#Greenland Scene re-write

[sagemonsters]

A Tiger of Persia (i.e. my mlm weretiger x human multi-chapter story set in Achaemenid-era Persia) is going really well. Like, incredibly well, in spite of my decision to re-write the entire thing (after completing/sharing the current draft) for the sake of historical/cultural nuance. I broke 5,000 words after writing for just 4 days. That's insane! Usually I struggle with that kind of output, but this just sort of flowed out of me and I feel really inspired to continue. Next chapter we're going to meet the weretiger properly, I promise. Pinky swear. There are two more chapters to go, and the last one will be an optional smut chapter (I wanted to include that at the very end so that readers who prefer SFW content can skip it without missing any of the story proper).

I'm trying to decide what to write next. Currently I'm really interested in the Greenland Viking civilization and how it collapsed, and I could do something interesting there with Arctic merfolk... but Greenland settlements = contact and probably conflict with indigenous Inuit groups, which is a whole can of colonial worms I am leery of opening. I think this fic would involve a cis female human, a wise woman sort of character, paired with a cis female mermaid.

The other option is something set in Renaissance-era Italy involving a noblewoman and a mimic/haunted armor type of demon thing. This would be a cis female human x cis male demon, with more emphasis on sex scenes than my other fics. The plot would involve the newly-married noblewoman's cruel husband receiving his comeuppance, and potentially a siege or other attack on the castle where the noblewoman lives.

What do you think?

[pinkytoothlesso11]

Annnd the last week of Stricklake month is here!

Week four prompt: ruined plans

Synopsis: Greenland Walter thought when he flew off to face the ice titan with the bombs he would die.

He’d made his peace with death and whatever came after.

Too bad fate had other plans.

Extract: (I think I posted this for a WIP game, but it's here again for reference.) His sweater was on fire, his hair was on fire, he had never felt such heat, yet Walter embraced it. Pain meant he was alive. Pain was life. He burned and his spirits soared. This was the end.

It wasn’t.

If you want to read on follow the link above!

[epicstuckyficrecs]

Weekly Recap | September 16-22

A bit late, but better late than never! :P

Complete

a slow start by birdjay/ @bird-jay (PWP | 2,6K | Explicit): It’s a gorgeous sight, Steve spread out like this. He wants to lick, wants to bite, wants inside where he’s hot and tight. Wants to make Steve make that gasping noise that he loves so much.

Ceasefire by ipoiledi/ @ipoiledi (PWP | 4,5K | Explicit): It's too hot out to be alive, is what it is.

The Pugilists by ipoiledi/ @ipoiledi (PWP | 4,5K | Explicit): There’s only one way Steve wants it when he gets like this, and nice ain’t the word for it, that’s for damn sure.

To the Victor by ipoiledi/ @ipoiledi (PWP | 1,8K | Explciit): “Oh, Thor,” Bucky remarks, and Steve huffs a laugh, warm and low against Bucky’s cheek. “You sure are seeing a lot of this guy lately.”

💙 Calisthenics by ipoiledi/ @ipoiledi (Steve/Thor, PWP | 5K | Explicit): Thor’s laughing. “I mustn’t tease you so,” he decides.

💙 We didn’t need this to love each other, but I’m glad we get to do it anyway by AidaRonan/ @bisexualstarbucky (Canon divergent | 1,9K | Teen): Or the one where same-sex marriage finally gets legalized in NY and two very old men do the thing.

💙 Next Chapter by NachoDiablo/ @samstevebuckyhq (Famous/Not-Famous | 15K | Explicit): Bucky’s life is at a bit of a standstill these days as he commits to embracing his inner hermit, brewing the perfect pour-over, and writing popular fanfic for the Avengers movie franchise. When he strikes up a friendship with Steve, the snarky yet earnest fan of his latest fic, he finds himself opening up for the first time in years. Things get more complicated, however, when Bucky realizes that Steve’s more than just an everyday fan of the Avengers. As he and Steve grow closer, Bucky will have to decide whether or not he’s ready to start moving forward again.

Stranger in the Shell of a Lover by dragongirlG/ @dragongirlg-fics (Modern AU, sex worker Bucky | 10K | Explicit): Bucky is a young truck stop sex worker in Brooklyn who's trying to save money for sisters' college fund. He doesn't usually get attached to his clients, but he finds himself making an exception for Steve, a regular who always treats Bucky with gentleness and respect. When Steve finds Bucky in the bathroom the night before Thanksgiving, injured due to rough treatment from another client, the boundaries of their relationship blur and leave them both wondering if there could be something more between them.

💙 A Hunk of Burning Love by cleo4u2/ @cleo4u2 (Chris Beck/Johnny Storm | 10K | Not  Rated): Dr. Chris Beck is a dedicated, intelligent, NASA astronaut. Johnny Storm is a disgraced NASA pilot, a superhero, and a practical joker. This is how they fall in love on the trip to rescue Mark Watney.

the long lost ghost by StuckySituation/ @stuckysituation (Stripper Steve, WS Bucky | 4,9K | Teen): Modern!AU with a drunk HYDRA agent sending Winter Soldier on an escort mission, and Steve "Captain America" Rogers getting the shock of his life when his long lost fiancé isn't quite as dead as everyone thought. (Part 1 of Stripper!Steve AUs)

the one where Bucky is NOT making a scene by StuckySituation/ @stuckysituation (Stripper Steve | 1,4K | Mature): Bucky is busy moping in the guest room that the cute guy is giving a strip tease show to his sister, but when he overhears few guests dissing the stripper for not being a big and buff American beefcake, he has to step in and defend the guy's ultimate sex god level sexiness. (Part 2 of Stripper!Steve AUs)

secrets and sex workers by StuckySituation/ @stuckysituation (stripper Steve | 2K | Mature): Bucky frowns at the message and calls Jenny back. “You sent me the wrong address.” “Uh, no I didn’t. I double checked it with the guy before I sent it to you.” “It’s my address, duh.” “What? No way.” She laughs. “Unless you’ve suddenly turned into a blonde hunk who goes by the stripper alias Captain America and is literally a walking wet dream, then nope. My cousin assured me he’s legit.” “...a blonde hunk?” (Part 3 of Stripper!Steve AUs)

💙 Beyond the Yellow Book Road by crinklefries/ @spacerenegades (Shrunkyclunks | 30K | Teen): Before he was Captain America, he was Steve Rogers, knobby kneed and wild-eyed, with scrapes on his knuckles and a book in his hands. In 1942, he leaves for war and eventually crashes the Valkyrie. In 2011, Steve's body is dragged from ice off the coast of Greenland. In 2015, he meets a bookstore clerk. This is what happens when a superhero loses his way home and the only way back is through the Yellow Book Road.

Anything You've Done by AidaRonan/ @bisexualstarbucky (Canon | 1,3K | General): "I want it to be different," Bucky said. "So we'll make it different."

Reading in progress

avalanche by pieandsouffles/ @amerrichavez (Uni AU | 46K | Explicit): super-straight fraternity presidents. super-meddling friends. what could go wrong?

WIP 

💙 Latte Art and Slow Dancing in the Dark by deadonarrival (Modern AU with powers, Daddy kink | 16/20 | 81K | Explicit): Bucky is a somewhat well-adjusted former army sniper that got his shoulder blown out. He took his discharge and went home to finish school. His best friends and roommates (Nat & Clint) are CIA agents and tip him off that their local Sbux is hiring. He gets a job there and meets none other than the hottest guy on earth. So how does one get a date in the most top secret government location in the US? What happens when that guy is more than just a hot dorito and wants to give Bucky everything he wants? 

💙 oh the glory of it all by hitlikehammers (Post-Endgame | 4/23 | 9,9K | Mature): They end up stumbling almost unexpectedly into the white-picket-fence, apple-pie life they used to dream of. Except it’s not like that at all.

💙 This Side of the Blue by notlucy/ @notlucy (Mermaid AU | 37/44 | 135K | Explicit): A trick was the only explanation for what Steve saw floating there. This figment of his childhood. This myth. This legend. Within the tank, the siren bared its teeth.

💙 four dreams in a row where you were burned by voxofthevoid/ @voxofthevoid (canon divergent, post-Endgame, 1945 alternate timeline | 6/? | 34K | Mature): When Steve uses the last of his Pym Particles to travel to 1944 and save his best friend, he doesn’t have a plan beyond leaving behind the battlefield and living his life alongside the people he loves. But the life that finds him is not the one he expects.

