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a-solitary-sea-rover-backup · 11 months ago

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Underwater Urban Legends: Jacques Cousteau's Secret Discovery?

(Carthago vol. 3, “Le Monstre de Djibouti”, by Christophe Bec and Milan Jovanovic, 2013)

When I first got interested in ocean creatures as a little girl in the late 90s, we had several oversized white-covered books about Jacques Cousteau's ocean expeditions around the house that my parents let me page through, even though the text was way too small for me to read. A little later on, I read the Cousteau Society's young readers' magazine Dolphin Log/Cousteau Kids every month at the library, especially the selections from Dominique Serafini's comic book adaptations of the Calypso crew's adventures.

As an adult who's still interested in marine science, I've read several of Cousteau's books, and seen some of his documentaries. In 2019, I even got to hear his grandson Fabien speak at an event at the American Museum of Natural History.

Across film, TV, literature, comics, and even music, the Cousteau family’s underwater adventures are pretty well-documented. But one persistent bit of sea-folklore I've come across in various forms and places is an urban legend that at least one adventure wasn't. Somewhere in the world, these stories say, Captain Cousteau saw (or heard) something underwater that was so shocking that he kept it a secret from the world. (Except, presumably, from whoever is repeating the story.)

Could there be any truth behind this fantastic story? What was this "secret discovery"? And where and when did all of this happen? Like most urban legends, there are a lot of conflicting accounts and not a lot of proof.

I'd love to see a site like Skeptoid do a deep dive (heheh) into this story someday, but since they haven't yet, my research is below the cut.

A Secret Discovery?

It's alleged that after a submarine expedition, undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau said, "The world isn't ready for what's down there." (How Stuff Works)

As a reader and a writer, I have to say, this is an excellent pitch for a story. A world-famous explorer who witnessed all kinds of undersea wonders and environmental tragedies choosing to keep a remarkable discovery a secret for some unknown reason? Wouldn't you read that book? I'd read that book!

In fact, I did read that book! The French comic Carthago, first published in 2007 and translated into English in 2014, features a character based on Cousteau named Major Bertrand, a famous ocean explorer who made a discovery so shocking that he not only kept it a secret, but retired and lived the rest of his life onshore afterwards. The actual scene shown in flashback is a beat-by-beat retelling of the "Red Sea Monster" version of the story we'll discuss below. According to an interview with the comic's writer Christophe Bec, that scene (and the comic itself) were inspired by an article in the French paranormal magazine Le Monde de l'un découverte (The World of the Unknown) published in February-March 2001. That article is in French here.

Here are the broad outlines of the story as I've seen it in various places online:

Cousteau surfaces, shaken from a dive, OR

The Calypso crew recover either a shark cage that has been destroyed OR

An underwater camera or hydrophone that has recorded something

Cousteau says some variation on "The world is not ready for what I have seen"

Cousteau orders any film or audio recordings of the incident (taken by either divers, underwater equipment, or film crew aboard the ship) to be either destroyed or suppressed and hidden away in a safe

(Some accounts have people saying they actually saw the incident happen on TV, which is unlikely as I don't think any of Cousteau's documentaries were live broadcasts.)

Cousteau is so shaken by what he saw that he never returns to the site of the incident

The Red Sea Monster

The most famous and detailed version of the story, and the one Carthago adapts, sets the action in the Gulf of Tadjoura off the coast of Djibouti, near where the Red Sea meets the Indian Ocean. Investigating legends of a sea monster in a cove called the Ghoubbet al-Kharab, or Gulf of the Demons, Cousteau's team lowered a camel carcass within a shark cage. When the cage was raised, it had been badly damaged, perhaps even destroyed.

[The Ghoubbet al-Kharab is the little inland bit at left almost cut off from the sea x]

The article in Le Monde de l'un découverte says this incident happened sometime before 26 June 1995, when the secret was revealed by a writer(?) named Stéphane Swirog, and that it had also been discussed on French TV in 1987. (I cannot find any information about a “Stéphane Swirog” online except in reprints of this story, although there is apparently an MMA fighter with that name. Is this one of those hoax articles with backwards names where “Goriws” sound like something hilarious in French that’s lost on me?)

This is a plausible part of the world to set this story, because Cousteau very famously did explore the Red Sea several times! A lot of his film The Silent World was filmed there, and his Conshelf underwater habitat was on the floor of the Red Sea off Sudan. In 2004, Cousteau's son Jean-Michel and grandchildren Fabien and Céline returned to these sites fifty years later for a new documentary you can watch here.

And we know Jacques Cousteau actually DID explore the coast of Djibouti in 1967-68! In his book Life and Death in a Coral Sea (1971), he says that when docked there, his crew, err, heard a strange story...

...we decided to visit the Goubet, a famous gulf of the Red Sea. Before leaving Djibouti that morning, one of our crew had by chance asked a local Arab diver about the Goubet. "Ah, sir," the man had replied, "it is a most extraordinary place. It is bottomless, and it is inhabited by monsters so large that they can drag down lines attached to 200-liter cans. Moreover, in 1963, Commandant Cousteau went there with Fredéric Dumas and his best divers, and they were so terrified by what they saw that they ran away." Naturally, we were eager to see the place in which, according to local gossip, we had earned so ignominious a reputation. I must report, however, that the Goubet was a disappointment. It is an inland sea or gulf that connects with the Red Sea by a narrow pass in which there is a very strong current, running up to seven knots. The surrounding area is very beautiful, and very wild, being dominated by volcanic mountains bare of foliage and marked in shades of red, yellow, and black. Once in the Goubet itself, we lowered the diving saucer to a depth of over six hundred feet without catching sight of even a small monster. The divers then suited up and went down also, but they saw nothing more remarkable than some very large sea urchins. There seemed to be very few fish of any kind. It is my guess that the "Goubet monster" of Arab legend was originally a manta ray, seen by some shepherd from a hill top. Manta rays are plentiful in this area, and it must happen occasionally that they wander into the Goubet and – because the inlet is so narrow and because mantas are not the most intelligent of beasts – have trouble finding their way out again. (Page 42)

(This is one of those "white-covered books" I still own a copy of!)

That's right, this story is so old it was told TO Cousteau in the late 1960s! It's the only version of the story he seems to have actually heard and commented on, and it was to deny the monster story.

It strikes me that two of the fearsome feats attributed to the Red Sea Monster— pulling air-filled cans/barrels underwater and destroying a shark cage— are things the shark in Jaws also does. While Peter Benchley’s novel came out in 1974, several years later, he did research sharks when writing it, so I wonder if “pulling barrels underwater” was just a bit of shark lore that was going around in the late 60s.

(At least the way it’s shown in the 1975 movie, the MythBusters showed a great white shark is strong enough to briefly pull barrel floats underwater but not to hold them there.)

The more embellished 2001 article post-dates Jaws and may be inspired by the cage-destruction scene in the film.

