#I mean that was 3 episodes of carefully constructed nonsense

[joylinda-hawks]

A treasure that can make a man invincible? Only a redneck would fall for the nonsense you're talking about. WOH, episode 3, part 3. WKX, seeing ZZS's lack of reaction, waits for GX to ask him about the second part of the rhyme. GX asks the question WKX is waiting for, asks what the words are. WKX recites another part of the nursery rhyme. When ZZS hears this, he just smiles. ZZS asks what is so sad about the ghosts of Qingya Mountain, adding that each of them is wicked and ended up in the Ghost Valley because they had nowhere to escape. WKX agrees with him, but points out that the words "ghosts of Qingya Mountain" do not refer to a group of ghosts, as he says this he approaches the standing ZZS, but to Rong Xuan, a great demon killed on Qingya Mountain twenty years ago. ZZS listens carefully to what WKX says. ZCL is also listening closely to WKX's comments. WKX continues that it is said that a demon named Rong left behind a treasure called the Arsenal. GX also listens to WKX stories while eating cake. WKX explains that the arsenal includes techniques from various sects that have long since disappeared from this world. It can make an ordinary person invincible. The key to the arsenal is Glazed Armor. ZZS claims that a treasure that can make a man invincible, only a peasant will fall for the nonsense told by WKX. ZZS asks WKX if he believes what he says. WKX responds by asking if ZZS doesn't believe it. ZZS is very patient and responds by walking around and saying that treasures, divine weapons, scrolls about secret martial arts, miracle cures, every few years someone comes up with an item that the people of Jianghu want to fight for, which leads to countless deaths only then everyone is happy. ZZS considers this absurd. WKX becomes more and more intrigued by ZZS, so he asks why he thinks it's absurd. This time it is ZZS who responds, asking whether this is not absurd. ZZS explains that all these treasures have a name, it is called "harvest without sowing." In short, it's just greed. WKX laughs and says he's surprised ZZS has the same opinion as him. He argues that although there is peace, the ignorant create their own problems. GX stands up and states that she understood what both men were saying. She argues that it is difficult for humans to discover that they are weak warriors, so they try to reap "a harvest without sowing." She adds that they know they are weak, but they fight against others. So she asks if life is unpleasant for them. Eventually, GX turns to WKX, stating that there are many people dumber than her. ZZS turns to the girl and tells her that she is quite smart. This part of the scene is a test that WKX puts ZZS through. He turns the conversation to the spirits of the Ghost Valley, then Rong Xuan and the Arsenal. WKX wants to know what ZZS's attitude towards the Ghost Valley is, how to continue talks with him and how much ZZS can reveal. The second thing WKX wants to know is the Glazed Armor case, he wants to know if ZZS is interested in the Arsenal treasures. WKX doesn't know that his hatred of RX is baseless or that Arsenal isn't what people say. ZZS, hearing WKX's questions, probably does not even wonder that they have a deeper meaning. For peace of mind, she gives him simple, fact-based answers. ZZS is not interested in the Ghost Valley, he is not interested in Glazed Armor, much less the treasures of the Arsenal. ZZS is dying, every day brings him closer to death, and he is waiting for this death. He believes that what he has committed to will take him a short time, and then ZZS will go its own way. He doesn't know that WKX has plans for him and will gradually implement them. For now, ZZS doesn't want to be too rude and gives WKX factual answers, and WKX admires not only his beauty, but also his ability to think logically and draw constructive conclusions. I don't know, but I think it was one of my favorite scenes that ZZH and GJ shot. Their relationship with each other must have had a big impact on what they showed us in this scene.

[elizabethrobertajones]

Ive watched neither the episode yet nor the new promo thing but I'm reading Cas and Kelly kiss?can u report for me if you watched it ;_;?

I have no idea, I ended up watching 10x02 and 10x03 instead and you’ve just given me war flashbacks to the 10x07 promo where Hannah kissed Cas so I’m just gonna point at that for now. :P I’m about 15 minutes through the new episode but have absolutely no desire to watch it. I already updated Windows when it asked, filled in a page of my colouring book, went for a long walk, and that’s on top of waking up late, going to yoga, and taking my sweet time to get back to even start watching because there were pokemon to catch on my route… 

I don’t particularly feel like digging up the 10x07 wank on my blog because that’s definitely long enough ago to be embarrassed remembering literally anything past!Me said, but it’s Berens next, isn’t it? I mean this is deja vu all over again. For the 10x07 wank he ended up having to post something about the promo showing none of the truth and one outright lie, which is a pretty meta statement about the show and PR. :P It looked like Cas and Hannah hooked up and were kissing because they were love interests now, but Hannah was just being weird about human feelings, kissed Cas in one of those stupid pretend to be eloping to avoid a much more complicated truth scenarios, and ended up noping out because she’d completely skeeved herself out over her behaviour. 