💙 Political Animals by crinklefries/ @spacerenegades, Deisderium/ @deisderium (Modern AU, politics | 6/9 | 55K | Explicit): Okay, so the real problem is that you shouldn’t fuck your arch-rival, political enemy, and the person you loathe the most in the world where you work. Or like, at least, you shouldn’t keep doing that.

Not In That Way by onymousann (Canon-divergent, post-Endgame | 2/5 | 11K | Not Rated): “I think— I want to stay. After the jump. I want to stay.” Or, Steve's epic stupidity and bad decision-making have unintended consequences.

dirt king, black crown. by Spacedog/ @softpunkbucky (Cowboy AU | 1/2 | 3,5K | Explicit): The year is 1877. In the sun-baked town of Timely, Sheriff Steve Rogers is in mourning. It’s been five years since Bucky Barnes—Steve’s deputy, best friend, and lover—fell to his death. But as a masked vigilante gunman begins killing off ranchers and railroad executives at the edges of that dusty desert town, Steve is forced to reconsider his role as sheriff, long-held truths, and the very legitimacy of Timely itself.

Re-read

💙 Fraternizing With the Enemy by AidaRonan/ @bisexualstarbucky (Uni AU | 7K | Explicit): Steve and Bucky are both the presidents of their respective fraternities. Steve thinks Bucky's frat is filled with selfish party animals who care about little else. Bucky thinks Steve is a giant pretentious douchebag who owns too many Lacoste polos. They hate each other. Passionately. Until they don't.

[hjertetssunnegalskap1]

3. Sources of Inspiration - Neil Gaiman’s Masterclass (The Art of Storytelling)

“Remember that your influences are all sorts of things. And some of them are going to take you by surprise. But the most important thing that you can do is open yourself to everything.”

Here are some more of my personal notes to The Art of Storytelling. Neil Gaiman uses a lot of allusions (references to other stories) in his stories, and they are just as wide-ranging as his storytelling interests (oh yes, one of the things I LOVE with his writing).

Neil mentions his admiration for the following authors, and sometimes alludes to them in his own work: 

James Branch Cabell: American author who wrote fantasy and comedy in the 1920s and '30s. 

Edward Plunkett, Lord Dunsany: A prolific AngloIrish fantasy author. His novel, The King of Elfland’s Daughter (1924), established some of the most central themes of fantasy writing in the twentieth century

Ursula K. Le Guin: American author who wrote the Earthsea Cycle (1968-2001), which is comprised of six books and numerous short stories, and which tells tales of the fictional fantasy world of Earthsea

P. L. Travers: British author who wrote Mary Poppins (1934) and a whole series of books inspired by it

Btw I love that he mentions how he was inspired by Lou Reed. And how his wife, Amanda Palmer, was inspired by Judy Blume. Inspiration can come from many places, and not just from the ones we think of as our writing heroes. That makes me think of all the music I have listened too, and how I’m influenced by that. Oh well. 

Old stories can be approached from new angles. Create a compost heap of inspiration and how to draw from your experiences to make a story uniquely your own.

All writers have a mental compost heap. We create our compost heap from everything you see and the people you encounter.

Don’t tell people how they should feel. Tell them what happened and let them feel. 

Tell stories about the people around you. Real people are more interesting than anything you could make up.

For story ideas, you can take fairy tales but flip the perspective: eg, from her Stepmother’s perspective, Snow White could be a villain, a vampire princess, with a necrophiliac prince, and the stepmother is a HEROINE for trying to save the world (I remember I read a flipped Cinderella horror comic once when I was a kid, and I still remember it… so.. he has a point, this is effective). 

Neil suggests many tools for approaching an old story from a new angle. 

Change point of view.

Modernize themes

Switch a story element (new location or new type of story)

Make it yours

‘Where do you get your ideas from?’ is a real question. Authors are scared of  answering because they often don’t know the answer themselves.

Ideas come from daydreaming. “The only difference between writers and other people,” says Gaiman, “is that we notice when we’re doing it.”

Ideas come from asking yourself simple questions, like “What if…?” (“you woke up with wings?... your sister turned into a mouse?....), “If only…” (“a ghost would do my homework”) and “I wonder….” (“what she does when she’s alone”), etc…. These questions, in turn, generate other questions.

Ideas are only starting points. You don’t have to figure out the plot. Plots “generate themselves” from “whatever the starting point is.”

Ideas can be people (“There’s a boy who wants to know about magic”); places (“There’s a castle at the end of time, which is the only place there is”); images (“A woman, sifting in a dark room filled with empty faces.”)

We get ideas from confluence — two things “that haven’t come together before”, coming together (“What would happen if a chair was bitten by a werewolf?).

“You get ideas from two things coming together. You get ideas from things that you have seen and thought and known about and then something else that you’ve seen and thought and known about, and the realization that you can just collide those things.”

For a re-envisioning of popular fairy tales, check out some of the following titles (damn I need to get some reading done):

Red as Blood (1983) by Tanith Lee 

Tales of Wonder (1987) by Jane Yolen 

Snow White, Blood Red (1993) by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling (ed.)* 

Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins (1999) by Emma Donoghue 

The Wilful Eye (2011) edited by Nan McNab (ed.) 

Happily Ever After (2011) by John Klima (ed.)* 

Clockwork Fairy Tales: A Collection of Steampunk Fables (2013) by Stephen L. Antczak (ed.) 

Unnatural Creatures (2013) by Neil Gaiman (ed.)* 

Beyond the Woods (2016) by Paula Guran (ed.)* 

The Starlit Wood (2016) by Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe (ed.) 

The Djinn Falls in Love and Other Stories (2017) by Mahvesh Murad and Jared Shurin (ed.)

WRITING EXERCISE: Choose a folk tale or fairy tale that you know well. Select one of the characters from the story for the following exercise and write a few pages about them, using one of the following prompts: 

Pretend you’re a therapist treating the character. Write a scene in which you discuss the character’s life and problems, then arrive at a diagnosis. 

Write a newspaper article describing the events of the story. For example, Snow White—Woman Hiding in Woods for Ten Years Found by Wealthy Hiker. Then write a story for that headline using journalistic objectivity. 

Have your character explain their actions to a jury 

WRITING EXERCISE In your journal, begin creating a compost heap. Title a page “Compost Heap” and write down the things that have captured your attention in the past week or month. These may become the source motivators of your writing, maybe of your career. Any writing project is an undertaking, and novels in particular, because they take so long to write, will require a sustained interest, so be sure to fill this page with your truth: What interests you? This can be anything: a word, a movie, a person, an event, so long as it inspired you. It can be subjects (cactus species, muscle cars, a voyage to Mars) or people/types of people (therapists, spies, your Aunt Germaine). Try to include things from other arts—for example, foods, music, or movies. In the beginning, make a practice of sitting down at least once a day to note things that interest you.

FOR YOUR NOVEL Create a specialized subset of your compost heap, which is a lexicon devoted exclusively to your novel. For example, if you’re writing about Greenland, gather all the words you can about snow, ice, flora and fauna, geologic formations, or weather occurrences. Research history and arts and science. Write down all of the words you love and that you think could go into your novel

Lesson comment:

Another really inspiring class. I have listened to this one several times already, and I seem to get new associations every time. Also, this is not the first time I have heard about the trick of twisting ideas around, and still... it’s a good thing to be reminded of. 

Wow, I somehow missed the exercises in this class (I’ll blame my undiagnosed ADHD). I’ll definitely look at those exercises. 

I also have this fairytale/ folktale idea in my “compost heap.” Actually, I have two ideas, but the newest one is a spin on two Norwegian folktales called “Kvitebjørn kong Valemon” (White bear King Valemon) and “Østenfor sol og vestenfor måne” (East of Sun and West of Moon). These tales are related to the myth of Eros and Psyche, and also to the story of Beauty and the Beast. I thought it could be interesting from the point of view of the so-called jealous third part of the story. Maybe. I might also try to twist a simpler folktale first, maybe one with the Ashlad (Norwegian folktale hero), from the princess’ point of view. I think it could be fun to play with those ideas + read some of the suggested literature. 

