#I assume a lot of this applies to stage productions as well

[tanadrin]

There’s an interesting tension in complaints about capitalism or executive meddling for marketability purposes ruining tv and film, just because they are two of the most capital-intensive art forms ever devised. You can write a novel for the cost of pen and paper, or more realistically these days a cheap netbook. Painting or sculpture or other static visual media can be more expensive, but the initial capital outlay is like hundreds of bucks, or if you really need particular tools, thousands.

Meanwhile a film on a hilariously small shoestring budget can run tens of thousands of dollars—you gotta pay for actors and equipment rental and stuff. And more ambitious projects basically require the backing of large production companies, who—if they do not concern themselves with marketability—may rapidly cease to be large production companies.

And on top of all this, the scale of such productions means they are inherently collaborative in nature. That’s been true of performance arts for centuries, of course, but when a key element of your production is the Money Guy, it makes sense he has to worry about his ability to be the Money Guy on similar projects in the future. And given the vagaries of show business, and that there are way more consistent ways to make money, I don’t think there are many people in the business of film or TV or for that matter theater production who don’t care about the medium to some degree.

And in some ways capitalism is the ideal system to produce big film and TV productions in, at least for the would be auteur. If capital is allocated solely by private whim, you just need to get one loaded producer on your side to realize your vision—you don’t necessarily need to justify the existence of your art to a philistine public, or to bean-counting government bureaucrats, or to the people who process grant applications at arts funding councils.

Still, loaded producers are in limited supply, and it’s much easier to get their attention for your non commercial vanity project if you are already famous and well respected as a director. It’s not a system optimized for producing really top notch art! But the problem of where to get the money can only be shifted around, while actors and animators and sound technicians and so on and so forth are a finite resource.

(Notably the auteur’s incentives are in many ways directly opposed to the acting and technical staff’s incentives—a world where even big name actors get paid peanuts or are replaced entirely by computers is a world that removes a lot of financial limits on an auteur’s creative vision! Of course a lot of directors and showrunners want their employees to be paid well; they recognize there is more to making TV and film than minimizing costs. But in terms of the labor economy of show business, the auteur or showrunner is management, not labor, and auteur theory is a justification of that arrangement.)

[putschki1969]

Hi there,

you mentioned earlier that Keiko have luxurious live and her family are well off. im curious whe is this information come from? did she ever mentioned this in an interview ? or are any of her family member also someone famous ? eg; business man / celebrities / etc ?

Hello there!

Keiko never explicitly talks about any specifics regarding her family or their financial status and there's a good reason for it. In the very early stages of Keiko's career (around two decades ago), some fans have discovered that members of her family are quite active in regional politics (an activity that can typically only be taken up if you have some substantial funds available). Naturally, it is in everyone's best interest to keep Keiko's work in the entertainment industry strictly separated from any political activities which is why you'll never get any official statements from Keiko in that regard. That's also why the fandom as a whole is pretty hush-hush about it and why I will not be going into further details here. ❗It is important to be respectful and to keep those things private.❗ But you can imagine that this sort of background affords Keiko certain privileges.

From circumstantial evidence alone, everyone with eyes can guess that Keiko has always led the lifestyle of someone who is financially well-off.

She is constantly decked out in extremely expensive designer clothes/bags/accessories. If you follow my Twitter account where I post my Kalafina fashion finds, you'll know that most of her stuff costs several thousand dollars.

Whenever she has a new hobby, she goes all-in and tends to buy some of the most expensive products on the market (see for example her road-bike era or more recently, her acoustic guitar era).

I'm not going to delve into all of her regular beauty treatments because that's something most self-respecting Japanese women would choose to invest in regardless of their financial status but suffice it to say, an average office worker with a decent salary would not be going to all those fancy places that Keiko frequents (there are much cheaper options out there!).

Then we have Keiko's living arrangements. Presumably, she lives alone in her own place somewhere in the city center which would already make it very expensive. She is able to sing and play the guitar in the middle of the night which is rarely possible unless the apartment is super modern and high-end.

Generally, she doesn't seem to struggle a lot when it comes to connections within the industry. From what we can tell, she has had no issues signing up with a reputable label and agency (something Hikaru struggled with a lot and Wakana might have too if she hadn't decided to stay with Space Craft). Usually, that's a sign that sizable amounts of money are involved but who knows...

The fact that she felt confident enough to apply for the registered trademark of "Kalafina" back in the day could also be an indicator for Keiko being well-off. The legal representation alone must have been quite expensive.

Additionally, Keiko has made some vague references here and there which would suggest a wealthy background (please note that these are just some examples).

She has mentioned small things like playing tennis and golf with her parents on a regular basis. In case you didn't know, those are rich people sports, especially if you use your own equipment (which Keiko does).

The way she spent her hiatus after the breakup is also quite telling. Inspired by one of her relatives, she randomly decided to go to Kimono school to get a diploma. Sufficient funds are required for a school like that and I would assume that most people who attend will probably come from a more "sophisticated" background.

When talking about her super early days in the music industry, Keiko has made no secret about the fact that it has never really been about passion or necessity. She didn't start out as a singer because she felt she had to, it was more of a spontaneous whim. Again, a luxury usually only afforded to privileged people. Back then, singing was something she moderately enjoyed and could casually pursue, something that separated her from her older sister and something that more or less served as the spoiled/rich-kid version of a rebellion against overbearing parents. We get a bit of "rebel"-Keiko in this interview here. I would say that this is the behaviour of someone who doesn't have many worries in life, at least not when it comes to financial matters.

[drinkyourvillainjuice]

Response to the Form! Part 1

Hello, my lesbian twinks, my twink lesbians, and everyone else like deranged bisexuals, gunslinging heteros, and fire blasting asexuals.

Today, I will go through the form, and see what people say about where they are from and stuff like that. I will not share the personal testimonies from that section, however!

We had 59 replies in total, by the way!

As expected, the majority of people are from North America. I say 'as expected' because I'm just assuming that's the largest CoG demographics? Also the story takes place in a nefarious place in the United States, so I feel USAmericans might be more interested in that than like... someone from Australia. That being said, here are the percentages:

60.3% (or 35 answers) are from North America.

12.1% (or 7 seven answers) are from Western Europe.

8.6% (or 5 answers) are from South East Asian/Oceania.

6.9% (or 4 answers) are from South America.

5.2% (or 3 answers) are from Eastern Europe.

5.2% (or 3 answers) are from Central America.

1.7% (or 1 answer) is from South Asia.

Quickly, I had assumed the numbers to be around that. While there may be to some degree fewer non-white people within the CoG community, I don't believe this to be entirely true. But I feel there may be an unspoken social contract that if a character's race will always have the basic race (white) and I think to some degree that doesn't foster a space for people who are not white to have the ability to go 'hey, I am represented in this work, I want to be involved more within the community involving this work.' Something about the default being white, I'm assuming? I've noticed it's more apparent for Black people.

Products are made with white people (the assumed default in mind at least here) and to some degree, a video video is a product despite being an artistic project. Anyways, this is just a segway to roll games made by non-white people through our asks and I'll publish them with a link.

yea

yea x2

The politicized nature of indigenity and Indigenous struggle by default restricts who can possibly be Indigenous from a state pov (further reading: Paper Genocides (two links)). Also, well, there is an ongoing genocide in Canada that is largely unspoken (and in America, and in various places in the world) on Indigenous places.

This is the segway that the donation for next month will go to the following group:

Many reserves literally don't have access to running water. If you have ever been on reserves, the state actively lets its Indigenous population become sick from drinking tainted water or forced to buy bottled water amid food deserts. At the same time, the nearby stream is being used for large-scale production. The passivity from our government to just wash their hands and look around as if nothing can be done is part of the ongoing attacks on several communities in Canada.

this was 90% at some point lol

Compare and match: the same amount of Yes and No responses for the white/racialized question. That being said, that was one of the sections in the follow-up in the bottom section that we received a lot of inquiries about, like how many works don't have characters with disabilities, and that's something we are eyeing.

For the record, the next three questions will all be paired together. It's hard for us at this stage of development to like include the groups mentioned, but that's something to keep in mind with future works or sequels or prequels.

First and foremost, despite the current lack of representation from these three groups in our IF, we still want to cater to an environment where people part of these communities are welcome to talk about how they feel about the IF itself, and possibly the lack of representation and how they may feel they are portrayed by characters who fit these themes. (This applies to the other categories!) The IF is being written by an immigrant, so that's an issue that is personal to xer. For the refugee and intersex categories within the IF, while neither of us is part of these communities, though being an ally (especially during the current world events) is rather important to us.

So essentially if you got anything to say about these three groups because you feel a character might have a theme that is similar to one that someone from one of these communities might experience, you are 100% allowed to talk about it, criticize it, and feel however you want about it, and if you tell us, we will give it a big eyeful.

anyways! that's just part one ;)

let us see who got stickers tomorrow MWAH

[batri-jopa]

I just read this conversation on reddit about being aegosexual and cupiosexual with a person arguing how you absolutely can not be both at once because those are two totally opposite terms and so how you should not even ask about something that obvious...

Well I love mathematical logic with all my heart but I also am aware how it doesn't always apply to our imperfect real world. Even less to the living people.

In other words: it's just not that simple.

How I see it:

Stage 1: Let's pretend you're planning to have a meal so you look into the fridge. It's full of fresh and potentially tasty products but literally nothing you see makes you want to eat it. Imagining yourself eating any particular thing may even make you feel weird or disgusted. You assume that you're just not hungry [-> you are asexual]

Stage 2: Imagine you see some people eating with pleasure. You're surprised to find out that you actually enjoy looking at them eating their food. Exactly the same food that seemed so unappealing to you before. Later you find out that even thinking about other people eating their meal can be enjoyble. And that all of a sudden it makes you feel hungry. But still - imagining yourself eating exactly the same type of food as them - to you is not appealing at all. The thought of putting yourself literally in their place takes away all the pleasure [->you are aegosexual]

Stage 3: Imagine you are alone and trying to visualise yourself in the act of eating... something. You can not for the life describe what it is, it's totally unspecified thing. And it is not even important. It's the conception of eating process itself that seems so very enjoyable. It makes you feel reeeally hungry. You don't know what you'd like to eat but you're certain that you DO want to eat something good!

Now being wiser after Stage 1 - you decide to go to the biggest grocery store in the area and there you spend a lot of time looking for the best food for your desired meal. But still nothing you find is appealing to you. Even though you are undeniably hungry and you have whole range of options - you can't find anything you'd actually want! You may recognise few things that you think should be potentially tasty - but it doesn't change the fact you'd need to force yourself to put it in your mouth. [->you are cupiosexual. AND still just asexual]

(Confused as hell you fill your stomach with water until you stop feeling hungry)

Aegosexuality is said to be enjoying watching, reading or just imagining things in third person but never including yourself. When consuming media you "cease to exist"

Cupiosexuality is desiring to do some things including yourself... only with nobody specific. There is the longing - but the thought of doing it with any particular person seems not even a bit as appealing as the act itself.

According to mathematical logic there is no direct opposite between "two people that are NOT me" and "me but with NObody specific"

So maybe it is not possible to be like both at once in the same exact moment - but I'm not convinced it can't be taking turns in one person.

