#I am allowed to be content consuming the art that others have made.

[neverendingford]

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[hinamie]

i normally don’t contribute much of my opinions on chapter content n themes bc a. i think my role in fandom spaces is that of a fanartist and I want to keep my art at the forefront, and b. I am Insecure about how little of the manga I have actually consumed and don’t think I have a solid foundation on which i can offer any coherent arguments or insight. generally I like to leave the long meta 2 people who have been genuinely invested in delving into the manga with the intent of analyzing it . y'all do gods work u are the reason i am not flying through this series completely blind

that being said, i am not here to give criticism on pacing or story cohesion bc quite simply, that is not my wheelhouse. i do, however, want to offer my 2 cents on the concept of choosing to live for others as someone who (like a lot of people is the vibe i’m getting) also struggles w depression and self-worth issues and sees aspects of themselves in megumi as a result. i want to reiterate tht this is not an analysis, these r just my gojo voice personal feelings n u r allowed 2 feel differently based on your own experience :)

let me just say first of all that I can 100% empathize with people wanting to see megumi choose to live fr himself after a lifetime spent in a system notorious fr stripping people of their agency and turning them into tools. i think in a perfect world he Does come to the realization that he’s worth living for. but i also think that him /not/ having crossed that bridge yet is also a very valid n realistic outcome. he's a kid, he's just had the worst experience of his life, he's traumatized and then some -- i only have a bachelor's in psychology and god knows i'm no doctor but personally i wouldn't call that a mental space where self-love is likely to stick

it’s hard to claw yourself out from rock bottom. to expect someone to immediately be able to make the transition from being in the worst mental state of their life to realizing that they are worthy as a person is a tall order that i honestly don't think many people wld b able to fulfil. /I/ certainly haven’t been, and living for others has honestly been what’s kept me going for a long fucking time. even when I’m not necessarily at a low point, I still rly struggle w liking myself n thinking i’m a good person, but what’s been a genuine lifeline fr me when i can't love myself is to direct that love Outwards. If nothing else I know that I have things I can create, and things I can offer others. I've spent countless hours forcing myself to acknowledge that, no matter how much i don’t believe them, if the people around me insist that they see something of value in me or in my work; something tht makes them love me Despite, then that alone is worth staying alive for.

i personally (although i can see how others wld disagree) don’t view the 'living for others' frame of mind as waiting for someone to save you, but rather as holding out hope that there is More out there than your own self-loathing will let you believe. For megumi, it wld seem that his something more was the people he cares about. Yuuji gave him the agency to choose whether or not to keep living, and megumi made that decision of his own accord, which fr someone at their absolute lowest is still a huge achievement! there was agency in that decision, there was selfishness--regardless of the underlying motivation it proved that he /wants/ to live. little side note but i think that megumi Making a selfish decision to live for others' sake should also give a bit of hope that he does have it in him to eventually be able to b equally selfish in the value he places on himself.

anyway that's what i got source: i'm depressed . n look i get that with so little of jjk left, it Is frustrating that we probably Won't see megumi come to the conclusion that he's worthy and that he should live for and love himself. but at the same time i don't think that his decision to keep living for others should b condemned either, bc as someone who has also yet to cross that bridge, sometimes that rly is the first step

[actualhumancryptid]

I see so many posts bemoaning fic commenting culture, and how it is so much worse now. How things are commodified. The readers are entitled, and see our work as just content to consume. it was better before!

I am begging 'nuance' on this one.

Of course as a writer I want readers to comment. Of course I want to hear that they enjoyed what I wrote, and to have that connection. And to be honest, the serotonin. (let's be real, that is part of it for a lot of us. Not so different to social media).

But people can't always comment. And they won't. And that isn't necessarily a bad thing or the end of the world.

People have all sorts of reasons for not commenting, and it isn't just because they are entitled, or lazy, or 'bad'. That's a pretty reductive way to look at readers as a whole. Whatever the reason (the lack of time, being overwhelmed/pressured by the task) the act of reading is a fundamentally different mental space to the act of writing composition. Reading is immersive, whether you're reading a novel or a smut fic. There's a mental load to the shift into: engaging in literary criticism/describing your current emotional state/essentially writing a letter to the author. Especially if the fic was enormous, or particularly amazing. You have just finished it, you haven't even processed it. And now oh my god, do some words, yes anything will do!

It's understandable that some people freeze, or think 'I can't do this now!'. Only it's very hard to then remember to come back, and write that comment later. It isn't because people don't care. There are so many ways they are interacting with your fic that you will just have no idea about. That's true of tradpubbed works, of self-published zines. it's true of visual art in all its forms. Once it's out in the world, it will have a life of its own. And people will love it and never tell you. They may hate it and never tell you. It might form the bedrock of their personal philosophy. And you will never know. That unfortunately is the nature of making art.

Is it fair? I mean, you made this thing for free! There are no other rewards for you, supposedly, other than comments and kudos.

But that isn't true either. Because I hate to tell you this, no amount of comments will be as satisfying as having made the thing and enjoyed the process of making the thing (and it works! Or doesn't! But it was fun!). Yes we do need some form of acknowledgement that this thing we did isn't floating out there, unnoticed, forgotten. We want our work to matter to somebody. And that's valid. But if you don't find the act of making it a reward in and of itself, then perhaps it's time to try cultivating that. Because you will certainly be happier. And sure, you're allowed to be miffed when nobody comments, or when it feels like nobody is seeing you. You're human.

The thing is, I am finding this evangelical push towards beating fic readers over the heads with their commenting failures a troubling trend. That just makes everyone involved feel defensive, and is such a fraught way to try and have this conversation.

How do we foster a robust fandom community? How do we bring back that sense of connection we had in the past? How do we stop fics from feeling like a consumable good?

Well, it's not by being a dick to readers. They are not a consumable good either.

[charmingradiobelle]

Genuine question: Why do you ship Radiobelle? I've seen a lot of people doing it, and I'm curious as to what the appeal is!

The real question is, why do people ship anything? Why do we all see two or sometimes more characters interact with each other and imagine how cool it would be if they both had deep-seated romantic feelings for the other?

Answer: cuz we can!😌

Idk about the rest of you, but I don’t exactly have much control over what I ship and don’t ship😅 I just see the characters together and my brain randomly decides either “yes I want them to make out” or “nooo I don’t really see it”

But as for Radiobelle specifically, there’s just something about them that my silly fangirl heart can’t resist. While I am fairly new to the HH fandom, I did watch the pilot around the time it came out and a small part of me did ship them back then. But I never really allowed myself to indulge in it and I just wasn’t that into the show anyway so I didn’t bother. Now, after actually watching the episodes and engaging in fandom content, I finally embraced the cringe to the full extent and let myself be consumed by the radio demon and his charming demon belle! :P

Now I’m aware that the majority of people don’t like Radiobelle, or even full-on hate it for multiple reasons. Sure, whatever. You don’t have to like every ship, nor does anyone expect you to! I can understand it’s not for everybody. The main thing that bugs me, though, is when people try to start arguments about why it’ll never be canon and why you shouldn’t ship it. “Charlie is with Vaggie and Alastor is aro/ace!” People ship Alastor with a multitude of other characters and nobody bats an eye,, why is it only when you see him being drawn with Charlie that you lose your shit and get offended about his sexuality being ‘erased’? (That’s a topic for a whole other post tbh). And people can ship Charlie with other people. Hell, they DO! I’ve seen numerous art of her and other characters.

Then there’s also the “Alastor thinks of her as his daughter!” See, I want everybody to actually watch episode 5 again and come back to me on this. No, he fucking does not. The only reason he was saying any of that was to get under Lucifer’s skin. That’s it. That was his whole intention. He doesn’t like Lucifer and wanted to rub it in his face that he has been a lousy father to his daughter, in comparison to all the ways he has helped her, with the hotel and whatever else.

Phew, now that I’ve gotten that out of the way! Onto why Radiobelle has stolen my heart!

I just love their dynamic and it all really started with the pilot. Alastor—this mysterious force of nature who can kill anyone and anything, is capable of unimaginable power and torture—randomly showing up on the doorstep of a hotel to help out. And literally no one else trusts him (reasonably so) but Charlie, the good-hearted soul she is, lets him in. She’s cautious, of course, but she’s giving him the chance to do some good because that’s what her dream is all about!

Now while I do wish they had some more interactions in the actual show, what we have so far is scrumptious✨ Alastor may have been giving an abundance of praise to Charlie to piss off her dad, but I don’t think he was lying. Deep down I’m sure he is enjoying the time they’ve spent together—even if he doesn’t fully realize it. Charlie defends Al’s sadistic behavior to her dad because he was doing it to defend the hotel (and bc he’s a cocky mf lol but it’s endearing to her in a way).

Oh and don’t even get me STARTED on episode 7 bro,, omfg the content!! The way he’s extra touchy with her even after they’ve made their deal. Her being nervous and stressed out but he encourages her anyway and verbally admits that he had faith in her the whole time. Him giving her his microphone—which is likely the main source of his power as shown in episode 8 (where he let her use his mic AGAIN!!!) which just shows how much he actually trusts her,, UGH it’s just 🤌🏻🤌🏻🤌🏻🤌🏻 give me more!!