[spectralarchers]

Christine! Writing help question here, if that's okay with you: I saw your reblog on Crowley's blubber/stutter at points throughout GO series and wanted to ask how to make dialogue realistic? Like irl we say uh and backtrack and stuff a lot but I'm wondering how to pull it off well... and kind of on a tangent, I struggle with finding a balance between dialogue and action (too much dialogue in my case). Any tips?

Hi, Ver!

Sorry it took me so long to reply to your ask, I wasn’t around on my laptop much and I wanted to give you a proper response! The post @verdelet​ is refering to is this one, which is a compilation of all the times Crowley in Good Omens just makes noises instead of saying stuff, where I used the following tags:

#HONESTLY THOUGH #THIS IS A GREAT EXAMPLE OF HOW DIALOGUE WORKS THOUGH! #SOMETIMES WHEN I READ A FIC AND THE AUTHOR INCLUDES THESE SOUNDS IN THEIR DIALOGUE I GET ALL HAPPY! #BECAUSE PEOPLE MAKE THOSE SOUNDS WHEN THEY TALK! #AND LIKE!!! YES!!! #EXCELLENT ACTING CHOICES!!!!

I don’t think I have any specific tips, but let me try. 

There’s one scene I always, always, always think about when I think about my dialogue and writing it, and it’s this one from Ocean’s 11:

Which in the script of the movie looked like this:

DANNY (V.O.) And Saul makes ten. 

48 INT. BAR - NIGHT 

48Danny and Rusty look weary from all this recruitment. Anearby TV with the sound off plays a promo for anupcoming Tyson fight. 

DANNYTen should do it, don't you think? 

(as Rusty shrugs)You think we need one more? 

(as Rusty shrugs)You think we need one more. 

(as Rusty shrugs)Okay. We'll get one more.

It’s super simple, but it works so well, because it feels genuine - the whole Ocean’s franchise is really good with its dialogue (a lot of it was scripted, but a lot of it was unscripted too). This was just for inspiration.

But, like, when I write dialogue - especially in action scenes - I try to let it flow naturally, as much as possible - if that means I have to cut up the description of a car flipping over in order to get the swear word in, I’ll do that:

He’d miscalculated the stickiness of the road - or rather, lack thereof. The moment he felt the car skid off the ice, his heart took an unexpected leap into his throat. 

“Fuck!” 

He immediately gripped the wheel tighter and stopped pressing the brakes in the hope of steering the car back on track. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck,” he muttered under his breath as he tried to figure out how long he had before they were done for good.

You can also use the dash to cut up your dialogue: 

The road ahead seemed to be going into a tight turn, though, and in spite of his efforts he may not be able to get the car to stop before they hit the bedrock.

And so, the only thing that came out of his lips as he felt the car skid onto the patch of black ice was “Jesu- fu- hold on!”

“Hold on to what?” she yelled from the passenger’s seat, her fingers gripping the safety belt. 

Turning the wheel completely to the other side, in the hopes of forcing it onto the side, he clenched his teeth. 

It’s like a natural cut up of the word, sometimes people get interrupted in what they’re saying, and it’s totally fine to do it in the dialogue as well. I usually keep in mind that the words needs to get cut off in a place that’s logical - for example, if you’re going to cut off “fuck”, better either cut if off at “f-” or at “fu-” because “fuc-” just doesn’t make a lot of sense, if that makes sense?

I also quite like having my characters repeat things, or look for their words when they’re mumbling, so I consciously try and get them to say things either twice or mumble, like I would in real life. It’s like letting the dialogue tell the story, rather than try and say that they’re mumbling or looking for their words: 

Finally, as the car skid to a halt, she hit him in the shoulder. “You! You absolute- you absolute idiot!” she shrieked as him, as she tried hitting him again, but this time, he caught her wrist.

“I’m sorry- hey, stop- I’m sorry, alright?! I didn’t- I didn’t think the road was going to be frozen tonight!”

“You should have known!”

He made a sound, sharply inhaling. “Huh?! I’m sorry I didn’t! Because I don’t control the weather, okay? And can you please stop trying to hit me?!”

He caught her other hand this time and immobilized her in her seat. 

“Uhhh, yeah, pfff.” She paused for a couple of seconds, before resuming: “You’re always, always, always going on about how well you know these- these- these stupid roads!”

One of my favorite parts of dialogue I’ve written is in chapter 7 of Nothing Burns Like the Cold, when Clint is explaining to Steve why the American military is in Greenland, and he’s explaning the Monroe Doctrine and the whole World War II shebang up in the North Pole, because I feel like I made Clint’s long, long, long monologue break up into more understandable pieces of dialogue. I’ve highlighed the ‘dialogue things’ I did in bold in order to make the monologue feel more natural: 

“Well, I’m not sure if you know this, but the Danish Ambassador to the United States during World War Two decided he wasn’t going to take orders from occupied Denmark, and so whenever he spoke to American politicians or diplomats, he would do it on behalf of the ‘free’ Denmark. He thought that because the King and Government were being held prisoner, none of their orders mattered, and apparently we liked that a lot. Especially because of the Monroe Doctrine, I think- I- I think that was it. Because we got afraid that Nazi Germany would establish bases in Greenland, so when this guy, when this uh- this- Kauffman? Yeah, that was his name, it was a big deal when Kauffman came into the picture and said that he was giving the United States authorization to defend Danish colonies on Greenland from the Germans. He was sentenced for treason by everybody back home in Copenhagen, but it’s basically because of his agreement that we’re still in Greenland. He never put an end date on the agreement, I think they called it something like the ‘agreement relating to the defense of Greenland’ but I’m not sure on the exact phrasing. It just states that the American personnel can stay on site until- until- uh, ‘for as long as there is an agreement’?”

Clint rubs a pearl of sweat off his temple, as he takes a breath.

“The US Coast Guard and War Department established some weather and radio stations, and it didn’t really matter after a while, once the war ended. But, a couple of years after the German abdication, stuff happened - NATO, and other agreements, Denmark ratifying the agreement and everything. It made Denmark and the US closer allies. In 1951 though, the Danish and American nations forced native Kalaalit people out of their homes in Thule, because the establishment of the airbase was of “more importance” than them living there, where they’d been living for centuries.” Clint pauses, as he looks over at Steve.

“It was bad, man. Governments said it was on voluntary basis, but it wasn’t. Kind of like when we put the Native peoples of the Americas in camps and called it a good thing,” Clint spits, as he clenches his hands. “After all of that, Greenland became a key point in the Cold War. I mean they set up… They set up 14 bases in Greenland, Bluie West, and Bluie East. And then, when Operation Chrome Dome sailed around, they used Thule as one of the bases where they could re-fuel and load up the B-52s that would fly around 24/7. That operation ended in 1968 when one of the planes crashed.”

He pauses.

“In Greenland. On the - the indlandsis? The ice sheet? Right out of Baffin Bay, they think. They were carrying four hydrogen bombs aboard. Thankfully, there wasn’t a big nuclear explosion because the safeties prevented it, but the explosion caused the sheet to melt and a huge area to become contaminated with radioactive material. It also sank to the bottom of the ocean.”

Clint rubs his face and spits to the side.

“The clean-up, they called it Crested Ice, I think. I mean the plane crashed and burned, and there was a patch of blackened ice which was just- just huge, man. I’ve seen the aerial picture that was taken then, and it was terrible. Some documents which were released from the clean up revealed that plutonium contamination reached extremely high levels, and there was… It was bad, Steve. The workers who helped clean up were poisoned, and they still haven’t received compensation for their work.”

Sighing, Clint finally says the truth that he doesn’t want to tell Steve: “Part of the entire Chrome Dome operation and the Thule Air Base was to patrol the Arctic border to the USSR and to find you, Steve. ” Clint takes a deep breath, as he sees Steve’s head drop next to him.

And, the whole above quote, which is practically 600 words of Clint monologuing, all the while I was writing it, I was sometimes stopping up and reading it out loud to see where would someone pause, where would someone search for their words, where would they be thinking about another word?

I remember when I wrote it, it was difficult because there was a lot of information I had to write correctly (the whole Kauffman and Monroe Doctrine is historically accurate, as is the displacement of the Kalaalit peoples) but also make it seem like it was someone trying to recall something they’d learned a long time ago all the while explaining it to someone who had never heard of it before.

It’s the same thing when your character doesn’t know the thing and motions for it instead. If we continue in the car crash example I was writing earlier, it’d give something like this:

“You told me the bend would be like- like this,” she says, as she moves her fingers in an S-shaped formation, and he shakes his head.

