations without too much struggle! went on a school trip to paris last year and really got to test it out :) i can read and write and speak and listen on a number of topics, and i'm close to fluency, i think. always up for doing a language exchange here too! my french grammar is a bit of a mess, but i'll help anyone to the best of my abilities ^^
latin (2 years): i took latin for two years and enjoyed it immensely! i've had the luck to have a fluent teacher, so my speaking latin is pretty good. i’m going on 2 take it as an additional subject in uni this year :) i study classical latin with classical pronunciation and i'm always up for a chat about it! as with other languages i am always up to help, but i don't think a language exchange for latin is viable, so i'll keep it at help with grammar and tangents about antiquity.
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Twenty Questions for Fic Writers
Tagged by @1lostsoul0fishbowl <3
1. How many works do you have on AO3?
9 with many more planned
2. What’s your total AO3 word count?
211803 at this time, between all fics
3. What fandoms do you write for?
All my works at this time are for Stranger Things, but I have some starters in progress in google docs for The Witcher and Shadow and Bone
4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?
I Was Born to Love You - Modern Steddie AU with hints of other ships - One-shot
Extroverts and Introverts - Eddie/OC - Series
How It Should Have Been - Eddissy/Hellcheer centric overall ST AU fix-it - Series
Life Is Ours, We Live It Our Way - Edancy (Eddie/Nancy) AU season 3 timeline - Series
Tied for 5th:
The Unnamed Feeling - Billy/OC - Series
Running Away, Running Toward - Eddissy (aka Hellcheer) ‘Chrissy lives’ AU - Series
5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?
I do as often as I can, but while I read them all I don’t always have time or energy for replies
6. What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?
I haven’t written any such endings, tbh. I’m too much of a sucker for happy endings (and I don’t mean that sexually). Plus, aside from one-shots, I haven’t finished any of my fics yet. They’re all works in progress.
7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?
Both of my one-shots, mainly because no other fics have endings yet xD
8. Do you get hate on fics?
Not yet, and I hope I never do. I already have self-esteem issues related to a combo of abuse lasting from 6-7ish through 15/16 and bullying from as far back as preschool up through those same years.
9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?
I do on occasion, when the mood strikes. The fluffy kind that involves 18+ only. All lovey and shit. Little bit of kink to it but nothing hardcore. No slapping, degradation, humiliation, etc. No underage of any kind, no scato/uro/necro/emeto type paraphilias, no cheating.
10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?
I haven’t done so yet, but I’m not ruling out the possibility.
11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?
To my knowledge, no
12. Have you ever had a fic translated?
Not that I’m aware of
13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?
Not exactly, but I do forum-based RP so… kind of adjacent maybe?
14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?
Oh my goddess. Don’t ask me this. Especially without narrowing it down to a single fandom. I have -far- too many ships I love, both canon and otherwise lmao.
15. What’s a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?
Hell if I know. It may take me forever and a day, but I do intend to finish all my fics one way or another.
16. What are your writing strengths?
Uhm…. not sure on this one. I'm too harsh a critic of myself to be able to accurately answer this.
17. What are your writing weaknesses?
I refuse to write fics that involve cheating or love triangles, especially those involving any main characters of said fic. A little jealousy here and there is the most I'll do, and not with any regularity. I have ONE fic that involves active abuse and only included the bare minimum necessary for that. (It’s the Billy/OC fic I mentioned above.) I can’t and won’t do more than the minimum, b/c it’s a triggery subject for me so I have to be very careful with reading or writing such subject matter. I also feel like people may not enjoy my smutty scenes as much as they do other writers', because I don't do the heavy BDSM (spit, slapping, spanking, degradation, humiliation, etc) that so many others do.
18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?
I’m only fluent in English, so I’d need the help of Google Translate for that. I’ve used it for RP stuff, but not in fic writing yet.
19. First fandom you wrote for?
I can’t remember exactly. First fandom RP was… I -think- Star Wars. First published fanfic was Stranger Things (Running Away, Running Toward). First fandom writing at all… ummm… maybe some Disney thing or other when I was a kid? I’m not entirely sure.