Kelly and Cas are in a super weird place, and Cas is definitely in a place of ambiguous consent and agency, if not outright mind controlled (although I think it’s far more complicated than that) … the narrative at least is that he’s been stolen from the Winchesters, abruptly derailed from both his long term main emotional arc (lack of faith) and short term one (this half of season 12 Dean n Cas nonsense culminating in the mixtape) and that there’s something wrong and bad about this. It doesn’t matter if there’s good as well when it comes to the nephilim - if it turns out it is nurture over nature and it’s not evil or this mysterious future is a good one, EVEN all that, both Kelly and Cas are in a pickle and it’s not their fault and they’re behaving strangely, and at the very least being given massive mood adjustments by the baby, and being pushed around to some end even, as I’ve said, if really both of them were at least half way amenable to it in the first place (Kelly was inclined to love and protect her baby, Cas too had the speech about someone protecting and raising the baby right) they’ve been strong armed into taking on these roles without any of the choice they might have had to choose exactly the same thing, if you get what I mean? There was a 20 second window Cas could have been reasonably talked into doing exactly what the baby ended up making him do anyway, but he was never given a choice. 

Anywho, point is, Dean is our voice of what is reasonable, normal, and right this season, and he thinks Cas has been compromised. I disagree with Dean that Cas has been utterly mind controlled because I think it’s way more insidious than that, but Dean knows Cas and he pointed out for us exactly what everyone who thought Cas was not Cas at the end of 12x19 said.

So if Cas and Kelly kiss, it is not a good situation for them, they’re in a position of poor consent, if not outright lack of reasonable control of their situation, even if it’s just insidious control making them act out some bizarre loving parent fantasy for the baby. (As of 15 minutes into 12x21 Mary’s been told just about everything about her life in long-winded exposition except that she was cupid’d into loving John but why not include a parallel >.>) I doubt no matter how much sympathy and concern Cas has for Kelly, this is a good way for him to meet a love interest and certainly not a way to make anything that happens in the immediate foreseeable future worth anything as a nice story to tell. And after everything between Dean and Cas this year, Kelly was already a sort of usurper to their story after she made off with Cas in the car but it’s just good old subtextual rival love interest stuff, just like Dean/Crowley and Cas/Hannah in the start of season 10.

I highly doubt it’s going to be written assuming we’re meant to like it and will like it. And when that’s intentional it serves a purpose and isn’t screwing with shippers or trying to stomp on Destiel or anything. I mean, this is coming fresh from hearing my mum cry laughing at Crowley looking at his howling at the moon photos on his phone while that tragic song plays in the background, and enjoying all those old parallels fresh again. I might be totally fed up of 12x21 and Buckleming but I am super amused at the show’s romantic subtext fuckery. 

[kierongillen]

On First Issues

I wrote this for my last newsletter, and figure it likely should be added to the tumblr, just it can be added to the Writer Advice tag. Anyway! Sign up to the newsletter for more of this kind of stuff, of course.

Mags Vissago on twitter asked what people's favourite issue ones were, which spiralled into a larger discussion of what makes a good issue 1. That I'm back in the world of Number Ones with the new projects kicking off meant I felt like throwing in my assorted spare change. Also, it was a good way to avoid work. The conversation spiralled a bit, and I thought it worth trying to pull some of this together in a chunk.

There will be a lot of obvious caveats in what follow. I would question anything and everything. What follows below is what I consider pretty solid advice, but pretty solid advice collapses into useless dogma is unexamined. This is just where my head is at presently. Now that I've put it down, I'll likely set it on fire.

Firstly – most of what follows is about writing about a comic which tends to be a standard 20 page unit, released sequentially in a regular release schedule. It doesn't apply to graphic novels. It doesn't apply to comics released irregularly. It doesn't apply to any other form that isn't comics. This is stuff which is warped because of the economic construct. It is also leaning towards what I'd call a pop comic. These are almost entirely genre comics of one form or another.

Issue 1s obsess many writers for various reasons, both good, bad and necessary. Part of it is simply because anyone working in a serial comics in the Anglophone American pamphlet model have more experience in writing issue 1s than any other issue number (“Last issue” isn't an issue number, pedants). So you spend more time proportionally working on them and thinking about them. Perhaps most tellingly, in the present Direct Market, your sales of the first issue are what establish the sales of the latter issues. If you can launch stronger, you have longer until the standard erosion of sales makes the book commercially unviable in singles (and so also gives longer to gain a trade readership which means that doesn't matter). “How effective the first issue is” isn't the only thing which effects sales, but it doesn't for hurt.