“Nah, it’s more-” he moves her hands closer together, “-like this.”

It’s breaking up the lines and introducing the actions you need to convey where your words can’t do it for you - in the above example with Clint, when he’s looking for his words, I like to think that the reader can imagine him either moving his hands or looking thoughtful because he’s repeating himself, or he’s mumbling, or talking to himself, and therefore, I don’t have to tell the reader that he’s mumbling, because he’s doing it himself? (Does any of this even make sense???)

And, FINALLY, to answer your last question, any tips on finding a balance between action and dialogue would be writing the thing, and then leaving it be for a couple of hours and coming back to it, to read it with a pair of fresh eyes.

If the action scene slows down too much because of the dialogue, you don’t have to interrupt it with actual dialogue, but you can just write that they’re “exchanging swear words” or “yelling whenever their body takes a hit” instead of wanting to force the swear words into the narrative text, if that makes sense?

Otherwise, I don’t have any tips, other than reading your work again if you feel like you were struggling with it. Eventually, if you have someone who is willing to help you out, get a beta and ask them to look out for your pacing. 

@kate-katiehawkeye helped me SO MUCH with Swallow Your Soul, like, the only reason that story makes a bit of sense if thanks to her amazing eyes. 

I hope that this large and long pile of blubber managed to help you out a little bit? I am not the best at giving advice because I feel like half the stuff I’m doing is a total improvisation thing, so... I hope this helped! :D

[loretranscripts]

Lore Episode 21: Adrift (Transcript) - 16th November 2015

tw: death, drowning, ghosts Disclaimer: This transcript is entirely non-profit and fan-made. All credit for this content goes to Aaron Mahnke, creator of Lore podcast. It is by a fan, for fans, and meant to make the content of the podcast more accessible to all. Also, there may be mistakes, despite rigorous re-reading on my part. Feel free to point them out, but please be nice! 

I have a confession to make. Keep in mind, I write about frightening things for a living. I haven’t read a horror novel yet that’s managed to freak me out, and yet, I’m deathly afraid of open water. There, I said it – I hate being on boats. I’m not even sure why, to be honest, I just… am. Perhaps it’s the idea that thousands of feet of cold darkness wait right beneath my feet. Maybe it’s the mystery of it all, of what creatures (both known and unknown) might be waiting for me, just beyond the reach of what little sunlight passes through the surface of the waves. Now, I live near the coast, and I’ve been on boats before, so my fear comes from experience, but it’s not the cold, deep darkness beneath the ship that worries me the most. No, what really makes my skin crawl is the thought that, at any moment, the ship could sink. Maybe we can blame movies like Titanic or The Poseidon Adventure for showing us how horrific a shipwreck can be, but there are far more true stories of tragedy at sea than there are fictional ones, and it’s in these real life experiences, these maritime disasters that dot the map of history like an ocean full of macabre buoys, that we come face to face with the real dangers that await us in open water. The ocean takes much from us, but in rare moments, scattered across the pages of history, we’ve heard darker stories: stories of ships that come back, of sailors returned from the dead, and of loved ones who never stop searching the land. Sometimes our greatest fears refuse to stay beneath the waves. I’m Aaron Mahnke, and this is Lore.

Shipwrecks aren’t a modern notion – as far back as we can go, there are records of ships lost at sea. In The Odyssey by Homer, one of the oldest and most widely read stories ever told, we meet Odysseus shortly before he experiences a shipwreck at the hands of Poseidon, God of the Sea. Even further back in time, we have the Egyptian tale of the shipwrecked sailor, dating to at least the 18th century BC. The truth is, though, for as long as humans have been building sea-faring vessels and setting sail into unknown waters, there have been shipwrecks. It’s a universal motif in the literatures of the world, and that’s most likely because of the raw, basic risk that a shipwreck poses to the sailors on the ships, but it’s not just the personal risk. Shipwrecks have been a threat to culture itself for thousands of years. The loss of a sailing vessel could mean the end to an expedition to discover new territory or turn the tide of a naval battle. Imagine the result if Admiral Nelson had failed in his mission off the coast of Spain in 1805, or how differently Russia’s history might have played out had Tsar Nicholas II’s fleet actually defeated the Japanese in the Battle of Tsushima. The advancement of cultures has hinged for thousands of years, in part, on whether or not their ships could return to port safely, but in those instances where ancient cultures have faded into the background of history, it is often through their shipwrecks that we get information about who they were. Just last year, an ancient Phoenician shipwreck was discovered in the Mediterranean Sea near the island of Malta. It’s thought to be at least 2700 years old and contains some of the oldest Phoenician artefacts ever uncovered. For archaeologists and historians who study these ancient people, the shipwreck has offered new information and ideas. The ocean takes much from us, and upon occasion, it also gives back. Sometimes, though, what it gives us is something less inspiring. Sometimes, it literally gives us back our dead.

One such example comes from 1775. The legend speaks of a whaling vessel, discovered off the western coast of Greenland in October of that year. Now, this is a story with tricky provenance, so the details will vary depending on where you read about it. The ship’s name might have been the Octavius, or possibly the Gloriana, and from what I can tell, the earliest telling of this tale can be traced back to a newspaper article in 1828. The story tells of how one Captain Warren discovered the whaler drifting through a narrow passage in the ice off the coast of Greenland. After hailing the vessel and receiving no reply, their own ship was brought near, and the crew boarded the mysterious vessel. Inside, though, they discovered a horrible sight. Throughout the ship, the entire crew was frozen to death where they sat. When they explored further and found the captain’s quarters, the scene inside was even more eerie. There in the cabin were more bodies: a frozen woman, holding a dead infant in her arms; a sailor holding a tinder box, as if trying to manufacture some source of warmth; and there, at the desk, sat the ship’s captain. One account tells of how his face and eyes were covered in a green, wet mould. In one hand, the man held a fountain pen, and the ship’s log was open in front of him. Captain Warren leaned over and read the final entry, dated November 11th, 1762, 13 years prior to the ship’s discovery. “We have been enclosed in the ice 70 days”, it said. “The fire went out yesterday and our master has been trying ever since to kindle it again, but without success. His wife died this morning. There is no relief”. Captain Warren and his crew were so frightened by the encounter that they grabbed the ship’s log and retreated as fast as they could back to their own ship. The Octavius, if indeed that was the ship’s name, was never seen again.

The mid-1800s saw the rise of the steel industry in America. It was the beginning of an empire that would rule the economy for over a century, and like all empires, there were capitals: St. Louis, Baltimore, Buffalo, Philadelphia. All of these cities played host to some of the largest steel works in the country, and for those that were close to the ocean, this created the opportunity for the perfect partnership – the shipyard. Steel could be manufactured and delivered locally and then used to construct the ocean-going steamers that were the lifeblood of late-19th century life. The flood of immigration through Ellis Island, for example, wouldn’t have been possible without these steamers. My own family made that journey. One such steamer to roll out of Philadelphia in 1885 was the S. S. Valencia. She was 252ft long and weighed in at nearly 1600 tonnes. The Valencia was built before complex bulkheads and hull compartments, and she wasn’t the fastest ship on the water, but she was dependable. She spent the first decade and a half running passengers between New York City and Karakas, Venezuela. In 1897, while in the waters near Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the Valencia was attacked by a Spanish cruiser. The next year, she was sold and moved to the west coast, where she served in the Spanish-American war as a troop ship between the US and the Philippines. After the war, the Valencia was sold to a company that used the ship to sail between California and Alaska, but in 1906, she filled in for another ship that was under repair, and her new route became San Francisco to Seattle. They gave the ship a check-up in January of that year, and everything checked out good. For a 24-year-old vessel, the Valencia was in perfect working order.