20. Favorite fic you’ve written?
This is like asking me to pick which of my 4 cats is my favorite hahahahaha. But also, I regularly question my skills as a writer, b/c self-esteem issues. >.>
Random tags: @thatbagginsbitch @hellfire--cult @andvys @munson-blurbs
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OMG!? Revamping my old art blog I made back when I was 14-15?? You bet 😏
I’m not normally one for proper introductions, but for the sake of the blog, I suppose I’ll indulge
Anyways, I’m Smoky, and this is my art blog. You can probably expect an unholy amount of cat art, the occasional animation or two, and other random fan-art as I see fit.
I’m involved with a load of Warriors RPS (yep, still into those cat books after a decade or so), so it’s best to assume there will be plenty of art related to those. Tags for those rps are as follows:
#WhereTheRainFallsRP (I run this rp with a few friends, and it involves a few colonies as they work to survive in a tropical setting)
#CaughtInTheWireRP (Another rp I run involving ThunderClan and ShadowClan as they fight to deal with a growing human threat)
#WindsOfRebellionRP (A completed rp I ran with friends. It’s in the same universe as CiTW, and follows WindClan as they live on their own without StarClan, and under the reign of a line of dictators and well, a growing rebellion)
#TheForgottenLegacyRP (I run this rp with a few friends, and it follows SC, TC and RC as they deal with various problems to their survival like mass disasters, dictators, etc)
You might also see other tags appear occasionally such as
#ZootopiaRP (a rp a group of friends and I started about our anthro ocs)
#Fire-SideChats (Text posts)
#SmokysFriends (Art for friends)
#SmokysFandoms (Other Fandom art besides Warriors such as TOH, Star Wars, etc)
I’ve also got a side blog dedicated specifically towards my Warriors OCs aside from RP related ones. It’ll mainly focus on characters from my fanfic RiverBeds of Dust, so feel free to check that out if you’d like.
Anyways, hope ya’ll find art that interests you here! Feel free to shoot me a dm if you have any questions or wanna chat!
Trades/Requests/Comms Status:
Art-Trades: Closed to everyone minus close friends atm. They’ll probably open up over the summer though!
Requests: Open (Depends the subject matter, but for the most part I’ll draw whatever)
Commissions: Closed atm (working on setting up a Ko-Fi and price sheet)
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palm tree, papyrus, chia?
meme
palm tree ⇢ do you have a fictional villain you shouldn’t like but love regardless?
Uhhh, well Ghostface is one LOL, I like to pretend the version in my head is a better person than. any canon version. I also like a few jojo villains and, admittedly, some star wars villains? cause their designs kinda fuck dude I don't even need to watch the movies or shows. some of these guys are cool as hell. there should be other villains but uhhh idk I don't remember
also I Would count Harley as a villain if she wasn't turning over a new leaf these days. she can kill some guys idc she deserves that one
papyrus ⇢ if you put your ‘on repeat’ playlist on shuffle, what’s the first song that comes up? what do you like about it / associate it with?
Take Me Out by Atomic Tom ?! Omg I love this song mostly because at the time I found it it was in some obscure rhythm game, then I looked it up to find their performance on a train (which was cool as hell btw), also the subject matter is kiiiiinda relateable to me, idk it's some dumb pop rock song but it means a lot to me cause I've known it for so long.
chia ⇢ what’s an inside joke you have with someone else?
I'm in a group chat with friends who sometimes stream The Sims 4, and one of our all-time favorite recurring characters is this dude called 'charred corpse' and I hate him cause he's literally a charred fucking corpse he looks like this and he's naked. horrible man
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1, 6, 8, 16, 20 from fanfic writer ask game? <333
Awwww thank u for the ask!!! <3 <3 <3 All of these questions are a lot of fun!
What is a fic premise that you thought would have already been written, but turned out not to be the case?
Well back when I was writing more for Star Wars, I wrote a 3 part series of fics based on 3 separate sentence prompts for a reader character that worked as an aide for Tarkin but also was singled out by Darth Vader for "Force Shenanigans" as I call it lol. But I am actually the first and as of today the only one to create and write a Darth Vader/Wilhuff Tarkin/Reader tag which was surprising to me because I know some people ship Vader and Tarkin so like I'm glad I got to be the first on AO3 to write it lol
6. If you came up with an original villain/slasher/monster, what would they be like?
So other than my slasher OC Alan, I tend to have an archetype for my villains. And that's a horny middle-aged man with some sort of complex that is charming but very possessive and wants to go feral. I mean yeah I write plenty of other characters but a lot of them tend to fall somewhat into that category sdfggfrfgh