Now, do I expect Radiobelle to become canon? No. Would it be fucking awesome if it did? Oh absolutely. But I know it won’t, and I don’t care! I’m having the time of my life shipping these two hell-dwelling idiots and I don’t care what anyone says about it!😋

[mydeeralastor]

Hi! It's my understanding that I won't have to see radioapple-posts on your blog? A lot of the radioapple is good art, but Alastor is one of the few main characters in entertainment that's ace. As an ace guy I'm not spoiled with role models in media. Even here on Tumblr, where I had the conception that people tried to be sensetive and woke about peoples feelings, I got the comment: "Ace isn't a real thing." And that was when I made a comment on a gaypositive post. It makes you sad. An exclusionist is just as bad as a racist. And Lucifer is straight, Alastor is (aro)ace.

The idea of this blog was to provide a safe place for fellow aroace fans of Alastor who are more sex/romance repulsed than me to be able to view posts about Alastor without worry. This means that there will be no posts on this blog that portray Alastor as being into sex/romance in any way. So, if you do see any radioapple post on this blog, it will be a post where their relationship can be viewed as platonic, at least from Alastor's point of view. I am happy to be informed if I miss something that can be read as romantic or sexual so that I can remove it from the blog.

Acephobia is a horrible thing and it is horrible that there are still people denying the existence of ace people. So far, I have been lucky to not have that experience. Even though I am aroace, I do ship Alastor. He is my current hyperfixation and I love consuming content about him. It has allowed me to experience all the delightful ways that people use Alastor to explore the ways that a person can be asexual/aromantic. However, I understand that for those who are more repulsed, even that is too much, hence this blog.

I do believe that Alastor is canonically sex/romance repulsed aroace and is never going to be in that kind of relationship on the show. Asexuality has been confirmed on the show and even though his aromanticism hasn't been confirmed yet, it is there in the subtext. I have never liked the fact that some people make it sound like the VA said that Alastor isn't aromantic when all he said is that it hasn't been confirmed in canon.

Lucifer, on the other hand, can't say for certain that he is straight. He loves his wife. He was created before the concept of gender. I think he would love his wife regardless of gender. We don't have any confirmation about his sexuality. As far as we know at the moment, the only straight person at the hotel is Niffty.

[graylinesspam]

Okay, there's been a lot of hot topic discussions about participating in fandom and the rules and expectations there in. Great discussions, I am loving the active shift to move back to a more traditional fandom etiquette. Being kinder, more supportive, more encouraging, ect, of creators is great. BUT lets be honest. It's not always easy. One of the biggest challenges we are facing right now is an environmental one. The worlds on fucking fire, we're all exhausted and scared and using our fandoms as escapism from everything else. That still doesn't give anyone the right to become entitled to fandom made media or to behave poorly in those spaces. But the tired and well meaning consumers of fandom who are just too burnt out to do much more than doomscroll are probably wondering how they can help to create a better environment without putting themselves out. I say this as someone who has been there, is there, and will be there again.

Structuring your fandom engagement can be immensely helpful for the fandom and your enjoyment of it. If you are suffering in any way and are just too exhausted to even think enough words to leave a comment on a fic. If your running on fumes and using a constant flow of fics, edits, ect to keep going. But you genuinely don't have the time to stop and engage with the media. If you are suffering from social anxiety and it's just too much to even try to shout into the void. Then this is my advice for you. Put it off.

Seriously.

As a fic writer myself I know how much writers sit on ao3 refreshing and waiting for hits and comments. I know how much I love receiving notifs on here for headcannon posts. And it is absolutely fact that creators must be interacted with and encouraged to make more content. But it is equally true that the media they make is meant to be enjoyed for the long term, not just the moment it comes out. And there are ways you can accommodate yourself.

starting with the things it doesn't actually take effort to do. The things you really should be doing right away. Like posts. leave kudos. use repost and reblog features of whatever platform you are using.

I know that in the past I have been held back from reblogging a post because I know that I will have thoughts on it. So I want to put it off until i have the time to get to it. But the truth of it is that there is no actual reason not to give the creator an empty reblog once or even more than once. Notifications feel good. The only thing that's discouraging you is that little social anxiety voice. I promise you it isn't embarrassing to reblog something more than once.

Creators won't think anything negative about you for doing so. If it's as easy as pushing a button. DO IT. Push the damn button.

And this goes well beyond just posted works too. If there's a discord chat you don't have the energy to way in on but your enjoying reading. Hit them with a reaction. If there's a post in the making with multiple creators discussing something, reblog it. Engage, hit that button baby

Now for the less demanding tasks, You feeling demand avoidant to engagement. You feeling nonverbal to a mental degree. Head empty no words? BUT your absolutely digging the content your consuming? Great. You can literally save it for later. Your allowed. If you need some kind of authoritative permission to be late to things, This is me granting it to you. There is no such equivalent to liking an old Instagram post (or whatever it is the youths stress about socially). You want to say something in the notes of a post you liked? there's a fun feature of this here blog site that lets you save posts as drafts. You would not believe the amount of drafts that I have saved. Some are years old. Some are kept as permanent references for other works that I come back to.

Your ever find yourself adding to a post just to lose steam half way through? don't delete that response. Save to draft.

You want to leave something nice in the notes of some fan art but can't for the life of you think any words? (There's always emojis) save to drafts. Come back to it later when you feel more up to it.

You're allowed to put thing off. You are not obligated to jump at all fandom engagement as tax for being in the fandom.

Now, that being said, you should still actually come back to that saved content. You want to know a secret about me? I am terrible at leaving comments.

I know as a fic write, I should be better at it, but I'm just not. I came to conclusion very quickly that feeling guilty about that only made me do it less. Less engagement is not the answer. So here are some easily employable tips for being better at leaving comments.

#1 don't...I mean, don't worry about it right away. You just finished a fic, you feel like you should leave a comment in appreciation. You are allowed to wait.

Personally I use my reading history on ao3 to keep track of my reading. I rarely leave a comment after having just finished a fic. Usually I wait for a good mental health day, (or a day where I have to urge to write but my brain won't let me actually work on a fic) and I go through my history and leave comments on all the fics I've read since the last time I did this. I usually do this between every month and every other month.

I gave this advice to a friend of mine a couple years ago and she has decided to make a personal tag in her bookmarks that she uses to keep track of fics she plans on commenting on later.

I have also personally used the PRIVATE bookmark feature as a way to take notes on fics while reading them so I remember what I wanted to comment on later. Since these notes are nearly ineligible to anyone but me. And since they're invisable to the author, this feels private and organized enough for my brain to handle.

I find that this method not only make me feel good for spreading joy across the fandom in bursts but also sometimes lets me make more well thought out and articulate comments. It also allows me to go back and leave a comment on each chapter of a long fic with my thoughts, without disrupting my rhythm during reading. Which we know authors love getting a stream of new comments, so there's no need to feel bad about it.

#2 But wait, maybe you do want to leave a comment right away but don't have the words. Then you can leave an emoji or keyboard smash and just come back later to leave a better comment. Fun fact, you can, should, and are encouraged to leave multiple comments on the same fic/post. You are more than welcome to leave a string of emojis now and come back later. I personally just went back to a fic I read almost seven years ago just to leave a better comment. And while it's awesome to reread fics when you do this. You don't have to. I didn't this time. I just found myself thinking about the fic in question and wanted to say something that, at the time of reading, i just wasn't mature or educated enough to have put into words.

#3 Or maybe you just won't ever have the words to say exactly what you want. That's okay too. Sometimes concepts are just too big to get from you brain to your mouth. I hate it when it happens to me. And in the past it has felt very discouraging. But I promise you it's okay. There are about a million posts on this site giving you advice on how to word your comments so I won't use too much space up on that, but i will say, It's okay if all you can manage is an ok comment. Fanfiction comments are not something you need to have a good grade in. You are allowed to be dry. You are allowed to just say "I liked__ and __ and the way that you___", without elaborating. You do not have to explain yourself and all your thoughts in a comment. A compliment as simple as "I love the way you write." Is perfectly fine.

#4 Head empty, only blorbo? telling people you love the trope they're writing, or a headcannon you like about the character that they included is great to. Or something included in a drawing. As fun as it is to receive an annotated analysis on something, it's actually not mandatory for you to talk to someone about their actual writing or drawing skills. Sometimes all your brain wants is to think about the character or the headcannon or the scenario. And that's ok. Clearly the creator wants to as well, if they wrote about it.

The core of all of this advice is not to put too much pressure on yourself. Fandom is being consumed too fast and left behind to quickly. It's okay to take your time with things, Yes even if you also find yourself chasing the dopamine. You can like the latest trendy fandom, and also use any of the above methods to keep track of the whirlwind of content your eating through, and come back to it later. You can also use que features to space out your reblogs of some fandom content to spread out the appreciation.

If you are for some reason embarrassed to blow through someone's blog or fics, use the que feature. Making comments in a private bookmark and then add them to the fic later.