Even for books which find an audience in trades, it's worth noting that the number of books which are huge in trades are often books that also did well in singles. The single is many things, including an advertisement, and the more part of a conversation the single is, the more there is an awareness of the trade. The weirdest thing about WicDiv being a hit was how much easier it was to sell more copies of WicDiv. Its success kind of sold itself.

Anyway – in the conversation online, I argued that the best first issues tend to do two things, which I unhelpfully described as “First It” and “Second It.”

The First It is includes everything which I would describe as good writing (good writing, for comics, includes everything, not just the words – it's also art, design, etc). You introduce everything the reader needs to know about your book to have a fair understanding of it. The “Needs” is key. It's not the whole book, but certainly enough to give a reader a fair understanding. You show the sort of thing you do, and how you choose to do it. Obviously not everyone who ends up liking the book will like it (or vice versa), but generally speaking, you lay out who you are, as honestly as you can.

(Worth noting this also includes possibly alienating some readers. If they're going to burn out of a book, I'd argue its rude to string them along. I've never done this as aggressively as I did with my first comic, Phonogram, whose opening caption was so noxious to basically show the door to anyone who wasn't in for this level of nonsense. Why waste anyone's time, eh?)

A competent first issue working inside First It principles will introduce initial key characters, delineate them, their desires and the world they operate inside. In the style you do so, the readers will get an understanding of the book. Frankly, anything which you reveal when hyping the book is almost certainly inside the First It.

In short: most of First It is actually The Pitch – or rather, showing you can competently execute The Pitch.

(A common form of incompetence in Pop Comics writing is failing to do that, and you end the issue with less information delineated than you got from the solicits. I read a first issue in the last year, and found they'd printed the pithy series blurb on the back cover, none of which was explained to any degree in the comic I had just read.)

The Second It is where it gets tricky. This is more rarely pulled off, and also much more subjective, but it's also something that the vast majority of hit books have managed to do, which makes me suspect there's something powerful to at least consider.

The Second It is giving the reader something that wasn't in the pitch. This normally speaks to the actual truth of what the book actually is, or at least gives a sense of the book's direction. It can be a big huge genre twist, but it doesn't have to be that large. But it does have to be something.

(Or at least, it has to be something unless your core pitch is so unique, so magical, so entirely without precedent that you don't have to worry about any of this tawdry nonsense.)

There's a TV first episode which is often mentioned by other writers when talking about this. It's The SHIELD. Spoilers, obv. The show is about corrupt cops. We know this going in. Hell, you know that throughout the first episode, as it's delineated carefully (This is all First It stuff). However, in the final scene, the lead shoots another cop who's on his team. That's the Second It. It lets us know exactly how corrupt these cops are, and also immediately lets us know the direction of the series. For the genre it's working in, that's a strong opening.

A book that is competent with First It regularly fails to hit Second It in various ways, but there's two which I see a lot.

Firstly, the last page reveal is actually just the book's high concept. As in, what the reader already knew by how the book was described to them, or included in solicits. If it was Harry Potter, it'd be “You're a Wizard, Harry.” This means that a reader has paid $3-5 dollars to learn what they already knew. No matter how well executed, this tends to be a turn off. It's also a turn off which is 100% great writing if you were writing (say) a Novel. But there you aren't selling sequential units.

Secondly, the last page reveal is a big event which the reader simply doesn't care about. This is a failure born of the rest of the book, and shows well how First It and Second It aren't separate units. If you know the Second It is reliant on some emotional underpining, you need to make sure that is established. A classic example would be (say) a long absent relative turns up. If the issue has not spent sufficient time making the absence of the relative to your cast of absolute interest, that isn't going to land.

In Doctor Aphra 1, her Dad turns up into the end, and that's not set up at all in the issue. However, my hook was “her dad has turned up... and he's just fucked over Aphra.” The latter is the reveal of character about the former, and is the directional thrust. It's not about the existence of her father, but rather her father's character and what that means for Aphra.

Yes, you should be raising an eye on “Last page Reveal.” The commonality of “Last Page Reveal” in these books is another question, and a hint towards how this kind of writing has been codified. There's been a lot of people reverse engineering BKV, shall we say. “Reveal in final scene” may be a better way of thinking of it, and even that is too small for my liking.

To talk about WicDiv for a second, it's a complicated mess of a book, but our First It is establishing a bunch of the key mythology, vibe, style and two lead characters. The Two Lead Characters feed into the Second It – which is “A Judge is Murdered in the Middle the Court. Did Lucifer Do it?” That only even vaguely works because we spent the majority of the issue delineating Lucifer as much as we did Laura. The Second It for WicDiv was signalling this is a genre work with an actual plot, and not just ambling along Phonogram style. First It was “Here's our world” and Second It is “And here's where we're going next.”