The Depths of Lake Tahoe

Apparently, years ago, Cousteau went scuba diving in Lake Tahoe. He emerged from the water shaken, but not with cold. He said, “The world is not ready for what I have seen.” (Jennifer Skene, “Rumors and Truth in Lake Tahoe”)

Another common account of the “secret discovery” story says that it didn’t happen at sea at all, but rather in the depths of landlocked Lake Tahoe, on the California-Nevada border. This is the version of the story most commonly associated with the “the world isn’t ready” quote. The Lake Tahoe version usually keeps things vague, speculating that perhaps Cousteau saw local legendary lake monster Tahoe Tessie OR a layer of hundreds of perfectly-preserved bodies of Chinese railroad workers or mafia victims floating eerily in mid-waters, OR some other mysterious thing too horrific to describe.

[Unspeakable horrors such as dinky maps found on Bing]

Both Tessie and the well-preserved bodies are urban legends seen discussed elsewhere without the Cousteau connection. Other legends speculate that the lake hides sharks, mermaids, an underground tunnel to Pyramid Lake, a crashed WWII bomber, and a fortune in gold bullion. Just your ISO standard set of underwater legends, really.

However, unlike the Red Sea, there is no evidence that Jacques Cousteau ever visited Lake Tahoe, let alone dove there!

According to other explorers who have explored the lake’s depths, the cold, clear waters do provide eerie visibility to the shipwrecks and sunken trees found there. While people have died in and around the lake and bodies are sometimes found, the more sensational claims of uncanny preservation and bodies eerily floating in mid-water, never rising or sinking, do not fit with Lake Tahoe’s known physical conditions.

The Screams of Hell

Indeed, the French diver Jacques Cousteau was swimming over Cuba some years ago, and he heard screaming noises at the bottom of the ocean. ... And Jacques Cousteau was so shaken up by what he had heard in the seas off Cuba, he never swam there again. ... He heard what he believed to be screaming, shouting, people being tortured, just as the Bible teaches. ("Ex-Catholics for Christ")

Yet another version of the story says that Cousteau heard the sounds of agonized screaming underwater, either while diving himself or recorded on a hydrophone, and possibly considered them the screams of souls in hell. These versions of the story tend to be vaguer, not always naming a time or place when this happened. (That version put it in Cuba, another in Greece, others vaguely “somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle”.)

That's probably because this version is just an adaptation of another, more well-known urban legend about Soviet geologists digging into hell and recording screams that has been repeated in various places since the 1980s. (You can see some of the problems with that story at the site linked.)

(Cousteau did explore Cuba’s waters in the mid-1980s as seen in the documentary, Cuba: Waters of Destiny. You won’t hear any screams from Hell in that documentary, but there is a guest appearance from Fidel Castro!)

Another religion-related urban legend about Jacques Cousteau is that he converted to Islam after discovering the Quran was correct about the mixing of the waters of the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. This isn't true, either. In some places I'd seen this repeated in the same context as an equally-untrue claim that Neil Armstrong converted to Islam after hearing the call to prayer on the moon, and misremembered this as a claim Cousteau had heard the call to prayer underwater for a less-disturbing twist on the idea that the secret discovery was something heard underwater rather than seen, but as far as I can tell, that isn't the case.

Bells in Random Order

Do you know Jacques Cousteau? Well, they said on the radio That he hears bells in random order Deep beneath the perfect water ("Perfect Water")

The Blue Öyster Cult song "Perfect Water" has the lyrics above, which may be a reference to the "secret discovery" legend and specifically the above idea that it was a mysterious sound heard underwater. The band is known for having many references to legends, conspiracy theories, and the supernatural in other songs. "Perfect Water" was on the album Club Ninja, released in December 1985, post-dating Life and Death in a Coral Sea but predating the most famous accounts of the “Well to Hell” story. I can't find any other sources talking about Cousteau and mysterious bells.

This website instead thinks the lyrics are referring to Cousteau's actual descriptions of walruses as making sounds similar to bells in his writings and films. You can hear a walrus making a bell sound here.

Ask Me Anything

During an AMA session on Reddit in 2018, Fabien Cousteau (FCNomad) was asked about three different versions of this story (Djibouti, Lake Tahoe, and Fort Peck Reservoir in Montana.) He seemed most familiar with the Lake Tahoe version.

sotpsean: Hello, Mr Cousteau! It's an honour. When I was a child, family lived in Djibouti, Africa,(my father was a French Foreign Legionnaire). There was a local legend about a "sea monster" living in Lac Goubet. I've heard that your Grandfather might have investigated Lac Goubet in search of this "monster". Locals have thought it to be a prehistoric shark cut off from the sea. I've always wondered if someone might be able to shed light on this subject. Have you heard of this? Thanks for doing this AMA! FCNomad: Great to chat with you. French foreign legion? Serious stuff. There are legends of "sea monsters" in every body of water out there. Until we explore them we will not know for sure ;-) Lets go see! [x]

HulkVomit: Why did your grandfather never want to dive in Ft Peck Reservoir again? Would you ever come dive in it? Account-002: I am also REALLY curious about this. My Dad thought it was because if the siltyness of the water, combined with a possible encounter with multiple giant catfish/paddlefish that put him off. FCNomad: That does seem plausible and potentially sound due to the potential risks. He was focussed on filmmaking and if you can't see anything its hard to tell a visual story… [x]

TeddysGhost: Hi there, I live at Lake Tahoe and it is a common story around here that your grandfather went into the lake once and when he emerged he warned people that the world isn't ready to see what's down there? What do.you know about that story? Is there even a shred of legitimacy and if so what did he see? FCNomad: Ive heard this rumor as well. We were supposed to investigate on a new TV series but we never got the chance… [x]

Conclusions

...yeah, all versions of this story sound pretty fake to me. Sorry.

As Fabien says, almost every body of water has sea and lake monster legends attached to it, because the world’s waters really are mysterious, unpredictable, and dangerous. But over time, your local legendary water monster can become familiar, almost a sort of community mascot.

When reading the archives of The Liberator, a famous anti-slavery newspaper published in Boston in the mid-1800s, I found several articles where the writers referred to the New England sea serpent in these kinds of familiar terms, since to Bostonians it was a “local” monster. They even called it “our American sea serpent”— the children and grandchildren of the Minutemen, still defining their identity as Americans, could boast that England didn’t have such a cool monster.

In modern times, of course, a local monster legend can also be a major tourist attraction. Most of the sites I found repeating the Djibouti and Lake Tahoe versions of the story were… travel sites for Djibouti and Lake Tahoe (especially diving travel sites).

To present your local monster story as “verified” by a famous underwater explorer like Jacques Cousteau makes it sound authentic. It certainly spices things up for people planning their vacations, especially divers. And to say that your local monster scared away a globetrotting adventurer like Cousteau who had faced so many other perils all over the world definitely adds to the “local pride” angle. In Djibouti, a French colony that was having a vote in 1967 about whether to become independent, a story about a local monster scaring away a famous Frenchman may have had an appealing nationalist undertone.

