#I love how many ways people perceive the same designs in different ways when making art

[lunarxylem]

I drew a couple of the different takes I’ve seen on Gibby Redivivus’s design while doing my lap around the Hylics tag

Optional side quest: Fellow Hylics artists Reblog this post w/ how you draw his silly face!!

[flippinpancakes64]

Hello, I absolutely love your work. iv re read your stuff so many times that it's getting concerning.

Can I request the cullens x artist reader who made a painting of them I just think that would be cute

The Cullens with an Artist! Reader

Thank you?!?! I suggest seeking mental help for rereading my bad stories tho

Thank you for requesting and I hope you enjoy!

Edward:

We all know that he is an artist too

He made Bella a whole song on the piano

As someone who can play the piano, that’s not easy

So he definitely loves that you’re also artistic

For you, he’s a muse

I mean, how could he not be

Literally the definition of perfect

So obvs you sketch him a lot

When he finds an almost finished painting one day of him, he is floored

He can never seem to wrap his mind around the fact that you are just as obsessed with him as he is with you

He hangs it up

Even if it’s not finished

If you insist on finishing it, he will begrudgingly take it down and give it back

But as soon as it’s done it’s all his

Alice:

She’s also an artist

But more with fashion

And design

She’s not so well-versed with the classical arts like painting or sketching

So she always loves seeing your paintings

She’s a coexistence girly

She loves to just be doing something while you’re painting

You know just sort of existing in the same space at the same time

The day you give her the painting, she is so surprised

It was so difficult for you to hide this from her

Especially with her gift

She absolutely loves it

She hangs it in the main room of the Cullen house

She wants absolutely everyone to see it and acknowledge how talented her s/o is

Jasper:

He loves the arts

They’re relaxing to him

Some of his favorite classes he’s ever taken in all of the schools they’ve been at have been art classes

He’s not good by any means, but he loves it anyway

Art dates with him are a must

He would love that tiktok trend where you and your partner trade paintings every couple of minutes

Never misses an opportunity to tell you that he loves your work

He honestly almost started crying when you showed him your painting of him

You made him look so happy, so peaceful

He’s used to being perceived as a monster

Definitely hangs it up

But only in his room

He wants to be the only one to see it

Rosalie:

She’s more of a technical, sciencey person

Not to say she doesn’t like art

Just that she doesn’t necessarily enjoy making it

She can definitely appreciate good work tho

And she loves everything you make

She buys you new supplies all of the time

If just one pen ran out of ink in your favorite set, she would buy you a whole new set

When you give her that first painting though, she’s obsessed

She wants at least 20 more by tomorrow

But actually, she knows that she’s beautiful

But something about the way you capture her is just so different she loves it

Emmett:

He’s not an art person either

He’s a bit of a meathead

But he can appreciate art

Probably not as deeply as other people can

But he know when it looks good

And he genuinely thinks you’re the best artist ever

He will gladly put all of your little doodles in the clear pockets of his binders

And hang them on his locker

When you give him the painting of him he’s actually dumbfounded

Like awestruck

What do you mean the best artist in the world just made a painting of him?

Get ready to be cuddled for the rest of the night

Esme:

Resident artist

We already knew that tho

I’m pretty sure it’s said that she’s the one who made the grad cap piece?

Idk

Either way she loves art

Pottery dates, painting picnics, date nights at the art museum

She loves it

So if you were to ever paint her and give it to her?

Yeah she’s gonna start crying

She just loves art, she loves you, and you put them together and she’s so in love

She hangs it in the main room

It doesn’t matter if the colors clash

And it’s never coming down

Carlisle:

Another appreciater of the arts

I mean, he probably knew Da Vinci on a personal level this guy is so old

So it’s no shock

Whenever he’s home and hanging out with you, he loves to watch you paint or draw

Especially if he’s doing some paperwork

I just feel like he would like the company while he’s working

Now I don’t see Carlisle as the type of guy to necessarily enjoy pictures or paintings of himself

The only portraits he has in his office are either him in a crowd or family photos

So when you give him a portrait of himself, he’s a little shocked at first

He doesn’t want to seem narcissistic, but damn you made him look good

He hangs it up in your shared bedroom

Even though he knows he will likely never have guests who would see it, he wants to make sure it’s hidden

He just doesn’t want people to think he’s vain

But he secretly loves it so much

Vampire! Bella:

I think I’ve talked about it before but this girl would have loved deviantart

Rip Bella you would have loved fan art of your favorite characters

But she totally had an artsy phase

I don’t think she’s necessarily good or bad

She just prefers to look at art rather than make it

So that’s where you come in

She loves just watching you work

Every once in a while she paints with you

But she always feels inferior when she looks at what you made vs what she made

So she usually just sticks to admiring

The first time you give her a portrait of herself, she doesn’t even know what to do

She’s still getting used to actually perceiving herself as beautiful

And then you capture her like she’s a goddess?

She needs to lie down

She loves it tho

[crumb]

i love how benson is, on the surface, this devil-may-care kind of character, going around shooting people, dragging randy around to fix his life and scaring the hoes in the process—but at the same time there are these little details that show how much he does care. I mean the big obvious one is his motivation for wanting to fix randy, fix randy and help him not turn out like benson and the rest of the people in the small town, we all know this and have gone over these themes. but the smaller details, unintentional or not, those are really nice. Benson being the only one at Burger Burgers Burgers who has his sleeves cuffed and his shirt tucked in. This is one of many details that shows Benson does care, he cares about how he looks and how he's perceived to some extent. because let's be honest, it does set his character apart from the stereotypical 'redneck working at a fast food joint'. Which then gives an added weight to when he walks outside for his cigarette and untucks his shirt. he's releasing himself from this more restrained version he's presented himself as up until that point. Which then ALSO makes Chris saying "Benson, why do you fucking care?" even funnier. because like... Benson basically responds by killing him which in a way is him saying "hey, you're right, why do I fucking care?" lmaoooo Benson is also the only one, other than Randy (and I guess hardy?) who is wearing BBB uniform trousers. Chris is wearing cargo joggers and Jess is wearing a mini skirt with fishnets. If benson really didn't care about that job, or how he looked at that job, would he be wearing 100% of the uniform, well fitted, cuffed, tucked, cleaned, and ironed? And then when changing outfits at his house he puts on a fuzzy yellow/green cardigan and graphic ringer tee, the choices of which feel very intentional and like they're his favorite pieces of clothing. Which I think must be true if you think about him knowing this is his swan song, he wants to go out looking good. But what he doesn't change? His trousers. You'd think after killing three people at a job you probably don't particularly like and dragging their bodies around, changing out of the uniform would be a relief, other than wanting to just get out of clothes that are recognizable to the restaurant. Which makes me think his BBB uniform trousers are the best/most well-fitting trousers he owns which in itself is interesting. I mean look at the clothes he gives randy, they're not that much different in body size so even on benson those jeans would've been oversized as hell. This somewhat cleaned up version of himself that he presents, especially pre-killing spree, juxtaposed to his home life and his car is, I think, a great representation of Benson as a person. His home life, the clutter, his Ma in the front room, the clothes he gives randy, the junk strewn around his car—versus his cleaned and cuffed and tucked uniform and his stylish cardigan and graphic tee (idc what you say i love the cardigan)—I think it shows someone who is struggling but putting on a brave front, trying to come off as put together, as someone who knows himself and doesn't care about other people's perceptions, but at the same time so desperately does care and hates that he cares, and hates that he can't seem to change things. he can only dress them up a little to look presentable to passersby. and maybe it's one of those "the walls are just blue because they're blue!!" type situations and the wardobe dept or kyle or carter or the art director and whoever else, maybe it's just simply style/design decisions by one or several of them and there's no subtextual meaning behind it all—but even if so, I love that, to me at least, it's developed this deeper meaning within the context of the film and the character.