You may be reading the above and thinking of it as a checklist. “Must make sure I have Two Its.” That would be a mistake. The two Its are an analytical tool. It's an editing principle when approaching your own material of what narrative unit makes a useful, accurate and compelling introduction to the story. In my case, it's looking at my story, recognising the point where First It (introduction to the book) and Second It (reason to continue reading book and hint at immediate direction) have been fulfilled to my satisfaction, and then writing and editing to ensure I include them both.

In the case of WicDiv, I looked at the story and thought “I have to get to the murder of the Judge.” I could have perhaps ended with Lucifer having just murdered the assassins who tried to kill her... but all that would have shown is “these pop star gods who claim to be gods have godly powers” and I said that in the hype. Perhaps I could have worked out a way to make that work if I played with the sympathy towards Lucifer differently, but that still felt like reiterating the pitch. The Death Of The Judge leading to a murder mystery was clear and direct. That's what I had to get to.

It's also worth noting that many of the most successful first issues (and some of the biggest hits of recent years) are longer than 20 pages. Y: The Last Man (which is a clockwork masterpiece of First-Issue-ness) was 28 pages. Saga is double issue size. Monstress was triple sized. For me, WicDiv was 30 comics pages. Spangly New Thing is 34. Longer issues both let you spend more time making sure First It is done well, and more time to push towards whatever beat you consider to be Second It.

(That's another reason why the Second It can come at the end of an issue. By definition, it's the point you were trying to reach. When you've reached it, you can stop.)

And as another side point, it's also worth remembering that How You Hype The Book can vary hugely. If I'd sold WicDiv as “Pop Stars who claim to be gods...” perhaps Lucifer having actual powers would have been enough for a Second It. I suspect not, because clearly me even posing the question is implicitly promising the reader the answer is “Yes.” That'd be like me selling an autobiography with “Does Kieron Gillen have magical powers?” and then showing across 300 pages that no, he's just a dude. But still: you get the point.

That's enough on this. It's interesting stuff to think about, because this is only a tiny fraction of it. If Issue 1 is everything that has to be in issue 1, what is Issue 2. Issue 1s are the hardest worked issues in a series, because you're preparing for so long, but Issue 2 are a special kind of heartbreaker.

I said it at the top, but all of this is also for a certain mode of comics. And not even all that certain mode for comics. The First Error I listed above? If a writer is figuring it's primarily a trade based book, and they feel it's not worth distorting issue 1 to serve the single, that could be a fine choice. I sometimes wonder if I'd have been better ending THREE's first issue with the Spartans turning up rather than the slaughter.

That's still a cliffhanger. You can go more extreme that that. When I launched WicDiv, and Warren and Jason Howard were launching Trees, I felt entirely ashamed having done this Pop Thrill Banger and Trees just cuts at the end of an issue and assumes you'll be back in month. It believed in a maturity in the audience and a willing to follow it wherever it went. That's something I find entirely admirable.

Point being: the above is only useful tools in so far as it aligns with your goals as a creator.

[helloarmchairphilosopher]