She set sail on the 20th of January 1906, leaving sunny California and heading north. The ship was crewed by nine officers, 56 crew members and played host to over 100 passengers. Somewhere near Cape Mendocino off the coast of northern California, though, the weather turned sour. Visibility dropped, and the winds kicked up. When you’re on a ship at night, even a slow one, losing the ability to see is a very bad thing. Typically, without visual navigation a captain might fall back on the celestial method, using the stars in the same way sailors did centuries ago, but even that option was off the table for Captain Oscar Johnson, and so he used the only tool he had left: dead reckoning. The name alone should hint at the efficacy of the method. Using last known navigational points as a reference, Captain Johnson essentially guessed at the Valencia’s current location. But guessing can be deadly, and so instead of pointing the ship at the Strait of Juan de Fuca, between Vancouver Island and Washington State, he unknowingly aimed it at the island itself. Blinded by the weather and faulty guesswork, the Valencia struck a reef just 50ft from the shore near Pachena Point on the south-west side of Vancouver Island. They say the sound of the metal ripping apart on the rocks sounded like the screams of dozens of people. It came without warning, and the crew did what they could to react by immediately reversing the engines, backing off the rocks. Damage control reported the hull had been torn wide open, water was pouring in at a rapid pace, and there was no hope of repairing the ship. It lacked the hull compartments that later ships would include for just such occasions, and the captain knew that all hope was lost, so he reversed the engines again and drove the ship back onto the rocks. He wasn’t trying to destroy the Valencia completely, but to ground her, hoping that would keep her from sinking as rapidly as she might at sea. That’s when all hell broke loose. Before Captain Johnson could organise an evacuation, six of the seven life boats were lowered over the side. Three of those flipped over on the way down, dumping out the people inside. Two more capsized after hitting the water, and the sixth boat simply vanished. In the end, only one boat made it safely away.

Frank Lehn was one of the few survivors of the shipwreck. He later described the scene in all its horrific detail: “Screams of women and children mingled in an awful chorus with the shrieking of the wind, the dash of rain, and the roar of the breakers. As the passengers rushed on deck they were carried away in bunches by the huge waves that seemed as high as the ship's mastheads. The ship began to break up almost at once and the women and children were lashed to the rigging above the reach of the sea. It was a pitiful sight to see frail women, wearing only night dresses, with bare feet on the freezing ratlines, trying to shield children in their arms from the icy wind and rain”. About that same time, the last life boat made it safely away under the control of the ship’s boatswain, Officer Timothy McCarthy. According to him, the last thing he saw after leaving the ship was, and I quote, “the brave faces looking at us over the broken rail of a wreck, and of the echo of a great hymn sung by the women through the fog and mist and flying spray”. The situation was desperate. Attempts were made by the ship’s remaining crew to fire a rescue line from the lyle gun into the trees at the top of the nearby cliff. If someone could simply reach the line and anchor it, the rest of the passengers would be saved. The first line they fired became tangled and snapped clean, but the second successfully reached the cliff above. A small group of men even managed to make it to shore. There were nine of them, led by a school teacher named Frank Bunker, but when they reached the top of the cliff, they discovered the path forked to the left and the right; Bunker picked the left. Had he instead turned right, the men would have come across the second lyle line within minutes and possibly saved all the remaining passengers. Instead, he led the men along a telegraph line path for over two hours before finally managing to get a message out to authorities about the accident, making a desperate plea for help - and help was sent, but even though the three separate ships that raced to the site of the wreck tried to offer assistance, the rough weather and choppy seas prevented them from getting close enough to do any good. Even still, the sight of the ships nearby gave a false sense of hope to those remaining on the wreckage, so when the few survivors onshore offered help, they declined. There were no more lifeboats, no more lifelines to throw, and no ships brave enough to get closer. The women and children stranded on the ship clung to the riggings and rails against the cold Pacific waters, but when a large wave washed the wounded ship off the rocks and into deep water, everyone was lost. All told, 137 of the 165 lives aboard the ship were lost that cold, early January morning. If that area of the coastline had yet to earn its modern nickname of “the graveyard of the Pacific”, this was the moment that cemented it.

The wreck of the Valencia was clearly the result of a series of unfortunate accidents, but officials still went looking for someone to blame. In the aftermath of the tragedy, the Canadian government took steps to ensure lifesaving measures along the coast that could help with future shipwrecks. A lighthouse was constructed near Pachena Point and a coastal trail was laid out that would eventually become known as the West Coast Trail, but the story of Valencia was far from over. Keep in mind there have been scores of shipwrecks, tragedies that span centuries, in that very same region of water, and like most areas with a concentrated number of tragic deaths, unusual activity has been reported by those who visit. Just five months after the Valencia sank, a local fisherman reported an amazing discovery. While exploring seaside caves on the south-western coast of Vancouver Island, he described how he stumbled upon one of the lifeboats within the cave. In the boat, he claimed, were eight human skeletons. The cave was said to be blocked by a large rock, and the interior was at least 200ft deep. Experts found it hard to explain how the boat could have made it from the water outside into the space within, but theories speculated that an unusually high tide could possibly have lifted the boat up and over. A search party was sent out to investigate the rumour, but it was found that the boat was unrecoverable, due to the depth of the cave and the rocks blocking the entrance. In 1910, the Seattle Times ran a story with reports of unusual sightings in the area of the wreck. According to a number of sailors, a ship resembling the Valencia had been witnessed off the coast. The mystery ship could have been any local steamer, except for one small detail: the ship was already floundering on the rocks, half submerged. Clinging to the wreckage, they say, were human figures, holding on against the wind and the waves.

Humans have had a love affair with the ocean for thousands of years. Across those dark and mysterious waters lay all manner of possibility: new lands, new riches, new cultures to meet and trade with. Setting sail has always been something akin to the start of an adventure, whether that destination was the northern passage or just up the coast, but an adventure at sea always comes with great risk; we understand this in our core. It makes us cautious, it turns our stomachs, it fills us with equal parts dread and hope, because there on the waves of the ocean, everything can go according to plan, or it can all fail tragically. Maybe this is why the ocean is so often used as a metaphor for the fleeting, temporary nature of life. Time, like waves, eventually wear us all down. Our lives can be washed away in an instant, no matter how strong or high we build them. Time takes much from us, just like the ocean. Waters off the coast of Vancouver Island are a perfect example of that cruelty and risk. They can be harsh, even brutal, toward vessels that pass through them. The cold winters and sharp rocks leave ships with little chance of survival, and with over 70 shipwrecks to date, the graveyard of the Pacific certainly lives up to its reputation. For years after the tragedy of 1906, fishermen and locals on the island told stories of a ghostly ship that patrolled the waters just off the coast. It’s said it was crewed by skeletons of the Valencia sailors who lost their lives there. It would float into view and then disappear, like a spirit, before anyone could reach it. In 1933, in the waters just north of the 27-year-old wreck of the Valencia, a shape floated out of the fog. When a local approached it, the shape became recognisable; it was a lifeboat. It looked as if it had just been launched moments before and yet there, on the side of the boat, were pale letters that spelled out a single word: Valencia.

[Closing statements]

[justanothercinemaniac]

Epic Movie (Re)Watch #203 - The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)

Spoilers Below

Have I seen it before: Yes

Did I like it then: Yes.

Do I remember it: Yes.

Did I see it in theaters: Yes.

Was it a movie I saw since August 22nd, 2009: Yes, #275.

Format: Blu-ray

1) The very first frame of this film shows us the structure which Walter’s life thrives on, the order of it. That, mixed with the silence of the scene, defines Walter’s life. As does his hesitation to do a simply yet slightly risky move by sending his crush a wink on a dating website. Walter’s life is simple, reserved, and a tad empty (as the silence indicates). It’s something that will be challenged as the film continues.

2) Walter’s imaginings/fantasies are incredibly relatable and I think that’s why I think the story is so interesting in the first place. Most everyone wishes to be more than they are in some way shape or form and we imagine what that would be like. That’s the core thing this story relates to. Our wish to be more adventurous or just live a fuller life.

3) Ben Stiller’s direction in this film is a lot more precise than, say, his work on Zoolander. Which makes sense considering this is a much different film. There’s much more of a distinct purpose in his decisions such as with cinematography and pacing. It all just gives the film an aesthetic and taste unique to the actor/director’s work.

4) Ben Stiller as Walter Mitty.

Much like his skills as a director for this film, Stiller’s acting is much more subtle than some of his broad comedy work. He makes Walter a crazy sympathetic and relatable character instead of a loser (which he could’ve easily come across as in lesser hands). He’s reserved, defined by his imagination and at times his lack of ability to act on it. Not only does Stiller play Walter well, but he plays all the imaginings of Walter well. They all FEEL like Walter in some basic sense but also are more; they’re a little more showy, which makes sense because they’re not really in the world of the story. All in all, Stiller as Walter Mitty just works.