The writer for Le Monde de l'un découverte, however, probably just wanted to tell a rip-roaring sea story. The presumably-French writer, writing for a French magazine, would have been writing for an audience who had grown up following Cousteau’s adventures. Perhaps they combed his writings in search of any mention of sea monsters that could fit in their paranormal magazine, found the passage about Djibouti in Life and Death in a Coral Sea, and created a more sensational version that conveniently left out Cousteau’s own debunking. For an audience who had grown up with Cousteau, what could be more exciting than hearing about one more adventure of their late hero, totally new and unseen, and a discovery so shocking it was being kept secret?

And, like I said, it does make for a great story! No wonder it inspired Christophe Bec to write his own version! And with the decades-long tradition of fictional stories parodying and homaging Jacques Cousteau, I can’t blame you if this piece has inspired you to write your own version of the “secret discovery” story— just please, make it clear that your fiction is fiction.

#jacques cousteau #the mythical seas #song of the sea #urban legends #underwater

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spnfanficpond · 3 months ago

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Pond Diving - @spn-fanfic-reblog-writes!

Welcome to today’s Pond Diving Spotlight! We hope that you enjoy this little insight to our members and perhaps even find some useful tips for your own writing. Happy reading!

Want to volunteer, send us an ask or DM @mrswhozeewhatsis! We’re looking forward to learning more about all of you! Not sure what PD is, you can learn more here.

“Don’t Be Koi About It” - All About You

Name: Laili

Age: 38

Location: Gulf Coast, USA

URL: @spn-fanfic-reblog-writes

Why did you choose your URL: I made a bunch of blogs at once and realized I wanted to make sure readers knew what the blog was about.

What inspired you to become a writer: Reading. My imagination. Drawing. I was never big on reading “educational” books. I’m not a fan of Tolkien or C.S. Lewis. I don’t like wordy stories. I read each word and imagine everything I read in a deep detail and texture. I’ve always written and write stories when I can’t find the story I wanna read. I was always told to write the story you want to read. Sing the song you wanna hear. I only publish them because I know I’m not the only one interested. I can’t be. Why would I want to write it if it’s just for me? Someone else, even one other person, is interested.

How long have you been writing: Most of my life. Writing fanfic since 2022.

What do you do when you are not writing i.e. Job/Hobbies etc? Reading fanfic. Stay-at-home-parent or -house person, illustrating for bangs and fests or friends, watching tv/movies, hanging out with friends.

How long have you been in the SPN Fandom? Since Supernatural the tv series came out in 2005.

Are you in any other fandoms and do you write for them? Moon Knight. Yes. The Boys. Yes. Highlander the series. Yes. Star Trek. No. Dark Angel. Yes. RPF. Yes. Medieval, fantasy dragon-focused stories. Want to. Futuristic and high magic stories. Want to. Urban fantasy. Yes. Modern AUs. Yes. Mortal Kombat: Conquest. No. Doctor Who. No.

Do you do any writing outside of fanfiction? If so, tell us about it?

Poems, songs, and original fiction—usually urban fantasy, sci-fi fantasy, or similar. I have two novels I am working on.

One is based on the A/b/o trope and how it’d affect humanity. It’ll follow a family.

The other is an urban fantasy where a psychic woman meets an angel who has lost their faith in God and she guides him through her own day-to-day living back to God. I didn’t mean for it to become a religious fiction book. It was meant more as a supernatural romance but after discussing my idea with a friend, it’s how it went.

As some with religious trauma, you’d think I wouldn’t write this. I’ve been more active on that novel than the other.

Favorite published author: so many to choose from…. Christine Feehan, E.E. Cummings, Robert Frost, Robert Asprin, William Sears (NOT the doctor), Laurel K. Hamilton, Erma Bombeck, Berkeley Breathed, and more.

Have you ever read a book that made an impact on your life? Which one and why?:

I think all books make an impact but their degree depends on the reader.

You’ll probably laugh but two of the first books that I can remember that I read…well, my Mom read to me so many, many times were “The Napping House” and “The Circus is Coming”.

“The Napping House” by Audrey Wood, published in 1984. It was probably more on how she told the story and she always spoke with enthusiasm and energy to show how everyone experienced what was happening. The story is about a different sort of family who naps during a storm, and they all literally sleep and cuddle on one another but get awoken. Despite all the troubles and disturbances, they take it in stride and go outside to play together since it isn’t raining anymore. They rolled with the punches and kept being positive about it, not caring what caused all the issues to begin with. Blame didn’t matter.

“The Circus is Coming” A picture parade by Hilary Knight, published 1978. It’s beautiful. The art is gorgeous and it’s out of print. It isn’t easy to find. It is a way to be in a fantasy world and live outside it. It shows you the wonderfully, gorgeous and exotic circus parade and the regular kids running alongside it. It has a “Barnum and Bailey’s circus” resemblance to me but true artwork in a book that anyone could see and touch. It’s very silly, very gorgeous, a wonderful imagination, and very realistic. It allows the reader a way to get away for a while and it’s so encompassing, both pages every time take up the art.

Favorite genre of fanfic (smut, angst, fluff, crack, rpf, etc): fluffy, a/b/o, and smut. I love angst with my fluff or hurt/comfort.

Favorite piece of your own writing: Imagine You’re Dating Vampire!Dean

Most underrated fic you have written: Bedtime Routine. It's a kid fic and fluffy.

Story of yours that you’d most like to see turned into a movie/tv show: Domestic Destiel #1 OR In The Mood

Favorite Tumblr Writer(s): (not all of them but a lot) @spnexploration @zepskies @luci-in-trenchcoat @holylulusworld @moosekateer13 @riley-phoenix @impala-dreamer @malicmalic @zationao3 @sharkfish @redamber79 @butterflysklinky @quietwingsinthesky @destielshipper4cas @thoughtslikeaminefield @wigglebox @naughtystiel @niche-patische @wisteria-lodge @a-deed-without-a-name @valandrawrites @anyreiart @queerwolfsstuff @punk-is-notdead @almaasi @omegadeanlovesalphacas @no-gorms @lizleeships @envydeanwrites @nickelkeep @baconandpie1 @sitruunavohveli @peachonified @unforth @starlightoffandoms @seidenapfel (There are tons more not on Tumblr!)

Favorite fic from another writer: Pack by @spnexploration

Favorite character to write: Dean Winchester

Favorite Pairing to write: Destiel

Least favorite character to write (and why): “Evil” characters because it’s hard for me to understand them and write them well. I love a good bad guy, truly, especially when you don’t realize they’re the bad guy until it’s too late. Those are the best. The ones you love and break your heart.

Do you have anyone you consider a mentor? I guess K.M. Weiland since she has the website helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com and she explains all aspects of writing stories with examples, so much. It helps so much.