Writer's works in progress

I saw that someone else had written up their wip-s, so maybe writing up mine will make me GET ON WITH IT and help me write more on one (or more) of them. 1) 1938 Brooklyn Murder mystery: in which a Ripper (any killer with a knife is always dubbed a Ripper by the press, it's a thing) stalks the young men of the queer/gay community of Brooklyn. One by one young men die and the cops either can't or won't do anything about a few dead [slur]; the mob doesn't care either; war looms in Europe; the Mayor is trying to clean up the city before the World's Fair; the dynamics of the queer community itself is changing as men and women who previously might not have considered themselves part of it are thrown in with it, with new laws meant to manage a moral society; and two men, in exactly that predicament, are watching their friends dying at the hands of the Ripper and hoping they're not next, while dealing with feelings for each other. (The historian in me has run amok.) 2) The Sweater Curse: (Bagginshield) In which hobbits consider it bad luck to make crocheted or knitted garments for themselves (a sign that one has no kin) because sweaters are made and given between first and second degree blood relatives (parents and children, grandparents and grandchildren, aunts and uncles and nieces and nephews). Other kinds of garments are given freely. If a sweater is given to an unrelated person it is considered a proposal. In which dwarves make their own crocheted or knitted garments for themselves (a sign of their craft-skill and self-sufficiency). Other kinds of garments are bought and sold freely. If a sweater is offered as a gift to another person it is befuddling at best and an insult at worst. The Sweater Curse in our world says that if a person, usually a woman, starts to make a sweater for their significant other, usually a man, before they are married, the relationship will end. The fic I'd imagined had a happy ending - with Thorin thinking that Bilbo had been making the sweater for himself. "You loveable dunce, did you never notice I'd keep borrowing Kíli to size it correctly for you? I'd be swimming in it!" 3) transman Phil Coulson fic. I'm not trans, so I'd have to tread carefully here. My real aim is feminism and femininity. A male Coulson has leeway in a manner that a female Coulson would not. A male Coulson is not told that he is missing out on the essential manly quality of being a father and a husband; he is not automatically assumed, on walking into a room, to be the secretary or the assistant. Women always have to be twice as good to be perceived as half as competent, and then (often) they're told not to be a b*tch about it. But all this from the point of Clint Barton, who is kind of clueless, and who really loves Phil (I kind of love this ship and like the rest of the fandom I'm not really sure why), means that he just sees grade-A badass Phil Coulson. Full stop. No edits. No matter what is, or isn't, in his past, in his pants, in his medical file, or what his parents used to call him. 4) Werewolf romance novel Tall dark and handsome (TM) is the antagonist who is stalking and eating people. He's a creep who plays into rape culture and preys on young women who think that his bad boy vibe cover up anything other than a black heart. The protagonist is a smart and kick-ass young woman with a shiny degree and huge student loans working below her talents, as a barman, which is how she knows of the antagonist and his creepiness. She has a friend, her landlady's daughter, who is close to her age. (Yay for passing the Bechdel test? I'd better, after actually meeting Alison Bechdel.) The love interest is this sandy blonde dorky guy, a drifter who works construction and throws darts at the bar. When people start getting chewed up he's the prime suspect, and even our protagonist doesn't know what to think - but only until our antagonist tries to take a bite out of her, and he intervenes, as a werewolf. And from there it's your usual. I got sick of the werewolf books with creepy rape culture overtones and not passing the Bechdel test and thought, I could do better. 5) a Clint Barton/Darcy Lewis fanfic, in which she helps patch him up after Loki's mind control. In the comics, Clint had a pretty messed up childhood. Circus, dad who beat him, taught to shoot by a man who beat him and then used him first as a thief and then as a killer (or so I loosely understand; and I'd be using a variation on that in the fic, anyway). He would have had to have therapy for it at SHIELD just to be functional as an agent around people. But Loki's mind control messed with all that, breaking the locks and self-management he'd had for so long. He'd have major depressive episodes and PTSD following it. And Darcy, being a civilian, might not be the best person to bring him out, but she was there for Thor and the Destroyer. She saw some shit. And who knows what she had in her childhood. (I do, because I created it, but I'm the author and I can do what I like.) What was done by Loki cannot be undone, but what was done before Loki could, just maybe, be done over again, more painstakingly and with greater care, like walking around the glass shards of a broken vase. 6) a Fíli/fem!Bilbo fic: in which a pregnant Bilbo runs from the Mountain. (Thorin died of his wounds, but Fíli and Kíli survived.) Bilbo, in whatever feminized spelling of one's choosing, won't, can't, stay. The memories of battle, of being shaken like a rat over the gates of Erebor, are too fresh and too raw. The halls reek of dragon and she hears Smaug's eerie deep voice creeping in the shadows. No, she cannot stay. She must go somewhere green. A month, a year, five years, forever, she must go somewhere clean and cleansed. And Fíli, her One, can't go. She knows this. And she, even though she's his One, can't stay. Magic lover's nonsense and whatever, there's reality you have to deal with, and sometimes reality means PTSD and dragon stink. So they argue, the night after his coronation. She is due to leave the next day with Gandalf and it'll be the last time - it's emotionally fraught. He's mad and she's mad, because they both *want* it to be different. In my mind's eye I saw the argument, in the indirect result: his name was Frerin. And, of course, that can't be let alone, since as the eldest son of a king, half-hobbit or no, he is heir apparent to a throne, and a birthright. Tolkien wrote that dwarf populations at the end of the end of the Third Age and into the Fourth dwindled until the race itself failed - meaning that there were too few women having too few children. This is obvious enough from what we see in the appendices. A king having a son hidden from him and raised by a non-dwarf woman, even if she is his mother? A scandal, the fanon assumes, and I presume with it. 7) a Bucky Barnes in slightly more efficient and effective hiding fic. There's that photo going around of Sebastian Stan from the set of his latest movie and he has this big mustache, and jeez if Bucky looked like that, some people commented, and not all 90s Grunge, he might have escaped a lot better, since the photo Zemo circulated assumed that Bucky looked like a hobo. Personally I don't see Bucky growing that mustache (looking like Howard Stark, who he assassinated, would give him a heart attack). Nor do I see him as a teacher, of math or otherwise, as the original post suggested; he'd never pass the background check. But there's another picture of Sebastian Stan I saw that was also relatively recent (but before any of the photos from the set of I, Tonya) with a full beard, and if he'd grown that out, if Bucky had grown that out, maybe he might have looked like Norm Abram back when he was younger. So, maybe a carpenter. It's a sin to hide that beautiful jawline, but effective. Bucky would get away from HYDRA and SHIELD both, just by staying off the radar and not looking like what they expect. He could even use his real name - there are 4,207 other James Barnes-es in the US, what would make him special? There are only 27 Clint Bartons. One borrowed social security number, one rented house, anywhere would do but I was thinking Santa Fe (because I've been there and can describe it, it's cool enough in part of the year he can wear long sleeves outside and the rest of the year there's air conditioning and he can wear long sleeves inside to cover the arm, and because it's a tourist town, people with money to spend on his carpentry work). From my notes, in particular: He checks in at the spots the Smithsonian mentioned. Red Hook, Dumbo, Coney Island. Those spots in Brooklyn that are supposed to have had that towheaded little captain America to be and his sidekick to become running amok in the 1920s. Some pieces fit. Bits of bitty Steve fit in, here and here, slotting back into Bucky's memory. Steve is a huge, pun intended, part of who he once was. To have made Bucky forget Steve, no wonder he forgot himself - - or was it the other way around, that Bucky forgot himself because he forgot Steve? 8) nonfiction, Torah commentary, starting with Genesis (Bereshit). 9) nonfiction, the history (I've been working on for five years) of the Hasidic movement during the Holocaust. Various dynasties and their rebbes, and the rebbes' successors, and the survival of the Hasidim and the Hasidut - how it worked, where it happened, how it happened; but from there, which members of the rabbinical families did not survive? Why? What attempts were made to save them? When attempts were made, who was given first preference and what stated reason, if any, was given? These are questions that have not yet been answered. And I have limited access to Hasidim, by language and by culture. These are not questions anyone would ever give me a straight answer to, of course. I have strong suspicions. Nothing more. The demographics of death - these are records we do have - say a lot. And the final chapters of the book, or the last volume, or the next book, also needs to be written: the rise to power of the other Hasidic dynasties, the massive shift in power away from Poilisher-Yidish culture elsewhere due to the near destruction of that community. Lubavitch, Bobov, Satmar, Belz, and Ger - only the last is Poilisher-Yidish. Before the war the largest Hasidic dynasties were to be found in Poland: Ger, Aleksandr, and Radomsk. There's a lot here no one else has done. I suppose it falls to me. So, I have many things to work on. I have lots to choose from. If only my brain would ACTUALLY LET ME DO IT, DAMMIT.

