#I just have brainworms bc this is My Research Space

[laegolas]

If I had literally any spare time to dedicate to a big project I would be very tempted to write an essay linking together Capitalist Realism (Mark Fisher) and McLuhan’s Medium is the Message because I think both add very interesting points to the broader discussion I’m seeing come up a lot re: content, consumption, and capital. Fisher explains the kind of socioeconomic conditions that lead to how we shape and consume our cultural artifacts (music, stories, film, etc) - with an emphasis on consumption. These creative works are squashed down into content and regurgitated over and over again for an audience that ultimately doesn’t exist. Meanwhile, McLuhan speaks to the epistemological influences of mediums like YouTube and TikTok (or, more accurately, implicates the epistemology as he predates them by. Well. Quite a few years). Like Hbomberguy mentions at one point - YouTube is ‘scrappy’, and self-uploaded. There is an implied ‘do your own research and don’t believe anything’ on the tin except that’s obviously not what people think or believe.

Idk I think we’ve just come to a very interesting point culturally and economically where scams and content farms are the norm and the point of our internet use is to just consume (information, ads, art) stuff that is fed to us by maths that presumes to know us better than ourselves. Anyway go watch the hbomberguy vid and while you’re at it read this medium is the message chapter or watch some mark fisher presentations

[kadextra]

so on a whim I started reading omniscient reader’s viewpoint manhwa

..and got hooked on the story so hard that I easily blasted through all available eps in less than a week. istg they put dr*gs in this thing it’s so good???? 😭

[SPOILER WARNING! big ramble ahead. if you’ve never read it, leave this post. consider checking it out you won’t be able to put it down]

lets get this out of the way first.

RAHHHHHH KIM DOKJA….. KIM DOKJA I LOVE YOU

GUYSSSSS 🥺 LISTEN. HE’S SUCH A GOOD PROTAGONIST. MY TRAUMA BOY. MY DUDE WITH THE POWER TO INFODUMP PEOPLE TO DEATH. YOU SELF-SACRIFICING IDIOT. his cunning intelligence makes him super attractive what can I say, I LOVE smart mcs with ambiguous morality and self sacrificial nature

here’s a big ✨shut your mouth✨ to every character who’s said he’s ugly- get your eyes checked, get a job get away from him (I know it’s because of the fourth wall’s filter it’s not their fault I’m just being silly)

the fourth wall is such a cool power to have. the complexity of how it acts based on his perception of fiction vs reality as the reader …. that’s very interesting and well thought out!!! how it lowkey has a consciousness too and it’s so tied into his mental state makes me want to psychoanalyze this guy even more. probably one of the most unique powers I’ve seen created and explored in a story tbh

I think the entire system of how the world works is really well done in general. constellations watching the apocalyptic bloodbath via livestream and sending donos to their favorite little guys shouldn’t work as well as it does and cracks me up so much 😭 (uriel is the best). I enjoy learning about all the irl different fables, history & mythologies too. plus doing my own research is fun! I did a deep dive through the web to learn about dokkaebi folklore lol I’m having a good time

I also related hard to how dokja read TWSA throughout his life, the story was a companion for him. got choked up bc I reflected on how much my own favorite companion stories for years mean to me. there’s been situations I’ve thought “what would (character) do?” dokja saying stuff like “what would joonghyuk do?” felt like I got called out <3 I’d probably be the same as him if my favorite characters suddenly came to life

anyways yeah I caught up with the manhwa looked online and discovered it comes from an already completed novel with over 500 chapters and the manhwa is barely a third into adapting it though it’s been releasing every week for 4 years. and that it’ll take like 10 more years to finish. I then planted my face in my hands and screamed with despair

I’ll shrivel up waiting to see what happens……………heyyy woahhhh.. whats this light of salvation ? the novel file just completed download on my phone ? that’s crazyy wow I opened it ? im scrolling it right now ? omg I’m telling myself in the mirror “pace yourself, try to space your reading out do NOT read too fast” ?

jokes aside im excited, first I’ll take some time to read back through the earlier chapters for extra context of scenes! >:D after I finish doing that…. pls pray for my self-control to try stretching this for as long as possible. I’m pumped to see what happens next with this demon king part so maybe I’ll read along with the manhwa unless I get too impatient heh

to conclude- I had no idea the fandom of orv was so passionate. while closing my eyes to spoilers, I was looking at beautiful fanart and animatics (watched this one and ascended that’s one of my fav rin songs). I can tell how much you guys love the story, there’s always going to be people like me who get interested so keep it up :D if the fandom does end up reading this, ummm *knocks on the door* hi im new

I will likely talk about it more in the future!! tagging under “#kade reads orv” ! might draw fanart on my art blog too bc brainworms <3 happy reading everyone

[spin-birdie]

tabaxi tav headcanons

teehee making an original post on this blog for the first time in like 2 million years because i have cat-people brainworms. anyway

tabaxi tav (tavaxi, if you will,) acting very much like a cat when it comes to hanging out/showing affection towards their companions

they're totally content to just sit across from someone while reading separate books. like, wyll's reading some adventure book and tav is reading a book about ancient githyanki architecture or whatever niche thing they're invested in, and wyll thinks they don't like him cause they haven't said a word to him the whole time but tav is like "man i love hanging out with my good friend wyll :)"

going through obsessive phases as tabaxi are wont to do. they spur every companion into a passionate rant about their field of expertise at least once. (like when they're into githyanki architecture they happily let lae'zel talk their ear off about anything and everything related to it)

tav purring when they're happy is a given. but also. cats are known to purr to soothe themselves or other cats in their colony when they're distressed. tav noticing shadowheart is upset about something, getting as close to her as they can, and instinctively purring to try and comfort her

karlach is like forbidden fruit to them at first, bc part of them wants to curl up next to her and use her as a space heater, but the rest of them wants to keep their fur blissfully unsinged thank you very much

astarion immediately takes a liking to tav bc they're the only other person in the party who will enable his sticky fingers, for they too will pick up random trinkets for the sake of it

you empty out their pack and its just full of like, anything remotely expensive or unusual-looking that they picked up with intent to either sell or research and just got bored before they could get around to it (on the plus side it means astarion can usually rifle through their belongings and pocket whatever he likes bc they probably wont notice)

astarion: i need blood, but which of my companions to try and drink from? the tabaxi seems to sleep deeply, and hell if cazador's compulsions are still in effect maybe itll be easier to drink from a cat-person

astarion 5 mins later: ptah! ptah!! hair in my mouf

tav's fine with kissing, but they prefer to show affection through kneading, grooming (though they know their companions arent keen on getting clawed or licked) or rubbing their cheek against peoples armor (to scent it, like "yeah these are my people i hang out with :3")

when astarion breaks down crying after killing cazador, or shadowheart's wound is causing her pain, or karlach is distraught over her impending fate, tav will hurry over and rub their cheek against their friends shoulder, purring as hard as they can to try and soothe them 🥺