8. What makes your fics ‘your fics’; which sets them apart for you?
This one is always hard for me cause I have a hard time looking at my own writing subjectively. But from what other people have told me I tend to come up with interesting and unique imagery, I can write funny moments really well, and I can make my characters relatable and realistic. And I suppose I would agree with these things sdfgfedfg
16. What was the most emotional piece to write for you?
I have a couple pieces I've written over the years as kind of like vent pieces or just pieces where I inserted myself to work through the problems I was struggling with. But I'd probably say my Devil's Carnival fic After the Fall was a big one for me. It served as my vent piece for when I was really going through it and wanting to wallow in my feelings but feel much better afterward. I'll link to it on AO3 as both chapters/stories are compiled there. There was a 3rd one I intended to write but honestly, I haven't needed to write it. I've been doing a lot better now than I was back then. And I suppose that's kind of poetic in a way sdvbnhgf
20. What was the toughest lesson you have learned during your time as a writer?
This is one I still struggle with but it would probably be to not feel like you need to listen to every piece of writing advice. That isn't to say I don't listen to anything people tell me, but I have to do my best to choose which bits of advice I take and which I don't. Which comments to take to heart and which to ignore. I had a really rough period in college where my work was torn to shreds and it took me so long to pick myself back up and continue to write. So yes, while it's illogical to believe that your writing has no flaws and needs no improvements, you also need to be able to parse out the feedback that helps you. You don't need to follow every single bit of writing advice out there or listen to every random comment telling you what to do with your writing. And that's okay. Not everything works for everyone and sometimes at the end of the day if you're happy with your work that's all that matters.
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Okay so, head's up if you want to write Star Wars fanfics: Jedi philosophy is based off of Buddhist philosophy.
As in, rather than "suppressing emotions" their thing is "managing emotions".
Since, y'know, if you don't control your emotions you'll end up getting assimilated by the Dark Side and lose your soul and all that jazz.
Even their definition of attachment is based off of the Buddhist definition rather than the Western definition: Rather than meaning attachments as "bonds" they mean "desire to own and control someone, refusing to let them go no matter what".
I remembered some comments you had made about Star Wars fics a few months ago, and since I'm actually friends with someone who has ranted ENDLESSLY about misconceptions related to the Jedi, I figured I'd let you know.
So while I 100% vibe with that in theory,
1.) that does not vibe with how everything went down. Anakin was not taught to control his emotions, but to surpress and hide them, which is the exact reason he turned Darkside. Maybe the Jedi learned from their mistakes, but clearly someone fucked up with him.
and 2.) someone play that Linkara clip about what’s given in the original source vs. supplemental material. Literally in this case because he was talking on this exact subject.
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Measuring the Star-Distance of Constellations
An experienced account of stars and perception by the venerable Nosdromelion, traveling star-gazer, resident navigator of the Ebony Rose, witness to the magnificent Ge.
Talents and fallacies, joys and stumbles, innumerable points within our lifetimes and interpretations beyond them differentiate you from another person and make up the parts distinguishable by an untainted mind when it is first told of your existence. No one brings shame upon their scholarly appearance when they admit to not knowing all aspects that make clear our differences, as this claim requires no confirmation, yet every living individual around Nirn shares some points. Among them is that they turn their gaze upward at night, to the seat of stars that watch after us at that time, be you on an open field or in a grimy dungeon cell. This is the natural position in which we are most receptive to all forms of insight.
Indeed, I believe there to be an intentional shape to our steady mortal bodies that is found repeatedly throughout Aurbic construction and happenstance, most importantly the shape of our eyes and how it matches the sphere that is Mundus. While Oblivion is often called a void, the hole to Aetherius is a truly negative space, as it lacks anything to be there but the constant outpour of light. Should this aetherial wisdom fill straight into our pupils, we are quickly blinded and have to acknowledge that we are not capable of perceiving as our elders did, which has led too many students on tall towers to ruin their day. The day and its borders have been painted in many shades by Magnus’ grace, all of which can be found in mortal irides that invite us to marvel at what lies close to such beauty. The white and black that make up the majority of the eye are subject of heated debate whenever bright-eyed preachers in Auri-El’s alabaster armour shake their fingers at unfortunate passersby that possess the obscured vision. The answer is that there is no black or white in their diametrically opposed sameness; frequently put up against each other and declared non-related, irreconcilable warring factions, neither of these colours can go where the other is not, a mere misperception caused by Meridia’s veil that a midday sun and a prism solve during standard education.