You are allowed to take things at your own pace. Fandom isn't just for right now. It's for the long term, but only if you continue to engage with it.

[bedofthistles]

The Little White Horse: A Complete Summary

So! I finally read TLWH, and man do I have thoughts and opinions! So many... so... many....

However, before I get into those opinions, I wanted to share my summary of TLWH, since I don't think a lot of people have read the book who enjoyed the movie.

Unfortunately, my thots and opinions are too wide and vast, resulting in what is more or less a 16 page dissertation, which may grow depending on if I think I covered all the topics I wanted to cover. So, to makes things a bit easier, I'm going to be splitting them up into more readable sections.

So, if you haven't read the book, if it's been a while since you've read the book, here is a summary of the novel.

Alright friends, the time has come. 

After undertaking the laborious task of consuming all Moonacre content possible (movie, minie-series and novel) I have come to some unfortunate conclusions. The book sucks. But before you go too far, especially the weird amount of you who like the book, I would like to preface that each person is allotted their opinions. I am not aiming to dis the book, it’s a classic, but it’s not perfect, no book or work of art is. No one should get so offended by another’s opinion to the point where it sparks a deep, roiling anger inside of them. 

(Rachel Zeglar may be wrong about the Snow White movie from the 1930s, but I took her side, everyone got real upset about a girl having opinions, not that’s her opinion and she’s allowed it.) 

I want to start out by saying there are some issues in regards to race, incest, pedophilia, grooming and sexism in the novel, if that surprises and shocks you, I’m sorry but its in there, and just because you didn’t notice it doesn’t erase the fact that it was there. I also don’t want this to be about me comparing the book to the movie, because one that would just be a rant, and as much as I love that, that wouldn’t be fair to either works, and honestly? Besides the names and setting, the book and movie could almost fully be divorced from one another. 

In case you don’t know the plot to the book, I will try to surmise it as best I can: 

Maria Merryweather is a recently orphaned girl, she leaves London with her governess (Miss Heliotrope) and her dog (Wiggins) arriving to live with her first cousin once removed, Sir Benjamin, lord over Moonacre Valley (and if you’re not up to snuff about what that means, he’s a landlord, more or less). While driving, Maria occupies herself by staring at her small feet, her one attribute and attractive characteristic. 

While en route, Maria sees the beautiful valley lit up like silver in the moonlight, and between the trees she spots a luminescent white horse. When she tries to tell her governess this, Ms. Heliotrope tells her to stop her overactive imagination, she has always had an overactive imagination, especially back in London, when she made up a playmate named Robin (yes, that one). 

When they arrive, they learn that no woman has stepped foot inside of the house in 20 years - yes, Sir Benjamin is proud of this - and, very importantly, there is no pink within the house. While there, Sir Benjamin is a very happy, polite gentleman, who calls Maria your highness, and refers to Moonacre Valley as her dominion. There are also this weird thing about Sun Merryweathers and Moon Merryweathers.

“The brave soul and the pure spirit shall with a merry and a loving heart inherit the kingdom together," quoted Sir Benjamin. “That's our family motto, my dear. It's been our motto since the days of the first Sir Wrolf. It refers, I think, to the two sorts of Merryweathers, the sun and the moon Merryweathers, who are always merry when they love each other. It is also, perhaps, a device for linking together those four qualities that go to make up perfection --courage, purity, love, and joy."

While giving her a tour of the manor, he shows her a well (this will be important later) and Maria thinks to herself if I were a medieval lady, this is where I would hide my jewels in time of war. 

Weird, but okay. 

The one place Maria is not shown, is the kitchen. 

They go to church, while the Parson is preaching, Maria brushes her skirt to smooth out some wrinkles, and there’s a noise that captures her attention for a bit. Then, once the service is over, everyone lines up and goes up to the Parson to get absolutely read to shreds. He literally tells them their sins of the week, and when it’s Maria’s turn, despite only being there for a day, she’s scolded for her vanity and curiosity. 

One of the things Sir Benjamin gets scolded for is allowing the (and I’m so sorry for this) “Black Men” to stop hunting in Merryweather park. And that’s kind of all they do, and from here on out I will be referring to them as the De Noirs because that is technically their name, but Elizabeth Goudge just keeps calling them “the Black Men”. 

And yes, that is as bad as it sounds, but more on that later. 

Let’s just speed run some facts. 

Every morning, Maria wakes up to cookies, milk, a stroked fire, and an outfit placed out for her. Maria feels so loved by these small acts, and feels as if she loves whoever is putting out these clothes. 

“[Maria] had a queer feeling, as she fastened the coat of the habit and pinned the bunch of snowdrops to the front of it, that L.M. - whoever she was - put loving arms around her; almost as her mother might have done, had she not died.” 

When she is out in the forest with Periwinkle and Wrolf, she hears the shrill, shrieking rabbit, and goes to save it. As she does, she realizes that the De Noirs have come for the rabbit as well. She and Robin save the rabbit from the De Noirs and bring her to safety. Robin tells her it's actually a moonacre hare, and then upon her asking too many questions, leaves. 

“Maria choked down her curiosity, for Robin had always hated being asked questions, and if she asked too many would disappear, and she did not want him to disappear just yet.”

“There was no answer, and looking up she saw that Robin had disappeared, even though as far as she knew she had not asked a single question.” 

She knows this because she would dream about Robin in London, and when she asked him questions, he would just leave the dream. 

Maria learns about Sir Wrolf (who was arrogant, rude, and planned on marrying the Moon Princess to steal Black William’s land), the Moon Princess (who was just pale, and kind, I think?) with her dowry of pearls, and Monsieur Cocque De noir, otherwise known as Coeur De Noir because his heart was so black (it’s a common french last name, not to mention the black cock that rides on the current De Noir’s shoulder).

“[Sir Wrolf had] got Paradise Hill but there remained the pine woods behind his manor house, that run right down to the sea, to what is now called Merryweather Bay, which were the property of Sir William Cocq de Noir, called Black William because of the black cock that was his family crest, and because of his lashing dark eyes, black hair and beard and sallow French skin. And also because of his black heart. Coeur de Noir, men sometimes called him, instead of Cocq de Noir. For he was a bad man, was Black William, cruel to wild creatures, domineering with his servants, morose and ungenerous.”

Black William remarries, has a son, and that son becomes his heir. Because of this, Sir Wrolf can’t inherit the whole of the Valley through his wife, and gets super angry. Because of his rage, the De Noir’s think Sir Wrolf killed Black William, the Moon Princess ran away, and Black William’s son, who was believed to have died from sickness, returned twenty years later with his band of men who would become the wicked, evil, ‘Black Men’ who plague the valley. Sir Wrolf is described to have died heartbroken (good) and damned to ride around Paradise Hill in a sort of purgatory for his ill-deeds.

The Parson also tells Maria that every Moon Princess is destined to leave the Valley after fighting with her love. That it won’t be until the Moon Princess humbles herself and marries a poor man she will never be allowed to stay. 

“She always has gone away," said Old Parson. “Not necessarily from the valley, but from the manor. Yet the old folks in the village vow and declare that one day there will come a Moon Princess who will have the courage to deliver the valley from the wickedness of the Black Men. But like the princesses in all the nicest fairy tales she will have to humble her pride to love not a prince but a poor man, a shepherd or ploughman or some such country lad, and to effect the deliverance with his help, and that's a thing which no Moon Princess has yet done, so proud are they.”

At this point, Maria meets Loveday Minette, the lady who had been leaving her clothes, she is kind and beautiful, and cleans the Parson’s house. 

Then again, while out with her animals and Ms. Heliotrope, Maria goes to Paradise Hill, which is the monastery Sir Wrolf stole from the monks because he was covetous. While there she meets the shepherd and guess who it is? That’s right, Robin, no surprise there. While the two are there, the De Noirs attempt to steal the sheep. 

Robin, Maria, and the Ghost of Sir Wrolf -

“And then, through the noise of the thunder and the rain, she distinctly heard the hoofs of a galloping horse pounding upon the turf. As the horseman was behind her she could not herself see anything, but whoever he was the Black Men seemed to see him, for with faces blanched by terror they turned and fled.”

they manage to scare them off.

Maria and Robin have a fight, but they deal with it, because Maria knows if she doesn’t forgive him, she’ll have to leave the Valley. This will be handled in more depth later. Likewise, Loveday and Sir Benjamin had a fight twenty years ago, Loveday leaves the Valley, marries a lawyer, sires Robin, and then comes back after her husband dies. Because of their stubborness, neither would return to the other and apologize. More detail on this later. 

After dealing with the De Noirs, however. Maria decides that she must save the valley from their wickedness. 

She, Robin, and the Parson return Paradise Hill to god, Sir Benjamin no longer profits off the sheep, and that’s it. It was a really long boring chapter about all the children of Silverydew cleaning it up and decorating it again with the statue of their Lady. They sing, and I think Sir Wrolf’s soul is released from the hell that is Moonacre Valley. 