Do you have any aspirations involving your writing? I want to be a published fiction writer on the NY Times Best Seller list.

How many work-in-progress stories do you have: lol! I had to make a list and counted, 94, that I have every intention to write. (This does not include the bingos I haven’t even touched yet or worked on.)

What are you currently working on? Waiting for my beta on my Spn Sabriel Bang fic (to be posted August 11th). I’m working on an a/b/o series that leads to a polycule (destiel x reader).

“Pond Diving” - All About The Writing

What/who has had the biggest influence on your writing? My Mom. She’s the reason I haven’t kept writing when I would lose interest. Now, I can add so many fandom folks I met on discord or tumblr that have helped keep me going, especially when my depression starts getting to me. It helps so much. Thank you is not enough to say.

Best writing advice you've been given: When you start writing, write what you know. Read and read and read but read good authors.

Biggest obstacle you’ve faced in your writing: Depression. It lies and wants you to give up on everything. It makes you focus on yourself when you should be focused on those around you and your mutuals.

What aspects of writing do you find difficult when you write fanfiction? Finishing. Stopping the plot bunnies from dominating my mind while I’m writing.

Is there anything you want to write but are afraid to (and why): Triggering aspects of mental health. I’m worried no one will want to read it. I’m worried I’ll end up triggering someone or myself as I write it. Well-written negative mental health episodes in stories have triggered me and I was surprised. I knew how to handle it because I have a lot of different coping skills I’ve been taught and practice but I recognize not everyone has that.

What inspires/motivates you to write: Life. Other people’s creativity. Stories I want to read that no one has written yet.

How do you deal with self doubt: My family, friends and mutuals are huge ego and mood boosters. Taking a break does help and getting different perspectives on the situation or what’s going on can make a big difference.

How do you deal with writer's block: Change how I’m being creative. Instead of writing, I’ll draw or paint or do photography. My goal is to always be creative or artsy. It’s ok to do other things than write.

Do you plan/outline your story before you start: Honestly, it depends on how I come across the idea. I tend to do half and half. If I outline, it’s basic stuff and then I’ll write, sometimes I’ll go a different direction than my plot line which is acceptable. Just depends on where the characters wanna go.

Do you have any weird writing habits: I write on my phone. lol! I also collect office supplies but I think that has more to do with being close to my dad whose trunk used to be his storage when he sold office supplies. 😊

Have you ever received hateful comments on your fic and how do you deal with it? Not for my fic writing that I can recall. Honestly, I ignore them. I will talk to close friends about it to help me process it and reduce my anxiety but I just ignore them and delete the comment.

Conversely: what’s been some of your favorite feedback on your fanfic? People asking me to write more, even on one shots. People telling me that they love it.

If you could give one piece of advice to a new and/or struggling writer, what would it be?

I have two and I can’t remember who said them.

Just write. It doesn’t matter what you write, just write.

Write the story you want to read.

Those are two things I think of when I’m staring at blank paper or a blank screen and nothing comes to mind. That last is why I write what I write. Sometimes I don’t even know that’s the story I want to read until it’s done. 😊

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gulfcoastinspired · 11 months ago

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11 Tips for Gulf Coast Nature Walks in Alabama and Mississippi

For me, one of the best parts of living on the Gulf Coast is the abundance and variety of ecosystems to explore year-round. I am trying to make a habit of exploring different nature trails early every Saturday morning. I often have a walking buddy, but occasionally find myself exploring alone. Here are some tips for older people like me who are interested in starting a routine of weekly nature…

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#gulf coast #Gulf Coast Inspired #Nature Walks #Nature Walks for Seniors #Tips for Nature Walks

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shutterandsentence · 8 months ago

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“People who think too much before they act don’t act too much.”

– Jimmy Buffett

Photo: Cabbage Key, Florida

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artifacts-archive · 1 year ago

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Bowl (Tecomate)

Olmec

12th–10th century BCE

This bowl is in a full, round shape with a small opening at the top. A potter carefully built this thin-walled vessel using a coil technique with a kaolin-like clay, finishing it with a light-colored slip and burnishing the surface, which displays small pitted losses. The vessel type is known as a tecomate (“gourd”), named after the gourds that inspired their original form. Some of the earliest ceramic vessels in Mesoamerica took the form of gourds captured in the more durable material of fired clay. Tecomates were important receptacles for community feasts, and many were subsequently placed in burials as important funerary offerings. While numerous tecomates are said to be from highland sites such as Tlatilco and Las Bocas in central Mexico, the comparatively heavy, thick walls of this example suggest that it might be from one of the Gulf Coast Olmec sites such as San Lorenzo or La Venta.

source

#Olmec #pre Columbian #artifact #bowl

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lightlessentwine · 8 months ago

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so you may remember when i made the silly post about how the divine towers would loosely indicate Malenia's tower as being about where the Everglades are when compared to the Chicxulub Impact. this wventually spiralled into a ton of fragmented discourse..- but someone on Facebook in "Elden Ring Tarnished Posting" made a comment where i had revised my wording and relayed the post there:

This made me think a little bit. Now, the climates don't perfectly align, and we are already aware that the Lands Between are more akin to a condensed Earth than just the area of mexico and the southern US. However.. this does not mean that the inspiration for the landscape couldn't have been at least inspired by the Gulf Coast. from here, I talked to my friend @seardrax on Discord.

Wiith advanced permission to post, we had a little conversation that kinda branched off a bit.. but it posed something very interesting that i never considered; i would have never made the observation if not for Seary and it hit me like a train (pt. 2 for convo images)

#elden ring #lore #shadow of the erdtree #alchemy #alchemist #symbology #perspective

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baybreezebeauty · 2 months ago

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🌊 Hey there, lovely souls! I’m Alexis, a 31/f Gulf Coast dreamer navigating life’s beautiful chaos.

Here to share my passions, inspirations, and a glimpse into my world. Expect to see everything from coastal sunsets and candid moments to personal musings and creativity. Let’s connect and explore together! 💫✨

P.S. I miss the old Tumblr... 🤣

#message me #dm me #beach #gulf coast #florida #mississippi #louisiana #sea shells #sea life #hello tumblr #reblog

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rockislandadultreads · 7 months ago

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Juneteenth Recommendations

Check out these recommendations as we celebrate Juneteenth, our country's second independence day!

On Juneteenth by Annette Gordon-Reed

Weaving together American history, dramatic family chronicle, and searing episodes of memoir, this volume provides a historian’s view of the country’s long road to Juneteenth, recounting both its origins in Texas and the enormous hardships that African-Americans have endured in the century since. All too aware of the stories of cowboys, ranchers, and oilmen that have long dominated the lore of the Lone Star State, Gordon-Reed - herself a Texas native and the descendant of enslaved people brought to Texas as early as the 1820s - forges a new and profoundly truthful narrative of her home state.