Don't even get me started on the Kurt Cobain cardigan and Benson having a shotgun in his trunk.

[beevean]

I know TvTropes is edited by different people, but I would dearly love to understand their general logic.

You find this in the YMMV page of Lament of Innocence:

Mathias is not afforded much grace for acting out of desperate grief, to the point that apparently some thought he didn't even deserve a second chance in the form of Soma.

Now, I would argue that LoI doesn't even expect you to cry over Mathias. It's very obvious that he has become a despicable person, using his friend as a pawn, causing the death of said friend's fiancée and not shedding a compassionate tear over her, and even believing he would be joined in immortality. But yes, I agree, Mathias is pitiable only to an extent: "wife died" is not exactly a compelling argument for rejecting humanity to the degree that he did.

... but then what about this, TvTropes? From the YMMV page of NFCV?

(you'd think Mathias would also get the moniker of Jerkass Woobie. nope)

One, NFCV didn't come up with the idea of Dracula lashing out due to the grief of Lisa's death. It comes from SoTN. NFCV only put more emphasis on it. Stop giving the show undeserved credit.

Two, really? Really. N!Dracula is really that sympathetic, that most of the voices he gets are all about how much of a poow bapyboy he is? What the hell do you mean, "he makes a good case against humanity"???? This piece of shit wanted to exterminate humankind and vampirekind (because he was aware that they'd all starve to death, he just refused to give a fuck) because one village didn't rise up against a bishop! When he yells "there are no innocents, not anymore", do you take him seriously?????

He does get a Moral Even Horizon voice, but it feels half-hearted, to say the least:

If you think it's hard not to sympathize with him and that being brought back as a treat rectifies it, then by definition it's not a Moral Event Horizon, because the very definition of the trope is that it's an act that makes a character completely and utterly unforgivable, on par with Griffith sacrificing the Band of the Hawk and raping Casca, to make a famous example.

(funnily enough they do the same with Lenore under the same trope, saying that apparently she understood that she crossed the line and tried to make amends. There's not, however, mention of Isaac killing innocent people and defiling their corpses for his selfish purposes. Inch-resting.)

I really, really am made uncomfortable by the serious apologism N!Dracula gets, and only because he cries a little more than his game counterpart. "He makes a good case against humanity", huh? Do you have any idea how many genocides started from motivations that were seen as reasonable? How many dictators tried, and are trying, to kill many for the perceived sins of few? Yes, I am fully aware that N!Dracula is a fictional villain, and he benefits from a cool design, suave voice, and multiple Pet The Dog Moments, I'm not really saying that his fans condone real crimes... but just like Lenore fans who justify her abuse and rape with real life rape apologism arguments such as "Hector consented at first" or "she wanted his own good", the rhetoric used here is honestly appalling.

But yes, on a pettier note, I'm also salty that game Dracula isn't afforded the same sympathy, even though he too is bereaved by grief. He just doesn't express it in a pitiable enough way. It's easier to go all 🥺 at a depressed man moping in a chair, isn't it? Ignore how said depressed man has hired two misanthropes to Forge demons to routinely send to slaughter innocent humans! It's off-screen, after all :) you don't need to see it :)

But you know who gets called Unintentionally Unsympathetic in the show?

And here I say what I said about Mathias: there is nothing "unintentional" about this, the show has zero pity for the peasants who were slaughtered. Much like you, person who roots for Dracula, the writing too painted them as stupid because believing the CHURCH BAD, and therefore, like all stupid people, deserving of gruesome punishment. Peasants are low-class and religious, and as such deserve death. "Cool" murderers like Dracula and Isaac, who are so intelligent and above the petty masses, instead deserve everything on a silver platter.

I really despise this show and the messages it sends. And the general anti-game bias, of course.

[bicycleboyblog]

Hi! Could I ask if you have any fascinating tidbits to share about the Senator's design? It's interesting how she strikes a balance between tactical wear (the cargo pants, the jacket, the gloves) and more posh choices (the red ascot stands out the most). I think the most interesting thing about her design are the red shades she shares with her soldiers - to me they seem to function as a tool of depersonalization, a way to put a barrier between themselves and others. I just love a good villain, that's all. (You don't have to answer this ask if it's too spoiler-y.)

The Senator is very particular about appearances. Mostly I wanted to hint that she's a fancy lady who comes from a wealthy family (also involved in politics / warfare) and had a stupid amount of money before the apocalypse. She's dressed to the nines her whole life. She has so many outfits that her whole wardrobe remains in excellent condition. She must look perfect and powerful. Ever striving to exude the utmost, maximum masculinity, she favors men's clothes, and jackets that alter her silhouette to give her bigger shoulders. Or just make her bigger in general. The Senator is tall, but lean under her many layers of clothes.

Still, practicality is key. If she goes out on a mission with her men, she will dress in more practical military garb.

She expects her soldiers to conduct themselves the same way, but of course, being their leader, she razzes it up the most. To her if you are beautiful, you are simply worth more. Those who aren't must always strive to be more beautiful. This of course deeply fucks with the people of Fort Anne - they squabble and fall into starkly different classes due to varying levels of perceived "beauty" and "usefulness" (ability to work). Soldiers and leader are worshiped above all.

Her followers admire the fuck out of her, though. So, early on in all this, they got copying her mannerisms, her flowery language, the glasses thing, just clamoring for her approval. She was annoyed at first but came to appreciate it as a powerful tool for control. We haven't seen these guys interact when there isn't a prisoner or outsider present, so. I'll let the comic expand on the glasses.

Related to the role model thing, though -- a common twist in conversation for the soldiers is to battle each other's wits by seeing who can spin the fanciest poetry on the spot, lol. Now you know why they talk silly.

[sibyl-of-space]

It's time for me to go to bed. And that means everybody gets a Procrastination Essay No One Asked For About Sonic Adventure 1 for the SEGA Dreamcast!

This game is one of my super mega ultra all-time favorites. Every single time I revisit it, I am so afraid that my love for it is entirely nostalgia goggles and it will lose its charm this time around, and every single time, I just have the time of my life because the game really is great. It is so fun. It does some very cool things. It is kind of stupid but it takes itself seriously, and that is very endearing and a million times more interesting than a game that's too afraid of being perceived as cringe to be sincere.