[9w1ft]

Sharing my random thoughts since you asked for asks! You don’t have to respond. But I was noticing those articles of Karlie finally commenting on Taylor again came right around the time Biden was being pressured to drop out of the election and the Democratic Party seemed to be scrambling a bit. I feel like the friendship groundwork is being laid to be ready in case Trump is actually re-elected and KK is thrown back into the fire by association. His win in 2016 changed so much for them. Thoughts?

i did ask for asks! 😆

in a way i think what you are suggesting is a little bit paradoxical because if they were operating under the same manual and all things being equal, then the threat of a trump win would have had them laying the groundwork to distance themselves again, not the opposite.

that being said, times are sort of different. and priorities are different, in a way. i could write so so much and if people have other points to bring up please do, but ill just write a little.

one thought i had was that last time around they did not know what a trump presidency would mean, only what we could predict, and now they have something to look at as an example. also, jared had played a notable public role in trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, so the win had immediate optic implications as well as logistic implications to anticipate. this time around, jared isn’t on the trail, and is reported to not want a role in a possible second term. i think ivanka did show up at the rnc last month though and brought jared with her.

to circle back to my second point, i just hope that people consider that a lot of this sort of maneuvering or salvaging or pivoting that they might have done following the 2016 election results might not even really apply this time because they are in a different stage of life. biden’s win in 2020 is an example of this. trump being out and a democrat being in marked the end of a lot of worries and barriers that we assume they put up. but with the pandemic and time spent out of public, i get the sense there was a lot of introspection and reevaluating that went on and we can see that one or two little things entered their lives. now, the stakes are a bit different regardless of who is in office.

taylor’s fame is different in scale now too. i don’t think i have to delineate that for anyone here. but i want to say that it feels like it’s nearly reaching “too big to fail” levels

also, one other point i feel compelled to bring up is that while karlie has gone on to maintain haters, all of all this for the past 8 years has by and large not stopped her ability to succeed with her business and creative endeavors. i recognize not everyone’s gonna agree with me on this because it’s a sort of core talking point that is ingrained in a lot of kaylor thinking, but i do recommend people take a step back to look at this from a birds eye view. even just since 2019. karlie has continued to be the face of a perfume in carolina herrera and even repped the brand at the met gala, she became the face of a cosmetics company in estée lauder and still does campaigns for them, she did a line of sportswear in adidas and has continued being the face of products in the health and fitness sector, has continued to expand her forays into the tech sector, has done stuff for many LVMH luxury brands, looking camp right in the eye has become a meme with longevity that she herself has embraced, re-signed with swarovski and repped them at the met gala, has expanded kode with klossy and created many opportunities for her scholars via her connections with all of these brands that she works with, including people like tim cook, and shes got connections to people like bob iger, she helped arrange a tech panel for the white house, she continues walking the runway when she wants at the biggest events where otherwise she gets invites to, like paris fashion week, she continues doing couture fashion spreads, she now owns two magazines, had a street named after her, like, i could go on and on and maybe someone out there is hemming and hawing about project runway but i sometimes feel like people try to equate what people on the internet feel to what the business world feels about karlie and to push that her bearding ruined her image and prospects.. when in fact she’s continued to do so many thing that surely wouldn’t have happened if this association (and for the “see how you didn’t say kushner!” crowd ill say it, her kushner association) was seen as an actual problem to her clients, that actually have working relationships with her and know her. please understand that im not making this a conversation about values. im looking at the actual business reality and any affects there have been, which i would contend there have been less than people often imagine.

all of this to say, i am very much not convinced that the prospects of a second trump term are a driving factor in their decision making this time. i think it’s more about them deciding if it would be valuable to them personally, a net positive in their own lives, to be seen again. and i happen to think a little bit of this is on us to help provide for them. as a proof of concept. a window for them, in a way, in what could be best expected, if any good should be expected all. but that’s a tangent for another time, methinks.

[astrangergivingthestrangewelcome]

What 9-5 job gave you the ability to have 8 hours to do whatever you wanted? Unless you only sleep like... 6 hours a night, tops? Which is fair. You're in Europe, right? Maybe those jobs are a little nicer in Europe than in the US?

I wish my 9-5 gave me that. It's an hour commute there and back. And I have to wake up at least 2 hours early to get ready to leave on time. And assuming I don't have any errands to run, I'm back home at 6pm at the absolute earliest. I've got about 4 hours, which usually have to be taken up by chores or making food, with no time for anything else.

The 9-5, 5 days a week, SUCKS. And studies have shown that people are only productive 4 hours out of an standard 8 hour work day. They've got to fill up the rest of those hours making themselves look busy so they don't miss out on hours, and thus money.

Lol yeah, you got me during a workweek I tend to get 6 hours a night, tops, and I'm someone who gets out of bed 15 minutes before leaving the door. I was in the states for this, however this 9-5 was like. Exceptionally wonderful, I got paid to be a historical interpreter, chat to guests, and learn how to work with leather, and I am WELL aware that the next job I get will probably not be half so fun and I might not live a walkable distance from work or have as lovely coworkers. I am simply nostalgic bc last summer felt like a dream and this summer I am in the last, very intense stages of a masters, and am working 6 days a week and also having to do school work and apply for jobs when I get home. I love my masters and the work I'm doing is actually all really useful stuff I enjoy but I can't wait til the final push is over. If someone handed me some waxed flax and some deerskin and was like "here you go champ :) spend the day making a pair of leather breeches" I might start to cry lol.

So yeah a lot of my longing is bc of my own specific situation, I am well aware that 9-5s can be really shitty depending on your work environment, however that's literally every single job, and for me personally the element of "just work at work" is so much nicer than school or being your own boss. Plus the regular schedule and always being off the same two consecutive days a week is so much better than other jobs I've worked where it's always up in the air.

But anyway obviously I am not saying everyone has to be happy at 9-5s I am just sick of the "every single moment you don't spend on your assignments is guilt time and you always feel like you're falling behind" vibe of school. 40 hrs a week sounds like a Dream rn

[carpaintsydney]

What Automotive Paint Supplies Are Needed For DIY Car Painting?

The most common mistake that DIY enthusiasts make is that they start assuming that car painting is easy. They think they just need good quality car paint and use it to give the vehicle a more refreshing look. But this is far from the fact, as a huge range of auto paint supplies and accessories is needed to succeed in DIY car painting projects. This article covers the most essential accessories and supplies needed for DIY car painting. But first, let us quickly go through the steps of car painting in this small list.

WHAT STEPS ARE INVOLVED IN DIY CAR PAINTING?

A quick review of the steps of DIY car painting is presented here.

• Choose A Safe Location To Paint

• Do Some Deconstruction

• Treat The Surface

• Sand

• Remove rust

• Prime The Surface

• Apply Masking

• Wipe The Surface Clean

• Apply Paint

• Sand Again And Lacquer

WHAT SUPPLIES ARE NEEDED?

• Orbital sander

• Air compressor

• Abrasives (sanding sheets for hand sanding & sanding discs for orbital sanding)

• Paint sprayer

• Cleaning solvent and rags

• Masking tape

• Primer (epoxy, etching, or surfacer)

• Sealer

• Grease and wax remover

• Tack wipe

• Paint thinner

• Polyurethane Paint, enamel, or acrylic enamel

• Face mask and safety glasses

Let us briefly explain the most common accessories and auto paint supplies needed for DIY car painting.

THE PAINT

Experts recommend choosing the product from one system only. This will ensure that everything is designed to work together, and you will need sufficient quantity for primers to finish.

HOW MUCH PAINT WILL BE NEEDED TO PAINT A CAR?

A lot of variables come into consideration when choosing the right volume. Your first thought would be to ensure that no paint is left behind and you don't run out of the paint in the middle of the paint job.

The best idea here is to get some guidance from the supplier of automotive paint supplies in Sydney. These people are professionals and understand your needs, and based on your vehicle's model, they will usually suggest the right amount of Paint for DIY car painting projects.

WHAT KIND OF PAINT AND PRIMER SHOULD I USE?

Paint systems are of two types, and the names are single stage and base coat. The difference is of the products and processes used in these types. If done by professionals, both will generate great results.

WHAT IS A SINGLE-STAGE SYSTEM?

The process starts by removing the rust or loosening it. Then, the body and filler work is finished, and the bare metal is treated with a phosphoric acid metal conditioner. The experts then apply epoxy primer just over the bare metal, and once dry, it is sanded. Then, the body filler can also be used over the epoxy primer, and once done, urethane paint can be applied directly over the layer of primer.

THE BASE COAT SYSTEM

The first step in this process is rust removal or loosening it and then applying body filler wherever needed. Experts then recommend using acid etching primer wet on wet. Once the primer dries, it's time to sand the body to remove imperfections. Now it's time to apply the base coat over the sanded primer and then urethane clear coat paint for better results.

WHAT KIND OF PAINT GUN SHOULD BE INCLUDED IN THE AUTOMOTIVE PAINT SUPPLIES LIST?

Without including the right paint gun in the list of automotive paint supplies in Sydney, there is no chance of painting the car successfully and perfectly. Spray paint guns are available in different types, like gravity feed guns, siphon feed guns, and pressure feed guns, and you will have to understand them to choose the best one for you. Experts recommend going with HVLP paint guns of any type, and HVLP stands for HIGH VOLUME LOW PRESSURE. The benefit is that they create less overspraying and allow you to apply a perfect coat on the vehicle's body. These High Volume Low Pressure guns come with a downside as well that they use more Cubic Feet Per Minute of your air compressor compared to non-HVLP guns.

Learn More:

Common Automotive Paint Application Processes and Their Details

Problems Faced In DIY Car Painting and Their Solutions

[gillianthecat]

Between Us - episode one an intrepid reporter watches, without having seen UWMA

Going in, I know next to nothing about this show. I have the tag filtered, and I haven't read the summary or seen the trailer. I did see part of the first episode of Until We Meet Again, but as far as I remember these characters weren't in it. The only information that has made it through the cone of silence is that either the characters or the actors are named Win and Team, one of them is blond, and they did a bunch of product placement in UWMA, possibly with Lay's chips. And I'm not very positive about any of that being true.

summary after watching: For me, this show is holding up on its own. It turns out I did remember more about the beginning of UWMA than I thought, but I feel like Between Us would work even if I didn't know UWMA's basic premise. Yes, Pharm's flashbacks would be confusing, but they're also confusing for him so I don't think that would make the episode too confusing overall. There are a lot of things I still don't know, but it feels like normal episode one information still to uncover, not plot holes because the show is assuming I already know the story. And, up to a point, I would rather have less information than too much, so I appreciate the mystery. I was surprised by how prominent Dean & Pharm's story has been so far. I expected it to be more background. I wonder if its going to stay this prominent, or if it's more to set the stage. Overall the show feels very professional and... not expensive, but adequately funded. The production values all feel pretty high - lighting, sets, editing, soundtrack, cinematography - and the acting is very good. It all makes me trust these storytellers know what they're doing. So yes, I am hooked. I can see why y'all have been so excited about this show. I will definitely keep watching.

Below are my notes as I watched. I took a lot so they're beneath the cut.