Once this is done, Maria and Robin sneak into the Castle in the pine woods, ask Mr. Cock to pretty please stop stealing and he says: not until you give me back the pearls, and also your ancestor murdered my ancestor. 

Robin and Maria are chased, they find the tree hollow, with evidence that someone once lived there including a knife with a carved cock as the handle-

“Once upon a time this cave had been lived in. A hollow place in the wall was blackened, as though a fire had been lit there, and standing on a flat rock beside it was an iron pot that must have been used to cook stew in. And lying on the rock beside the pot was a huntsman's knife in a metal sheath, and a tarnished silver mug. Maria and Robin picked them up and looked at them, holding them close to their eyes in the dim light, and lo and behold, the sheath that held the knife was beautifully made in the shape of a cock, and upon the silver mug also there was traced the outline of a cock."

They also run through the tunnels that go through Moonacre Valley until they reach Merryweather Bay, where Maria finds a boat that belonged to Sir William. 

For Maria, this is enough evidence that Black William left on his own accord, and the magical sea unicorns brought the boat back to Merryweather Bay as proof. 

Once they’re home safe, Marmaduke asks Maria for butter kept in the well, because it's cold in there, and while Maria is more or less rifling through the Merryweather fridge, she finds an old box that has the pearls in them. 

Maria decides that she doesn’t want to give the pearls to the De Noirs, because they are wicked, and will just give them to the moon instead. Then, through a gold medal mental gymnastic routine, decides that she will give them over. 

“And yet Maria did not want to give those pearls away. She loved them far too much. She did not want to give them even to the moon, and as for giving them to the Black Men--well--she just couldn't do it. And yet she had to do it. Monsieur Cocq de Noir had promised that they would stop being wicked if she could give him proof that Black William had not been murdered by Sir Wrolf, but had withdrawn to a hermit's life by his own choice, and if she would give him the pearls. “That first condition was already fulfilled, for when he was pursuing her and Robin he would have seen Black William's hermitage with his own eyes, and the pearls he would have too if she could bring herself to give them to him. And then he would not be wicked any more and complete happiness would come to the Moonacre Valley. Somehow Maria did not doubt that if she kept her part of the bargain Monsieur Cocq de Noir would keep his. The wickedest of men have good in them somewhere, and remembering the direct look in his eyes she felt quite sure that he was not a man who would break his word. Yet she felt she could not give him these pearls, that she had found herself and that seemed already a part of her. “And then it struck her suddenly that if she gave her pearls to Monsieur Cocq de Noir she would, in a way, be giving them to the moon. For the moon belongs to the night, and what was more like night than Monsieur Cocq de Noir and his black pine forest? And the first Moon Princess had come out of the night-dark pine wood, bringing the pearls with her. The pearls belonged far more to the Black Men than they did to the Merryweathers.”

However, when she goes to the Castle, Mr. Cock takes the pearls, but doesn’t believe her about the boat. Then she hits him with the old “magic unicorns brought him into shore”, and he doesn’t believe that, but Maria is able to convince him to come out with her to the forest where she is sure the Little White Horse will appear, despite being rather elusive this whole time. They go out together, they see not only the Little White Horse, but a whole tidal wave of Sea Unicorn, and he’s like oh! You were telling the truth. 

But! That’s not the end! 

Maria still has to get Loveday and Sir Benjamin back together, and that is a whole other thing that deserves its own post and I will go into full detail on later. As well as some issues that I have with Robin Minette. 

The story ends with Loveday and Benjamin getting married, Robin and Maria getting married A YEAR LATER, and going on to have ten kids. While the book does not tell us Robin’s age, we know Maria is thirteen, meaning she is at least fourteen when she gets married, and who knows when they start having kids. Again, I will talk about this more later. However, despite common belief, this getting married at 12-14 was not common.

The book ends, however, with one of the most lovely quotes. 

“For sometimes in her dreams at night she stood beneath the branches of a mysterious wood, and looked down a moonlit glade, her eyes straining after something that she could not see. And when she woke up there would be tears on her cheeks because her longing had been unsatisfied. “Yet she was not unhappy because of this dream. “She knew that one day, when she was a very old woman, she would dream this dream for the last time, and in this last dream of all she would see the little white horse and he would not go away from her. He would come towards her, and she would run towards him, and he would carry her upon his back away and away, she did not quite know where, but to a good place, a place where she wanted to be.” 

To keep things brief (too late) I will be making other posts to complete my analysis of book, movie, and small mentions of the miniseries. 

And if you were thinking about reading the book: don’t.

First | Next

[yamiheart]

In CELEBRATION of Fanfiction

AI-generated content seems to be aiming at every possible creative pursuit as of late. Theft of art and art styles has become so insidious that digital artists are being forced to “mask” their posted pieces in ways that human eyes can’t detect yet completely scramble AI art programs. AI “animation,” while currently in a state of fairly poor quality, has proven to be feasible, and thus threatens the status of already precarious and underpaid animators throughout the world. Even photographers and their models are not immune to the pressure of the seemingly “miraculous” output of hundreds of thousands of lifelike, frontpage-ready images by AI programs. 

Of course, the above mentioned are all visual mediums. The art of conversation and the written word has also been in the eye of AI for a long time. “Chatbots” have been around for almost as long as the concept of the computer itself, and The Turing Test is still a popular measure of a successful AI chatting program to this day. Back in my childhood days, “Cleverbot” was a novelty chatbot that was fun to chat with for a few minutes, but quickly became stale. As most of you reading likely already know, ChatGPT, on the other hand, has taken the world by storm. Schools are contending with students submitting AI-written reports (a very futuristic-sounding cheating method indeed), and many writing-based industries, already squeezed by the looming threats of a post-pandemic recession, are in turmoil over the potential of the complete replacement of humans by the machines. 

I myself am in no way an AI expert. I do not know if the current state of AI is just a fad or a true industry disruptor. What I do know about, however, is fanfiction, and it seems that people want AI to write it, too. 

I have been writing fanfiction since 2010, back when I was in middle school. I would write for hours and hours, exploring characters and ideas in ways the original source material (in this case, the original Yu-Gi-Oh! series) never intended. I would then post these works onto fanfiction(dot)net for mostly my irl friends and a few dozen strangers to read and enjoy. Over the years, I’ve cycled through a few different fandoms and made the switch to the currently-preferred fanfic-posting website, Archive of Our Own -otherwise known as “Ao3.”  LiveJournal, FFnet, Wattpad, Ao3 -all of these websites and more have had hundreds of thousands if not millions of fanfictions posted and consumed. Fanfiction isn’t just a small circle of Star Trek fans sharing secret magazines through the mail -and in some ways, it never was just that. 

Many “classics” today are, in some way or another, fanfiction by another name. Consider, for instance, the well-known fact that Disney’s 1994 hit movie, The Lion King, is just a retelling of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. When anonymous authors online turn all of their favorite characters into lions or wolves, it’s considered “furry cringe,” but when multi-billion dollar corporations do the same, it’s considered “art.” 

House is a modern-day hospital-au version of Sherlock Holmes. 

All fairytale “reimaginings,” such as the TV drama Once Upon a Time, are fanfictions in every sense of the word.

The current Batman cannon has so many reimaginings that it’s a gag in The Lego Batman Movie!

And these are just some American/European examples. The first “modern” novel, The Tale of Genji, has such a long history of fanart and fanfiction in Japan that there are literal traveling museum exhibitions to display small fractions of what has been (and continues to be) produced. However, in these exhibitions, the words “art” and “fiction” are never preceded by “fan.” These works, though just as “derivative” in content as anything you would find in internet fanspaces today, get to once again simply be “art.” 

What is the difference? Where is the line between literature worthy of “respect” and literature considered worthy of constant derision?

I do not have all the answers, but please allow me to present some for your consideration.

As you may have noticed in my above examples, most of the original works being reimagined are, indeed, in the public domain. This means that no one owns the rights to these original works anymore, and thus they can be reproduced faithfully or completely changed without threat of legal trouble. This also means that all reproductions can make money for the reproducers without hassle. Batman is a somewhat curious case in this instance, since many of his reimaginings are in and of themselves canon while still carrying many of the hallmarks of fanfiction. 

We will return to the curious case of Batman later, but needless to say legality and potential monetary gain make up an important component of the supposed high-literature/lowly-fanfiction divide. If you ever click on “older” fanfictions, particularly those from the 2000s and early-2010s, you will see constant repetition of phrases such as “I do not own X” or “please don’t sue me”. Later authors, including my own childhood self, repeated these out of an abundance of caution without really knowing why. Afterall, no one on websites like FFnet honestly thought the authors owned the “original” works in question to begin with. The problem, as I understand it now, arose from the infamous response of author Anne Rice to fanfiction of her book series, The Vampire Chronicles. In 2001, she made it very clear that her works and characters were protected by copyright, and that she was willing and ready to sue any supposed-copycats. Fanfics were purged by both individual authors and entire websites who were either afraid of the mere threat of legal action or had been notified of impending legal action if there was no change respectively. 