South to America by Imani Perry

In this volume, Imani Perry shows that the meaning of American is inextricably linked with the South, and that our understanding of its history and culture is the key to understanding the nation as a whole. This is the story of a Black woman and native Alabaman returning to the region she has always called home and considering it with fresh eyes. Weaving together stories of immigrant communities, contemporary artists, exploitative opportunists, enslaved peoples, unsung heroes, her own ancestors, and her lived experiences, Perry crafts a tapestry unlike any other.

Watermelon & Red Birds by Nicole A. Taylor

A year after Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston and informed the people of Texas that all enslaved people were now free, Black Texans congregated with music, dance, and BBQs - Juneteenth celebrations. As a master storyteller and cook, Nicole Taylor bridges the traditional African-American table and 21st-century flavors in stories and recipes to inspire parties saluting to one of the most important American holidays.

Africatown by Nick Tabor

In 1860, a ship called the Clotilda was smuggled through the Alabama Gulf Coast, carrying the last group of enslaved people ever brought to the U.S. from West Africa. Five years later, the shipmates were emancipated, but they had no way of getting back home. Instead they created their own community outside the city of Mobile. That community, Africatown, has endured to the present day. While the community is struggling after many decades of neglect and a Jim Crow legal system that targeted the area for industrialization, a renewed effort is underway to create a living memorial to the community.

#juneteenth #freedom day #nonfiction #reading recommendations #reading recs #book recommendations #book recs #library books #tbr #tbr pile #to read #booklr #book tumblr #book blog #library blog #readers advisory

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atrayo · 3 months ago

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Channeled Angelic Wisdom of the Jewels of Truth Series on Mindfulness, Unease, and Anxiety

Hello All,

What a month of October it has been!

After my last blog entry for September citing Hurricane Helene, my city of Sarasota, Florida got a direct hit from Hurricane Milton! Alas, I came out of it mostly unscathed with yard debris damage, losing the contents of my refrigerator due to a power loss for 3 days or so. I'm all right just a bit frazzled with 2 mere weeks between hurricanes Helene and Milton for my region of the Florida Gulf Coast.

Today's Jewels of Truth channeled angelic wisdom statements by means of 29+ years of Inspirational psychic automatic writing. Are on the topic of Mindfulness which is a short of the one-liner series. Followed by regular-length topics on Unease and Anxiety which is what my region of Florida and parts of North Carolina are experiencing to date.

Thank you for your continued interest in our lifelong Dharmic work. Amen.

Mindfulness:

3347) Mindfulness is both a sacred gift and a personal dharmic responsibility for the health of all the souls concerned in living with wellness. Amen. ---Ivan Pozo-Illas / Atrayo.

Unease:

3273) To the one that understands much is afforded to comprehend in complete earnestness. To the one that doesn't then much hardship with unconscious confusion will set in over time. Not everyone is afforded the gallant mindset of clarity of purpose. Many others must struggle emotionally and at times foolishly to transcend past the initial stages of personal grief to overcome the lower self.

Difficulties of all various shapes and sizes will disgruntle the anxious soul. Not all motivations are easily apparent for a remedy to occur. Only a dedicated heart that explores the intricacies of personal struggles will make incremental progress in due time.

Here too lays the fountainhead of follies that everyone is equal in apptitudes of great accomplishments upon this emotional world of upheavals. Not everyone is a natural-born leader who can marshall their sensibilities onto a higher echelon of overcoming. Many are capable of pushing past the initial shock of disgust and dread despite the grievous odds stacked against them in a sordid life.

Many a proverbial scuffed knee takes immense grit of personal fortitude to shove past the litany of woes. The prospects in life for opportunity come with potential casualties if one isn't mindful of where they step. No one is directly at fault for living in a corrupt broken world remaking itself in the flawed image and likeness of humanity itself.

Destinies both great and small are heralded by the individuality of great souls living mediocre lives indeed. For the timid of the world to inherit the Kingdom of God on Earth. They must first earn it in Heaven with an unconditional Faith in God the likes of which the Biblical allegory of Job knew all too well.

To carry on in spite of appearances of disaster whether natural or man-made is metaphysically irrelevant. The Earth is designed to shock all into submission time and again. The proving grounds of souls who dare to defy the heavenly status quo only to be embarrassed at the travesty of fools suffering with great contrasts encountered.

Courage of this kind isn't earned but shaped and molded by travesty seared into the psyche of the brave of heart and mind all the same. When a sense of unease enters the world then the wailing begins and only the courageous can carry on and not be completely defeated personally. Authenticity of Integrity is necessary to move forward past the unseen obstacles and the imagined exaggerated carnage at every perceivable turn.

Whichever is greater well-being or confidence will win out in the end after the woe has been mostly managed. From here experience has been gained with a conditional pricetag of heartache. Regardless, of whether bravado was present or not. The intellect can only perceive so much in order to release an overflow of sensory inputs so as to not shut down completely.

All mannerisms of recriminations, nagging, and other assorted stressors inhibit the grandeur to overcome with personal dignity in this life. To get a grip as the slippage of personal despair overtakes you is no small feat indeed. To pivot around the inner turmoil in order to flip the anger and fear into productive suffering by casting that into the fires of the mind to heal thyself takes gumption.

There is no merit that is of worth found in such twisted acrimony the circles of vengeful discord takes one almost to the literal pits of hell in the unholy spirit. Please put aside the grief and condemnation in order to restore yourselves to the Inner Peace of Being and Forgiveness of all negativity encountered. Such robust personal compassionate loving will set you free from the bondage of this chaotic world assuming the grace of angels instead. Amen. ---Ivan Pozo-Illas / Atrayo.

Anxiety:

3294) To the one who suffers unknowingly not realizing that the status quo has shifted from underneath their proverbial feet. Heretofore, anxiety when at odds with the unknown leaves a deafening foreboding fear whereby your ego-mind undisciplined and usually unconscious mindset turns against you.

Whether you consider this as dread or sheer panic this is none other but the ego-centric mind turning inside out against you personally. Having cannibalized your sensibilities to leave yourself abandoned in no man's land metaphorically speaking. Such a shocking fear serves no one, not every person who obsesses profusely is turned into a ridiculous coward.

Situational awareness is fine and dandy but when you begin making baseless emotional assertions as fear-based panicked responses you begin tearing yourself apart. No one is served in such a despicable capacity, not your humanity much less your precious internalized dignity.

Be still and center yourself spiritually and mentally forgive yourself by not condemning your past/present actions and that of other alleged aggressors. Release the burdens from within productively without pursuing a secondary addiction in order to distract yourself from the emotional anguish overall.

For whichever pain is greatest as a stress not worth keeping or flaming outward begin by experiencing surrender of the petty self. To "Let Go, and Let God" as the famous maxim is known for spiritually. Seek internalized harmony by practicing gentle breathing exercises in an effortless manner. Such as breathing in deeply for a count of one, two, and three slowly and fully. Then hold for one, two, and three gently. Finally release for one, two, and three moments and repeat again two more times to pause your dread.