So. Diving in.*

*pun unintentional at the time, but appreciated now post-viewing

- I like this parallel morning opening. Blondie with the tattoos is hot, pushing back his hair to the rock soundtrack. Actually they're both cute. I like the alarm clock cliche, although Mamoru from Kabe Koji wins with his 20 plus clocks, and Wah from Why You... Y Me? still beats this guy with his paltry single alarm clock.

- The cool kid and the chaos boy? That's my first impression.

- Hmm. Swimming pools may be important? based on the opening credits.

- Aw. A crash-into-you with an adorable het couple. Including whats-her-name (Sammy?) from those other shows I can't recall. Were they in UWMA too? (Don't answer that.) Interesting that they get to meet each other first, before our main couple.

- ooh... A one sided pining situation? or love crush at first sight? I can't tell yet.

- And here comes That Fucking House 2.0. I guess I knew four things about this show- I'd heard she was in it too. (Do you think there is stock footage of the exterior that all these shows are using, or do they each shoot their own?)

- Wait, is that Santa?! He looks so different, I mostly recognized him by voice. I'm still not sure, I haven't gotten a good view of his face yet.

- Ah. Team at least is a swimmer. That makes sense with the pool footage. And now I've figured out their names.

- I like Team's dorky new friend group! I don't always like the comic relief characters but so far A, Bee and Sea seem fun. (Also love the names joke.)

- I feel like I just saw this pool in something but I can't remember what show.

- I think I like Win's friend group dynamic as well. Whew, that's a relief. I also like Win's slight mysterious brooding air. And the way he looks at Team, with the heavenly music on the soundtrack. (so I guess it is crush at first sight? rather than long term pining?)

- so far I've gathered Team is a first year and Win seems to be a sophomore or a junior, but my instinct is junior. (I don't know if the U.S. terms apply in Thailand.)

- Team seems like a sweetheart so far. Is Win making this announcement about scholarship students not being guaranteed a spot in a "I like you. Get out of my school" kind of way, or is it just a coincidence? Either way, its stressful. Athletic scholarships are a fucked up system in general.

- Oh Pharm! He's the main guy from UWMA! I recognize him. I (obviously) have no idea where we are in his story.

- My guess is that Pharm and Manow were his friends in UWMA, but A, Bee and Sea are new for this series.

- Win looks so cool, even his sauntering walk. I totally would have had a crush on him in college.

- Oh! I was about to get excited about their first real interaction but they were just teasing us.

- Is Win basically raising his brothers? He acts like it.

- It is Santa. He seems so different here somehow.

- Tul looks vaguely familiar, but I'm not sure from what.

- Hmm, what is going on with Team? Why is he being mopey?

- I continue to really like the way Win looks at Team, and how they show Team as totally oblivious.

- oh. That's why this whole thing with Manow is familiar? I think I did watch this part of UWMA where they watch the swim tryouts. So I guess Pharm's love interest is one of the other guys on the swim team? I honestly can't remember what he looks like, or how they met. Ah, I guess this must be him staring love struck. It's slowly coming back to me. (Are these scenes reshot? or are they using footage from UWMA?) Ah Dean, that's right. I did know his name at some point. So far I'm finding him more intriguing here than I did in the little bit of UWMA that I watched.

- oh yes, I remember that Pharm was in the cooking club too. It's slowly coming back. Maybe I did watch a little more then I thought.

- These hints of Dean and Pharm's story are working for me. Perhaps they're just there as a treat for UWMA fans, but I'm enjoying them as well. But I do know the basic premise of UWMA, I suspect I would be more confused if I didn't know the whole second life thing.

- Also, I was not expecting this much of their story. It really feels like a side couple, rather than a couple whose story is over and done with. Which perhaps makes me expect that the makers intend this story to stand on its own - that Between US and UWMA are supposed to be parallel pieces, rather than a main show and its companion.

- There is a lot more attention to Pharm & Dean's story than I was expecting though. Which isn't a problem, I was just expecting them to be more background characters. And this is making me want to watch UWMA more than seeing the beginning of that show did.

- Aw, what a good friend Team is. And Win thinks so too. Yet again, I like the way Win looks at him.

- So far I have No Idea what Win & Team's story is going to be - what their conflict or obstacles will be. But I don't mind, I'm still intrigued.

- Is Tul played by the same actor who played the horny roommate in Love By Chance? If so, he's certainly been typecast, poor guy. I did like him in LBC though.

- They finally interact! I love how Win is always tracking Team with his eyes, while Team remains basically oblivious to existence. Ignoring him, not in a mean way, just in a only aware of him as a generic swim team leader way.

- Ouch. The make up artists here are good.

- Win. What is your deal? You obviously have a crush, why are you so mean to Team to his face? I am Intrigued.

- Dean comes across as such a weirdo, omg.

- Interesting that it feels like In learning more about the setup of Dean and Pharm's relationship than about Team & Win's. I admit that I'm getting a bit impatient with it. Part of the reason I dropped UWMA is that I didn't find Dean's actor that compelling and I still don't (so far, that could change).

- Ah, some insight into Team: "You never let anything be important to you!" I do like his and Dean's friendship.

- Um, WHAT is Team's friend (I can't remember if he's A, Bee or Sea) wearing as a pendent? It looks like a piece of fried chicken.

- oof this porn watching scene is so awkward. Poor Team. It does all feel realistically adolescent though.

- Ok, wow, I was not expecting THAT. I like it though.

- on shit, and Team's following him!

- oh I really like this sex scene. See BL, consent is sexy. The way that Win, keeping tight rein on his very obvious desire and arousal, makes sure that Team wants this, that he knows what he's doing. It is Very Hot. And their chemistry is fire. I also like how cool kid Win has his post-shower fluffy unstyled hair, making him feel much more vulnerable.

- I don't know if it's intentional, but I like the contrast between Pharm and Dean's literally destined love, and this thing between Team and Win, which feels like it could be any college hook up. Yes, Win has had his eye on Team for a while, but as far as I can tell, Team took little notice of Win until his porn induced horniness drove him into Win's arms. And Team I really don't think was planning this, he just got aroused by win's arousal and gave in to temptation. I just like the arbitrary feeling of it against the backdrop of the heaviness of fate.

- I still don't know what their story is going to be. And honestly, if I wasn't being an intrepid reporter I probably wouldn't even try to figure it out, I'm just intrigued by them and their dynamic and content to see where it goes. But since I am doing these reports, my first guess is that they're going to continue to hook up in secret, outside the bedroom Win is going to pretend Team doesn't matter to him, and Team will slowly fall in love and get hurt by this. I'm not very attached to this theory, but it's the best I've got so far.

- Thinking about it, so far I actually know very little about Win and Team as characters. But the actors have made them both compelling enough that I'm intrigued, and want to know them. I feel like my initial impression of Win as "cool kid" is probably correct, but I'm not so sure about Team as "chaos boy." He seems a little more organized than that, a bit innocent but not too naive, kind but not saccharine. He seems a bit of an average everyman in fact, but not in a boring way.

Ok! That's it for now. I probably should go to bed, but I want to watch episode two instead. The nice thing about starting a few weeks behind is I don't have to wait.

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

BTS Bangtan Bombs and Authenticity

BTS Bangtan Bomb is usually a sort of material that releases behind the scenes footage, its purpose being to see another face of the band, how they act outside the stage, music videos and a way to see the members interact with each other in a more natural environment. I wanted to make a short analysis on the nature of this kind of media content because the way it's delivered is a bit more complex than what it looks like.

A Bangtan Bomb is filmed using a handheld camera, it doesn't have a voice over narration, uses synchronous sound and due to these possibilities, it's easier for the person shooting to be right in the middle of events. Looking at these technical aspects, it's safe to say that this style is influenced by the changes that came in the 1960s in regards to documentary filmmaking, that is the cinema verite and direct cinema. I'll make a short summary to explain what both mean in order to understand why it's relevant to what Bangtan Bombs reveal. Both cinema verite and direct cinema are part of what we call observational documentary, with few significant differences, but both styles are concerned with reality/authenticity. Cinema verite implies self-reflexivity as the filmmaker is an active participant that interviews the people in the documentary, tries to interrogate them in order to make the subjects reveal some truth that needs outside ''help'' to come out. This is exemplified by what Jean Rouch thinks about the purpose of intervening in order to achieve that: ''Rouch admits that he does not film reality as it is but reality as it is provoked by the act of filming’’ (Rothman 1997:87). In contrast to that we have direct cinema (developed in North America, with D.A. Pennebaker as one if its representatives, his documentary on Bob Dylan Don't Look Back being a perfect example) which is more observational, it's not intrusive, it's more concerned with so called objectivity for which the truth lies in exactly what the camera observes, without an intervention from the filmmaker.

Now that the short history lesson on documentary is over, let's see how it can be connected to the Bangtan Bombs. At first I thought it was closer to a form of direct cinema simply because there is no direct implication of the filmmaker (here the staff that is assigned to film the BB). We don't hear any questions asked and usually it assumes the position of what is called ''fly-on-the-wall''. But to categorize Bangtan Bombs as direct cinema would mean to ignore a lot of other elements, which led me to the conclusion that this type of content is a sort of hybrid between cinema verite and direct cinema while at the same time not being able to achieve that common purpose, which is realness, authenticity in terms of what those movements aimed to do and I will explain why.

In cinema verite, the intention in being intrusive and asking questions is to put the subject in a position where they self-reflect. In a Bangtan bomb, we do not hear a question, but it is implied when one member talks to the camera. He explains what the shooting is about, a few words about the concept (this happens usually in a BB of a music video or when they prepare a certain performance). Basically, the intervention in form of an interview is not there to reveal some truth, but to add more information, sometimes even promotional. There are instances when the members talk about what they feel and what are their expectations about what they are doing at that time and how they wish fans would like it when it comes out. In short we have a combination of observational footage, and from the filmmaker's point of view, we see BTS on set working, making jokes, sitting around laughing with each other or focusing on their phones, combined with short interviews segment.

Going a bit back to the history lesson, both cinema verite and direct cinema were criticized for a number of reasons, but the main one being related to objectivity, as this is actually impossible to achieve. Even in an observational format, there is subjectivity that can be found in the way a shot is framed, what gets in and what is left out. Then it goes through another process, which is editing where the shots are chosen and then cut. Another aspect is the performative nature. The subject naturally, involuntarily acts a certain way in front of a camera. He may become comfortable, but is always aware that there's someone filming (for example, we don’t hear anyone swearing while on set or it’s cut during editing). We can easily apply this to how a Bangtan Bomb looks. If we watch recent BB (as in the last few years. I'm not necessarily talking about all BB, especially those in the beginning which were more chaotic and that made them a bit more authentic and at the same time they were an opportunity for BTS to get time on camera, making their presence known, acting a bit more), we can see how they use close up shots for the interviews, with no intervention from anyone else inside the frame. The framing is restrictive even with other shots of members being on set. It's fragmented and the material used in the final product is one that usually focuses on short exchanges of dialogue between some members. We rarely see a discussion from beginning to an end in a Bangtan Bomb. In the BB Butter Epilogue the camera was offered to the members and more than half the footage consisted of filming themselves and each other and barely talking, with extra-diegetic music in order to fill those gaps. 