[itsiotrecords-blog]

http://ift.tt/2sGhjJV

The television was a revolution in technology that changed practically everything about the world. News became more real as did entertainment. No longer were people forced to leave their home to be entertained by actors. What started with just a few channels and programs, quickly turned into many. Today, thousands of channels yield more programming that any individual could possibly digest. For better or for worse, television has become standard in virtually every home in the developed world. Over the years, some lines have been uttered on television that will never be forgotten. In many cases, those lines actually changed perceptions and sometimes realities. Some of these quotes were said by trusted news anchors, but others were lines said on sitcoms, dramas or other fictional programs. Even in the world of reality television programs that seem to dominate the airwaves today, some lines have been said that are just game changing. So often, it is who says the quote that makes all the difference in the world. Whether an actor, a journalist, a politician or perhaps just a regular citizen, with an audience of millions, important words can make all the difference. Television has provided an outlet for change time and time again. While not always a good change, the following quotes have definitely changed the world.

#1 The Walking Dead Among the most watched dramas in television history is AMC’s The Walking Dead. Fans of the show are loyal, committed and plentiful. One of the most talked about episodes was the episode titled “The Grove.” In this episode, Carol realizes that the little girl who’s name is Lizzie is a danger not only to herself, but to all those around her in the post-apocalyptic world of zombies and worse. When Carol takes Lizzie outside, she utters these famous words: “Just look at the flowers Lizzie.” No spoilers here, but the words associated had a direct impact upon fans for a very long time. It single-handedly helped those watching think carefully about how important community and the protection of that community is in a world like that. Indeed, this quote will forever be remembered by so many forever.

#2 Seinfeld Seinfeld gave us a great many quotes that have stood the test of time. In fact, this won’t be the only one on the list. But changing the world is a pretty tall order. On the Seinfeld episode titled “The Outing,” Jerry has to continuously defend his heterosexuality to a graduate student at NYU who is writing an article about him. She continues to believe that Jerry and George are homosexual lovers. Throughout the episode, they continue making statements about how they are not in fact homosexual, but always follow-up with “not that there’s anything wrong with that.” This was at a time when homosexuality wasn’t a major topic addressed on television. Seinfeld was able to take a controversial topic and add a comedic twist. The show essentially makes the statement that you are who you are, whether gay or straight. Thanks to the show, people found a very funny way to make an important social statement. Way to go Jerry… how could anyone not like him?