5) Adam Scott is freaky good at playing a conceited jackass/punchable douche bag. He is just SUCH a jerk in this movie I want to pull off his stupid freaking beard. I gotta go watch some “Parks and Rec” to cool down.

6) The loss of the photo known as “The Quintessence of Life” - which is meant to be the best by this legendary photographer as well as something which Walter’s job hinges on - sets up a clear external conflict/goal for Walter to achieve. This in turn helps to motivate the plot.

7) For me, Walter’s REAL encounters with Cheryl as far more interesting than the fantasies. The fantasies play out in an obviously scripted and fictitious fashion, whereas the real encounters have a sense of honesty to it. This is in part due to Kristen Wiig’s performance as Cheryl, which is notably strong. She’s very heartfelt in the part and has a nice connection/chemistry with Stiller’s Walter. He’s not objectifying her. His fantasies aren’t about her being sexy with him, it’s just about being someone she finds interesting. It’s about having a life with her. I like that.

8) It’s interesting to note that Walter seems a lot more comfortable around his family than the people at his work, which makes sense. We all have different comfort levels around different people, especially our family. So I appreciate that this film made the conscious decision to address that.

9) The extended fight sequence fantasy between Walter and Ted (Adam Scott) may be more of a distraction from the plot than anything else, but there is an entertainment value to its action which means it’s not just a waste of screen time.

10) Patton Oswalt has a recurring mostly voice over role in the film as Todd, an employee at eHarmony who keeps checking in on Walter. Oswalt is a wonderful performer with a great voice (see Ratatouille for proof), so the character coming in repeatedly is actually a nice touch. It creates a nice sense of consistency through the movie’s journey, representative of the little voice that eggs Walter to go further in his life. We get a sense of his character through these interactions (he cares about this customer enough to keep calling him and actually develop a sort of friendship) and as I mentioned before Oswalt’s voice is just full of life. It’s a nice part of the movie.

11) Perhaps the film’s biggest problem is also something which helps give it its tone and that is the slower pacing. Slower pacing can work as a tool to drive up tension and get the audience more invested in character’s, but here it doesn’t really do that. There’s not enough of a continued exploration of why Walter is searching so desperately for this picture. We as the audience do understand he needs more adventure in his life and the external motivations have been set up well, but the film could spend its slower pacing really digging deep into why this is so important to Walter. Why he’s going so far for this one thing and not something else. It does get addressed in the film, but I think a continued addressing of it would help with the pacing problems.

12) The film has a nice sense of quirky humor which comes through sometimes. It’s subtle, less broad than some of Stiller’s other work, but effective in giving the movie its flavor. I almost wish there was more of it.

Greenland Rental Car Employee [after Walter asks if they have any cars]: “Yeah, we have a blue one and a red one.”

13) This movie’s best fantasy scene is when Walter sees Cheryl singing “Major Tom” to him. In this moment he’s not fantasizing about doing something but instead finding the inspiration inside him to do something REAL. Taking an ACTUAL risk in his life, and Wiig’s vocals of this classic Bowie tune set the tone for that choice wonderfully.

14) The non-fantasy moments of this film, the exciting ones when Walter actually DOES something, are so much more interesting to me than the fantasy ones. I think they’re meant to. Take for example the scene where Walter jumps into the ocean from a helicopter and encounters a shark. This injects some much needed life and adrenaline into the film. It’s interesting because it’s based on choice not just the character’s longing to do something. He actually DOES it. There’s a compelling sense of honesty to this that is not found in the fantasy sequences and I think that’s why it works so well.

15) One of the more charming elements of this film are all the little connections Walter makes on his journey. From the chopper pilot to the guy on the fishing boat to the man who helps him run form the volcano. There’s (and I’ve used this phrase before) a sense of honesty there. I think most of us have these memorable encounters with people we’ll never meet again, but we carry them with us as we go on in life. That’s what these moments are for Walter and I dig it.

16) Okay, in reference to something I discussed in note #11, THIS is what I wish was constantly in the film!

Walter [talking about when he was younger]: “I used to have a mow hawk and a backpack and I guess this idea of who I wanted to be…”

I wish every scene was DRIPPING with this. Walter’s life kind of stopped after his dad died, which makes sense. But after something like that you have to get your life moving again at some point, which he never did. That’s why there’s this difference between who he wanted to be and who he is. He never got back on some sort of track. I just would LOVE more of this idea throughout the film.

17) Walter needing to come back to New York only to get fired and think Cheryl isn’t available anymore disrupts the flow of the plot a little I think. It adds a sense of realism though and leads to the nice surprise of Sean having met with Walter’s mom earlier in the movie, but it kind of just takes me out of Walter’s journey. That might just be a personal thing though.

18) So for most of this movie we don’t meet Sean, who is a major character. Yet we get a clear sense of his character. It comes through in his photos, his communications with other characters, and the discussions those characters have ABOUT him. It all works. So when Sean Penn does show up as Sean, it matches up perfectly with what we expect of this character.

Sean is someone who takes things seriously. He comes off as poetic and artistic without being a pretentious dick (which is a risk when writing a character who is meant to come off as artistic). There’s is a peace to him that Walter aspires to have. Sean Penn can be hit or miss with me in movies, but I do really enjoy his performance in this film. IT doesn’t get a lot of screen time but he’s able to pull me in. I don’t see Penn, I just see his character and that’s the mark of a really good performance.

19) I love this quote.

20) There is this wonderful stillness in the scene with Walter and Sean. It is quietly moving and in a lot of ways acts as the film’s climax. Everything has been leading up to this moment. Not just meeting Sean but finding out what happened to the picture. And to discover that Walter and it with him all along (the thing you were searching for was always with you, get it?) makes a lot of sense. It’s one of those resolutions which works because it’s the only one you can imagine. It just fits perfectly with the plot and action. And the scene when we learn this is great because everything fades away and its just these two characters. Walter and Sean. Who Walter is and who he wanted to be. I dig it.

21) Walter didn’t look at the Quintessence, not seeing it until it graced the cover of Life. That’s because (and this probably sounds cheesy) he found it himself. He’s not looking for it anymore because he realizes its in the choices he makes and the people he meets. The quintessence of life is its simplicities and its daringness, and the fact that the actual picture is just Walter doing his job and seeing the world through his eyes (looking over photos in the case of the photo) says as much.

While not necessarily a MUST see, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is still an enjoyable film with a unique taste and a great heart to it. The acting is enough to rope you in, with Stiller in particular being a standout, and while the film does have some pacing problems you’ll likely make peace with them as the second half dives deeper into the story. While not for everyone, I know I like it and I hope you do too.

[yuvilee]

12th November 2019: 2019-20 ART4001 Critical Debates EXHIBITION VISIT

Table of content:

Introduction: Lost and found, displayed and hidden world Main part:  Floating World Preservation and artistically approach Re-Print Create connections Thoughts in general about my V&A visit Disconnected reconnection Conclusion Notes: Books and articles Pictures

Visited Exhibitions:

Exhibition 1 - Victoria and Albert Museum: Manners and Modernity: Ukiyo-e and etiquette on the Seibu Railway Exhibition 2 - Victoria and Albert Museum: Landscape and Language in Artists' Books Exhibition 3 - Victoria and Albert Museum: Making an Impression: The Art of Relief Printmaking Exhibition 4 - Victoria and Albert Museum: Beatrix Potter’s Art: 'drawn with design' Exhibition 5 - The Barbican: Into the Night: Cabarets & Clubs in Modern Art

Introduction

Let’s start with a question everyone comes across in his/her life eventually, sometimes more often, sometimes less often - that depends on how concerned or engaged a person is: how do we, as adults, encourage good manners in our society? 

Or, to be less precise and more about the bigger picture, how can we see the forgotten and the unseen things around us?

Not the news and discussions happening around us right now, those on the internet, on TV, on Podcasts, Newspapers or SocialMedia. It’s about things that got lost between the news, between the SocialMedia about self-expression and individualism. How can we learn to really look and conserve something before it gets lost forever? Before we can do that, we need to know that things are there to be conserved, that this object might soon be gone, not relevant anymore, something as mundane as library cards, postcards from holiday stays, letters written by hand, advertisement for the circus or theatre, or something that could be lost forever, such as a language, maybe due to changing society and etiquette or because no one speaks it any longer.

Most of the answer is to collect those things, record them and display them to make people aware. This, however, needs people that do look openly around and find and collect. People that are aware of something becoming lost otherwise and organisations that want to help to conserve and have the financial backing and space to put those things on display. 