It's a sort of behind the scenes footage, but one that focuses on showing very light/funny segments, without going further than that, which is to say that it leaves out a lot of other things. This is where it lacks a bit of that sort of realness that comes with this type of filming. Of course there is the matter of privacy, but this is not what I'm talking about here when I refer to what lacks in a BB. BTS are shown while they pose for a shot, a music video, make jokes, but they are filmed as if they only talk to each other, despite being surrounded by other people. This is where a BB, through framing and editing creates a narrative and why, despite using techniques of observational documentary, it presents a manufactured version of events. BTS members may as well act together as naturally and normally as possible, have fun with each other while also have real talks, a dynamic that is present with friends/co-workers, but that part is sometimes left out.

[sonnetthebard]

The Vampire Play Would Entail...

Okay, so yesterday I posted about some headcannons I have about Alice being Hidgens’ intern, and y’all seem to like it, so I present to you: more things that exist in my head! These are all just my ideas, and I hope you like them.

- Okay, so the first place to put on this play is probably some community theatre group- maybe the Starlight, but likely a smaller group that rents the stage space at Hatchetfield High. 

- Alice would choose to be very, very involved in this production. She wouldn’t direct or anything, but she’d be at every single rehearsal.

- Alice would often describe the experience to her dad as “magical” because it was for her. Sometimes she’d have to leave the room and cry a little with pride. 

- Alice was definitely involved in the casting process. 

- And she found the PERFECT young aspiring actress to play the vampire girlfriend: Lex Foster.

- I kinda want to say Hatchetfield Bee plays the role of the main girl, but I mean we don’t know a ton about her. 

- The company producing it accepts her happy ending rewrites.

- With Alice and Lex come a very excited Deb and Ethan.

- Deb actually applies and gets accepted to the props and costume teams.

- Ethan is just there as moral  support for his girlfriend. 

- Hannah is also at a lot of the rehearsals. She likes to sit with Alice and share ideas and thoughts with her. 

- Alice absolutely hears those ideas outs, and even implements them sometimes. 

- Lex is just thrilled to be there and start her acting resume before she gets to LA.

- Pamela straight up doesn’t give a shit where Lex or Hannah are so long as Lex is home before midnight and Hannah’s home before ten, so Lex doesn’t even bother to tell her she’s in a show.

- Based on what Nick has said about what Alice and Deb might think of Lex, I’m gonna say Alice and Lex don’t hit it right off, but Alice respects Lex’s take on the role. After a few weeks in rehearsals getting to know each other they start to get friendly and Lex lets her guard down. 

- Bill stays away from the rehearsals for the most part so as not to bother Alice, but occasionally he’ll sneak in when he doesn’t think Alice will see him and watch bits and pieces and be proud.

- Alice knows he’s there, and it always makes her smile a little bit.

- Alice lives with her dad full time during rehearsals and performances, and she tells him about every one without him needing to ask.

- The show gets a two-week run, every night, with matinees on the weekend. 

- Ethan, Hannah and Deb are in the audience and waiting for them after every show.

- Unlike Alice and Lex, Ethan and Deb are fast friends, so they sit together. Look, I kinda headcannon Ethan and Deb as cousins because they have all the same vibes, but for the purposes of this lets assume they aren’t. They both just have a mad amount of respect for each other and how cool they both are. 

- Deb also gets along really well with Hannah. 

- In fact, by the end of rehearsals she considers Deb an honorary big sister in the same way Ethan is her honorary big brother. And, of course, Alice is one too. 

- Hidgens is there opening night (and several times after ) and particularly likes the performances of both leading actresses, but especially Lex. He keeps her on the radar for some of his projects, just in case she can sing too. 

- Bill is there most nights as well. He brings just about everyone he knows.

- We’re talking like this is date night with Sylvia, boys night with Ted... he even drags Paul and Emma along for a date. 

- Paul really likes it- especially since there’s no music. Just acting. This makes Alice’s night.

- The play is really, really well recieved in general. 

- In fact, the exposure Alice gets from that productions opens doors for her to present the work in a few high profile festivals.

- All in all, it’s just a really great experience. 

Feel free to reblog and add things but yeah... this is just a bit of wholesomeness I love to think about!

[cotncandyboifics]

A Lovely Night: Chapter 5

AO3 Link

Masterpost

Chapter 1 ~ Chapter 2 ~ Chapter 3 ~ Chapter 4 ~ Chapter 6

Pairing(s): pre-established roceit & prinxiety, anaroceit, eventual anaroloceit, eventual intruality

Word count: ~2.5k

Story summary: Roman's boyfriends had had a rivalry since before either of them had actually met Roman. Running a bit late to a date night, Roman accidentally gets them to start dating too.

General CW: non-detailed description of an anxiety attack, non-detailed description of physical pain, food, kissing, potentially triggering descriptions of physical bodies, swearing, caps lock, school settings, s-xual innuendos, slight description of gore(imagery), vague descriptions of anxiety, Implications of an eating disorder, fatigue, dissociation, suppression of stimming, implied heavy restriction (ED), inner monologue-style anxiety description, eating,(will be added to as I write more)

Chapter CW: Swearing, slight description of gore(imagery), vague descriptions of anxiety, food, (let me know if i missed anything please!)

Author notes: i like this chapter a lot :) the stage has been set.

...

The next morning, Virgil had an opening shift at the knitting and sewing supply store he worked for. He'd found it the first week the three of them had moved to this town for college, and immediately took a liking to it, likely thanks to his long-lasting hobby of clothing alteration. He'd made some good money to save up in high school from making and selling custom hoodies and other clothing, even having taken a few commissions over the years.

It wasn't rare occurrence, that he was opening the store, and on this particular morning it wasn't so dreadful (once he'd pried himself away from his half-asleep boyfriends, who both vaguely grumbled protests at the incomplete cuddle pile as Virgil was getting ready). Virgil had gotten to his favorite coffee shop, where Janus' brother Patton worked, in time that it would be open and he also wouldn't be late for his shift, which was rare. It only worked out that way if Virgil's bus commute was perfectly timed.

Now caffeinated, and somewhat less-pessimistic-than-usual about the day ahead of him, Virgil retrieved the keys to the shop from his pocket, fumbling for a bit before finding the right one. He let out a breath as he found it, unlocking the door as he'd done a thousand times before and stepping in, shutting the door behind him and leaning his back against it. Virgil noted the clock on the wall, reading 5:02 am. The shop opened at 6, and he had more than enough sorting and stocking to do before then.

The next hour passed rather quickly. His co-worker Emile showed up shortly after him, and they both spent the rest of the time before the shop opened restocking and organizing the horrendous amounts of yarn and string and such supplies throughout the store and in the back room.

Shortly 6 am arrived, and it was time for the two of them to draw straws to decide who would man the register and help customers while the other continued stocking. Typically Virgil enjoyed the latter while Emile enjoyed the former, but their manager had insisted that they make the odds more random in order to get them both more comfortable in their unpreferred positions.

True to their manager's sentiment, Virgil drew the register stick. They both sighed at each other, and Emile returned to sorting through some cerulean yarn balls. Virgil made his way to the front of the store, unlocking the doors and flipping the sign to open, before making himself at home behind the register.

Generally, customers were rare at this time of morning, save for a few early-riser regulars. The bell at the top of the door chimed. Virgil didn't look up, expecting to see Margaret in her usual morning power-walk getup, coming in to check up on whether they'd gotten a shipment of lavender yarn yet.

"Morning, Marge. We still haven't gotten any lavender in, if-" Virgil halted his speaking upon looking up, feeling his throat constrict as he realized who had entered. At any rate, this person was certainly not Margaret.

The first thing that caught Virgil's attention about this new customer was their eyes. They were a burning blue, with small subtle mushes of gray here and there. Through their vaguely foggy colors, those eyes cut sharp like ice shards. The customer seemed entirely calm and stoic, however that did not extend to the ferocious - however not hostile - intensity with which they were staring Virgil down. Of course this intensity did not extend past their eyes, as the very slight twinge of a polite smile was seated at the corners of their mouth. Virgil briefly noted some seemingly familiar physical characteristics (although he was extremely wary to assume anything - what would be the chances of him and his boyfriends all meeting the same man individually, completely perchance?); shining black hair, square-framed glasses, the freckles, the pale and sunken nature of their face. Or, as Virgil certainly noticed, the subtle pronunciation of his cheekbones and jawline. They wore a black coat and a navy patterned scarf that appeared to be hand-knitted.

Virgil stumbled his way over to the closest register to the door - he wasn't sure why they even had two, they never needed to use them both simultaneously - and leaned haphazardly on the counter, propping his chin up on his palm.

"Sorry, hello, I thought you'd be someone else. Marge is usually the first in. What can I do for you?" His face felt really hot, and he was pretty sure that much was obvious to the newcomer, but he tried his best not to think about it.

The stranger didn't speak for a moment, merely leaning forward slightly with a furrowed brow. Virgil panicked for a moment, but followed their line of sight to the name tag on his hoodie. It was quite scuffed up, and the name "Virgil" was scarcely discernible through various smears of odd substances. Virgil quickly unpinned the name tag, beginning to rub away at the gunk with a sweater-covered thumb.

"It's Virgil, sorry about that," He spoke, hiding his hot cheeks behind his bangs as he scratched at his name tag feverishly. He quickly decided on just setting it down, wanting to give the newcomer his full attention.

"Good morning, Virgil," they spoke, and wow, was Virgil gay. The strangers' voice was deep and smooth, and reminded him a bit of Janus'. But this had a tactful, almost clinical and calculated sincerity, whereas Janus' was far more lilted and drawly. Regardless, Virgil felt his throat constricting a bit. He tried subtly coughing the feeling away. "I am in search of some high quality yarn, as a gift for a dear friend of mine. It is my understanding that this establishment is highly regarded for its products' quality?" Virgil tried not to stare. The stranger was running their fingers down and up the inside of one of the lapels of their coat very slowly, and that reminded Virgil terribly of Janus. He felt like he was in high school all over again, ogling over a tall pretty boy.

Regardless of his gay panic, Virgil cleared his throat. "Yeah, we try," His voice cracked slightly, and he tried clearing his throat again. "I mean, we have some pretty awesome suppliers, and we have a really, uh... Big selection of stuff. Do you, do you know what it is you want to get for your friend, exactly?" Virgil thanked any gods that existed had allowed him to formulate a coherent sentence, and he was glad to have the expectation of speaking temporarily off himself.

The customer tapped his chin with the side of his index finger, - which again, reminded Virgil painfully of Janus - humming as he continued surveying his surroundings. "I think he'd appreciate a selection of soft or pastel colors, and he adores the color blue. I think white would be a suitable addition as well. Do you sort your yarns by color?" he inquired, returning his heavy gaze to Virgil and pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Virgil tried not to audibly gulp.

"Yeah, we do. here, let me show you to the right aisle," Virgil stepped away from the register, and tried to get out from behind the counter, only to completely trip over a cardboard box and fall directly onto his face.

"Goodness, are you alright?" the stranger paced quickly over to where Virgil was groaning on the floor, attempting to pull himself up onto his elbows. They reached a pale-white and very bony hand down to Virgil, who stared at it for a little too long before taking it gingerly.