#3 Neil Armstrong NASA astronaut Neil Armstrong, is famous the world over as the first person to step onto the surface of the moon. On July 20, 1969, as he was coming out of the lunar module, Armstrong was famously watched by about a half a billion people on television. Every breath watching was in awe as Armstrong uttered words that changed the way we view outer space and exploration alike: “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” NASA did have a few unmanned missions to the moon, participated in a multi-country effort to construct and staff the International Space Station, construct the Hubble Space Telescope and send probes to the furthest reaches of our solar system and beyond, all in an effort to take those next steps for all of mankind.

#4 Friends For ten years, Friends was one of the top sitcoms on television. As part of the famous Thursday night NBC lineup, millions of people settled-in to watch the group hang at Central Perk. Of all the great quotes, Joey’s line of: “How you doin’?” has most definitely stood the test of time. “How you doin’” has become the one thing you can say to someone you’re attracted to, when you have nothing else to say! In a sense, Joey has provided a bonding opportunity, pick-up line and conversation piece all in three little words. Of course, saying it as close to the way Joey would say it is also very necessary. The words sort of flow together with a hint of a New York accent included. I wonder how many people wound-up getting together as a result of this initial greeting?

#5 Star Trek In the entire Star Trek universe, encompassing virtually all the movies and spin-off series, one quote has surpassed all others: “Live long and prosper.” The origins of the phrase (and even the Vulcan hand gesture that accompanies the quote) are actually based upon an Orthodox Jewish blessing. Today, this phrase lives on and is known by fans, and those that wish they didn’t know what it means. Certainly not everyone enjoys Star Trek, but virtually everyone knows this quote and can connect it to the series. “Live long and prosper” is a simplistic and beautiful way to address another person. It is a wonderful sign of respect and perhaps the best way to wish people the very best. For Star Trek fans, there’s no better way to make an instant connection with someone than by sharing this quote.

#6 Walter Cronkite, CBS News Walter Cronkite is the king of all anchormen. He is a shining example of how journalism should be and is still seen as an influence to this day. But on February 27, 1968, he made a statement on the air that changed the world. The address was longer, but the final words capture his criticism of the war itself: “But it is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could.” Because Walter Cronkite was a beacon of trust in news reporting across the United States, hearing these words helped reshape public opinion on the Vietnam War. The war raged on after this, but more and more people began to voice their own concerns as well. Thanks to the bravery of Uncle Walter.

#7 Seinfeld’s Festivus Back on the list is more from the hit sitcom Seinfeld. Few shows can claim that they are responsible for an actual holiday! In the show “The Strike” George is forced to relive the horrors of his childhood in celebrating Festivus, a holiday invented by Frank Costanza that is celebrated on December 23rd. In reality, Seinfeld writer Dan O’Keefe was actually inspired to include this, as it was his father that originally invented the concept of the holiday. The phrase: “It’s a Festivus miracle!” has actually become a common utterance as a way to describe something that is perhaps unexpected or coincidental, but certainly not miraculous. Books describing the holiday and countless references to it during the Christmas season have been a result of the show.

#8 Sheldon On The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory has been a CBS smash hit since 2007. Early on in the series, Dr. Sheldon Cooper, portrayed by actor Jim Parsons establishes himself as the egotistical, quirky genius that doesn’t quite understand most social conventions. But quickly, one nonsensical word would make its way into the world, used by millions to indicate sarcasm: “Bazinga!” Cooper uses the word “Bazinga” to indicate that he is being sarcastic. Later in the show, the word is used more frequently because of its surge in popularity. Indeed, the word has become so incredibly popular that it is trademarked and has been put on apparel. The world has made its way into general vocabulary and is recognized just about anywhere you go nowadays.

#9 Rodney King In 1992, alleged police mistreatment of African Americans was a hot issue, much as it is today. When Rodney King was beaten by Los Angeles Police Department officers and the officers were acquitted in court, riots occurred in South Central Los Angeles over the course of six days. During this time, when questioned about the riots, Rodney King himself was quoted in the midst of the riots as saying: “Can we all get along?” This statement from a man that had been brutally beaten by police has been seen by many as a plea for equal justice and fair treatment. Over the years, the phrase has been used satirically, but at the time, it sent shockwaves. Those hearing these words sympathize with the desire for violence to come to an end in general. In fact, it seemed to be a plea for peace in general, even beyond the riots. Regardless of what exactly he meant, the phrase has lived on in infamy.