Your eyes are therefore the essential tools needed for studying the stars. So, let me talk about those. Every single star in the sky is equidistant to Nirn, a necessity if one wishes to tear an escape out of a sphere. Or so the astrologers claim, a reasoning I am not required to follow, a reasoning I cannot follow after noticing the glaring possibility that these limitations are irrelevant. Aetherius is not a distance away, it is a realm away, and its bridges to the plane of restrictions cannot be measured from either side, thus it matters not whether the Ge tore open the world after a minute or an hour of travel. Our brave explorers do not possess the same intrinsic connection to the ideal world of light as a magnificent Ge would have and rely on more easily comprehended methods of transportation, planting each foot in solid expectations of mundane travel. Regardless of these shortcomings in perception, there are calculations to be made about where a star sits in relation to another and us.
Imagine a library, and in that, a bookshelf stacked edge to edge with leather-bound tomes, dusty and radiating the prestige of scholars long declared not-quite-right. If you were to find one that catches your interest because of its alluring spine and lay it wide open on an oaken table, it could no longer fit next to its wordy siblings, an obvious conclusion from our experience of space. Should you turn over a page, you are allowed more insight into the work and its author, but you could also notice that the neat rectangle contains more than a compact volume would present us with at first glance. You lose yourself in pages upon pages, you see singular letters, complete words, entire sentences and do your best to comprehend them. After you are finished and close it, you sort it back into the arrangement where it can become one of many again. Usually you would come to an end at some point, but the bookshelves in this library are extraordinary, and every time you attempt to ascertain the nature of a book by its spine, the books you do not perceive have already altered their placement and existence for reasons only decipherable by reading them. So it becomes impossible to create an accurate count of the books on the shelf. Everyone can make a squinted guess and will almost certainly be wrong, but the experienced librarian observes the shelves with ignorance to the knowledge hidden within before they make a crude measurement of their memory, an image that would fluctuate if it was not relegated to a spot of unimportance in the mind, where we keep all things we spend no second look on until they jump to the forefront of our awareness. This state of mindlessness is practised by many to attain freedom of worry and mortal bindings, only the demand to recall on purpose differs here.
Ignorance and experience play hand in hand when we look for a specific star in the sky, we consider its relation to where we are right now and where a constellation is, while the darkness only ever gives a feeling for how far we have to turn our head. Finding a star is never a practice of hard truth unless we can cleanse our pattern-seeking minds of the deception of the void, library of worlds, which is why every successful expedition cloaks themselves in the purest magicka available, lest they forget themselves in the endless night, where every measure can be broken down into halves ad infinitum. Perhaps you have once observed a model of the world and stood before the sphere, imagining yourself a colossus drifting out of captivating orbit. All around you is blackness, interrupted by blue, red, grey planets, twinkling stars, a beloved sun. Halt. Their light does not reach you. Their reflections are elsewhere. You are in the night, staring at void and nothing but void. Around you are alien waves, a raven cloth allwhere, the plain enveloped. Brimstone grows its burning tendrils throughout, a drunkard’s laugh echoes at tables innumerable, you have found yourself amongst the twisted realms of Oblivion, so what else could you perceive?
Ignorant are we, and glad you should be about it. Though I must utter a complaint; contrary to my employers’ apparent belief, idiocy does not get you everywhere. So let us turn away from blind looking and throw precision on the page. Recall the eye of the Ritual, draw it. Stylized and flatly, it barely manages to imitate a proper eyeball, but unconscious understanding connects them so strongly, you could show that drawing to a wildered bearman of Altmora and he would know it for what it is. What is it? Material on material, curves produced by mortal hand, a representation of a fanciful interpretation or collection, an eye, the Ritual? Some of these it could not be, they are elsewhere. And we care little about that fact in natural language. Pedants will say it is wrong if one wishes to be absolutely correct, I reply that we are correct if we want to be. That is not only a drawing, it is an eye. Actually, it is your eye. If I may make a request, dear reader: Leap
The difference between the drawing, your eyeball and the Ritual stems from your thought that they cannot be perfect presentations of each other. You lack faith in your idea of the eye. Take pride in your form and skill, not because they are perfect on their own, but because they are perfectly the same as the stars, which have never been flawless. These eyes are as One is to One, indistinguishable from each other, as Lord Vivec put it so kindly. For yourself, you should have no difficulty calculating the distance of a star to a star in the eye now. Furthermore, at this point, how else could you consider the Steed, the Lover, the Atronach but as constellations who are as the Ritual, as the eye. Astonishingly comprehensible Ones.