The state of fanfiction legality has come a long way in 20+ years, but even Ao3, which has lawyers on hand to defend both its own existence and the rights of its authors, does not allow authors to talk about taking commissions (ie, getting paid) or post links to websites such as kofi or patreon. The idea of “making money” off of fanfiction still exists in a dangerous gray zone that not even the lawyers of Ao3 can protect you from. 

Still, one of the stereotypes of the true artiste is that they do not create with money in mind to begin with, so this cannot be the only factor in fanfiction’s discrediting as an art form. Another consideration, then, is the content of fanfiction itself. So far, I have not endeavored to try and define the word “fanfiction.” Everyone reading this surely has their own conception of the word in mind either from first-hand experience or cultural osmosis. To me, defining fanfiction is as fruitless a pursuit as trying to define any other medium of artistic expression. What is sculpture? What is painting? What is documentary filmmaking? Definitions require limits, and limits breed exceptions. 

Perhaps the broadest stereotypical definition of fanfiction is that it is derivative work containing sexually-explicit love stories of a primarily homosexual-male variety. Many of the most famous pairings -KirkxSpock, SasukexNaruto, DanxPhil- would seem, to the distant observer, to fit this stereotype. A related stereotype replaces the homosexual-male romance with a heterosexual romance between a male celebrity/fictional character and a female oc or “original character” who is thus presumed to be the author’s self-insert (meaning that the female oc is a one-to-one reflection of the author herself). Think of all the most infamous One Direction fanfiction for a taste of this stereotypical form. 

However, as you may have guessed, these stereotypes lead to a superficial understanding of what fanfiction can be. If you go to Ao3 right now, you will find that there are five content ratings that can be attached to a fic: General Audiences, Teen and Up Audiences, Mature, Explicit, and Not Rated. By definition, there is no way to know what sort of content is in a “Not Rated” fic, but putting that aside, let us for a moment be ultra-conservative and assume ALL “Explicit” and “Mature” fanfictions have sex (as an author who has used this system, I know for a fact that they do not). Even with this ultra-conservative assumption, going to any popular series with over 200,000 archived stories will reveal to you that sexually-explicit fanfictions make up less than half of what is published. What types of stories are contained in the majority of fanfictions, then?

Well, let’s take a moment to look at the chat fic as just one example. Chat fics are not the most popular type of fanfiction, but they often attract a fair amount of readers. Chat fics are meant to be, well, group chats between fictional characters. Some may have suggestions of romance, but many of these fics would be better described as chaotic, humor-driven affairs (the humor in this case, as in all cases, being somewhat subjective). Authors often have the freedom to play around with each character’s screen name, as well as what other characters might have someone saved as in smaller or private chats. Details like these reveal that, while chat fics may appear on the surface to be some of the most simple and easy-to-write fanfictions, they often require in-depth knowledge of not just canon facts but also fanon (“fan canon”) tropes to be accepted and enjoyed authentically by readers. The implementation of this knowledge is doubly impressive when the original source material exists in a world without cellphones and the internet, and thus the author must find a way to strike a balance between referencing the original character/trait/meme/etc while making it seem congruent in the new setting. Indeed, the achievement of a particularly impressive “reference” in any fic is often met with high praise by readers in the comment section of the story.   

I should say now that none of this is meant to stigmatize or label sexually-explicit fanfiction as somehow “inauthentic.” It is authentic and it is important, but it is not all that fanfiction is. One of the greatest beauties of fanfiction, as has been observed in pieces like Dan Olson’s breakdown of the Fifty Shades movies on the Folding Ideas YouTube channel, is that it lets both authors and readers get to the “good stuff” without having to be bogged down by character introductions and worldbuilding. In the contract of fanfiction, both the author and the reader have already done some amount of prior “research” so that everyone is more or less on the same page about certain aspects of the work. This is why the many iterations of Batman work no matter the change in scenery or storyline: both authors and readers are bringing assumptions to the table that they are ready and willing to see both reaffirmed and challenged. 

Again, a common reason for praise in the comment sections of fanfictions comes from the perceived accuracy of a character’s depiction within the story. In this case, it doesn’t matter if the creator of the original work would actually agree with the characterization in the fanfiction, just that the fanfic author and the reader agree that it is authentic. It is understandable, then, that creators like Anne Rice would feel threatened by fanfiction. In some cases, this fear is legitimate: no well-intentioned creator would want their work altered in order to spread hateful messages, afterall. Additionally, when characters in a story are not merely fictional but are real, living celebrities/singers/idols/youtubers/etc., there are some reasonable questions about ethics and consent to consider. However, what I have mostly found throughout my years as a writer and reader is that the fanfiction contract allows for a deeper exploration of themes that mainstream media simply does not or will not explore.

This brings us to the final consideration today for why fanfiction is so often belittled and mocked, and to put it quite simply it is the creators and audience themselves. Returning to stereotypes once more, people often imagine that fanfiction is written by and for heterosexual, teenage, cis-gendered girls. The social trend of shitting on the interest of teenage girls is another topic for another time. For now, I certainly will not deny that these people exist within the space, but I also would not say they are necessarily the majority. I can only speak from my own experiences, but I have found is that fanfiction holds a strong attraction for individuals of queer genders and sexualities. These individuals, searching both to express their own feelings and to find a community, can use fanfiction as a means of attaining both. This is partially why sexually explicit fanfiction, while not the majority of what is written, can be some of the most powerful and subversive content that is produced. Fanfiction written about men is almost never fanfiction written for cis-gender men, and the truth is that pornography written by gender/sexual minorities for gender/sexual minorities just hits different. 

And when it comes to minority or disadvantaged groups, queer individuals are by no means the only ones who find freedom in fanfiction. Taking characters “everyone” knows and writing them with depression, anxiety, ADHD, Autism, etc., allows authors and readers to feel fully realized in fiction for the first time. Fanfiction can be just as, and sometimes even more, resonant than traditional fiction because of just how strong people’s feelings are for their favorite characters. If those favorite characters were dismissed or betrayed in the source material, they can be given a second chance at “life” in the fanfiction. Even when this is not the case, there may be elements to characters that simply resonate with minority voices and inspire further creation even after the canon story ends.

Fanfiction is not perfect by any means. There is quite a lot to be said about problems such as the misogyny and racism that can “slip by” or be fully adopted by a fandom uncriticized. Once again, however, this is true of any artistic medium, and that’s what fanfiction is: a medium of expression, not a genre. Fanfiction can be romance, but it can also be sci-fi, mystery, comedy, thriller, historical drama, adventure, and more. It is creation constrained only by the written word itself. 

Now let me tie this all back to the beginning. As I alluded to, there has recently been an increased interest in allowing ChatGPT to “write” fanfiction. I am here to say that AI fanfiction is not real fanfiction. While it is true that AI is by its very nature derivative in its outputs, AI is hollow. It has nothing to say. Fanfiction is a rich and flourishing medium which takes characters the dominant powers in society have “allowed” us to have, and it breathes into these characters fresh, minority voices. Fanfiction is art, and it is worthy of celebration, not derision and cheap imitation.

[thedansemacabres]

The Wine Industry for Dionysians: French-American Grapes

THE WINE WORLD is almost as paradoxical and complex as Dionysus himself—the industry is a constant pull of old and new, tradition against modernity, and the complexity of art and science. In the centre of this is the debate of French-American vitis hybrids, as products of science for the modern wine industry. These hybrids are a new shoot in the wine industry, as they not only possess the disease tolerance indigenous American grapes do—but also the ability to stand the brunt of frozen winters and climates inhospitable to Vitis Vinifera. Since I am almost halfway done with my degree of Viticulture and Enology, I thought I should begin to share my knowledge of the art and science with other devotees.

As Dionysians, his realm of vines and enology is ours to explore. The wine industry is always adapting and growing—developing new trends and new styles of wine. From this comes new trendy grapes and wines that may or may not last on consumer’s palettes. That is why the wine industry often is afraid to branch out—new may outcompete the old and wine-making is a risky business. 

HISTORICAL SUMMARY 

French-American hybrids are called French-American as they are usually produced in France or from French cultivars with American grape species. Many hybrids were simply named with numbers, however many now have common names that are usually French. Every year new hybrids are developed with the hopes of a grape worth gold.

In the mid 1800s, due to colonial trade with Europe, settlers brought along pests endemic to North America such as phylloxera (Daktulosphaira vitifoliae) and powdery mildew (Uncinula necator) to Europe. This devastated Europe’s wine industry as Vitis Vinifera had no resistance to the imported pests. In an attempt to save the wine industry, viticulturists began to cross North American grapes with European vines. The first hybrids of these programs created by breeders like Seibel, Couderc, Kuhlmann and Bertille Seyve were widely planted across Europe, however wine quality was considered disappointing when compared with the traditional European cultivars. Modern French-American hybrids that possess some sense of recognition these days have a flavour profile similar to V. Vinifera.

Ever since, hybrids continue to be developed and breed to produce higher quality wine grapes with the desirable traits of American and European grapes.