The customer pulled firmly, and Virgil did too, and they both slightly miscalculated how much strength they needed to apply in order for Virgil to stand. Virgil stumbled forward just a bit as he rose. He looked up slightly and found himself nose to nose with the now wide-eyed man. Virgil yelped slightly, jumping away like a startled cat.

"Sh-shoot, sorry about that," Virgil took to fidgeting a bit aggressively with his hoodie strings, curling them around and between his fingers. "Uh, this way," he pushed a bit awkwardly past the man, looking at his shoes as he walked and willing away the burning heat he felt in his cheeks. Of course the first cute guy he encounters besides his boyfriends is right there when he falls on his face.

He paced over to the aisle with hues of blue and purple yarn, spotting Emile still working with a large box of cerulean. After a momentary panic and trying to wave Emile's attention without making any noise, the stranger turned the corner into the aisle Virgil had led him to. Virgil sighed to himself, annoyed at an in-no-way-at-fault Emile who still hadn't noticed their presence.

Virgil cleared his throat. "Hey, Emile, could you take register while I help this... customer?" Virgil had to take a moment to recall a phrase to describe him besides 'very beautiful man'.

"Uh-" Emile went to say he could help the customer for Virgil, since they were meant to stay in the vicinity of their assigned roles, but Virgil was looking at him with an intensity that blatantly said 'I am begging you to let me help this very gorgeous man to find his yarn and if you don't so help me god I will impale your severed and rotting skull on a rusty metal pole'. Emile chuckled a little shrilly. "Yeah, sure Virge," Emile slid past the two of them, making his way to the register as the chime of the door sounded again. "Welcome in, Margaret! Do-you-how-do?"

Virgil turned his attention back to the man looming slightly over him, leading him down the aisle to the softer and lighter shades. The customer was already scanning the shelves with a tactful intensity that made Virgil almost as anxious as it did further attracted to him.

"This variety is more than adequate," he spoke, almost under his breath, and Virgil tried not to shudder at the rumble in his voice.

"Um, great," Virgil piped up after a moment, and the icy gaze of the tall boy was on him once again. His cheeks felt real hot. "I can, get you a bag for... what you pick out? Er, a gift bag, if you'd like?" Virgil tapped the side of his fist into his hip a few times, trying to expel some of his nervousness. The stranger smiled softly.

"That would be excellent. Thank you, Virgil." He turned back to examining his options, and Virgil scurried off to find a gift bag.

The bags were all by the front register, and he grumbled a bit to himself on the way, preparing for some relentless teasing from his coworker for the next century at minimum. Emile was just waving Margaret off when Virgil rounded the corner, stepping behind the counter to rummage through some boxes for a gift bag.

"Sooo, Virgil," Emile started, tone entirely teasing as he leaned a little too far on the counter, tapping his orange pen on his lips.

"Don't. Say. Anything." Virgil hissed through clenched teeth, glancing up to give Emile another pointed glare for good measure. Emile chuckled lightly, leaning back on the counter a bit.

"Whaat? I won't! I'm totally innocent, see?" Emile puffed out his bottom lip and made his eyes look big. Virgil scoffed.

"Is that a cartoon reference?"

Emile grinned, shrugging. "Probably."

Virgil found the gift bags - finally - and began scampering off and away from the prying gaze of his overly curious co-worker.

Virgil helped the customer to find and collect the proper amount and variety of yarns that he wanted. As it turned out, it was a relatively easy task; aside from being impossibly and unintentionally charming, the stranger was mindful and courteous, and working with him was proving to be relatively easy. They bantered a bit, falling into a casual conversation as they searched for yarn, as well as while they walked back to the register for Virgil to ring his items up.

Emile gave Virgil a pointed look as he approached, trading him places as he walked with a skip in his step back to his yet unstocked shelves. Virgil rolled his eyes at him, stepping extra carefully behind the counter so as not to trip on any stray cardboard boxes. He leaned against the counter in front of the register, beginning to type numbers into it as though he knew the yarn prices like the back of his hand.

the customer stood at the counter before Virgil, vaguely examining his purchase as he watched Virgil slightly through his peripheral. He noticed the way Virgil bit at the inside corner of his mouth, worrying the flesh between his canines as he focused on adding the prices.

"Alright... your total is 82.53," Virgil said slowly, looking up at the stranger, who had - oddly enough - already been looking at him. The stranger glanced away momentarily, clearing his throat and reaching into an inside pocket of his coat for his wallet.

He produced a pristine black leather wallet, pulling a shiny navy blue debit card from between its folds and setting the wallet on the counter as he handed off the card. Virgil took the card and charged it, the customer punching in his PIN through the keypad.

A faint buzzing sounded from within the man's coat, and he reached in once more with knitted eyebrows. He pulled out what seemed to be his phone, eyes widening as he saw whatever was on the screen. Virgil couldn't see, but he figured someone must be calling him.

"My apologies, I must depart," The man spoke quietly, grabbing his gift bag of yarn and bringing his phone to his face as he made hastily for the door. Virgil didn't hear what he said when he answered the phone, but his brow was still furrowed when Virgil caught a glimpse of his face walking down the sidewalk out the store window.

"Bye..." Virgil said to the empty store front.

He looked down, seeing the customer's debit card still in his hand. "Shit." He saw the wallet set on the counter before him as well. He grabbed it, opening it to return the debit card to its proper place and see if there was a way of contacting the man within the wallet.

As he opened it, a white card similar in shape and size to the debit card fell to the floor. Virgil retrieved it, flipping it over to see what it was.

"No way..." Virgil was holding a driver's license. The name it was registered under was too familiar for it to be a coincidence.

He'd need to be giving one Logan Lattimer a call on his break.

[nina5319371]

Week 8 Studio Tutorial – Digital Iteration

My understanding of Andrew’s own explanation of ‘low-fidelity’-’hi-fidelity’

He gives examples from the handle, which from the aluminum handle, brass handle to plastics handles versus 3-d print. In my interpretation, it was a process from hi-fidelity to low, from the accurate and high-quality material towards the fast production. Hi-fidelity refers to be featured by minimal changes in sound reproduction; whereas, low-fidelity produces less accuracy and with less perceived value compared to the hi-fidelity. Hence, the difference between these two concepts results not only in the material but also in the perceived value, such as the feeling when users grip the weight of different handles.

From low to high, this process is a traditional and clean process to output the highest; however, from high to low, this is a way to test various aspects simultaneously and research different elements to add to the design.

Part1 introduces the basis and provides preparation for part2

CAD(Computer aided deisgn) has become mainstream, alomost every modern manufacturing company has access to at least one form of CAD or another. It helps me to achieve the design in a cheap and less cost mode in a most realistic way. Also, I suppose, 3d modeling would be a mundane performance for laymen, such as customers and factories. Compared to paper or sketching, a 3d file can be easily sent to everywhere by Internet.

By watching the recordings of the class several times, I have achieved the objectives overall, from conceptual understanding for 3ds max and quick generations. Before the class, I was extremely worried about computer-aided design, because I suffered a lot from the time of Rhino😫. However, everything was beyond my expectation positively😁. I get well on 3d max, especially the high-tech design of the interface, which was much more friendly.

My favorite: I enjoyed playing the modifiers and changed the numbers from different components(image1). I felt like this was magic, especially displaying the twist, mesh smooth, and the FFD, which can be seen from my bottle(image2); Organic shapes of the sofa were performed by squeeze(image3); lastly, I made myriad changes in edit poly to apply multiple layers inside the box, so that the container could be functional(image5). Actually, this was hard to define the numbers to the mesh smooth and squeeze; for me, I solved it by several failures from experiences.

My biggest regret ever: If I had time next time, I’d definitely save the file every 15 minutes, because when the rendering started, the application is going to easily break down. This is the reason I did twice this week. This point I assume that the fatal disadvantages are software complexity, aaintenance and Upkeep. Everything starts from digital devices, but also ended in its machinery shortcommings. The success or failure of the affair is all due to the very same point.

Online exercises and tutorials offered a series of episodes to lead me into the 3ds max: currently, it would be likely to create the object type first, then with various modifiers.

At last, I wanted to add material on the surface and did the quick rendering where the dice was designed by the aid from the tutorial(image6), which resulted in a glassy effect through several stages, bevels, connect, chamfer, and NURM subdivision. I like the way how bevel turned out to reveal the depth and details.

In a nutshell, digital works always benefit from techniques but are also limited by familiarity at first. Specifically, it was a process like clay making: firstly, the rough and overall structure; then with details and alterations. Next time, I would go further about the modifier list.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Pandemics and peak indifference

When I think about our historical, profound shifts in attitude and discourse, the model I apply is "peak indifference."

Say you have real, existential problem. More often than not, these are systemic problems, and those are the hardest problems.

https://locusmag.com/2016/07/cory-doctorow-peak-indifference/

Not just because systemic problems involve collective action (you can't recycle your way out of climate change), but because the cause-and-effect relationships of systemic problems can't be easily known, so it's hard to know what you need to do to avert the problem.

Systemic problems pose a third difficulty: they enrich small minorities, and those minorities can exploit causal ambiguity to deliberately sow doubt.

To make that more concrete: think about cancer-tobacco denial.

Not everyone who smokes gets cancer. When it does give you cancer, the tumor comes years after the puff that damages your genes. There's lots of social pressure to smoke, and getting your friends to quit is even harder than quitting yourself.

And on top of all of it, the tobacco industry made tons of money from giving us cancer, and they could use some of that to fund doubt-merchants who deliberately worsened the difficulty in linking smoking and cancer.

https://timharford.com/2015/04/cigarettes-damn-cigarettes-and-statistics/

But denial doesn't make problems disappear - it just incurs policy debt, and the interest on that debt is human suffering. Climate inaction, tobacco inaction, and inequality inaction only delay the day of reckoning, and make it worse when it arrives.

That's where peak denial comes in. Over time, the mounting harms from policy debt make it harder and harder to deny the problem, At a certain point - long before we take action - the number of people who deny the problem starts to decline.

This happens naturally, without any need for activist urging. The problem is that the natural peak denial point is often several steps beyond the point of no return. And that's when denial slides into nihilism:

Here's what nihilism looks like:

"Well, I guess these things *did* give me stage 4 lung cancer after all. No point in quitting now."

or

"You were right, rhino populations are in danger! But since there's only one left, let's find out what he tastes like?"

That's why we can't wait for peak denial to arise on its own, why we must hasten its arrival - because we want people to engage with systemic problems *before* the point of no return.

That's where storytelling comes in.

Stories are a fuggly hack, an illusion played on our empathy, wherein we're fooled into caring about the literally inconsequential fate of made-up people (your breakfast yogurt's death was more tragic than Romeo and Juliet's, for it was once alive).

https://locusmag.com/2014/11/cory-doctorow-stories-are-a-fuggly-hack/

But still, made up stories that make vivid and visceral the consequences of inaction can spur us into action, can create a vocabulary for discussing the lived experience of people in a future that has not yet arrived.

Even better than stories, though, are *histories*, the real stories of real people who really suffered through real experiences comparable to those that we face on our horizon. Hence "those who forget history are doomed to repeat it."