‘Humbug!’ cries the comparer looking for unison, whose numbers are unlike yours, believing themselves to be the greatest witness. They do not notice that their perspective was off, indeed it seems impossible to have another person take the same place, height, shape and all else you encompassed when you measured. Not that your perspective is not skewed. Should you stand shoulder by shoulder and talk though, your numbers will become closer. A single word might change what you see out there, internally and externally it will not be the same as before. Leave all impulses of fright at losing yourself behind, agreement is valuable. Nevertheless, do not forget you are correct.
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Book Review: Snowglobe by Soyoung Park, translated by Joungmin Lee Comfort
SUMMARY:
Snowglobe is a post-apocalyptic dystopian YA novel where climate change has resulted in the Earth being frozen almost all the time. Temperatures average about 5F on a good day, but can regularly get down to -50F. However, there is one place in the world where the temperatures are mild and regulated: the city of Snowglobe, which exists under a dome. Theoretically, anyone can go live in Snowglobe. The catch is, you must submit to having your entire life filmed and recorded and edited into the TV shows the rest of the outside world watches.
The story follows Jeon Chobahm, who is a dead ringer for the most famous actor in Snowglobe, Goh Haeri: the girl next door, whose life has been broadcasted since her birth. However, Haeri's director, Cha Seol, shows up one day looking for Chobahm, and tells her that she needs to take over Haeri's life because the TV star has committed suicide. Chobahm agrees, and then discovers all of the secrets and twists that the haven has to offer.
REVIEW:
I was actually surprised at how much I loved this book. These days, YA and I usualy don't vibe, but I'm beginning to suspect that it may have less to do with books for teens, and more to do with how what people now picture as YA is more along the lines of what people want to call "New Adult." Snowglobe would probably not go over well for that 17-25 crowd, but I think it is perfect for "Lower YA," aka, "Teens," aka people age 12-16.
It's an extremely fast-paced, plot-forward story with casual, modern language and subject matter that a lot of middle schoolers and early high schoolers can relate to. I can only imagine how terrifying school can be nowadays for kids who adamantly do not want to film or be filmed, but sometimes have no choice due to a lot of social medias encouraging a panopticonic approach to life.
I will admit, it's not a particularly deep book. It's doesn't pick apart its world like The Hunger Games does, but it does offer an avatar for readers to immerse themselves in. I don't know how that is affected by it being a book in translation, but I suspect it has more to do with the intended age range of readers. The plot itself goes at a very fast pace, with high-stakes plot twists happening one right after the other.
To be brutally honest, one of the reasons I find this book so charming is because it reads like a self-insert fanfic. I mean this VERY complimentary. I've read more than a few fics that center OCs, Y/Ns, and 2nd-person Reader Inserts, and they all have a certain pace and voice to them that injects a wonderful confidence into the narrative. A confidence that, to the lay person, may seem amateurish and confusing, but to a connoisseur of these stories is familiar, nostalgic, and exactly what's needed. It is imperative that this book is approached with a want to be pulled along on a wild, exciting, fantastical roller coaster. I think many in the 12-16 range naturally approach things like that, which is why I think that's the ideal demographic.
But, if you or someone you know want a little brain candy, pick it up. And for a chaser, I'd recommend two video essays ([1], [2]) by Moon Channel about an ongoing gender war (his words) in South Korea, and why the country has come to blows like this. I think these videos offer an introduction for Westerners into some of the nuances of Korean life, and bring another layer of context to the premise of this book.
If you know a child in middle school who loves to read dystopian fiction, consider pointing them in the direction of this book, especially if the have read and enjoyed Divergent.
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If you're going to write about drugs, please stop. If you're going to write about a wedding, please stop. Stop writing about how weird it is to be gay. It's not weird anymore. Please do not write in hip-hop language. Don't write about porn. We already have enough of that in our lives and we all beat off a much as you do, so it's no biggie. Don't try to "write what you know." You don't know anything. Me either.