I love basically everything about it. I painted Big the Cat on my Dreamcast and even that is not enough to communicate my vast love for this game.

MANY WORDS BELOW CUT. Visuals, audio, gameplay, I love all of it.

Visuals

The game came out in 1998. It looks like a game that came out in 1998. But the world and character designs are fantastic and the world is so detailed. I could genuinely spend hours just moving around on the Egg Carrier overworld map appreciating all the gadgets and gizmos moving around that are purely 100% set dressing. It makes up for what it lacks in polygons with cool textures and fun trinkets everywhere. The animated CGs genuinely look amazing, and you can forgive the rest of it considering the game came out in 1998.

I also love the splash screens you get after finishing each route. They're so good.

(It goes without saying that the game looks its best on a CRT. There are some really cool lighting effects CRTs just capture better.)

Audio

It obviously has an insanely good soundtrack of just nonstop banger after banger. It also has a very 1998 dub and the sound mixing and implementation are some of the worst you'll ever hear. Eggman has like 5 voice lines that are re-used in every scene he's in. But who can complain about that when they're listening to the likes of "Bad Taste Aquarium"? Literally nobody. Who cares. Every single song slaps.

"But Leo half the time the songs start and stop mid-cutscene because of how the game handles loading" who cares. I can forgive just about ANYTHING a game does in terms of audio implementation if it has a song as good as "Bad Taste Aquarium" in its soundtrack.

Narrative

Setting aside the fact that the story is kind of stupid, I really think we need to appreciate the way it tells it. The way this game has you play through the same story from everyone's different perspective, and how the scenes that overlap actually play out differently depending on who you play as, is so big brain. You don't get the full picture of what's happening until you've played as everybody, and there is no "big group of heroes collectively take on the bad guy" until the very very end Super Sonic story... until then, it's just different people having wildly different journeys that overlap here and there and are all part of a single, bigger story.

That's just cool ass storytelling. Everyone loves to bitch about my good friend Big the Cat but the entire point is that this extremely chill guy who loves to fish and just wants to save his friend was caught up in this Adventure, and he was a small but vital part of it, and it affected him differently than it affected everybody else because he had a different reason for being involved. But that goes for everybody! Everyone's story has an arc with a start and a finish, and most of them don't come close to being involved in the whole thing. Even SONIC doesn't see everything (he doesn't have a Hot Shelter level at all). Knuckles's story ends on a really cool note, with him going "I may never know the full story of what happened here, but maybe it's better that way." Or something close to that.

I also just love the concept of benevolent protector water god goes apeshit at people, as well as the concept of a ghost from thousands of years ago trying to right ancient wrongs. Chaos and Tikal are great.

Gameplay

The thing I love about Sonic Adventure is that every single character is really fun to play. This comes at the "cost" of what you might call "balance," in that half of the characters are broken as fuck and you can just disregard the very concept of platforming with most of them. I couldn't really care less about that because I just enjoy how fun it is to play as everyone.

Sonic Adventure 2 understandably put Tails in a mech because outside of it he is too damn broken. Sonic Adventure 1 lets you play as him anyway, and it rules.

The ONLY gripe I have about the gameplay is that Big the Cat does not have the means to harm robots (because he is too nice and chill to do that), but as a result he is unable to collect animals to give the chao. I cannot think of a single character in the Sonic the Hedgehog universe who would be better suited to raise chao than Big the Cat, but Big the Cat is unable to give them animals to power up. This is a tragedy.

Overall

Sonic Adventure is a masterpiece. Every time I play it I'm like "this is the greatest game that has ever been made." The parts of it that are clunky, awkward, kind of dumb, or very dated are still endearing because it tries to do so many things that you really just have to respect it. This is the kind of game that is fantastic whether you sit down and play it straight through from plot point to plot point or you spend three hours throwing that statue around Station Square into oncoming traffic.

Of course it's not polished. It tries to do way too many cool ass things all at once to be polished. It is WAY too ambitious to be polished. That's what makes it so good. It's perfect exactly the way it is and the fact that people will play this incredible game and go "lol, 3D Sonic sucks" is a good reminder that gamers will bitch about anything and you should never care about what gamers have to say when making games.

Big the Cat has glow-in-the-dark eyes. Game of all time.

[parabelllvm]

the other two get hcs about how wild they can be and all i do for brodi is go "oh i love them. oh they're so strong. oh my baby" even though they're a grown ass ??? person??? being. grown ass being.

anyway, lets talk about brodi's tattoos/markings!

Crùin Ddroighin

Translates to Crown of Thorns in Cadayllean. whatever imagery you got in your head... and throw it out. it does not represent humility or sacrifice or suffering. it's not a mockery of a crown either.

it's what it says on the tin — a dark crown of "thorns" wraps around their left upper arm. it extends into other runes and tattoos and what not, but it's clear that it was there first and before all the others. it symbolizes what brodiaea truly is, which is something many have speculated on in Eokke. They most commonly resemble a fae but they do not feel fae, they've lived too long to be human, they're not dracnae, either, and no one has ever seen them shift into any sort of creature, it's something that has a lot of Cadaylleans wondering — especially those that live near Ailm.

however, it's this last point that is the most important.. because they are an animal shifter. the general term is mystlae and anyone that knew them from their "birth" would know that they're a male deer. Brodi will always default to calling themself a stag on the extremely rare occasions that they identify what they are by name. it isn't something they are comfortable sharing with people they aren't like... ride or die with, as the anonymity allows them some form of control over how they are perceived. they have heavy glamours and blocks in place to prevent anyone discovering that as well, making their energy a little murky for anyone that would normally know. i'll get into that more another time.

in any case, the crown displayed on their arm is not one made of roots or actual thorns, but one made to resemble their antlers when not maintaining a fae-like/human-like form. it is their crown and it is a symbol of their authority, in a way. their presence in Cadaylle is seen as a physical blessing, as they are the only one that has gotten to the level of knowledge that they currently wield at their literal fingertips. while they could do some real damage with that power, they don't and have never once considered it.

they instead chose to watch over Ailmtinne'eadhe, the Wrucilese, and anyone that needs their eye for eternity. it's their devotion, their passion — all wrapped in a neat little marking that most would see and not think twice about. though, it's not for the gods — not for their grace, not for their favor, not even for their attention — but for the denizens of the realm and the ones that matter more.

Snàthlainn gu Fàid

Translates directly to Thread of Fate. This one, coincidentally, wraps around their arm on the same side — the left.

this one is also pretty straightforward. it's a winding strand that winds down their arm starting at their wrist and then branches out in six different directions in a somewhat spiral pattern. it is the visual representation of the soul link they have to six other beings they've taken under their umbrella of protection. it's designed to be one-way, so Brodiaea can tell where they are, if they're in distress or in danger or viscerally angry, can get to them in an instant if needed, and can pull them out of whatever situation they're in via teleportation.

because it's a visual representation of that connection, strain on it is also very visible. the strands are relatively thin-looking, so one has to be standing very close to Brodi to effectively pick them out against their skin and recognize when one seems fainter than the others. Brodi knows each strand by name so... there's never any confusion on their end as to who needs their help.

like the first, it is a symbol of their passion and of their devotion. they chose to do this, and they chose to be among the first that wanted to protect these six beings and help them navigate something they couldn't possibly comprehend on their own. Brodi knows that they've broken a cardinal law of the realm — "tampering" with souls — but they don't regret it a second of it. the longer they live, the more clear it is to them that... this realm that they live in is very fractured. it and nearly every individual that dwells in it honestly can't do much if the gods above or whatever lurks below elects to use it for another "proxy war", such is the case for these six beings. the gods did nothing as these individuals were taken advantage of and continue to do nothing even as they suffer.

so what does it matter if they break a law. or two. or three. they, at the very least, are doing something.