We're very good at forgetting history. The arrival of the covid pandemic was filled with stories of the dimly remembered 1918 influenza pandemic. Our failure to heed those warnings triggered tales of its brutal second wave the following winter.

Herp derp.

Starting in 1968, successive US presidents began to dismantle Glass-Steigel, a corrective put in place after a horrendous finance sector collapse that triggered the Great Depression and WWII. Not one president heeded historians' warnings about the consequences.

Derp.

Dismantling the checks on finance led to successive, worsening crises followed by crushing austerity a deepening inequality. Historical warnings about how this cycle ends with guillotines and Reichstag fires were ignored.

Derp derp derp.

The ideology of finance is a subset of right-wing thought, defined by Corey Robin (in "The Reactionary Mind") as the belief that some people are born to rule, while the rest are born to be ruled over.

https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-reactionary-mind-9780190692001

This belief has many guises (Dominionism, imperialism, racism, monarchism, fascism, libertarianism) but they all boil down to one thing: eugenics.

It's one thing to believe that markets are meritocratic during a moment of dynamism, when the low-born can rise to riches.

But when their offspring pull up the ladder and social mobility halts, "meritocracy" becomes hereditary: markets elevate the best people, and the best people are all descended from the wealthy, so the wealthy must be of better stock (cue Trump and his talk of "good blood").

Eugenics was once a mainstream American doctrine, and American eugenicists inspired Nazi "race science." But after the Holocaust, eugenics fell into disrepute and we dropped it down the same memory hole that the 1918 flu disappeared into.

But eugenics made a comeback under another guise: the "human capital theory," which holds that markets reward us in proportion to our value to society, and thus the CEO is paid 10,000x more than the janitor because the CEO provides 10,000x more value to the human project.

Eugenics isn't just repugnant, it's also wrong. To understand why, you have to understand how desirable traits are social, not isolated in individuals.

Blair Fix's essay on the link between eugenics and human capitol theory is a must-read:

https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2021/01/14/the-rise-of-human-capital-theory/

By way of illustration, Fix describes geneticist William Muir's experiments with improving chicken egg-production through artificial selection, in which he only bred the best layers. The result? A disaster. Egg-laying plummeted.

It plummeted because laying isn't an isolated trait. Chickens that produced the most eggs did so by bullying other chickens out of *their* feed and resources. Selecting for laying selected for bullying and aggression and led to endless chicken-fights and no eggs.

When Muir bred another flock of chickens based on a *group*'s ability to lay, THEN he got his eggs. Egg-laying is a social process.

This story will be familiar to anyone who's worked in a stack-ranked software development shop.

Software managers have long noted that some coders can turn in 10X or even 100X more code than their median colleagues. But attempts to build "superstar" teams that fired all the median programmers end in chaos and destruction.

If your 100X programmer is such a dick that no one can work with them, then their aptitude is irrelevant - you'll never ship.

I assume there are analogies to this in the sporting world, but I am vastly unqualified to discuss sports of any kind.

Despite the bankruptcy of human capital theory, the systemic dangers it posed, and the obvious fact that it was just eugenics dressed up as economics, the theory festered for decades, poisoning our worlds.

The C-suites of every major company are filled with hens whose egg-laying prowess is the result of their suppression of their peers' efficacy - while others whose social integration make them far more productive are relegated to worse jobs or forced out altogether.

The lockdown provoked squeals of outrage from the world's wealthiest people, who insisted that the factories be re-opened. As the slogan of the day went, "If a billionaire needs you to go to work to maintain his fortune, then you are the source of that fortune - not him."

We can't afford to be indifferent to any of our systemic problems any more: not climate science, nor inequality, nor monopoly, nor the lurking eugenics that justifies it all.

[hopevalley]

Season 8, Episode 7: Before My Very Eyes

This episode sure was a rollercoaster, wasn’t it?

Let’s dive right on in. :)

Plotlines:

The Love Triangle & Allie’s Adoption

Ned & The Canfields

Christopher’s Performance

Clara and Jesse

I guess you could say the plotlines were better written together/integrated in this episode than in previous ones. There’s a lot going on but most of the filming and plots just...rolled together?

For example, the saloon as the “gathering place” where multiple plot points take place simultaneously was really cool IMO. It helps the town feel livelier. 

The Love Triangle & Allie’s Adoption

The love triangle is...an enigma. I’m probably in the minority of not really being that invested in who Elizabeth ends up with, but I doubt I’m in the minority regarding my general feelings on the love triangle: I want it to end.

I think we’re at a point where it’s just super frustrating for everyone involved, and we’re stretching the limits of suspension of disbelief when it comes to the audience. 

I don’t think we’d be as harsh on the triangle if we had double the episodes a season. We get a whopping 12 this season, more than we’ve gotten in a long time, so space is limited, and time is limited, and we know she’ll reach a decision toward the end of this season, so there’s that...I don’t know...pressure I guess, on the characters and the episodes to showcase things in a manner that feels natural and moves well.

For what it’s worth I’m fine with Elizabeth’s turtle-pace, but with only 6 episodes left (5 after this episode aired), knowing she’ll pick someone soon (and it will probably be Nathan)... It makes it really difficult to stomach the Lucas scenes—not because I don’t want to see her with Lucas if she won’t end up with him, but because I feel really bad for Lucas!

Especially with the intense fourth-wall-breaking level of awareness Lucas seems to have regarding the situation. Yes, I’m talking about the line he quoted.

“Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not.” 

That’s only half the quote. This is the full quote:

“Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad.”

—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Sure, it’s applied to Henry, but it seems almost...too knowledgeable to me? 

So, the quote is from the novel Hyperion: A Romance, published in 1839. Longfellow’s wife Mary died in 1836 after a miscarriage. Overwhelmed by grief Longfellow took trips to Europe and spent seven years trying to woo Frances Appleton. She eventually agreed to marry him.

Hyperion was inspired by this. Paul is the main character. He travels through Germany after the death of a friend, and falls in love with an Englishwoman named Mary Ashburton. She rejects him.

To say this was a thinly-veiled autobiography of sorts is, uh, an understatement. To have Lucas quoting it in When Calls the Heart feels...odd. It wouldn’t surprise me if this was an omen of sorts, but...we can’t forget Lucas’s parents’ history: his mother refused to marry his father for years, just like Frances refused to marry Longfellow.

It’s not a bad quote or anything...it’s just...frustratingly on the nose.

I did appreciate Elizabeth’s admission of not wanting to be one of Lucas’s “secret sorrows.” They’re courting publicly anyway, everyone knows it. It’s time for them to be a little more open about it, at least in little ways. Him squeezing her hand on the saloon table shouldn’t be a big deal at this point.

If this was the storyline we were getting for Elizabeth (her slowly working her way toward something with Lucas) I’d be happy with it. I’m still Team Nathan but I like Lucas a lot this season and would be content with a storyline for him.

THE THING IS...I don’t think that is going to happen, and it makes me feel terrible to see him getting strung along like this. Elizabeth doesn’t come off as “has feelings for Lucas and is just nervous about showcasing it” for multiple reasons. First, she was very PDA-like with Jack, and secondly, that’s just...not how the scenes seem to be written. You can assume her reasoning but she never once is the one initiating and then backing off. He always initiates. She always backs off. It’s unbalanced and makes me feel bad for Lucas.

I really hope we get to sit inside his head a bit longer/more seriously at some point. Maybe he’s aware of her feelings for Nathan and is willing to try anyway because he believes that to some extent love is a choice? That would be really interesting tbh.

As it is, I just feel sorry for Lucas. Not that I think Elizabeth wouldn’t have hangups with Nathan, too, but I just feel like Elizabeth’s hangups with Nathan are more fear of what she is feeling/fear of what could happen to him in the future/fear of her heart being broken again, whereas with Lucas it’s almost like she’s not feeling it and trying to force that kind of affection with him makes her feel weird/gross/bad. 

I definitely think she has a good friendship base with Lucas, but if the feelings aren’t there, they aren’t there. 

Sorry, my thoughts are muddled. There wasn’t a lot going on with the triangle in this episode in terms of...triangley things. I just wish Elizabeth would choose so that the plotline could go away. I’m tired of seeing people strung along.

Nathan was pretty good in this episode. I appreciated his talk with Allie a lot; choosing to be kind and want good things for someone you like is a good example to set. I feel like in the café Allie’s dialogue about Elizabeth smiling at him was off; she probably should have said something more like, “If she doesn’t like you like that, then why does she smile at you that way?” might have sounded better. (He could have said “what way?” and she could have batted her eyes at him lmao.) Allie already knows Elizabeth is courting Lucas...and if we’re to believe the smile directed at Nathan is what tips Allie’s invite consideration to her adoption ceremony, then that would have been a better way to approach it (instead of “Did you see the way she smiled at you?!”).

I really loved that Lucas got Nathan and Allie a little gift. Honestly I just want Lucas and Nathan to be friends or something because the actors have good chemistry together and there’s a shortage of good male friendships in the show that feel Good. I wonder if we’ll find out what the gift was at any point?

The end with Allie only inviting Elizabeth to the ceremony was hilarious. I wanted to actually see the ceremony (because Nathan promising not to leave her was SUCH a good line, I almost got emotional over that and I wanted to see it put into play again) but the imagery it left us with (it looks like a wedding...) was clear enough haha.

Poor Bill, stuck in the middle of that.

Speaking of Bill, the adoption being “on him” was really sweet. And then of course Bill can’t keep the moment tender because he’s always so Uncomfortable with Feelings, but it’s still very sweet.

--

Ned & The Canfields

I don’t have a whole lot to say here, but I really appreciated this storyline. It wasn’t the best-written surgery-medical-wise, but it felt heartfelt and that’s what matters. 

Florence running around trying to do everything herself while also stressing out about Ned really felt...real. And then of course Rosemary getting appointed to the phones and gossiping forever...hahah.

I’m glad I saw the writing on the wall with Joseph; of course he’s a former pastor! I really am intrigued by what his “plans” are that are not church-related. I like that they tried not to make him exactly like Frank, but boy what I wouldn’t give to see them both pastoring in Hope Valley. Then Joseph could pursue his dream while also pastoring a bit, and so could Frank. It’d be nice, and they’d probably get along swell.

Seeing more faith/prayer in the show has been great. Also, Joseph and Minnie are so cute together... I adore them.

--

Christopher’s Performance

And here we are, talking about the man of the hour... Christopher. Henry’s “secret sorrow” or the product of Henry’s secret sorrow? It almost makes me think he got over Nora with Christopher’s mother and she cut off ties with him and married Jerry the banker.

Henry’s opinion of Jerry is obviously not great, but he’s respectful enough to not talk badly about him. It makes me wonder if Jerry is a worse man than Henry is, though. Maybe so? I wonder if we’ll get more information about it.

They really did a good casting job with Christopher; he manages to look similar enough to Henry and kind of...mimic his way of smiling and movement that’s almost uncanny. 

Of course...as Rosemary says, she knows a performance when she sees one.

I’m wondering if Bill feels similarly...

But boy do we know how Lucas feels! Lee tells Lucas that his pocketwatch has been missing “about a week now.”

Lucas confronts Christopher and instead of Christopher being like, “Oh no! I’ll keep my eyes open in case he dropped it somewhere or maybe the chain broke!” he’s really sarcastic about it?