If you have to write about drugs, don't write about pot. Candy is more interesting than pot is. Knives are almost always cool. Accidents are good, but not car ones, unless everybody in the book is dead or dies at once. If there is lace of any kind in your writing, you are doomed. Don't write about Europe. You were there with a backpack for a week and barely scratched the surface. This does not permit you to have a character called Giuseppe. Do not open up your story with Bob Seger or John Mellencamp lyrics. Stephen King did that shit to me once when I was small and I'm still recovering.
Mental institutions are a dealbreaker. You can have an institution on your street or near your school but you can't be in one anymore. It sucks, I know. If you write by hand, write with the hand you don't favor. If you write by computer, and the room has a window, sit by that, and don't look out it. Ignore or be rude to the people you love. Then try to make up for it.
Don't try to surprise me unless you surprised yourself. Write a book that will make me want to keep reading it rather than getting head. I can think of 10. Font is important, both while you are typing the words, and when it is printed in the book. When you think you are about to write something really good, go to the grocery. Chekov's idea that "if a gun is on the mantle in the first act it should go off in the last" has done more damage than any other single sentence in writing. Objects are not road signs. Action in a book should not occur as if Keanu Reeves was in charge.
I'm still waiting to read a really good scene about somebody getting their ears pierced. It can be done. Never have children. Study story. Realize you cannot win. Repeat. If you've ever thought about Star Wars or mentioned Star Wars in conversation, or own anything related to Star Wars, or have seen Star Wars, don't write. Oh sweet, you went to that museum alone one day and had a tuna sandwich in the cafe? You're killing me, please. The subway, huh? If you listen to the Beatles or Radiohead, or Jay-Z, don't write. If you ever put up devil's horns with your hand at shows, don't write. You're probably in bad shape if you mention whiskey or a beach. Don't say "story" or "poem."
Mothers are better for characters to have than girlfriends. Ditto fathers/boyfriends. If the mother is the girlfriend or the boyfriend, I hope your story isn't minimalist or narrative. Abstractions and dreams are good.* *Unless your dream is about building a tree-house out of honey and glue with your brother who isn't really your brother but that Brad Renfro guy who died in Hollywood but nobody noticed and the tree-house turns into a bar then a candle then a city. We've all had that dream or something equally as underwhelming.
Write less dialogue, unless you are really good at it, which I guarantee you aren't. You're probably in pretty bad shape if you mention any website whatsoever or even a computer for that matter. When was the last time you ate at an Arbys? If it was more than a year you probably can't say anything I need to know. The cute fat Mexican at the bodega and his family who you think you're such good friends with probably live a much different life than you expect. Maybe don't start messing around in there.
Are you writing about someone taking a drag off of a cigarette? You might as well be saying, "He breathed." Don't write about skin unless it's going bad. Acne is always a choice subject. The shame and embarrassment that comes with terrible skin can be a goldmine. I'm talking Acne Vulgaris too, not a goddamn blackhead on your chin. Don't conceive of your "central" characters by defining them with a mental or physical "condition." If you're going to tell me about your Mom, do it from your dad's point of view. I want to know what she's like in the sack.
Don't connect with me. Don't try to pretend I'm not there. Don't try to be funny. You are or you aren't. Or the sentence is or isn't. You are neither David Lynch nor Captain Beefheart. You might be Cher. Cry more, but don't tell anybody either. This is the way crying is like rap. I used to say you can't write about serial killers, but they work sometimes, if they are described in the way one would a washcloth or a doll. Remember your asshole is a tunnel.
If you've ever read Bukowski, please stop. Please, God, no characters who are musicians. There is nothing worse than trying to describe music, or how someone plays it. Leave music to douchebags. Stop writing about rich literary boys in college. I hated you people when I was in college and I still hate you. Your frat took a shit on my porch.
Drink some water. Do not write about writing. Have you ever seen a painting of a person painting? No? Well, it sucks. If you've ever told someone they are "misreading" a philosopher, eat a cock. You are not Andy Warhol. You probably don't really listen to black metal. Can I reiterate the one about not writing about musicians?
If you are more aware of your own dick or vagina than you are of what your breath sounds like when you are asleep, please go get a job in marketing instead. The guy who lives upstairs from you is probably really cool. You should introduce yourself instead of imagining him doing weird shit with hooks and rope all the time and then writing it down. Get a hold of yourself, the guy's probably just playing Wii.
Oooh, prostitutes. So you're into that. Awesome. I'd rather hear from them about you.