[kissmetwicekissmedeadly]

Psssst mo

How do you get the confidence for selfship?!

I don't make OCs but I'm too shy to openly selfship...

Omg my first real anon because I'm so shy about this for no reason?!?!

That's a good question...

IT'S PERFECTLY OKAY TO FEEL SHY ABOUT THIS OKAY!! it's not easy!! We have so many things to feel insecure about because of the way our society is, so many things to feel unlovable for. I'm not gonna lie, selfship is not always a sign of confidence for me personally - there's some days where i don't wanna be perceived, but the things i put here in my blog don't just cease existing, people interact with them. Sometimes it does damage to me, because when you love a character in your head it's fractions of gestures and words and emotions. When you put it out there in the internet, your "face" gets attached to it. It reflects right back into my mind and i start wondering if "this person" really fits napoleon. I also struggle with worrying that i might push people away with my selfship, because we're a small fandom... I feel like other napoleon fans might subconsciously compare themselves to me and get hurt somehow. And while i have control over how much i post about "mopoleon" i can't control how much others post about it and how they make it look like from the side - they're all so supportive, and i know i sound the exact same way when i gush over their own pairings. And i do think it's beautiful that we support each other like this and i will always encourage it, despite my own insecurities about it.

So basically it's like a metronome that swings between "selfship makes me more confident about myself" and "selfship makes me feels weird and insecure"

But it's more towards the first one okay!! I'm not doing something that hurts me, i think all of this is normal and someday I'll feel completely at peace with my selfship. I was just meaning to say, if someone out there feels unsure about it - don't push yourself, especially with the public part. Use your favourite character to find the lovable things about yourself. It could be done privately if that's what works for you. You're valid and your favourite character loves you!!!

I feel like im all over the place today, i probably rambled too much and didn't say anything that makes sense.... usually when im like this i refrain from talking altogether 🧍‍♀️ but i wanted to reply right away, in hope i could help you somehow....aghhhgn but you didn't really ask for that did you...im sorry!!

I guess the answer is, i dont know how it came to this. I used to have an OC but later i realised i wasn't interested in giving her a background and she's basically just MC with different design and name - and then later i realised i have many similarities with MC, and was more willing to accept that he'd love me if he loves her....and that's how it happened!!!! Gah!!! Ok im shy now (not in a bad way) i just hope people don't think im in love in myself in some way (the bad way i mean) i genuinely feel shy when i say i feel shy...

MO STOP YAPPING

[katyspersonal]

Doll’s creator might not even been Gehrman??

Honestly though, the idea that it was Moon Presence who created the Doll like that is so frikin good as well, and it works too?

- Lore never mentions WHO created the Doll by the name or the status, every description only says ‘doll’s creator’ (!)

- Doll does bleed paleblood, so that’s at least a hint on what animates her, so is this a far stretch that she just made the whole creature altogether?

- Wishing for comfort, warmth and support ‘albeit in vain’ could have referred to Moon Presence’s failure to force a genuine love for her into a creation; meanwhile Doll does mention that thing about creation by gods

- ‘Mania’ link doesn’t exist; “his curious mania” is mistranslation of “madness of his curiousity” and the mania put into creation of Doll’s clothes refers to being absorbed in work, so what if it was her who got so lost into getting to design something like this? (retranslation document: ( x ))

- Doll’s purpose is stated to serve the hunters and the Hunter’s Dream, she is like Gehrman but is more perceived as one of the tools (to channel blood echoes)... and, well, Moon Presence does govern the dreaming hunters... It is not far stretch to assume that most of the hunters visiting the Dream are hetero males, so it is very palatable that Moon Presence simply used her most barebones idea of ‘a woman’, that will be comforting for ‘men’. I mean, a being of entirely different and superior plane of existence could very well interpret humans through stereotypes and basic ideas. Heck, some humans also do it xD

- Making the Doll look like Maria could be her awkward attempt to make Gehrman happy, to honor Maria as one of the most “useful” hunters (to perpetuate the cycle of beasts, hunting and GOs’ worship), or both

- For someone who supposedly created the Doll as either an unhealthy grief reaction and clinging for happier, simpler times before Maria’s hunter arc, or dreaming about better life, is not it... strange that he never mentions Maria, even when he is sleeping? He seems to care about Laurence more, in fact. So what if he did not care about her to SUCH big extent as to create a doll of her?

- Would resolve big immersion break when you find doll’s clothes in the chest rather than pick them from the “real world” doll; maybe Moon Presence saved extra copy of the dress just in case if someone ever loves Gehrman and wants to join the Dream. Like maybe she has whole one (1) idea for what such people would want to wear.

_______

I think there are still a few sticks in the wheel here. Like how someone who cared about hair ornament had to be a real person. But even then, could’ve been Maria herself, maybe she just really fucking loved that hair ornament a lot. And also that Doll sleeping is odd but finding Maria asleep too could explain it; that when one of them is asleep another is awake, and vice-versa, but neither remembers what’s in another one’s realm. (and they also have the same voice, in Japan too - it’s Saori Hayami!)

But honestly, this is such a.... how do I put it, sparing theory? Forgiving one? It is basically “nobody was weird, it was just a god that doesn’t know much of humans’ complexity beyond just what they want from them”. Yet again, Miyazaki put the story in such a way that opens SO many opportunities for interpretation?

[sevensoulmates]

This fandom is wonderful, I have never been in a fandom sharing that many theorys and takes about the ship they love.

I think when you're used to shipping we just do it because it's fun and and we don't have expectations, we enjoy the chemistry between said characters and that why we don't expect more because usually we never get what we were hoping for. But for buddie we have this hint, and then another, and another and it feels like it is heading somewhere like it's building up to something for sure.

This thing you said about feeling like they were yanking our chain back and forth feels so familiar because at times I would gaslight myself saying "you obviously didn't see that, it's not the way you're supposed to perseive this scene, you're obviously seeing things differently because we shippers see everything with heart eyes and we're biased" but it did feel at times like we were being played by them.

Anyways, thank you so much for such a marvelous and detailed response. Have a safe trip 👋

I think really that a lot of people react to this show and perceived "queerbaiting" as part of a trauma response from other shows in the past practicing REAL queerbaiting and/or giving the audience *partially* what they wanted and not committing fully. Or even just full-on driving their shows into the ground to spite audiences. I understand the fear. I understand where it's coming from.