He then tries for the second time to control Lucas (treats him like...he can order him around/bully him) by asking if Lucas found him a bigger room yet. This dude has a serious ego. The sound of Lucas intentionally shutting the door after this was delicious, though.

“If I find that you’re picking pockets, I don’t care who you are or why you’re here. You’ll be on the next stage out of town.”

Christopher just...almost smiles and stands up. “I didn’t steal any watch.”

Lucas says, “And I should believe you?”

Christopher responds with, “That’s your choice.” 

Lucas leaves, and then Christopher pulls the watch out of his pocket.

He seems to feel a little guilty when he reads the inscription...but still. He’s so skeevy. 

And then he takes the flowers Jesse drops off the ground...to give to...Rachel... Honey, you got a big storm comin’... She knows he’s bad news but I guess she’s into it. Yikes.

And then we have the scene where Mike comes to Henry with a great idea he has, and is interrupted by the arrival of Christopher. Henry tells him he wants him to teach Christopher everything he knows. Mike’s enthusiasm dries up right away.

I think Mike also realizes Christopher is bad news.

And Henry’s just so excited to be “looked up to” and “seen as a father of sorts” that he can’t see what’s right in front of him. Normally he’d be attuned to bullshit just as clearly as Bill and Rosemary and the rest, but...his bias is in the way. He wants to fix his past so bad he doesn’t realize it might not be worth it...

I hope Mike keeps his idea to himself but I have a super bad awful feeling he’ll admit it to Christopher and then Christopher will pitch it to Henry as his own idea. I feel sick just thinking of it!

--

Clara and Jesse

Clara and Jesse were starting to repair things juuust every so slightly and then he gets mad that she’s shortening her skirt and...it all goes to hell.

It’s not that I don’t love a little drama but this is just...I don’t know. Maybe too much? I liked Clara’s discussion with Joseph because he tells her the honest truth (and he’s full of advice, for better or worse, just like me HAHA): you can’t repair your marriage if you’re not around one another to even begin to heal the wounds/talk about things.

I’m not very invested in these two as characters these days, and I’m not sure what would fix it, but this spat being dragged out for ages ain’t it right now. I’m keeping an open mind, though; it could go somewhere interesting...and at least it didn’t get resolved in one episode.

Also, I appreciated Clara venting to Bill in that “I still care about him very much way” while Bill tries (somewhat awkwardly) to support her choice(s). He’s in a bit of a tough spot; he can’t offer advice freely because not many people are going to take marriage advice from a divorced man who didn’t marry for love in the first place anyway. It’s just good to see him trying to act supportive for Clara.

--

Other thoughts:

I see we’re getting more of the plotline where Bill has to give up his uniform, but he actually made a really good point in this episode about that. He did earn it! And then insult to injury...trying to make him give up his horse, too? 

It’s cute that his horse’s name is Hero; I feel like that was stated much earlier in the show (maybe S3 or S4?) but I’d forgotten it, tbh. How wholesome.

“Am I being prideful?” I think this was a good question for Bill to ask, and honestly it probably took a bit of courage for him to even ask Lee about it/admit that maybe he was being a bit prideful. But like, it’s okay to take pride in your work/the work you’ve done. He did earn all of it and it’s not really fair to ask for him to give it all up. The jacket is one thing (it’s a physical item; yes it shows all the hard work he put in but it’s just an object), but the horse? That’s an emotional bond and it’s rather cruel to break it.

Lee excited to try on the jacket was literally the cutest thing, and I loved that Bill folded and let him try it on. Honestly? Lee looked pretty good in it!

That scene was the definition of BOYS WILL BE BOYS, hahaha.

Also, Elizabeth’s line: “Haven’t you ever lost someone so close to your heart that it tears you apart?” was SO CRINGEY. I don’t know how that made it into the finished episode. Please, writers... read this shit aloud before you film the show. READ ALL YOUR WRITING ALOUD TO HEAR THE CADANCE. I’m literally begging you. 

But also, the whole concept is still cringe. You don’t know Dylan, Elizabeth. You didn’t know Colleen. You don’t know if he loved Colleen or not. You don’t know why he ran out on Allie. You’re projecting? Maybe? But even if he did fall to pieces over Colleen’s death, that was no reason to hurt poor Allie who had nothing to do with it and did nothing wrong.

They should have edited the line to say something slightly different. “Tears you to pieces” would have sufficed. And not rhymed on accident.

Last thing for now...the lack of Carson and Faith in this episode was amazing. I know the surgery with Ned will push Carson to either take the fellowship and return to Hope Valley to be of more use there and/or push him to just stay where he is because there’s no one else in the area with his skill level.

I think I’ll be happy with it if he becomes an area surgeon more than a regular doctor... it would help him and Faith both feel necessary for different reasons. And also, he was a surgeon when he arrived in Hope Valley in S4, so it’s clearly his strongest point (and best training/experience).

--

So uh, how ‘bout that preview for next episode, though? WHOA.

Hopefully this isn’t too scattered; work has gotten a lot busier since the weather got nicer, so I have less time to write without interruption lmao. 

[uzaylibirbeg]

Should I License My Idea?

Is It A Invention?

First things first. You can not patent an idea just because you think you are the very first individual to find up with it. A license is there to shield an 'invention', not merely an idea. When you apply for a patent what you are doing is defining, via text as well as drawings, how your development functions. In return for this public release of your creation, if it is new the state will provide you unique rights to it for 20 years. For that reason to be able to patent your idea, its core idea needs to be explainable in straightforward as well as straight terms

The various other factors you can't just patent an idea is that it needs to include a unique and also inventive action. A really simple description of this 'obviousness' test is as adheres to Would certainly a hypothetical proficient person, that understands whatever but does not have the slightest spark of innovative resourcefulness, come up with the very same idea if they recognized all the previous art (all previous ideas), yet had not read your license application? If the response is of course after that your idea is not an innovation, it is just the rational application of existing day expertise to brand-new trouble as well as consequently you can not patent it.

, consequently, getting here at something falling within the terms of the insurance claims, and hence accomplishing what the innovation accomplishes? It's the "would certainly, not simply might" that is the all-important meaning below.

The US is a bit various from Europe and also this originality action is consistently not correctly evaluated or used, bring about lots of many licenses being approved in the United States that is an extremely apparent logical application of existing ideas. Numerous companies have spent huge sums of money attempting to rescind such licenses but although a given US patent can be rescinded one rarely is. In many means, the United States license system is more akin to what lots of people assume about patents over below, if your the initial individual ahead up with an idea after that you can patent it. The noticeable disadvantage is that numerous poor patents have actually been unjustly approved and also have unfairly blocked several others from being able to create products that must never have been shielded by patents, to begin with.

Industrial Worth

If you've reached here then ideally you have a development that might be patentable. The following tests are typically completely overlooked at the outset however are also actually important. The initial as well as essential is what will an effective granting of a license do for you? Patents cost cash. Certain you can browse and file yourself but its unbelievably time-consuming and like all things lawful generating an expert, in the form of a patent lawyer, it is usually a much better course. Executing the searches as well as submitting your license application through a lawyer will cost a few thousand pounds. You then have a reasonably brief duration before you have to determine if you are posting likely to file the license in other countries throughout the world, which costs even more money, and also if you are submitting in lots of nations the translations can become pricey. When you have got your license you after that have ongoing costs annually to patent offices to maintain the patent active. So whatever it is your aiming to patent has reached be worth this from an industrial organization point of view (if you are put off by the idea of having to invest numerous thousand extra pounds with a licensed lawyer is what you're doing worth patenting at all?).

Many individuals, as well as firms, file for licenses to get the IP to make sure that they can then attract investors to help them take their development onward. If you've viewed a couple of episodes of Dragon's Den on the TELEVISION then it must have become very obvious that capitalists do not take wild risks and also if you desire a person to buy your firm or idea they require to feel protected in doing this. If you have a patent for a terrific idea that can be commercialized it will frequently offer specifically this protection for a financier so you are a stage closer to obtaining them to get rid of that all-important money (you'll most likely have likewise observed that although financiers are occasionally not extremely nice individuals they tend to just intend to collaborate with wonderful individuals!).

An additional misconception is that as soon as you have a license no-one else can replicate your idea. Well although legitimately they can't, the State won't quit them. If somebody infringes on your license it is down to you to stop them, typically by spending large sums of cash with attorneys and utilizing the courts. If the infringer is a huge company, or several firms infringe on your license you need to be able to fund the legal action. If your invention is business enough then these lawful actions will certainly not be a problem as you'll locate the cash, win the case, and also ultimately obtain a lot of it back. If your combating a huge company that has a whole lot of money to string out your legal activity for a lengthy time is it worth it? Is the idea your wanting to patent commercial sufficient to warrant all this.

There are lots of smaller sized companies out there that view patenting as a wild-goose chase and cash and also favor to guide their resources, interest, as well as cash at being the initial to market as well as initial to introduce. Should you be among them rather than spending what could be a lot of your money and time safeguarding your idea?

You might be aiming to patent your development after that accredit it to one more business to generate. For one year from filing your license, you have global patent security as well as you intend to make use of the initial 10 months of this to make certain your idea can be commercialized before needing to choose which other countries to additionally apply in and also providing your attorney a month or more to carry out the needed job. You need to relocate bloody fast! If you are coming close to huge companies they will typically take a couple of months to return to you before you can even reveal them the development as well as begin arrangements. If you're doing this 6 - 8 months in its too late as they recognize you have no time as well as will commonly play for time to require you right into a negative service setting, or just in the hope, you will not finish the license when the year is up. Whilst you can't tell any individual regarding your creation before you file your license application you can get around this by asking business (such as us) to sign nondisclosure agreements as well as begin work with the advancement of your product beforehand so you struck the ground running the moment the application is submitted.

If the above hasn't put you off then possibly you do have that evasive great idea. Schedule a consultation with a licensed lawyer (any kind of good attorney should give you the initial visit completely free) as well as get breaking! For more information, there are numerous wonderful web resources on filing for licenses which we won't attempt and re-create here.

A couple of license assistance tips

When researching a development you'll commonly require to check out existing license applications to ensure your idea is new. Patents can be lots of pages long and also worded, yet generally, it is only the very first primary insurance claim in a patent that is seriously crucial. The rest will simply be lesser claims the patent can fall back to must the greater cases ever before be rescinded or turned down by the patent supervisor.

Where there could be obscurity in an insurance claim the patent description can influence the cases and may, consequently, have been purposely written, therefore, so browse the summary to see if it tries to provide this.

Patent claims are not unique. Even if an insurance claim describes one way of doing something doesn't suggest that it could not be done differently.

Patents include a detailed description which is normally planned to explain/ directions of how the invention could be made use of. Keep in mind that this only demands to cover one details use the invention as well as does not exclude the cases being made use of in other means.

Cases generally associate with a Device (equipment designed or set up for a particular objective) or a Technique (a method of doing something), as well as commonly patents consist of both with the purpose that the method claims can be fallen back on needs to the device declares be turned down.