Now listen silently for the silence between the moments of nothingness. Aside from hearing the noises of the world apparently who do you feel for intuitively as your greatest security blanket of Being well? Whether this is an imagined projection or not recall a pleasant memory or create one that brings forward your proverbial champion as a role model.

Allow the surrendering of your dread with ease of wellness to flow through you. Relax and do not tense up your shoulders or your stomach and be still deeper still surrender your anguish into the living waters of a cascading whitewater river. Allow it to flow past your Imagined sight perhaps you may even find yourself flowing down such a river.

By Letting Go you paradoxically reclaim your greater sense of calm. The pessimism abates allowing your own natural divine state of grace to reach you truly. Being alive permits one to live a life of contrasting emotions just not to the point of becoming paralyzed by them.

This world has always been young and broken on purpose even before humanity set foot as the first primate hominid mammals. Only with the Love of God from within your divine souls permanently in Heaven can you each usher forth the Omnipresence of Goddess forever truly.

To live every day is a challenge of various sorts of annoyances your Inner resiliency spells the difference between the gladness of life and the travesty of turmoil. Everyone suffers but by how much only you can decide by giving away your power to be abused by an undisciplined mindset or cultivating your divine holy spirit to overcome the world one Love of God at a time. Amen. ---Ivan Pozo-Illas / Atrayo.

Ivan "Atrayo" Pozo-Illas, has devoted 29 plus years of his life to the pursuit of clairaudient-inspired automatic writing channeling the Angelic Heavenly host. Ivan is the author of the spiritual wisdom series "Jewels of Truth" consisting of 3 volumes published to date. He also utilizes a unique channeled angelic divination method called the Multi-Deck Divination System. Numerous examples of his work are available at "Atrayo's Oracle" blog site of 19 years plus online. You're welcome to visit his website "Jewelsoftruth.us" for further information or to contact Atrayo directly.

#ivan pozo-illas #jewels of truth #atrayo's oracle #spiritual wisdom #automatic writing #angels #god #spiritual teacher #spirit guide #Anxiety #Unease #mindfulness #spirituality #psychic #goddess #channeler

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katsona-the-katsequel · 3 months ago

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P3 Q&A (Part 4)

Junpei Iori (from now on "🧢"): It's Junpei!

Chidori (from now on "🎨"): Chidori.

🧢: Anything goes, advice room! Wow, puff puff puff, keep on keeping on.

🎨: Junpei, you're so noisy...

🧢: ...Ugh ugh ugh... Chi... Chidori! I missed you!

🎨: Kyaaa! Wh-what?

🧢: I never thought I'd meet you alive again. Those lovey-dovey days, once more! Come back my love, once more!

🎨: Well...sorry to interrupt you while you're enjoying the moment, but...I'm a different character from the Chidori in the main story.

🧢: Eh?

🎨: Not in a lovey-dovey direction.

🧢: Do you remember when you showed me your painting in front of Port Island Station?

🎨: Let's pretend one thing never happened.

🧢: What about the days when I visited you in the hospital every day?

🎨: That too was forgotten.

🧢: So then, what about that time you gave your life for me?

🎨: Uh... well, that too, for now, well... forget about it.

🧢: So, what are your memories of our first night together in Shirakawa Boulevard?

🎨: There was no such thing! Don't take advantage of the confusion and fabricate memories to suit your own convenience!

🧢: Ugh, I'm going to check out the Q&A about Minato Ward, which is full of memories of me and Chidori.

🎨: Yes, yes.

Q. Are there any locations that have served as inspiration for the image of Minato Ward as a whole?

🎨: Yeah. The atmosphere... it feels a little familiar.

🧢: Chidorita is very sharp. I asked the development staff, and they told me that the visual concept for "P3" was a "city that looks like it could actually exist in real life," and they actually went to towns along the Gulf Coast to do research.

🎨: For example, what do you mean by the Gulf Coast?

🧢: Around Shinagawa, Odaiba, and also around Haneda Airport. Atlus' development lab is in Okubo... Wow, isn't it going to be hard to cover the area multiple times?

🎨: Hey Junpei. Readers outside of the Kanto region won't understand and won't be convinced. By the way, the furthest place is Haneda, which takes about an hour by train.

🧢: Also, they took 500 photos. Wow, that's some guts!

Q. On the overall map, there are some buildings that stand out quite a bit even though you can't move through them. What are they?

🧢: Ah, yes, there is movement in the scenario, but the step of the player moving by themselves was omitted.

🎨: I'd like to know a little more about that.

🧢: The first thing you can easily spot is the tower-like building just above Port Island Station. That is the observatory where the moon is said to have fallen.

🎨: Ah, I see. If that's the case, Gekkoukan Academy is pretty big?

🧢: It's a little exaggerated, but it's actually big. There's a map of Gekkoukan Academy on page 196, so if you look at that, you'll understand. On the map, a little further north from the observatory, the building with a rather dull color is the Tatsumi Memorial Hospital where Chidorita was hospitalized. If I were the main character, I would have gone there after school.

🎨: Okay, okay, let's stop talking about that. So... is there anything else?

🧢: Also, you see the light beige-colored row of buildings just to the upper right of Moonlight Bridge, right? That's also a place that brings back memories.

🎨: A place of memories?

🧢: A high school boy's dream! The love hotel district of Shirakawa Boulevard is right there!

🎨: No, I don't have any memories. Ah, Junpei, you do have memories with Sanada-senpai.

🧢: ...Forget it...

Q. The student dormitories have a very retro design. Do you have an inspiration?

🧢: Our Iwatodai dormitory. It's certainly a retro, luxurious place that makes it hard to believe it's a dormitory. There's a rumor that it was originally a hotel or something, and was renovated into a dormitory. However, the lounge is luxurious in part because of the furniture that Mitsuru-senpai brought in.

🎨: I'm sure that character designer Soejima-san had expressed his wishes regarding the dorm design, right?

🧢: Apparently. He wanted it to look like a brick apartment building in New York. So I asked him about the specific image he had in mind, and he said, "Do you know the movie Batteries Not Included? The one with the little UFOs?" Apparently the building in which that story is set is modeled after Soejima's own dorm.

🎨: I've never seen the movie...

🧢: Well then, let's go see it sometime!

Renting is fine too. Right? Right?

🎨: Okay, okay, let's move on to the next question. As for the movie...well, sometime soon.

Q. I don't think there is a bath... Is the hygiene of the dormitory students okay?

🧢: Hey, that's really rude. I mean, I go in every day!

🎨: Come to think of it, I don't think there was a bath when I infiltrated there either.

🧢: There's a door at the back of the first floor of the dormitory that usually doesn't open, right? Do you remember?

🎨: Ah, you mean the back door?

🧢: That's right. If you leave from there, there's an annex with a bath and an open kitchen at the back of the dormitory. There's also a parking lot in the same place, and Mitsuru-senpai's bike is parked there.