ABOUT FRENCH-AMERICAN HYBRIDS

In my venture to become a viticulturist, in my heart has grown a passion for these hybrid vines. My current place of residence is within the high, cold mountains that have a special peculiarity to allow grapes to grow. The harsher weathers are shielded by the even grander peaks of the greater mountains and warm-winds trail through the craigs. Yet, vitis vinifera—the European grape—still struggles to grow due to foreign climates. As one example, since my town’s last freeze, the appeal of cold-hardy French-American grapes has grown. 

For those who are unfamiliar, grapevines are under the species Vitis; possessing two subgenera, Euvitis and Muscadinia. Euvitis subgenus are the bunch grapes and Muscadinia are the muscadine loose cluster grapes. The majority of Vitis species are from North America, with others being naturalised to Europe (V. Vinifera, the most commonly used species for wine, originating within West Asia) and Eastern-Central Asia (V. Amurensis). 

Some red wine French-American hybrid grapes include:

Baco Noir, a hybrid of Folle blanche and V. Riparia., is known for low tannin content contrasted with deep pigments and good acid balance. Wine flavour is described as “Rhone-style” or “Beaujolais-style”.

Chambourcin, a hybrid with no known parentage and considered the ‘king’ of the hybrid grapes. Produces a dark fuschia red wine with strong aromatics that may be made dry or with residual sugars from fermentation. Chambourcin is a very versatile grape, as it can produce rosé, Beaujolais, or other styles, and medium-to-full-bodied, fairly complex wines, or ports.

Chancellor, a hybrid made from Seibel 5163 and Seibel 880. Chancellor is mostly used to produce a varietal wine with notes of plum and cedar, or used in red blends.

Chelois, a cross between Seibel 5163 and Seibel 5593 with mixed American grape ancestry. While it is likely best for blends, the wine possesses medium-bodied, fruity wines with notes of berry, leather, and earthy aromas.

Concord, thought to be an accidental hybrid between V. Labrusca and V. Vinifera. A common and well-beloved base to grape juice, jellies, or other ‘grape’ flavour products. Many kosher wines are made with Concord grapes, though little-used elsewhere due to most of the market considering the “foxy” flavour of American grapes to be undesirable. 

De Chaunac, a hybrid of V. labrusca, V. lincecumii, V. riparia, V. rupestris, and V. vinifera. The berries are loose and blue-black. Produces an intensely coloured wine, though the croppage continues to decrease over the years.

Frontenac, a loose-berried cross between Landot 4511 and V. riparia 89. Known for its cold hardiness, this hybrid can be made into ports, blends, and reds. As a wine, it is known for its deep-colour adorned with cherry, blackberry, black currant, and plum notes.

Marechal Foch, known for its intense deep purple hue, a light- to medium mouthfeel, and dark berry fruit flavours, Marechal Foch exhibits some Burgundian characteristics. Some tasters find that the similarities to Burgundy’s Pinot Noir develop with age.

Norton, also called Cynthiana, is an American hybrid from Virginia of V. aestivalis with small clusters of blue-black berries. The wine made from Norton grapes is very versatile, including spicy, fruity (ranging from “foxy” V. labrusca to raspberry character), black pepper, tobacco, and chocolate flavours/aromas. Wines have intense colour density and can be used in varietal wines, including port style, but is also blended with other red wines.

Some common white wine French-American hybrid grapes include:

Caguya White, a hybrid of Seyval and Schuyler with greenish-yellow berries. Cayuga White wine is versatile, as it can be made into semi-sweet wines emphasising the fruity aromas as well as dry, less fruity wine with some ageing in oak. When fruit is harvested early, it can ferment into a lovely sparkling wine with good acidity, good structure, and pleasant aromas. The wine is reminiscent of many German Vitis Vinifera grapes. 

Chardonel, a large-clustered grape hybrid of Seyval and Chardonnay. Chardonel is typically produced as a varietal wine and is finished dry to semidry. Chardonel displays characteristics of its parents, king of the whites Chardonnay and Seyval, yet may also possess a high alcohol content. Chardonel also has the potential for fine-quality, dry still wines produced with barrel fermentation and/or barrel ageing. Chardonel is also used as a base for sparkling wines. The wines made from Chardonel have the fruit aroma characteristics of both parents, making it appealing to more European wine tastes. 

Delaware, a hybrid grape that was found in the United States within a New Jersey garden and then propagated in Delaware, Ohio. The grapes of this hybrid are used as a prized sparkling or dessert wine. 

Diamond, thought to be a cross between Concord and Iona, a V. labrusca and V. vinifera hybrid. Diamond suffers a small yet prized market similar to Concord or Niagara, but it can be made into dry table wines and sparkling blends.

Niagara, essentially the white wine version of Concord. The wines produced from Niagara possess a strong American “foxy” flavour and are usually finished semi-sweet, but can also be made into dessert wines such as cream and dry sherry. Similar to Concord, it may also be used for a white non-alcoholic grape juice. 

Seyval Blanc, or known as simply Seyval, is an adaptable variety that can be finished fresh and dry, barrel-fermented with malolactic fermentation, sur lie aged (aged the spent yeast cells), or made into sparkling wines. Wine from Seyval Blanc has appealing aromas of grass, hay, and melon, though the body tends to be thin. Others describe the wine as clean and fresh, similar to Sauvignon Blanc. 

Traminette, a lovely cross of Joannes Seyve 23-416 and the German white grape Gewürztraminer. Generally, hold strong spice and floral aromas, a full structure, and long aftertaste. The wine can be made dry or sweet but is usually finished with some residual sweetness. Varietal descriptions include floral, spicy, perfume, and lavender, with some similarity to Gewürztraminer.

Vidal Blanc, a loose-clustered vine with greenish-white fruit along with pronounced, noticeable dark lenticels at fruit maturity. Vidal Blanc is a cross between Ugni blanc and Seibel 4986 and is typically grown as a varietal wine. Akin to Chardonnay, Vidal blanc is versatile and may be used to make a variety of wine styles, from off-dry Germanic-style wines similar to Rieslings, sparkling wine base wines, dry barrel-fermented table wines, and complex Burgundy-style wines. Varietal taste descriptors for vidal blanc include melon, pineapple, lead pencil (I have no clue what this means), pears, and figs. Vidal Blanc has also been used to create late-harvest-style wines and ice wines.

Vignoles, born from a cross between Siebel 6905 and Pinot de Corton. Vignoles is frequently harvested for dessert wines, especially when picked late and overripe in the growing season. The wines from ripe fruit have tropical fruit, citrus-like, and pineapple flavours. Vignoles may produce many different styles of wine, including dry, barrel-fermented, sur lie aged wine, and sparkling base wines. 

ENDING THOUGHTS

The modern wine world is dominated by almost the same 12 cultivars, which I find to not only be limiting but also horrid: thousands of cultivars and wine-making styles are under the threat of being out competed by the likes of the classic Chardonnay and Merlot. As a devotee of loud-roaring Dionysus, I find myself wishing to explore more of his realm—which means discovering new wines and strange grapes, all paradoxical just as he is. If you can drink, I would recommend adventuring off into the likes of rare cultivars and hybrids—after all, we tend to discover more when life is a bit unfamiliar. 

Bibliography

Goldammer, T. (2015). The Grape Grower’s Handbook: A Guide to Viticulture for Wine Production.

Wine Grape Production Guide for Eastern North America. (2008). Natural Resource Agriculture and Engineering Service (Nraes).

Further Reading:

Wilson, J. (2018). Godforsaken Grapes: A Slightly Tipsy Journey through the World of Strange, Obscure, and Underappreciated Wine. Abrams.

[dervampireprince]

hi Prince! it's been a while since I've been around and seeing your Astarion stuff has me wondering, have you played/looked into Dragon Age at all? Its one of my favourite series and we have a lot of similar interests - it seems like it would be up your alley! (particularly a brooding elf character in the second game lol)

i haven't and i don't want too.

i really don't want this to come across as rude, but i really don't like when people recommend me things it makes me uncomfortable and makes my brain never want to engage with whatever has been recommended to me on the principal that it has been recommended, that someone has told me should watch it. and especially when its a stranger who doesn't know me telling me they think i'll like it, or they know i'll like it. when you don't know what i'd like because you don't know me and its parasocial to say that you would accurately be able to recommend me things when you don't know me. us having similar interests does not mean you know me.

it makes me uncomfortable to me told i should watch something even if it's by someone i'm close too. telling me i should watch something/will like something/seems right up my alley is a guaranteed way to make sure i never watch the thing, regardless of who you are. it feels like pressure. it feels like if i don't like the thing i've disappointed or wronged someone somehow. and the majority of the time, i don't like the thing i've been told i'll really like. something being the same genre or having similarities with something i already like doesn't mean i'll like it.

a better way to get me into something is someone i know just talking or showing me something, without telling me i should watch it. and if it seems interesting then i'll get curious and look into it and maybe watch it. like my partner loves jujutsu kaisen and talks about it all the time but has never pressured me into watching it and has never said i should watch it or that she knows i'll like it, and just by seeing her enjoy it makes me want to watch it.

this got long, probably because i just got a comment on youtube telling me how much they think i'll like some horror game despite me not playing horror games nor consuming horror content because i find it too upsetting. seeing that i like 'fear and hunger' doesn't mean you can make the assumption that i like horror stuff or want to play horror games. that might sound strange, but me liking one horror thing doesn't mean i like other horror things and i'm very careful about how i consume fear and hunger stuff as it's full of uncomfortable topics.

i'm guessing dragon age is being recommended because i've made baldur's gate audios. but i've never played baldur's gate and i don't want too, i heavily dislike playing RPGs, i hate playing turned based combat, i hate playing any sort of combat in games (there are exceptions when i love the game's art/story/characters/music enough like hades and undertale), and i don't know anything much about any character other than astarion. i've just watched all of astarion's cutscenes and dialogue and connected to him.

none of this was meant to sound rude or like i'm angry at you, i just am a bit fed up at the moment of these comments. unless i ask for recommendation of new shows/games/etc then please don't tell me how i should watch something or would like something. by all means you guys are allowed to talk about things i haven't seen in my comments/asks/discord/request characters for fandoms i haven't made audios for before/etc but the moment it turns into telling me i should watch something or will like something is the moment i'm going to get uncomfortable.