Interestingly among the aims of licenses is to promote invention and also innovation. Whilst blocking other firms from copying ideas might seem to do the precise reverse, the all-natural response when confronted with a patent it to try and work around it. We have dealt with several companies and done exactly this, having been informed with a product they intend to create and the existing patent appearing to obstruct it. There is usually a means around a license but the aim is to try and do it in such a way that leaves you with a business product which still serves its objective in a budget-friendly way (excellent patents obstruct this by safeguarding versus all the affordable methods of accomplishing the very same thing).

Filing a license application does not indicate that any type of browsing will certainly be done. It will certainly after that be analyzed in detail by a licensed supervisor however even if the patent is awarded it can be overturned at any kind of time if prior art can be verified. Also after that bear in mind that searches are not necessarily as skilled as you may anticipate and patent office searches will not necessarily browse anything other than previously released license applications and also filings.

There is no point in giving the licensed lawyer too much information. They need to compose the license from their knowledge and also experience, not from your bad effort. Below's what need to be ideally given:-.

* Drawings and descriptions of the illustrations to get the idea throughout.

* The benefits of the innovation.

* Alterations that are feasible to the development.

* Crucial points and optional factors.

* Don't consist of loads of existing patents - they'll only need to review them which will, therefore, set you back even more. 1 or 2 may be useful though.

Related Posts:

https://www.techtimes.com/articles/249715/20200518/how-inventhelp-gets-new-inventors-onto-the-right-path.htm

https://midhudsonnews.com/2020/05/10/how-does-inventhelp-support-new-inventors/

https://kulturehub.com/inventhelp-support-inventors/

[whetstonefires]

Do you think the DC fandom maybe, Infantilizes Tim a little too much? Like for a rich kid character who's main trauma for a long time was a getting left home alone too much there's an oddly amount of meta abt how much how much his parents hurt him~ compared to, y'know the two poor characters who grew up with physically abusive dad's+druggie mom's, or the two that were raised assassin cult's, etc

…well, yeah, I do kind of think that? His whole schtick for so long was being too old for his age in ways that didn’t sacrifice his jokey, relatable teenager energies. It’s weird how little of that we see anymore, sometimes.

And then DC broke him and discarded him and he’s sort of awkwardly hanging around getting reimagined as more woobie with every fan generation. It is weird!

But tbh I do get it. And I think the reason his parents’ failure of him and his vulnerability get played up so much, and Jason and Steph’s sufferings (while used a lot for things like motivation and context) not dwelt on quite so much in the same lugubrious style, are kind of the same reason.

Which is that canon didn’t commit to it. Jason and Steph’s experiences with bad parenting were foregrounded and retconned more dramatically awful several times. (There’s some definite classism in how that was approached imo, and I’m never budging on being mad about DC retconning out Catherine being sick and then ignoring her forever in all Jason characterization because a drug death invalidates a person ig, great message during the opioid crisis guys.)

They engaged and coped with it–Steph (and Cass, our #1 canon batfam parental abuse victim) pretty directly, Jason a little less so because of the dubious and fluctuating canon status of most of the content more specific than ‘poverty, homelessness, theft, parental drugs and crime in there somewhere,’ so most of his parent issues have been focused on Bruce. He sure has dug into them tho. 😂 Rarely well or productively, thanks DC, but it’s explicitly part of his character, is my point.

Whereas upper-middle-class Tim was always treated by the narrative as fortunate and unharmed by his experiences with his parents. Even though they were clearly behaving badly in several ways, and Tim showed signs of being harmed by it.

Tim outside of immediate moments of frustration always was of the opinion he was Fine, and Very Fortunate Actually.

Therefore a huge chunk of the numerous everyone who’s got parent-related mental and emotional harm, but has struggled to have that validated and hasn’t responded with a lot of anger toward the parent, identifies with Tim. The only one who’s never really lashed out at his parents for fucking up with him. The one who still needs it explored, because canon ultimately didn’t.

[editing post to put in a readmore because lol it’s long, post otherwise unchanged]

(Dick obviously didn’t ever have any Issues with the Graysons, but he Angry Teenagered at Bruce so hard it changed Bruce’s characterization permanently, rip.)

The things Jason, Steph, and Cass have been through are dramatic, obvious, and fit stereotypes because that’s what they’re based on.

That’s important content to have, but because it’s right out there in your face even people who identify with it quite a lot are less likely to feel the need to work all the way through it again in fanworks. That part’s there. It’s text.

(Well actually Jason having been physically abused kind of wasn’t? I think? It was mostly assumed on the basis of stereotyping and Jason’s not caring about the man much even as he felt possessive of information about his death, which is valid. I don’t actually know what’s up with Willis now, Lobdell did some weird shit that lacked emotional resonance or staying power because he’s Lobdell and has no soul.

Cass’ wandering years are also ludicrously underdeveloped. But very very few comics fans or writers can personally relate to being amazing child warriors with no grasp of language living feral under bridges. That part of her life is consistently represented in terms of absences, in terms of its deviation from the norm and the deficits of normality it left her with, which is typical but unfortunate.) 

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The interesting things to do with these characters are often informed by the bad stuff in their childhoods, but there’s relatively rarely that much more to say about the fact that those things were bad. They know they’re bad. They’ve had a lot of on-panel rage about it, as discussed above. Steph and Cass both beat the shit out of their dads.

Jason is, in fandom especially, a sort of Platonic ideal of a kid who’s mad about his bad childhood and really bad at figuring out where to point that rage.

(Damian is a whole other kettle of fish, because he’s been lumbered by so many detailed retcons coming so fast no two people can seem to construct compatible models of what his early childhood was like, and even more because he’s still ‘a child’ enough that he’s necessarily in a different stage of processing than someone who’s officially only a few years older than him at this point, but still functionally 8 and also 20 years older, and whose parents are no longer in the picture to continue screwing up.

Also there’s no question that if he brings up an abusive thing the League did, he will be validated by his current environment about his realization that it was in fact bad. There’s a lot of fic on that theme! But it doesn’t have the same tone precisely because it is usually understood that that support will be there if he wants it. Realizing that his previous context contained things that were wrong keeps being made the focus of his arc.)

The badness of Tim’s childhood, on the other hand, was mainly in subtext. Even when we were clearly meant to understand Jack was fucking up, like when he canceled plans with Tim at the last minute to go on a date with Tim’s stepmother, or that infamous time he came to apologize for not being a great parent and got mad Tim was distracted by a crisis on TV so he flew into a rage and took the TV and smashed it and was like ‘that’ll teach you,’ it wasn’t leaned into.

The story didn’t treat Jack as a minor villain to be overcome but like a sort of environmental hazard of childhood, like homework, to be endured and coped with. Tim said things like ‘it’s fine’ and ‘at least he left the computer.’

(And like. It’s not about having a TV and computer in his room. It’s about not letting a child have boundaries, pointedly not respecting a child’s possessions, creating an emotionally insecure environment, punishing minor infractions in proportion to their momentary impact on your own ego, physically lashing out at a proxy for the child…)

Rather like Tom King later didn’t understand about the punching from Bruce, whoever did that story (probably Dixon? I don’t care enough to check) did not understand how serious a case of bad parenting that scene was. That is most definitely textbook abusive behavior. (It’s a hell of a lot more common abusive behavior than being a lame supervillain or shooting you when you screw up, and a lot more specific than ‘was a thug, might have hit me, dead now.’)

And Tim was never allowed to be mad at his parents about it. It was fine. He needed to be ignored so he had the freedom to be Robin. He deserved his dad being mad at him because he was keeping secrets. He complained too much, although objectively he did not.

The universe punished him for ‘complaining,’ more than once. We cut straight from him shunting aside his disappointment that his postcard from his parents was just to say they weren’t coming home yet after all with ‘if it will stop all the fights they’ve been having lately it’s more than fine’ to them getting kidnapped.

He agreed not to come on the rescue mission. His mom never made it home, and his dad was in a coma for a while. And then ultimately Jack died as a result of Tim’s decision to be Robin, immediately after finally deciding to accept it.

So Tim walks around feeling a huge burden of responsibility for his parents’ deaths, and completely unable to process any hurt they did him as real or valid, especially in comparison with the far more blatant awfulness other people have been through, and canon is clearly never going to address it. Or even acknowledge it properly.

Let me repeat that because it’s kind of my main point:

People are fixated on getting Tim’s emotional abuse validated because that’s an incredibly important step in recovering from emotional abuse, and it’s one canon consistently denied him.

How ‘bad’ things are ‘in comparison to’ problems other people have is a bad and unhealthy way to engage with trauma. Okay? That’s just a really harmful framework to apply to pain.

It’s also a way that both Tim and people with experiences similar to Tim’s are encouraged to engage with their own experiences, compounding the existing problems.

So. Not a form of relatable DC was ever actually aiming for when they tried so hard (and pretty effectively) to make him a relatable character as Robin, but an enduring one for a lot of fans.

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So Tim’s childhood is a natural target for fanworks in a different way than the traumas that have been made explicit and taken seriously by the text. And then a lot of that got compounded by the way the introduction of Damian as Robin was handled, and the lack of resolution that got. And his current status as not quite having a place in the family anymore.

So between the level of projection encouraged by that context and how relatively difficult to access Tim’s Robin run has become ten years after the fact, this has led to a lot of fanworks on these themes that are based mostly on other fanworks, and stray further and further from the original content.

So at this point there’s an entire wing of Tim’s fandom wherein this side of him has expanded enormously, and he primarily exists to suffer, frequently in ways that 1) escalate to a point that is inarguably ‘valid’ and hard to dismiss and 2) set him up to rebound from it in whatever way the writer finds emotionally satisfying or useful–being ultimately cared for and reassured by people who value him (the most infantilizing option but like, popular for obvious reasons), or unveiling his brilliant scheme that was causing him to pretend to be passive in the face of mistreatment, or turning around and using his genius ninja skills to wrest power back from his abusers, or just laying down some sick burns about being treated fairly.

But not that many of the last one, because that’s mostly done with other batfam members.

Tim’s become a vehicle for a lot of vicarious coping that Steph and Jason just aren’t appropriate for, because they get angry and they get even. And those are stories that exist already, so there’s less scope for telling your own.

And because Jason’s reaction pattern is ultimately so masculine (i’ll make them all sorry! with my guns! blam blam!) while Tim’s is pretty gender-neutral, the demographics of fanfic mean that the bulk of the people using Tim vicariously in this manner are female-aligned, which has over time feminized this archetype of him a lot. Sometimes in ways I find really uncomfortable, like there’s a lot of forced pregnancy stuff which activates my panic buttons. x.x

But, ultimately, it’s fandom. People are going to do what they’re going to do, DC in their perpetual fail has hung Tim out to dry in narrative terms, and I’d rather the people who are using Tim for victimization narratives over the people who can’t dismiss or discredit him fast enough now that his position has been filled. 🤷‍♀️ What we gonna do? Fave’s in an awkward spot. DC hates us. This is the life in this comic book pit. XD

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Also if you’re the same anon who left me a callout about op of that weird Steph post in my inbox, or if you aren’t @ that person, 1) I refuse to get involved so I’m not answering that ask 2) those aren’t even particularly dramatic fandom crimes? That’s pretty normal? That’s just…Caring Too Much About Ships And Disagreeing With Me.

Do I also feel those opinions are kinda bad? Yeah. But I disagree with everyone about something. Chill.