Fact of the matter is that no matter the leaps and bounds we've made over the years, American Media, just like our country, is still pretty conservative. And so even people who WANT to make progressive stories (like the 911 writers) can get hindered by their networks and their bosses bosses, etc and so forth.

At the same time, it is also the truth that nothing we see on TV or in movies ends up there by accident. A trillion and one eyeballs see this stuff and have to approve it before it ever makes it onto our screen. Things like wardrobe and set design, etc can sometimes be explained away as coincidence, but dialogue, plot, setting, character, all of the aspects that make up the story itself are heavily planned with thought and intention (even if we can't always see the whole picture right away). And it's not unreasonable for audiences to pick up on said intention and believe that it will eventually be fulfilled. That's the unspoken contract audiences enter with long-form television. We give them our loyal viewership and in return, they promise us a satisfying show to the best of their ability.

I understand a lot of us are traumatized with our past relationships with queer ships and media, but that shouldn't stop us from putting faith and love into our current relationship with 911.

Trust the process. And if, when all is said and done, we don't get canon buddie, okay. Sometimes things don't work out. But life goes on, and we'll find another ship to love again, and we'll always remember how much we loved our journey with buddie in the here and now. So it's okay to let go of the worry of "what if" and the future, and just enjoy what we have gotten and what we're currently getting now.

[novafire-is-thinking]

orchid ⇢ what’s a song you consider to be perfect?

abelia ⇢ do you have a particular piece of jewelry you always wear or can’t part with?

daffodil ⇢ do you have siblings? if yes, in what ways do you think you’re similar to or different from them?

aloe vera ⇢ what’s something (mundane) you really want to experience in life?

nutmeg ⇢ how’s your room/home decorated? do you have a specific theme or style going on?

papyrus ⇢ if you put your ‘on repeat’ playlist on shuffle, what’s the first song that comes up? what do you like about it / associate it with?

(for this ask meme)

orchid

I’m gonna go with another Caleb Etheridge song I adore:

Caelestis (Spotify | YouTube)

The name. The vibes. Everything.

abelia

Not really. I rarely wear jewelry of any kind because I’m particularly sensitive to how it feels on my skin. The few pieces I do have are worn based on what I think looks best with my outfits, so if I suddenly lost all of them in a fire or flood, I would hardly notice they’re gone.

daffodil

I have one younger sister. While we’ve often been perceived as near opposites, I’ve come to see how we’re similar, but with very different approaches to the same things.

We’re both stubborn, but I can be reasoned with more easily.

We both react unfavorably when things change suddenly, but she gets louder while I go silent.

We’re both conflict-avoidant, but she’s more likely to speak her mind anyway.

She’s more of a fighter, but I’m more intense.

She’s quicker to take action, but I’m more decisive and self-assured.

She’s better at interacting with people, but I’m better at capturing an audience.

She’s grounded and present while I’m lost in my head.

She treasures the past and appreciates what is, while I value the future and struggle to be content with anything.

She’s meadows of wildflowers, turbulent ocean waves, and fairy lights, while I’m constellations, thunderstorms, and books with gold tooled covers.

…and so many more differences I could come up with.

aloe vera

I can’t think of any more mundane things, so I’ll go with something else:

I’d love to own a motorcycle someday—electric is preferred, since it looks more Cybertronian. lol

nutmeg

For all that I love interior design, my actual room and living spaces are in total disarray. I lack the resources and motivation to decorate the way I want to, but I know exactly which theme(s) I’d go with. I’m not sure how to describe it… However, I will say I have expensive tastes and am quite proud of that fact.

papyrus

Last Breath by J.T. Peterson (Spotify | YouTube)

This one’s been on rotation in my dishwashing playlist for a little while now.

It also happens to be one of the songs in my TFP Optimus playlist. It makes me think of him because he fought for peace and unity for Cybertron and humanity until his very last breath, figuratively speaking.

[worldsentwined]

I set aside the Edgy OC ask meme you reblogged a bit ago knowing I'd definitely want to ask you about your Dual Citizenship OCs :3 Can I get 1 and 14 for Hel? (I'm *so* curious about this asshole (affectionate)'s backstory). Alternatively, tell us about 7. with Zephyr!

Oooooh yes amazing please always ask me about these characters! (Also hi I set this ask aside because I couldn't make my brain think about the answers but I just finished reading a book that had a diabetic character with a number of inaccuracies and it lit the spark of "annoyed by every piece of diabetes media" that got me writing this story in the first place).

What memory would your OC rather just forget? Hel probably has a LOT of these from its time as a HelperBot, honestly. I've shied away from thinking about specifics because like. The kind of things that happen to someone to leave it so bitter about everyone and everything? Probably not great. And the whole idea of HelperBots - beings created for the specific purpose of serving people rich enough to afford them - also points to a strong possibility of Very Bad Things Happened Here. I think some of those bad things happened to Hel specifically, but others happened to other bots it spent time around, and Hel wasn't able to help them. (Which leads to all kinds of interesting questions about how the robot revolution may have happened in the first place because the bots, designed to help but powerless to help each other, had to dismantle the whole system instead).

That said, as much as Hel's past is littered with memories that should come with a nuclear waste site warning, I don't think it would allow itself to forget the worst things. Hel emerged from its traumatic past with a strong sense of justice, and it wants to make sure its fellow bots won't be exploited again. Allowing itself to forget would make it complicit if history were to repeat itself.

How does your OC want to be seen by other characters? I think this varies a LOT depending on who is doing the perceiving. We see Hel through Tevin's eyes, and Tevin has more or less a human perspective despite being (technically speaking) a cyborg. Hel presents itself to Tevin and the other human roommates the way it wants humans to perceive it: enigmatic, angry, anything but helpful. It doesn't want anything to do with them, but since it has to, its goal is to make them uncomfortable. I think this bit from its introduction scene is a good example:

“Oh yes. That’s why we all exist, isn’t it? So we can be nice and helpful. Thank you for your feedback, Tevin!” Hel’s normal voice is a low, mechanical growl that it adopted specifically to make people uncomfortable, but the last sentence comes out in a perfect customer service cadence.

In the same way that Hel won't allow itself to forget the harsh history of humans and bots, it won't allow anyone around it to forget, either.

Other bots are a whole different story, and this is part of what I'm still trying to resolve with Hel's character arc. I don't think it's any less abrasive with them (assuming they even converse through means where tone is relevant) but it goes to greater lengths to make itself understood, because it actually cares about their opinions. It takes care to only do this in ways that the humans around it can't perceive, though - I imagine there have been many conversations between it and Lexie on private channels, even when they're also talking to each other out loud.

And because I love them, I'll also answer the Zephyr question:

What's one way your OC has changed since you first came up with them?