🎨: How luxurious is that dorm?

🧢: Well, maybe the rumor that it used to be a hotel isn't a lie after all. Oh, but there's another rumor about the bathroom. Mitsuru-senpai's room on the third floor is a special three-room apartment, right? That's the only one that has a proper private bathroom. Dammit! I'm so jealous!

Q. I'm curious about what's inside the room. Please tell me the secret of the room that you can't enter during the game!

🧢: Well, I guess there's no other way. So I'll put my life on the line and actually do it...

🎨: Denied. Invasion of privacy.

🧢: Well, there's also freedom of the press, right? Well, I guess I'll tell you as much as I can. First, my room.

🎨: I heard it's really... really dirty.

🧢: No... no, that's right. Well, I think I can figure out where everything is, so it's okay.

🎨: Maybe I should do a surprise visit next time...

🧢: Also, Sanada-senpai's room is, as expected, full of training equipment. And Aigis's room, I don't know much about machines, but how can I put it? It feels like a secret base?

🎨: I'm not sure if I understand it or not...

🧢: Oh, and Amada's room is funny! He's always alone and stubborn, but apparently he secretly keeps a pet. He must be lonely after all. Wow, he has some cute points too.

🎨: Hmm... I also have a pet, so maybe I feel a sense of kinship.

🧢: Huh? Do you have a pet, Chidori? A chihuahua? A ferret?

🎨: Junpei.

🧢: Ummm...are you kidding?

Q. Is there an inspiration for Gekkoukan High? It's stylish, but it's also a school that feels very real.

🧢: "Oh, I'm glad you noticed!" said the design leaders, Wada-san and Yokoji-san, with delight!

🎨: Who are those?

🧢: They are some of the development staff who worked on the overall design. Apparently Gekkoukan Academy was designed through a lot of trial and error to ensure that there was no difference between the image of a new 10-year-old building and the image of a worn-down school that players would normally see. Apparently they struggled at first. It was a bit cold, and they just couldn't get the feeling that people were actually active there. Then one day, one of the staff came up with a great idea and it solved the problem brilliantly.

🎨: What do you mean?

🧢: I don't know if Chidori saw it, but there is a shoe locker right inside the entrance. Apparently, someone put their discarded socks on top of it.

🎨: Wow, dirty!

🧢: No, thanks to that ingenuity, the school suddenly started to have a sense of life. After that, they used the same method to add more small objects around the school, giving it the feel of a lively school life.

🎨: Hmm... small things make a big difference. Hmm, things change.

🧢: Another thing they paid special attention to in terms of design is that most of the design motifs for Persona are based on Greek mythology, right? So to match that image, they placed Greek-style columns in the entrance hall and the corridor leading to the courtyard. It's a job that requires a lot of attention to detail.

Q. I'd like to know the detailed structure of Gekkoukan High. For example, only second-year classes E and F can go to the classrooms, but that doesn't mean they're the only ones, right?

🧢: Wow, here it is! Such a nit-picking question! This is what will get even the most ardent fans going.

Yukari Takeba from now on "🌸"): Hey Junpei! How rude of you to say something to a fan! You answer questions sincerely, that's what being a professional is all about, right?

🧢: Ugh, someone even louder is coming...ugh!

🌸: …I'll hit you.

🧢: Don't say that after you've hit me!

🌸: Well, that's a promise.

🧢: Hey, Yukari-chan! Don't you dare suddenly intrude into our lovey-dovey space... Get out of here!

🎨: ...Lovey-dovey...that's not it.

🧢: H-Huh, even Chidorita...

🌸: Junpei probably doesn't remember the layout of the school, right? He's never even been to the library properly, let alone an after-school club. Leave it to me. First, the main building of Gekkoukan Academy's high school division is three stories tall, as can be seen in the opening movie. What is certain is that there are six classes per grade, from A to F, for a total of 18 classes across the three grades.

🧢: But in the game, if you go up the stairs from the second floor, you suddenly go to the rooftop.

🌸: That's just a production.

🧢: Eh?

🌸: They just skipped over the third floor, which there is no need to visit...seriously.

🎨: Ah, I see.

🌸: Besides, there are plenty of doors that can't be opened during the game, right? Beyond them lies a school building that I haven't seen yet...

🧢: That sounds like a lie.

🎨: These are adult matters, Junpei. Understand.

🌸: However, Mr. Tanaka, who is in charge of planning, said, "I think that the shape of the corridors and the general shape of the bird's-eye view of the high school building were roughly the same... but there is no exact layout of classrooms in each building (wry smile). Please forgive me for this..." Well, I hope you understand my explanation. Oh, by the way, the only setting for the number of classes in the junior high school is the number of classes, which is four, starting from A. In other words, we can see that one third of the students in the high school are from outside the school.

Q. Is the observatory on the school grounds a building of some significance?

🧢: Ah, that's a building that Ikutsuki built for his ritual. In other words, there's no intention of opening it to students at all.

🌸: What is that, it makes me crazy.

🎨: Moreover, the ritual itself was done incorrectly, so it was just waste after waste.

🧢: That's it. In the beginning, although it was called an observatory, it was basically a normal building with a certain height. Also, the reason it was built on the edge of the site where it was hard to find was to avoid being caught up in the Tartarization of the school.

🌸: There is a boy who is desperately researching the observatory, but next time I see him I'll have to tell him to give up.

Q. Could you please tell me more about the club activities at Gekkoukan High?

🌸: I think there are about 60 clubs in total, including hobby clubs. I'm in the archery club, but I think all the sports clubs are pretty strong. Even in some of the sports clubs that were recruiting members at one point, the club presidents and some of the players seem to be able to place highly in the regional tournaments and even participate in the national tournaments. However, it seems like there's a really elite athlete at another school who I just can't beat. Oh, and the ranks are a little thin, so I might be a little weak in team matches.

🎨: What about the cultural department?

🧢: Oh, I'm in the go-home club...

🌸: I guess there's no other way. Ah, Fuuka, come here for a bit.

Fuuka Yamagishi (from now on "🐰"): Hmm? What's wrong, Yukari-chan?

🌸: For this and that reason, I'd like to hear how your cultural club is doing.

🐰: Well, I don't know if my club can be of any help... The club I'm in has a very laid back president, so we've never done anything with the goal of participating in a competition. So I guess that means we don't have any external achievements? But the other day, our teacher persistently encouraged us to apply, and the club president actually won! Hehe, that's pretty amazing, right?

🎨: The difference in attitude between the sports clubs and the cultural clubs is huge.

🧢: It's ok, as long as it's fun.

🌸: Wow, you're a member of the go-home club, but you're acting all cocky.

🧢: Unfortunately, I'm not in the go-home club anymore.

🐰: Huh? Junpei, did you join a club?

🧢: I'm glad you asked! My club is the Chidori and Sketch Club!

🎨: We are not currently accepting new members due to our membership limit.