If there's never been a book that made you not want to leave the house again, don't try to make your own. Stop being in bars all the time. Man in Bar = Man in Life. We know. If you're angry, go outside. Please do not put words into things. Not to keep the anger away, but to keep the Rage Against The Machine out of my ears. Own your advice in the same way you once tried to suck your own dick. By that I mean: everything is true.
If my cousins on my dad's side of the family know who you are, or feel interested in reading your book when told what it's about, you might be dying. Any critique of the social or emotional will go unnoticed. Pity. If you can separate the words and the story: trash. The word "lovers" always fails on some level. Don't just kill your idols; leave them in history. Avoid L.A. and New York altogether. If you lived in either of those cities, you would have given up writing by now anyway. I don't believe you.
Have you ever printed out your manuscript and bathed in it? Right answers are for those who hope. Tone belongs to music while deafness is holy. If you or the people in your writing have bought new clothes in the past two years, it's over. If you can point out "Action" in a book, why isn't it a movie? Don't write about America or Bush or Arabs. Don't write about the future. Don't write about endings. Probably don't write anything at all.
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Talking about the UFO phenomenon feels helpful. I do research, but it's not as intensive as I might like, since I work full time. I can tell the difference between genuine and guff, and I know when somebody's trying to sell me something. What's nice is that honing those skills allows me to relate topics I'm interested in toward more educated friends, and hear their perspective.
Recently I was talking with a friend, and came to realize that I may lack a certain amount of agency. Or at the very least, I choose to stand in ignorance rather than pretend at certainty at a rate that might be a tad higher than the average person.
For example, there's a question of god. What god is, where god is, that sort of thing. My friend is a very intelligent person, and sees that question as reductive- and you can see why. If you have a "god of the gaps," as some like to call it, it removes some of the burden of trying to explain the material, the intellectual, the emotional, even the spiritual. My friend rightly observes that assigning a god to these things needing explanation makes them look and feel and read a lot smoother.
But my position is that, standing where I stand- literally, physically, smaller than the smallest pixel that makes up our pale blue dot, I've got a lot of audacity to assign godhood to anything. Whatever I choose is suddenly responsible, accountable, and the solution to all sorts of things- if I name a distant star "god," I'm making it responsible for prayers, for wars, for weather, for cycles of life and death- and if I choose that, I've changed the way that thing can affect me. It's god now, and not an interesting rock or a broiling hydrogen crucible, and that means I turn in its direction whenever I need answers.
And I may get the wrong answers, since- how much could a distant star or planet know about me? About my health or money or mind? If I try to interpret answers to those questions based on its behavior, well, I'm making existing in the universe worse for both of us. I shouldn't be taking financial advice from a fission reaction, and no random celestial body should be saddled with the impossible burden of helping an outrageously distant stranger in so many ways.
You might be wondering how this sort of thing relates to UFOs, so I'll put it plainly as I can- since I'm not a telepath and can only be accountable for my individual self, it feels wrong to try and assign motive to extraterrestrial visitors, whoever they may be. I watched "Nope" and was completely fascinated by the creature in it, but felt the same way- I can only ever understand this thing peripherally. I can find out what it eats, how it moves, where it stays- but until it and I share a common medium of communication, I can only ever guess at what it knows or what its motives are- and guessing like that, then telling other people, simply feels dishonest.
I don't know what goes on in an abduction. But I hope there's a grain of truth to the stories I've heard on Art Bell about being taken up to learn something. One man claimed he was taken up regularly to learn complex symbology, that- when understood- could impart a huge amount of subject matter with just one precise symbol.
Maybe we're Koko the Gorilla. --And I know that a great deal of her story was exaggerated. But if they're making stops, communicating information, and then returning us to our habitat with some education and new things to think about... then maybe that's what all this could be building up to. And understand, I'm freehand speculating, that's just an optimistic take, what I hope could happen.
That's why I like Bob Lazar so much. My dad saw a vessel, not who was piloting it. A vessel is so much more material than a language or a concept or a culture or a history. You can take its measurements, produce replicable results with its parts- and what there is to perceive and understand is finite. Bob never embellished his story because that's all there was to say, that was the limit of his knowledge and he didn't assign the subject of that knowledge any qualities it didn't have.
Whatever's up there, I'd be happy just to know what it is. Where it comes from and what the pilot wants, I'll leave up to them to tell me, if the time comes.
#extraterrestrial#aliens#ufo#if you frequent these tags and see this#go ahead and drop me an ask#i enjoy the subject greatly and am eager to learn more
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