What a perfect question for Zephyr! They've probably changed the most since I first started spitballing characters onto the page for this. Originally they were meant to be like, a tech bro who was all about the scientific advances, someone who had never known actual hardship and is living their best life. But as the story developed it became clear that a person like that wouldn't still be on earth in this story - they'd have sided with the rest of the humans and gone to space. So they gradually turned into someone more nuanced - idealistic to the point of naivete, more hopeful than Tevin but not without their own baggage. I started thinking about what it would mean for someone privileged enough that they could have gone to space to just...decide to stay behind. What (or who) they might have given up, what they might feel about their personal losses even as the societal changes they supported are coming to pass. What happens if the dream they've worked so hard for isn't all they thought it would be? What if it takes more work than they expected? I also wanted to tap into the "just graduated college and gradually realized it's harder to find companionship than it used to be" thing. Zephyr's desire for connection stands in contrast to Tevin's reluctance to let anyone get close, which is part of what makes the two of them so fun to write together.

Anyway, thank you for asking and continuing to care about my blorbos even though I haven't worked on their story in a while!

[probablygoat]

Let's Talk About Horror :D

I absolutely love horror. As a genre, as a concept, no matter the medium. Horror movies, horror games, horror stories, etc. No matter the vessel the idea is being portrayed through, it always requires that you view it from a unique lens.

I believe that horror is congenitally detached from most other genres. Horror games, for example, are often fairly anti-player; they sacrifice "playability" to deliver an intended effect. Horror movies similarly forego the comfort of the viewer, much for the same reason.

I've played a ton of horror games in my time, and a lot of the central debate surrounding them is all rooted in a single question: how do you make a horror game "scary"? But even asking that is a bit rhetorical, it creates so many provably true possibilities that there isn't, and can never be, a correct response.

You can take away the player's means of self defense, bolster the strength of enemies to make them a genuine threat, limit resources, restrict controls, build a harsh atmosphere, limit visibility, subvert the player's expectations to catch them off-guard, create uncanny or horrifying entities, or do a combination of any of these things. There are far more possibilities than the ones mentioned here, these are quite literally examples listed off the top of my head.

But all of these things are fundamentally asynchronous in terms of "game design", as I feel like they go against what people often play video games for to begin with. But through that bold willingness to shatter our perceived conventions, they create something new and separate that begs to be analyzed from a proprietary perspective.

Sure, Resident Evil 1's movement isn't "fun", but was it ever trying to be? I don't really believe so. Each effortful motion throughout the Spencer Mansion forces the player to confront the possibility of combat. It's something you have to always keep in the back of your mind; you have to analyze the layout of each room with a level of consideration that most games never ask of you. You ask yourself how and where you should stand to give yourself the upper hand against the game's various monsters. Your fight-or-flight becomes your primary consultant for decision-making. Do you stand your ground and fight, or do you try to find a way around it? Fighting uses your incredibly valuable resources. If you try to get around it, it could end in death. Death could spell the loss of immeasurable progress, as saving your game is also an expendable resource.

Sounds anxiety-inducing, doesn't it?

This is what made Resident Evil such a tense, memorable experience for me when I first played it years back. But without all of those little hand-crafted design choices, it wouldn't have made anywhere near as big of an impression on me. By creating a game that was professedly against me in most aspects, I was able to truly FEEL trapped, afraid, and anxious.

Horror movies are another story entirely. They sing a similar tune but deliver a vastly different overall experience to their physically interactive brethren. Anecdotally, I also feel like horror films are much less respected. To general audiences, they probably seem fairly dispensable. I feel as if many see horror movies as gimmicky. You know what to expect from a film when you see it laid out in front of you. I can't exactly argue with that; there are a lot of horror movies explicitly made with a gimmick in mind or a niche to fill, but I feel like people very rarely discuss the creative accessibility of this.

By "creative accessibility" I mean many, many things. Horror movies can be built on tropes. They can be shot with a low, almost non-existent budget. Horror as a concept can be accompanied by, quite literally, anything. Action, comedy, suspense, science fiction, satire, political commentary, psychology, nostalgia, anything you can think of. It's for that reason I think so many indie horror films are made.

Sure, you could construe that as a bad thing. You could say this leads to people doing the same things ad nauseam. But I've always fundamentally disagreed with the dismissal of ideas, whether they be tropes or not. Imitation is often the first step in any creative person's development. I firmly believe that most people start off having a specific source of inspiration, something or someone you want to "be just like". That's not a bad thing. It's something beautiful, it's something passionate, and it's something worth pursuing as a young creative that leads to greater things. People who start off simply "copying" others eventually learn, evolve, grow, and become unique voices in their own right. Nurturing and observing that development is always far more important to me than the ostentatious flaunting of knowledge and the harsh ridicule of artists in the making.

There are always going to be cash grabs, there's always going to be greed; but it's a personal call of judgment to not interact with content that fits your criteria for those things.

I do feel frustrated that most critical facilities seem to be of the mindset that horror movies aren't worth your time unless they're somehow "elevated" above the rest. Arthouse horror is just as important as any other subgenre, but it's not "more" important or "the most" important. By superfluously limiting yourself to just the "good" stuff, you're missing out on ideas, imagery, and passion from MOST of this beautiful genre's history. Oversaturation is the constant perpetuation of an idea over a short period, but ideas evolve over time. They make their way to capable, smart, creative people that WANT to give you the best of what a concept has to offer. That's how we eventually get wonderful things.

There's a famous quote by Cesar A. Cruz that says, "Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable." While this is a very general statement (one that I have to fundamentally disagree with due to the nature of its objectivity), it does highlight a personal concurrence that horror shares with me as a person; it makes me feel.

Whenever someone recommends a film or story-driven video game, I'm often met with the universal truism: "It made me cry."

This statement fills me with a particular dread, because I always immediately know the outcome of myself interacting with the recommended content.

I've never, once, been able to cry at a movie. That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the experience it gave me or feel the emotions it was trying to portray. It just doesn't impact me as much, and my assumption is that I can't fully relate to a lot of relatable things that would make someone cry.

Horror is unique in that sense for me. Psychological horror, specifically. When a certain well-enacted piece wants me to feel disturbed, I truly, honestly feel disturbed. I will watch an incredibly thought-provoking, horrifying film, and think about it for the next week. That doesn't really happen with most other media for me, although I understand the complete subjectivity of that stance.

Horror makes me feel comforted. It's grotesque, it's disquieting, it's disturbing, but in an odd way... I understand it completely.

In today,s ted talk I'm going talk about why garten of banban is actually peak horr

[fuzzy-robot]

I love this post! If I may, I also wanted to add something on--

ACCESSIBILITY!

It's a personal webdev passion of mine and it's been frustrating seeing a lot of newer websites adopting fancier or more mobile-focused design at the cost of accessibility to a wider userbase. Whether you're new to web design or not, making sites more universally user-friendly is pretty simple imo!

Users To Consider:

Visually impaired people

Hard-of-hearing people

Neurodivergent people

People who don't navigate solely by visual screen plus mouse or touchscreen device (e.g. keyboard-only users, other assistive technology users)

People with older/less powerful devices or poor internet service

And many more!

Overview!

Current accessibility principles can be summed up with the POUR acronym: content should be Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust.