🧢: Ugh, I failed to create the club. If there's a sequel, I'd love to see a Chidori Club!

Q. Please tell me about places like Paulownia Mall in Port Island, which is a popular hangout spot for Gekkoukan High School students.

🧢: Here I come! That area is my home ground!

🎨: Come to think of it, it was at Port Island Station that I first met Junpei.

🧢: The school, as well as the entire site on the artificial island, seems to have been built with the concept of a “newly built city.” The pillars in front of Port Island Station, like the school, are designed in the Greek architectural style, right?

🎨: Is there any real place that served as the model?

🧢: Port Island Station is based on Harumi Triton Square. Paulownia Mall is modeled after Venus Fort, a shopping mall complex in Odaiba. The square with the fountain is said to be very similar to Venus Fort. You can't see the ceiling of Paulownia Mall during the game, but I'm sure it has an optical illusion of a blue sky like Venus Fort.

🎨: There's no doubt about it... Junpei, have you never seen the ceiling of the Paulownia Mall yourself?

🧢: Well, I was always so distracted by the products in the stores or the games in the arcade that I never even looked up above.

🎨: Wow... it's beautiful, you should take a closer look next time.

🧢: Ah, but I do look down carefully! There might be some coins lying around. Oh, come to think of it, there's a paulownia leaf mark painted on the floor there.

🎨: As it says in the game itself, Paulownia means "Paulownia leaf." It's all funded by the Kirijo Group, right? By the way, what kind of company is that?

🧢: Well, wait a minute. My senior told me about it. The current Kirijo Group is a so-called holding company that has expanded into all fields, but when it was first founded, it was a small company that manufactured machine parts...or so I heard. Um, well...and then...

🎨: ...If you're going to read the notes, read them openly.

🧢: Hehe, sorry. So, the core of the company is Kirijo Electronics, which has developed its machinery parts manufacturing division and is now the largest in scale and market share. So that means that they're doing things like shopping malls on the side of their main business, right? And they're able to build such a big mall, so it's really impressive.

🎨: They were doing some nasty stuff behind the scenes though.

🧢: Well, if my senior becomes the company representative, that kind of thing won't happen anymore.

🎨: That would be nice...

Q. I understand that Amada's house was located on the outskirts of Port Island Station, but which house specifically was that?

🧢: Amada had a hard time too. I only heard about it, so I don't know the details, but when shadows went on a rampage and Aragaki-senpai's Persona went out of control, the house was completely destroyed and remains as it is. Apparently it's now been turned into a parking lot. On the map in the game, it's at the bottom of the screen. The parking lot directly opposite where Aragaki-senpai usually sits would be the site of the house. I see... So Aragaki-senpai was always looking over there... Ugh, it's so frustrating.

Q. What exactly is the new urban transit line "Anezuru" that connects Port Island Station and Iwatodai Station?

🧢: Isn't that the monorail we always use to commute to school? It's a private railway, once again run by the Kirijo Group. This is a new route that was established after the artificial island of Tatsumi was built.

🎨: Is this just a line that goes back and forth between these two stations? Are there any stations along the way?

🧢: There are no other stations between Iwatodai and Port Island. However, in addition to the short line that goes back and forth between those two stations, there is also a direct train that goes beyond Iwatodai and goes further. That's right, the line that runs east-west on land is the Anezuru Main Line, and the section between Iwatodai and Port Island is just a branch line. If you look closely at the station sign, you can see a very small map of the surrounding area, right?

🎨: Could it be that the train that Junpei's real leader was riding in in the first opening movie is...?

🧢: That's right, that would be the main line of Anezuru. And don't even bother calling him the "real thing".

Q. The atmosphere around Iwatodai is much calmer than Port Island, but what is the real inspiration for it?

🧢: It certainly is a relaxed and familiar town. This looks pretty similar to the real thing.

🎨: Is there a model after all?

🧢: The station front is modeled after the front of Yurikamome's Shinbashi Station. It really does look like the art staff's research has paid off. The shopping street side is apparently modeled after a certain building in front of JR Shinbashi Station. I won't tell you the exact name of the building, but just like Todai, there is a building with many shops inside, and the restaurant there, "Tsunime Grill," is said to be recommended by character designer Soejima-san. I want to try it!

🎨: Speaking of Iwatodai, there's always construction going on in front of the station, right? When will it be finished?

🧢: Ah, that place probably won't be finished for a while.

🎨: Is construction halted?

🧢: The area in front of the station was supposed to be redeveloped and filled with new shops, but when they dug up the ground, they found buried treasure. Construction can't be done if ruins are buried, so they're currently investigating. Ahh... The tonkatsu, hamburger steak, and curry rice that I have yet to see! Finish quickly.

🎨: But if you expect that, they'll end up only being able to open a boutique or an accessory shop.

🧢: Wow, it's possible...

Q. There are various mascots such as Chan, Wild Duck, and a mysterious hero whose name I don't know, and I would like to know more details about them.

🧢: Wow, that's a question for the connoisseurs. You really pay attention to the details.

🎨: I heard from Azuki-chan that there was a theme song in the planning stages, is that true?

🧢: This is true. It's more like a spell than a theme song... If you tune it, it goes "Aazuki shaki shaki, aazuki shoka shoka" over and over again...

🎨: It's like an urban legend...

🧢: Well, I'm grateful that it was rejected, but I wanted to hear it.

🎨: Wild Duck stands out quite a bit, and there doesn't seem to be any hidden plot beyond being a mascot character, but what about the plastic doll next to him?

🧢: That is the next generation hero born from Wild Duck Burger! His name is Wild Hero! You can see his adventures around the world on the silver screen in the movie "Wild Hero Never Dies," which will be released soon!

🎨: …You’re not saying you’re making it right now, are you?

🧢: No way! Look at the poster inside the monorail.

🎨: Ah, the movie poster...is it real?

🧢: It is.

🎨: It's not that it's elaborate, but rather that the staff seem to have a lot of free time.

🧢: Please don't say that...

Q. On the left side of the Iwatodai shopping street is a vacant lot where you can see a real estate agency sign, but what is the significance of this place?

🧢: Oops, that's a tricky question isn't it?

🎨: Yeah? How tricky?

🧢: Actually, this sign is related to a certain event that was scrapped, Chidorita.

🎨: Scrapped event?

🧢: In the early stages of planning, there was an idea to set up a lottery booth at the Paulownia Mall, and it was expected that the maximum prize would be 300 million yen. However, no matter how much money you receive, it won't be interesting for the users if they don't know how to spend it, right? So there was an event where if you won first prize, you could buy a house and land from that famous real estate agency. I wish they had kept it... a free life with more freedom than a dormitory, no curfews or anything!

🎨: It only affects the main character, so it doesn't matter, right?

🧢: Damn, women don't have dreams.

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#junpei iori #chidori yoshino #persona 3 #yukari takeba #fuuka yamagishi #that does appear in the bible!

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