[jeonqkooks]

I seriously don't get it. Like, you can be a fan of an actor or a director and it doesn't mean you automatically love every single movie they've ever been in or made. You can talk normally with other fans about what you loved and what you didn't. And *gasp* you might have different opinions because taste is subjective! And just because it's not your type of movie doesn't mean you won't give it a chance or not be excited about the next one.

Why is the attitude towards BTS so different? Hell, sometimes they don't even love the work they put out or change their minds on it as their tastes evolve. You can support and love JK and wish for his happiness and success without vibing with every single thing he does. And it's ok to talk to each other about it without it being classified as a personal attack on the artist. The whole point of art is to provoke thought and discussion!

i think the reason why the attitude is different toward bts is bc kpop fandoms (and maybe this fandom especially) are toxic as hell 😭 the kpop fandom culture sucks and i think we can all agree on this. literally anything less than absolute worship is considered “hate” and (as you said) “a personal attack on the artist”, which i think is stupid as hell because ??? make it make sense. 😑

yeah i don’t know why it’s such a “controversial” thing to have an opinion that’s different than the majority of the fandom, an opinion that doesn’t include always screaming about how much you love bts and the thing they’re doing. i say bts but honestly i only ever see this kind of stuff happening with jk. 95% of the discourse i come across is jk discourse.

i am literally a jk stan. we all know that. if i love a thing he does, i’ll proudly say it. i can yell about how much i love Stay Alive all day long. you guys KNOW how much this blog used to revolve around jk. clearly i am not “out to get him” and i am not lurking in the shadows with my little rat hands waiting for him to release new content just so i can dunk on him. 😑

as a fan and a literal consumer of his music, i am allowed to have certain expectations. he doesn’t seem to be going down the direction that i would’ve liked, and that’s perfectly fine. you do you, boo 😗 if it’s not my taste, then it’s not my taste. but i’m still allowed to have my opinions on this and i’m still allowed to express them.

expressing my disappointment does not mean that i hate him or i don’t support him anymore. it’s as simple as that, but apparently even that is still a very hard pill for a lot of people to swallow. “but they see everything!” okay lol i can guarantee you (not you anon, just people in general) that bts are not creeping on my tumblr blog and taking notes of every single thing that i’m saying about them. even if they are, i can still guarantee you that they do not care lol. me not listening to a song/album literally will not affect their streams at all. it will not affect their revenue in any way. jk is still a multi millionaire whether or not i listen to or buy jjk1. he does not give a shit about me because he does not know i exist lol.

with that said, a big reason why i am PISSED is because of the fans. jk doesn’t care about me, do you think he’s crying in his room because i said i didn’t like a song? do you think that he - a 26-year-old grown ass adult and global superstar with 10 years of experience under his belt - cannot handle criticism? do you think he’s a baby in an adult man’s body or something that you feel like you personally have to defend him against any and all criticism? that you have a duty to make sure that he doesn’t hear anything less than positive that people have to say about him?

if your answer is yes, then, well, idk what else to say to you lol.

but if your answer is no, and you still come after people for having different opinions, then lol sorry i think you’re weird 🤷‍♀️ why can i only speak my mind when it’s something along the lines of “OH MY GOD I LOVE IT SO MUCH. ALBUM OF THE CENTURY”? when i say something as simple as “i’m a little disappointed by this. this isn’t something i really vibe with,” i’m considered a hater, an anti, and told to shut the fuck up? why can i only say what i really think when it aligns with what the majority of the fandom is thinking?

i am not attacking jk by not being into his music. i am not attacking jk stans by having a different opinion than they do. i am literally just being honest about what i think, my opinions which only affect me. what is so hard to understand about that lol

another point that i would like to touch on is when people say things like “but why can’t you let people enjoy it?” erhm. i’m not going into people’s inboxes and screaming in people’s faces “I DON’T LIKE IT, SO WHY DO YOU? YOU SHOULDN’T LIKE IT EITHER!” 😑 if my not liking the music ruins your fun, if it genuinely hurts and upsets you, then maybe you should take a step back from all of this and reevaluate. if you are hurt by an online stranger having a different opinion than you about something as simple as MUSIC (which is subjective to everyone’s personal taste) made by someone you will never know, then i don’t think the internet is for you, honestly.

[hiddur-mitzvah]

This is a Jewish blog. Given recent (and ongoing) events, many Jewish influencers and media pages have been posting explicitly political stuff. I am a firm believer that art and religion, the topics of this page, are inherently political. However, this page will not be used to comment on current events. Over the past few days I have been constantly consuming media and politics and news and it has taken a great toll on my mental health. It is not good for the brain to constantly recieve negative and scary information. We must take breaks. I made this page to create a space where Jewish people can feel joy in their culture and traditions without fear of antisemitism or consuming content about antisemitism. That will not change. Fighting and responding to antisemitism and injustice is a large part of Jewish culture, but it is not all that we are. We are not defined soley by the bigotry we face. Our love -of each other, of our traditions, of the world- is a far more powerful and enduring force than hatred will ever be. I am not saying that we ignore antisemitism, but allowing it to consume our every moment is not healthy. We must take breaks. My goal is that this page can help facilitate that.

In the coming days and weeks, I will be doubly vigilant in ensuring that the content I post does not contain references to antisemitism, even those that I may have considered acceptable or uplifting in the past. For the time being, I will leave comments open as I hope they can be a space of solidarity and love. I will try my best to ensure that the comments on my posts are free from antisemitism or inflammatory language, though I will moderate them less strictly than I will my own content. If I feel the comments are being used to spread hate or I am unable to moderate them, they will be turned off.

Oseh shalom bimromav

Hu ya'aseh shalom aleinu

Ve'al kol yisrael

Ve'imru Amen

[ignitesthestxrs]

i have a hypothesis that the introduction of the “reply” function to tumblr significantly contributed to the loss of ask culture. tags as whisper conversation set a tone (a often useful one! but one that maybe leans in an “anti-cringe” kind of direction) and then replies capitalized on that instinct to not loudly contribute to conversations. like, if you didn’t want to reblog someone’s post with commentary (personal post that felt weird putting on your own blog, anonymity, whatever), then you could follow up with an ask ((as currently demonstrated)). now a lot of that conversation is happening in the closed loop of the reply function - not private, but certainly not a public discussion.

are there structural changes that you think tumblr would need for conversational culture to make a bigger comeback (either generally or for yourself)? (i’m thinking also of the closed door nature of discord servers and other ways fandom might be getting more insular, but that’s a sidebar.)

YEAH you know what i agree with this. and like, there used to be no way to reply to replies lol so you would screencap it and then make a new post which, while onerous, did have the effect of continuing that conversation in public. which also therefore made not just the conversation accessible to followers but also the fact that u as the blogger were available for conversation clear.

i do think the sort of extra layer of distance and the visibility of interaction allows people to be like, oh this blogger responds in this way to people who approach them, so if i approach them in a similar manner, i know what kind of response i am likely to get. rather than worrying about like, how do i as an individual worry about how to get this individual person to interact with me, personally. the stakes are much lower! the relationship building has more of a chance to go through digital layers of smalltalk.

honestly idk that i am very good at Solutions so much as Pontificating about this kind of stuff, but i do think it requires approaching from the angle of understanding that the nature of community requires both give and take, and fandom as an ecosystem can't survive on content creators throwing material out to silent masses anymore than silent masses are going to feel fulfilled or connected to people who aren't making things for them to engage with.

i also think there is a siloing of like, consumers in one section and creators in another and never the twain shall meet, which is kind of anathema to how i have participated in fandom. i do think that participation in fandom requires some kind of active behaviour, even if it's just reblogging and tagging fic or a fanart, or sharing your opinions on a show. like it doesn't have to be Making Content, but it does need to involve Making Connections, even if that connection is just being a weird teenager who finds a blog they like and backreads through that person's content and now they're an expert on swimming rpf and ffvii even though they have never engaged in competitive swimming or played ffvii (look.)

but like so much of my fandom behaviour was modelled on watching other people be friends via sharing their thoughts and creativity with each other, and i have only ever made friends online with other people who reached out to me on that level - not just people who liked the same stuff as me, or people who admired from a distance, but people who engaged with the things i was making, and who made things - art, fic, meta, funny opinions, gifsets, interesting questions! - that i wanted to engage with. and i really do think the mechanics of tumblr allow for that range and depth of creative interaction in ways that a lot of social media doesn't, or can't, and maybe the key is just. trying to make use of that more? modelling the behaviour i want to see in the world? who knows

also god i cannot imagine anything worse than joining a fandom discord. discord is for me to have a dozen servers of 3-6 people each, some of whom have 1-2 of the same people in them in different configurations, so i can meticulously choose the perfect configuration of group chat to drop a link to a funny picture or article i found into. you could not catch me in a group bigger than like, 8, i'd fucking die

[sketchnyan]

INTRO POST LESS GOOO

Howdy doo!