Perceivable: content is easy for the user to see or hear. One example of this is that images/video/audio should have alt text or transcripts where applicable. For sighted users, text and backgrounds should have enough contrast to be readable (more on that below) and you shouldn't alter the site in a way that makes visually impaired people unable to enlarge text.

Operable: the user should be able to navigate the page by mouse/touchscreen/keyboard--any simple HTML site will have basic keyboard navigation options provided by the browser, just be mindful of whether adding advanced features could alter that. Also, if your navigation buttons are images, make sure to use alt text or provide an alternative!

Understandable: both the content and controls should be understandable and easy to read. This means that as well as being Perceivable, they should be organized consistently and placed on the same part of the page. Also consider making plaintext links more obvious with your color choice and/or formatting.

Robust: content should work with current and future technologies. This means it can be accessed by different browsers and operating systems, but most importantly for this level of design, it means being accessible to screen readers and other assistive technologies!

QUICK TIPS!!

Use alt text!!! Here's a w3schools page showing where you put alt text in the html code, and here is a w3c decision-tree on where and how to use alt text. ABSOLUTELY use it if you're using images as links!!

Color usage! When picking out background/text/link colors, check the color contrasts here or here to see how well they match up to the W3C's accessibility guidelines! -Write meaningful link text! Here is one guide on that, including stuff like keeping links descriptive for screen readers, not making urls into link texts, and keeping them short and informative

In-Depth Guidelines

WebAIM (Web Accessibility in Mind) is a site with a ton of content on different aspects of web accessibility. Here is a direct link to a page of their most-used tools and guides.

Right here is a nice, simple rundown of universal design when it comes to web accessibility. The tone is a bit more academic but I think it's a nice overview.

Much more in-depth is W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines document! It's long and not necessarily exciting, but it's comprehensive AND has a nicely organized and linked table of contents that can lead you to suggestions for improving any features you're considering, meaning you can read the whole thing or just jump around to relevant or interesting parts.

I don't think I followed all of these tips in my own blog HTML or even the body of this post (oops) because I put it together on the fly, but if you can, I think these are all principles that are good to keep in mind🌟

neocities guide - why you should build your own html website

do you miss the charm of the 90s/00s web where sites had actual personality instead of the same minimalistic theme? are you feeling drained by social media and the constant corporate monopoly of your data and time? do you want to be excited about the internet again? try neocities!!

what is neocities?

neocities is a free hosting website that lets you build your own html website from scratch, with total creative control. in their own words: "we are tired of living in an online world where people are isolated from each other on boring, generic social networks that don't let us truly express ourselves. it's time we took back our personalities from these sterilized, lifeless, monetized, data mined, monitored addiction machines and let our creativity flourish again."

why should I make my own website?

web3 has been overtaken by capitalism & conformity. websites that once were meant to be fun online social spaces now exist solely to steal your data and sell you things. it sucks!! building a personal site is a great way to express yourself and take control of your online experience.

what would I even put on a website?

the best part about making your own site is that you can do literally whatever the hell you want! focus on a specific subject or make it a wild collection of all your interests. share your art! make a shrine for one of your interests! post a picture of every bird you see when you step outside! make a collection of your favorite blinkies! the world is your oyster !! here are some cool example sites to inspire you: recently updated neocities sites | it can be fun to just look through these and browse people's content! space bar | local interstellar dive bar creature feature | halloween & monsters big gulp supreme peanutbuttaz | personal site dragodiluna linwood | personal site patho grove | personal site

getting started: neocities/html guide

sound interesting? here are some guides to help you get started, especially if you aren't familiar with html/css sadgrl.online webmastery | a fantastic resource for getting started with html & web revival. also has a layout builder that you can use to start with in case starting from scratch is too intimidating web design in 4 minutes | good for learning coding basics w3schools | html tutorials templaterr | demo & html for basic web elements eggramen test pages | css page templates to get started with sadgrl background tiles | bg tiles rivendell background tiles | more free bg tiles

fun stuff to add to your site

want your site to be cool? here's some fun stuff that i've found blinkies-cafe | fantastic blinkie maker! (run by @transbro & @graphics-cafe) gificities | internet archive of 90s/00s web gifs internet bumper stickers | web bumper stickers momg | gif gallery 99 gif shop | 3d gifs 123 guestbook | add a guestbook for people to leave messages cbox | add a live chat box moon phases | track the phases of the moon gifypet | a little clickable page pet adopt a shroom | mushroom page pet tamaNOTchi | virtual pet crossword puzzle | daily crossword imood | track your mood neko | cute cat that chases your mouse pollcode | custom poll maker website hit counter | track how many visitors you have

web revival manifestos & communities

also, there's actually a pretty cool community of people out there who want to bring joy back to the web! melonland project | web project/community celebrating individual & joyful online experiences. Also has an online forum melonland intro to web revival | what is web revival? melonking manifesto | status cafe | share your current status nightfall city | online community onio.cafe | leave a message and enjoy the ambiance sadgrl internet manifesto | yesterweb internet manifesto | sadly defunct, still a great resource reclaiming online social spaces | great manifesto on cultivating your online experience

in conclusion

i want everyone to make a neocities site because it's fun af and i love seeing everyone's weird personal sites that they made outside of the control of capitalism :) say hi to me on neocities

[otherpens]

wait i wanna hear more about your mansfield park opinions. i only watched the film and recently got the book but haven't delved into it yet and i would love to hear more!

Full disclosure I would follow Patricia Rozema into Hell and though I *understand* that her adaptation is not to everybody's taste because no adaptation ever will be, I find the "it's INACCURATE to the BOOK" to be an extremely weak and superficial attack on its quality as a film so here I go to defend my position that it's a well-made movie and deserves its flowers on more than just the basis of "how much of the literal words from the book have made it into the finished film?"

Fundamentally I will insist that film and writing are two distinct mediums with different strengths and weaknesses, so while like any art both may tell a story, even nominally the SAME story, the expression and consumption of these stories are going to be very different in some regards.

Film by its nature is intensely based on the visual, and, once we get into dialogue and sound-design and scoring, audio.

When you're reading (or listening to an audio book), the visuals, if your brain works that way, are created within your own imagination. (And not every brain even has that capability to visualize things! That's okay!) So how you experience a text is very much up to the individual reader receiving the story by reading or listening. (Granted an audiobook narrator can put their particular spin on the voices/tone/pacing, but that's almost its own medium as well.)

So bearing that in mind, I feel there are some books/characters that we have a very different experience with on the page and inside our own heads which cannot easily be transposed onto film in such a way that a broad viewing audience will all interpret it the same way. (And of course arguments over books and film and everything else will continue to rage because no two people perceive things exactly the same way we bring our own memories and feelings and experiences to flavour the pot.)

But the thing with Mansfield Park, and the protagonist Fanny Price in particular, is her interiority. She is isolated and quiet and has no confidante apart from Edmund, who periodically disappears and leaves Fanny stewing in her own thoughts. The narrator has enough omniscience to let us in on Fanny's processes, but Fanny herself has many reasons for not expressing herself outwardly to anybody, so we NEED that omniscience in the text. Sometimes stories and characters are like that--whole narratives can unspool in following the course of someone's thoughts and feelings while they never say a word to anybody.