We live in a fast-paced world - news that was current 2 hours ago could already be outdated right now; just like following a sports game, news about ongoing investigations or Twitter posts. Part of right now is already in the past. We live in a fluid world. 

Exhibitions often display past events and art and because they can teach or imbue us with new ideas, I chose to visit some and find inspiration for my own work.

Floating world

Above: My screenshot of Japanese woodblock prints (ukiyo-e), (2019).

With short-lived art representing the day's events, the displays of ‘Manners and Modernity: Ukiyo-e and etiquette on the Seibu Railway’ translate Japanese wood prints to the modern era. They teach us, while remembering the ‘good old days’ of manners and customs, and open us up to be more aware of our surroundings with a funny twist. Maybe this funny attachment to daily nuisances gives the viewer enough self-awareness through humour. 

My thoughts: It seems to be a common theme in public transport around the world to use humour and subversion to instil manners. What else uses this kind of mix for similar incitements? The boundaries between art to advertisement can be blurry. At what point does advertisement become art? When does art become advertisement? (This is nothing new, see the Pop Art movement beginning in the 60s) Where else might art be used as a starting point for advertisement? Besides this example, what other places use humour to instil manners nowadays? 

Above: My screenshot of Manners and Modernity: Ukiyo-e and etiquette on the Seibu Railway, (2019).

(Not completely related but similar funny commercial for manners in public transport(1).)

Preservation and artistically approach

Above: My screenshot of UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger, (2019).

Landscape in artist’s books: Although unfortunately, no audio recordings of the language were preserved in this project by Nancy Campbell, this exhibition is still important and cleverly composed(2). The melting Arctic changes its course. What is left of it will never be the same again. The combination of an endangered language with polysynthetic, ambiguous words places the urgency of climate change in a new context. The combination and contrast between color, white parts, and font creates a multi-layered aesthetic. It is combined with other artist’s books such as ‘Die wiese; The meadow: eschenau 1986-2013′) by dutch artist Herman de Vries, who documented his work of bringing a small patch of farmland back to its original state(3).

My thoughts: How can artists take part in preservation and renovation? How should artists treat such a topic? Should they behave like archaeologists or can they be in free correspondence and take an artistic approach? Is there public interest and funding? This display was quite small, hence my question whether this kind of exhibition would draw more people in if it would be on extensive display with more artist’s books? Are people even interested in artist’s books showcasing sujets like this?

Above: My collage of Landscape and Language in Artists' Books. Left: Campbell, N. (2011) How to Say ‘I Love You’ in Greenlandic: An Arctic Alphabet. Right side: de Vries, H., de Vries, S. (2013) Die wiese; The meadow: eschenau 1986-2013, (2019).

Re-Print

Making an Impression: The Art of Relief Printmaking. Well-known methods of expression, such as printmaking, can be set on display to present an overview, a variety from current art directions, and highlight special variations over the decades. Relief printmaking has been around for a long time and the exhibition shows that this method is constantly being redrafted and readapted to current art movements with an appropriate voice and scaffolding.

My thoughts: The displayed works showcased a broad variety of fine art to newspaper illustrations, once again underlining the question of art versus commerce. Is it necessary to draw a line, as exhibitions like this and the mentioned Japanese works with different backgrounds back to back?

Entering this exhibition I was asked by the staff whether I knew about this exhibition or was just passing by. This exhibition spanned two rooms and had a broad display including Munch, Picasso, Beatrix Potter, and William Blake who have a massive show at Tate Britain right now(4). However, this exhibition was barely visited. I believe displaying artwork in context to a classification, influence, certain methods instead of a focus on one’s Oeuvre, can present new and interesting impressions to visitors.

My pictures of the exhibition ‘Making an Impression: The Art of Relief Printmaking��, (2019).

Create connections

Beatrix Potter's art: 'drawn with design': The display is rather short-winded with mostly sketches and some letters she made for her childhood friends. These are showing a very sincere and interested approach for her surroundings without revealing too much about the subjects of the letters (meaning: no additional information on display). 

Introducing this aspect of her encourages visitors to rediscover something handmade or even to send a letter to someone dear. 

The fact that they have mainly shown sketches gives the whole exhibition the charm of imperfection. The sketches show that she really learned to draw animal characters through observation. While sketching from the sketches myself, I overheard visitors saying, "Oh, I should do that!". An exhibition can remind people of certain cultural values and perhaps even bring them back to pick habits up again or at least to try to.

My thoughts: I wonder whether there were only so few letters left? Could exhibitions like these get people back to crafting and handwriting? By displaying sketches, are exhibitors serving the broad audience or is this rather for a niche audience? How can letters be presented so that everyone can read and enjoy them when considering the difficulty of some handwriting, language differences, and font size.

Can exhibitions support educational organisations like The National Literacy Trust tackling literacy issues in children and adults? A quote on their website struck me: 

‘Overall, fewer children and young people in 2017/18 said that they enjoy writing compared with the year before, decreasing from 50.7% to 49.2%.’(5).

My collage of the exhibition Beatrix Potter's art: 'drawn with design'. Left: exhibition panels, right: detail of her letters, (2019).

Thoughts in general about my V&A visit:

Should an exhibition be measured by its amount of content? If I would be interested in themes like the ones above, how can I find such exhibitions, when advertisement is mostly for larger exhibitions.

How educational should exhibitions be? 

The ones I visited were displays of material only, none of them were interactive or provided additional digital information. Does an exhibition nowadays have to be modern to lure more visitors in? Is there something like exhibitions tailored for scholars and exhibitions for a bigger audience? Should those perhaps exist?

Disconnected reconnection

This brings me to my last exhibition, Into the Night: Cabarets and Clubs in Modern Art, which showed a combination of forms of expression, art in paintings, print and objects, poetry and music as well as interior and exterior design. The cabarets, cafés and clubs all tried to actively imbue people with new ideas and provide nourishment for artists of all kinds to create an interdisciplinary exchange and networking platform. At the same time they were meeting points for a certain scene, which had certain manners, a certain language, and expression which made them appealing for a niche clientele.

The displays were of broad variety, showcasing the scene in different cultures from all over the globe. Colour schemes, architecture and art on display gave each area a distinctive vibe. While Mexico City and Ibadan (Nigeria) were very colourful, northern Europe Cities were more settled in colours and in a closed framework (especially Strasbourg). A surprise somehow was Tehran to me, I knew that it had a western-related history in 1966 - 69, but seeing actual parts of it made me sad. A similarly interesting situation for me personally was when other students pointed out paintings in the part about Berlin and I was able to explain to them the Expressionism and Dadaism scenes in Germany and about ‘degenerate art’ and its prohibition and destruction in the rise of the Nazi era.

But there was a sterile disconnection between the lively scenery they depicted and the visitors. There was some music to be heard, some videos played and some rooms somehow recreated, but everything seemed far too dull, items separated into areas for advertisement, areas for art and areas for the interior. Thus, the exhibition in its form remains closed to the viewer in that it can not show everything, because not everything could be restored.

My thoughts: I can imagine it to be a big task to display so many different parts equally. I recognised many female artists and ethical minorities on display. Did they prioritise those? Could this exhibition work in other venues even better, perhaps with the possibility to showcase more audio and audio-visual samples? Would a documentary series work even better? VR could have been added, too, did they consider it? I felt disconnected from this exhibition even though I found it very interesting and I am interested in learning more about different aspects of it such as Tehran’s past, Ibadan, Hannah Höch(6), Harlem’s history and music from its cafés and clubs.

My collage of the exhibition Into the Night: Cabarets and Clubs in Modern Art, (2019).

Conclusion:

We can only see what an exhibition shows to us and that is never the full representation of the original thought or the past that is depicted in an attempt to conserve it. The limitations are many, in terms of venue size, available exhibits, or the chosen media. Much could have been shown differently by using different technological solutions but the question remains - what was intended to be shown, and did it achieve this result? Nevertheless, as long as people collect, exhibit, and attempt to show, items and ideas can be preserved for others to a degree and more so they can inspire visitors to their own ideas.