Welcome to my main blog! Which happens to be my yokai watch blog-

Right now my blog is very messy, but I’m tryna fix it up,

As you can tell, Yokai watch is my favorite thing ever! I will consume ALL yokai watch content,

But I'm into other things too! (i’m just not as excited about them as i am with ykw lol)

Fair warning, i tend to change my interests alot so if you follow me for specifc fandom content, prepre for disappointment (Expect for YKW I will die with a Jibanyan tattoo on my chest, long live the overpowered roadkill)

So uhh… that’s basically it, I think I’m a friendly person so anyone’s allowed to interact with me except

Zoos

MAPs (this includes any Loli/Shota weirdos)

TERFs

Proshippers

Zionists (you have to be pretty dense to not see the abhorrent amount of war crimes being committed in Gaza, I'm not gonna to argue with anyone and I'm not free to debate anyone.)

Any blog that subscribes with far right conspiracies and ideologies (i doubt there are any here, it’s Tumblr for crying outloud… but just incase)

If you are any of these you will be blocked/ignored no question about it.

This list isn’t a complete list and I am sure I will be adding more as years go by,

I’m just here to talk about yokai watch and vibe. So don’t really bother me about my blocklist lol

Here’s specific tags if you’re looking for something 

#Sketchnyan draws - All my art

#Sketchy - anything with my lil fursona in 

Welp that’s it, that’s the intro post, it was late, but I finally made one!

[dreadfuldiaries]

Going Beyond Fear and Embracing the Eerie: An Interview with Moya

In the world of horror games where fear lurks around every corner, there exist those who embrace the eerie. While many may avoid this genre, for others like Moya, fascination and appreciation allow them to delve deeper into the horrors. Join us in unraveling Moya’s journey in the world of horror gaming.

Moya is an artist who creates game concepts in their free time. Their passion for creating art started because of an interest in an RPG; they adored all the character art and how different the builds were for various characters. “I’ve been consuming horror game-related content for 9 years. My interest in horror games grew when I got into watching Markiplier play them. Then, I gained the confidence to play horror games myself.”.

Moya's fascination with horror games began in high school, approximately nine years ago. They were drawn in by the strange and otherworldly designs of a zombie's rotting corpse, or the compelling storyline of a human girl befriending a strange witch. In the mind of a younger Moya, they were entranced by the atmosphere of games like "Ib" or the storytelling of the game "The Witch's House," and rightfully so!

“Personally, it is the design of some of the horror creatures or antagonists of the story, such as mutations of human forms, or things that look as though they are somewhat ethereal in a gore-ish way,” Moya tells us. “Along with that, I am also very VERY interested in the storytelling aspect of horror; they can be very emotional and compelling…especially the background story for things like spirits or how monsters even came to be, etc.”

With a now older and wiser Moya, they have continued to express admiration for titles that explore psychological horror and games that challenge the player’s morals. “I think that the story of the game, along with a plethora of interesting game mechanics or puzzles can make or break the experience. If the story and characters are interesting enough, that is. Horror should aim to discomfort users, as that is what the genre is made for.”

Oftentimes, Moya experiences discomfort listening to graphic squelching and squishy sounds in horror games. “If it gets too much for me to handle, I just lower the volume.” 

“Honestly, it’s hard to say?” Delving deeper into the topic of mental health, they emphasize that these types of games do impact them positively in one way or the other. “I would say a more positive impact, because, at times, characters feel relatable so it feels like "Oh, people like me exist" personality-wise, etc. It was like a boost of confidence. I do believe that most games affect me emotionally as all games do, regardless if it's horror or not!”

Even though Moya plays these games late at night immersed in the story, they understand that these games may have their drawbacks. They also emphasize that not everyone shares their enthusiasm due to the genre’s sensitive themes. Some people, such as Moya, find it a therapeutic experience because it allows them to express their emotions and anxieties in a controlled and safe environment. Furthermore, these games provide a safe environment for individuals to confront their fears. 

Moya concludes the interview by reminding us not to censor ourselves or limit our creativity while playing or creating horror games. They emphasize the value of taking regular breaks. We, as players, are also accountable for our mental health, and it is our responsibility to properly navigate the content we consume. They have given the audience a new appreciation for the dark and gritty nature of horror, content consumption, and the value of mental health. 

[ali-annals]

Navigation

Ao3: AbyssalAli     Wattpad: AbyssalAli     Non-Maribat masterlist

You can also find my Master Masterlist in my navigation bar.

Contents:

~Rules & Regulations

~Submission Suggestions

~Housekeeping Hours

Rules & Regulations

please be polite

I'm here for fandom, not politics or drama. The only drama I want to consume is the Bats' clownery

I do not allow my stories to be reposted. Talk to me about translations, adaptations, etc.

feel free to write fanfic of my fanfic, or be inspired by something I wrote. I'd love it if you tagged me!

I do not allow my work to be stolen. Even if it may not be 'good' or professional, I came up with the writing elements and spent hours of my time writing, typing, editing, and polishing

I also do not steal other people's works. I have done my best to give credit where I have been directly inspired. If you think one of my works is plagiarizing someone else's (or vice versa), let me know and I'll do my best to resolve the issue

For this reason, among others, I have included dates in my Master Masterlist and have dates enabled on tumblr. Also, there are a lot of repeated tropes in this fandom, so it's hard to write completely new content without reusing some elements of others' stories. I’ve done my best to use my own ideas and put my own spin on the tropes without copying others’ works.

Submission Suggestions

I am open to writing maribat/DCxMLB fics upon request.

When submitting a prompt/ask, please keep in mind that I have an offline life, my personal fanfics, and other requests/collabs/etc to work on. Answering, writing, and posting your request may take some time

I reserve the right to reject your request

When your request has been acknowledged and accepted, it will appear under the {...pending…} banner in my Requests Masterlist

Send me asks about my fics, either posted or WIPS!

Submission example: Request: "Hi, I really liked your Cardigan AU and would like to see an extra scene inspired by the first verse of Cardigan. Would that be possible? Thank you." Response: "Of course, love! I actually have 2 extra scenes inspired by lines from verse 1: "vintage tee, brand-new phone/ high heels on cobblestones" and "sequin smile, black lipstick". One or both should be up within two weeks. I'll tag you* when I post!" *if you are not on anon

Ask if I have deleted scenes from a fic you liked! Ask if I have a HC for a character! Ask to see a scene from someone else's POV! The sky's the limit:)

Send a prompt of a Taylor Swift lyric or song (check out my IbTS Masterlist first to see if I've already written a fic based on that song. Feel free to request the same song with a different ship!) [Why TS? it's a sort of personal goal to write a fic or Drabble for every TS song in existence/hj]

Send a different song or lyric (which I am less likely to know but will do my best. I readily confess I have unoriginal music taste and I Do Not Care.)

Ask to join a taglist! I have 3 currently, all open: 1) General (you'll be tagged by both @/abyssal-ali and @/ali-annals for both DC/Batfam-only and DCxMLB content) 2) Maribat taglist (only tagged by @/ali-annals when I post a new work) 3) Series Taglists for open Series [current: Reputation 'Verse, Cardigan AU, Rival Mob Boss] (you'll be tagged by @/ali-annals when I post a new addition to one of the series). Alternatively, subscribe to my ao3, either my author or that series' page:)

Housekeeping Hours

Tags To Know:

> #fic : writing

⇢ #ali writes : my original DCxMLB writing

⇢  #fic rec : others' original DCxMLB writing

> #art : any type of art: digital, pen and ink, paint, etc

⇢ # ali draws : my original DCxMLB art

⇢  # DCxMLB art : others' original DCxMLB art

> #ali speaks : personal/blog updates

> #ali answers : asks are answered

>> series tags

> #bmmdi : boldly made me do it

> #MM : maribat meetcute

> #IbTS : Inspired by Taylor Swift

JULY 2023: I am going on hiatus from writing, posting, and most interactions with the DC and Maribat fandoms. My explanation is here, if you are interested. My taglists are still open, as I do plan on returning to writing one day (and may occasionally post the odd Maribat or DC fic), so feel free to still request to join!