So how do we reflect this, in film?

Some adaptations featuring isolated/quiet characters will use different narrative or cinematic elements to convey the information they need/want to deliver to the audience--Rozema does this in her adaptation by giving Fanny a more outgoing-but-repressed personality as well as making her more of an observant writer (and including some of Austen's own juvenilia, which personally I liked because it's an underappreciated bit of her work and biography and development as an author outside of the main canon of her finished adult novels!) AND giving her Susan as a stable correspondent as opposed to William, whose career and travels ultimately mean a less-reliable interchange of letters, as well as giving Susan a more sensible foot in the door to be the next niece to come to Mansfield at the end of the story to become a part of the household.

Some adaptations will similarly use letters, but more often it can be a character's diary or journal (the Sally Hawkins Persuasion did this,) or add some direct-address fourth-wall breaking or...my nemesis...voice-over narration.

Now I admit this is my personal loathing coming to the fore here but I truly believe voice-over needs to be kept to an essential minimum and yes trying to watch Outlander was like having teeth pulled, for me. Mansfield Park uses a blend of these things and thankfully we don't get too much voiceover until there's a whallop of it right at the end to wrap things up so by then I'm content enough to let it slide.

Henry James once remarked that the best scene he'd written in The Portrait of a Lady featured Isabel sitting silently in a chair.

Now, how do you film a thing like that without obnoxious amounts of voiceover or any of these other tricks and tweaks to elicit some kind of expression from a character who is very much supposed to be holding almost everything very close and secret to their heart?

Since these stories and characters are beloved and revered, folks WILL CONTINUE TO TRY IT.

I doubt that they should. They will, regardless.

So that's why I found the '83 Mansfield Park, as I was told, VERY book-accurate and also very very dull (except Lady Bertram she was a hoot and the standard of acting was broadly very good and the headwear was magnificent but for the rest...oof. I don't see myself ever happily investing my time in a rewatch, because it's so superficial and shallow there's not much else to talk about apart from the accuracy. And once you're discussing the novel, you're discussing the novel, not the adaptation of it.)

So that's why I defend the changes in Rozema's adaptation, because she made some bold choices that absolutely won't suit all tastes and if the book is very precious to someone then the screen will not reflect what they felt or imagined while reading, but you can tell she put genuine thought into them, and I appreciate that. So many adaptations (especially of Austen) fall back on simply...putting on a show of the plot-points. This is not to say actors and costumers don't do good jobs, but the writing and directing in general is just bland as hell. We periodically get 'new' adaptations of the same novels, but are we really asking what is genuinely NEW about them? What risks are anyone taking? What discussions are possible, once we move past "they left out This Thing and so I hate the whole thing"?

I recently re-read Mansfield Park and I do love the book. Movies/TV adaptations are not the books, and need to stop trying so hard to be. Writer/directors, commit to your cinematic medium and show me what you can do. Swing for the fences. Impress me. Engage me. Use the tools of filmmaking at your disposal to leave your mark, if you will insist on reworking someone else's story and characters in the first place. If you're just doing a puppet-show, what's point? Sure, people can and will have different things they'd choose to include in THEIR adaptation, but they don't seem to want to admit that their adaptation would also be an adaptation, just like every other adaptation. And, realistically, format and running-time and budget concerns WILL make an actual production have to trim SOME of the contents of the Source Material. Speaking as something of a nitpicker myself, nitpicking/recasting/reworking/rewriting inside our own heads and ranting on Tumblr costs us NOTHING but our precious time, so we can afford to be sniffy about Ideals.

So yes, Rozema changed her Fanny for her Mansfield Park, and the result is a delightful watch in the general spirit of Austen rather than demanding full loyalty to the details of the novel it is broadly based on, because that novel is unfilmable. Fanny is not a heroine for the screen, the screen cannot convey her. Cinematic cryptid, Fanny Price.

[inherpower]

Where is the love?

I have a deep yearning to know and feel God’s love. I’m in an interesting season in my life. There are some relationships that I have upheld as a form of identity for myself and through those relationships I have loved as deeply as I knew how to. All of those relationships have transformed and no longer provide the same sustenance that they once did. I’m being broken down, my sense of identity completely shattered. It’s as if God has inserted himself into my life and decreased my interactions, changed my heart posture so that all I could do was come to Him. In reading 1 John 4:7-21, John tell us that God is love and when we love, we know God.

"We love because he loved us first"  -- 1 John 4:19

But what if you’re view on love and how you were giving and receiving love gets damaged? I find myself having to start fresh and go back to square one, learning what love truly is and is not. I often tell a story of how back at the start of 2020 (before the pandemic hit) I shouted to God at the top of a mountain saying that I am ready to be who HE created me to be. My life utterly broke down after that prayer. In fact I’m still clearing out the rubble as I write this. God stripped me of all perceived safety and security in anything that was not Him. Now I spend a great amount of my time praying and allowing God to rebuild me. This hasn’t been easy. If you are married, a parent, an exalted child, a person of status in your career, imagine that position or title that you hold most dear being adapted into what God desired for you, not the other way around.

One thing I’ve asked God in the past and I’ve heard other people ask is why would God allow for a certain situation and circumstance to happen? God broke it down. Bear with me. At times we get ourselves into situations that weren’t even what God wanted for us in the first place and then we ask why He allowed it to happen. God gave us free will. We made those decisions of our own volition. In fact God loves us so much that He will often send us a messenger telling us hey, that might not be the direction you wanna go in and we may get defensive and push back on that message and say that WE have a right to choose. And if the situation or circumstance that we may be getting into is really bad, God many send a messenger multiple times in many different forms. So why be mad at God? 

Yeah I know it’s a hard pill to swallow but the beauty is that we can come to Him when it all comes down and He will rebuild us and set us on the path that He designed for us. When I asked God to come into my life He cleaned house. All that I had known, believed and stood on was dismantled. Initially I called out to God asking why. Why was I being punished? To make matters worse I had to be silent and not clap back or defend myself when I wanted to. In rare moments when I was crying and pleading to take action He would tell me Do nothing. Say nothing. Let me take care of it. It took some time but He calmed my storms. My conversations with God turned into prayers then they turned into praise. A situation would come along and try to knock me off my square and I started thanking God for His love and protection. I may have been rattled for a bit but I got back to center and grounded myself in God’s love.

So back to what I was initially presenting in regards to my relationships. In each realm of my life (family, friend, self) God has revamped my relationships to show me how loved I am. And for the relationships that still need some work, He has set them aside and is taking care of them on my behalf. While He does that I lean into Him to nourish me. That’s all He’s ever wanted is for me to come to Him so that He can wrap himself around me and remind me that I am loved. There is a verse that has been my beacon of light when it comes to love. When you have a chance read all of Ephesians 3:14-21 but I will share the parts within this larger text that I rest on.

"...that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith - that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."  -- Ephesians 3:16-19 ESV

I’ll come back to this passage in another post and dive deeper into this cause it’s so good. But I want to end here with this and let you meditate on these words.