Notes:

Books and articles

Megginson, T., (2011) Don’t behave like an animal on public transit, Asocio. Available at: https://osocio.org/message/dont-behave-like-an-animal-on-public-transit/ (Accessed on: 17th November 2019).

cf. Campbell, N. (2011) How to Say ‘I Love You’ in Greenlandic: An Arctic Alphabet, Oxford: Bird Editions. (On her website further information as well as a video about the book can be found. Available at: http://nancycampbell.co.uk/work/artists-books/how-to-say-i-love-you-in-greenlandic-an-arctic-alphabet/ (Accessed on: 17th November 2019).

cf. de Vries, H., de Vries, S. (2013) Die wiese; The meadow: eschenau 1986-2013, Eindhoven: Uitgeverij Lecturis B.V..

cf. William Blake (2019-2020) [Exhibition]. Tate Britain. 11 September 2019 – 2 February 2020.

National Literacy Trust (2019) Children and young people’s writing in 2017/18. Available at: https://literacytrust.org.uk/research-services/research-reports/children-and-young-peoples-writing-201718/ (Accessed on: 17th November 2019).

I only knew her from my studies about picture books and artist’s books. cf. Höch, H. (2008) Bilderbuch, Berlin: The Green Box.

Picture(s)

Victoria & Albert Museum (2019), [Screenshot]. Available at: https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/japanese-woodblock-prints-ukiyo-e (Accessed on: 17th November 2019).

Victoria & Albert Museum (2019), [Screenshot]. Available at: https://www.vam.ac.uk/event/RnRde4V8/manners-and-modernity-ukiyo-e-and-etiquette-on-the-seibu-railway (Accessed on: 17th November 2019).

UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger (2019), [Screenshot]. Available at: http://www.unesco.org/languages-atlas/index.php?hl=en&page=atlasmap (Accessed on: 17th November 2019).

Landscape and Language in Artists' Books (2019-2021) [Exhibition]. Victoria & Albert Museum. Tuesday, 5 November 2019 – Sunday, 4 April 2021.

Making an Impression: The Art of Relief Printmaking (2019-2020) [Exhibition]. Victoria & Albert Museum. Monday, 9 September 2019 – Sunday, 13 September 2020.

Beatrix Potter's art: 'drawn with design'. (2019) [Exhibition]. Victoria & Albert Museum. Monday, 18 February – Sunday, 17 November 2019.

Into the Night: Cabarets and Clubs in Modern Art (2019-2020) [Exhibition]. Barbican Centre. Friday, 4 October 2019—Sunday, 19 Januar 2020.

[thelimpingalpaca]

Captain America: The First Avenger Infinity Stone: Tesseract/ Space Stone Villains: Johann “The Red Skull” Schmidt, Dr. Arnim Zola, Hydra At the end of the movie Schmidt is presumed dead but not confirmed and Zola is in custody

At no point in the opening scene do they tell us a date. So Steve could have been on ice for years after they found him. Did Steve crash in Greenland? A Russian oil team called it in about 18 hours ago. The plane didn’t sink Steve isn’t in the pilot chair. He’s on the floor behind it. Steve Didn’t drown, he froze solid laying on the floor of the cockpit, shield on his arm. Watching the doors, waiting. Is the Colonel, Fury? Tonsberg, Norway- March 1942 The Norwegians speak Norwegian The Germans speak English. Cause fuck you. I’ve always wondered if the old man is an Asgardian Did Hitler actually dig for stuff in the desert or is that a Raiders reference? Those headlines hurt me. They are so anachronistic. Steve is so stiff. Just the most rigid posture. Like 75% certain that Steve is lying about his dad being in the 107th in hopes that he and Bucky can serve together.

The alley scene might hold the record for most call backs Zola is an engineer. He built the batteries that are charged by the Tesseract. Peggy oversees operations in this division. The SSR is an Allied operation. They spend a week in camp according to Phillips speech. The flag shows us that Steve isn’t just smart, but that he thinks outside of the box. Hydra was a research division. I have this whole theory about the Steve timeline and the Schmidt timeline not being concurrent. “You start running and they’ll never let you stop.” Boy is that some foreshadowing. Peggy and Steve are about the same height. I hate that Steve has his belt on in the tube. It bugs me so much. They use six vials of serum. One is left in the box. Do the Vita-Rays keep Steve’s skin from melting or is that his pure heart? He’s just so shiny. Like he doesn’t even look real. Peggy’s a boss. She shoots that guy in the head in a moving car with a pistol from like 500 feet. Hydra has failed to deliver so much as a rifle in over a year and they mounted a full scale incursion into Norway. I have a theory that somewhere on the other side of the galaxy there’s a bunch of WWII soldiers lost in space. Stark’s the best mechanical engineer in the country and he doesn’t know what the sub is or how it works. The SSR is being re-tasked to go after Hydra. June 23, 1943- reads the paper Brandt shows Steve to get him to become Captain America. I love that they got him punching Hitler into the movie. Italy- November 1943- Five miles from the front Peggy isn’t officially there and she has a plan and that plan is to talk Steve into committing treason. Bucky fueling Steve’s righteous anger wasn’t part of the plan but she’s gonna make it work. Stark branded the seats on his plane. Why do you insist on throwing yourself out of planes? The Krausberg factory is building parts for the Valkyrie. “Fellas.” That might be my favorite line in the movie Smart boy stealing that battery. “I beg your pardon?” I lied, that’s my favorite line. No one comes back from the isolation ward None of the Howlies recognize Bucky’s name. Or maybe my favorite line is Dum dum’s face when Steve says “I’ve knocked out Adolf Hitler over two hundred times.” Why is Bucky in a room with a bunch of Zola’s schmatics? Is Zola trying to recreate the Vita-Rays? Does Schmidt even know that he’s trying to recreate the serum? I think Zola is planning a takeover well before Schmidt dies. ”We have left humanity behind.” which is Steve’s greates fear in 2014 “Then how come you’re runnin’!” Don’t antagonize the superviilain, Steve! Steve is missing in action on the 3rd. So it’s probably like, the 7th. Steve’s only like, five inches taller than Peggy. I think the US government made Steve shorter to make the serum more impressive. Bucky, why are your ears bleeding? Bucky knew that the parts were being shipped to a facility not on the map. Bucky is so baby faced and sad. His self deprecation is so Irish. Everything explodes. “Write that down.” This movie has some great one liners. Steve is trying so hard to be humble and Natalie Dormer is going to eat him alive. Vibranium. Stronger than steel and a third the weight. Howard is like two inches shorter than Steve. Oh the montage The dates and locations for the montage according to the script are: France December 1943, Belgium January 1944, Poland February 1944, Czechoslovakia August 1944 Zola is not a tactician, maybe hire someone who is The script puts the trains scenes date and location as Russia January 1945 Jim’s on radio. Gabe’s translating. Bucky and Gabe, why aren’t you wearing gloves? It’s like -20 with wind chill on that cliff and you’re holding metal! I like that Gabe gets to be so important because of three semesters of German. Bucky’s jacket is just my favorite. Also his acting. Ugh. that hold on Steve’s crying face. They stay on it for so long. I’m really certain that Zola is already in charge and just waiting for Schmidt to die and Phillips plays into his hand. “His target is everywhere.” And Phillips looks shook. Steve’s metabolism burns 4x’s faster than the average persons Get out of here with your logic and reason Peggy. Steve’s got a vendetta. They’ve got 24 hours. I love Steve’s bike full of tricks. It’s cute that they think those handcuffs will work “He gave you everything.” Why does Schmidt talk about Erskine like he’s a dad who liked Steve better? Steve, you are on a mission stop getting distracted by your crush! Is now the time for that Peggy? You are running out of runway Boston, Chicago, New York. Don’t antagonize the superhero, Schmidt. Schmidt turns on the autopilot “I have seen the future Captain, there are no flags.” Well he isn’t wrong. Schmidt gets launched into space. Ziel means target and it’s over New York There were 8 bombs Ugh. these two. So sweet. So tragic. “To the Captain!” ”Just keep looking.” Howard! Phillips gives Peggy Steve’s file and breaks my heart Call back to the trashcan lid I want Steve’s SSR tee shirt Under what circumstances would you wake up in a hospital room fully dressed with shoes on, on top of the covers? This was a set up. Oh God, this is the absolute worst way to find out you’re in the future Sensory overload Fury, you asshole Just because you can’t feel overwhelmed anymore The scene in the gym is the same just shorter? God, Steve really started on those sadness errands early He doesn’t want a mission. Which is fair. He died a week ago. And then he came back and everyone else was dead.