#10 Kennedy Assassination Millions of Americans remember exactly what they were doing when they heard the news that President John F. Kennedy had been shot and killed on November 22, 1963. It was a moment that shocked the entire world and is still remembered as a grave day in our nation’s history. Walter Cronkite’s famous quote sent chills across the country as he said: “We just have a report from our correspondent Dan Rather in Dallas that he has confirmed that President Kennedy is dead.” The assassination of Kennedy was mourned deeply by all Americans. It was a day that party politics was set aside and people of all walks of life came together to pay deep respect to the entire Kennedy family. These heavy words spoken by Cronkite sent our country into a new chapter of leadership in an instant.

#11 Bill Clinton Former President of the United States Bill Clinton, had a little problem that wouldn’t go away. The allegations that he had a sexual relationship with White House Intern Monica Lewinsky was dominating the news. On January 26, 1998, President Clinton told the nation emphatically: “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.” This statement heard the world over led to even more investigation and even more trouble for Clinton. As a result of continued investigation, President Clinton found himself later confirming that he did actually have an inappropriate relationship with Lewinsky. He was subsequently impeached by the House of Representatives for lying under oath and even had to forfeit his Arkansas law license. All because of one giant lie heard over and over again on just about every television set in the world.

#12 Mr. Rogers Fred Rogers had his own children’s television program, Mister Rogers Neighborhood for over 30 years. In that time, he always taught children good manners and lessons in being a good friend and having self confidence. Over the years, Fred Rogers had a number of wonderful quotes both on and off of his television show. But one line that he uttered at the end of every show had a significant impact on generations of people: “You make each day a special day. You know how, by just your being you”. These beautiful words instilled self worth and confidence into children at an age where it was most needed. Thank you Mr. Rogers for being there for so many of us over the years. Even today and in your absence, the show continues to be there for many children.

#13 President Josiah Bartlet The television series The West Wing did a great deal to inspire Americans. It provided hope and a renewed patriotism for millions of people. The show took its role to uplift and inspire people very seriously. President Josiah Bartlet, played by actor Martin Sheen provided a large number of inspirational quotes during the run of the show. Perhaps the most inspirational came at a point when people needed to understand that our elected officials do not only represent members of their party, but of everyone. The quote: “I am the President of the United States. Not the President of the people who agree with me” resonated with so many people in our country. While the message doesn’t always seem to stick, this quote has continued to last and is a refresher of how the United States government is supposed to work.

#14 Kennedy’s Moon Speech On October 22, 1962, President John F. Kennedy delivered a speech, aired on television that has famously become known as the ‘moon speech.’ In this speech, he commits the United States to the daunting task of sending a manned mission to the moon. These words shocked the world and resonated deeply, as there were currently no planned missions or training for such an event. His speech included the following: “We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.”

#15 Martin Luther King Jr. The 1963 March on Washington was a civil rights event in Washington D.C. During the event, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke, delivering the most famous speech of his life. His speech has become known as the “I have a dream” speech. These words were spoken multiple times through the speech and followed with the imagery of what an equal and unified country looks like from a social and racial perspective. This quote has been used to reference the civil rights movement and efforts to improve race relations in the United States for more than 50 years. This speech was in fact televised and watched by millions, along with those in attendance at the March on Washington. But the words live on now as one of the finest speeches in American history.

Source: TheRichest

[kamillam04]

THE STORY/‘GOPNIK, WALK WITH ME’

This is the draft plot of the story, which I want to told in 6 chapters in the comics format. That story is based on real events and is told in chronological order, although during the process I might add/get rid of something, as well as change the sequence of sections. The heading of each chapter represents the area of reference, which the chapter would somehow adopt. The name of the story is an allusion for Lynch’s Twin Peaks prequel ‘Fire Walk With Me’, it conveys the meaning of going through gopniks and reflects on the part of the story, where gopniks are setting fire. C1 and C2 are character1 and character2. After each section under the questions ‘Why/how’ I would explain my initial thoughts and draft concepts,which helped me to make a particular decision.

PART 1 - SURVIVAL REALITY SHOW

C1 & C2 are riding bikes through the forest, the road is muddy and abandoned, it’s really hard to ride. They are going to have picnic by the lake on the old bridge. They are getting to the bridge, it is made of metal bars, which are laid with a distance, so that a thin human could fall into the lake, hitting the lower parts of metal bridge construction. C1 one is good at ‘circus’ walking and fast reaches the side of the bridge, where it is comfortable to sit, C2 is doing it slowly, carefully - C2 is afraid to fall through one of the gaps. Eventually, C2 gets there and they are starting to eat something and to drink gin. C1 & C2 decide to swim before they are too drunk. They get rid of their clothes. C1 is climbing the bridge at it’s highest and jumps. C2 jumps from the place they were sitting. They talk, swim and start to get cold, it’s August and nights are not that warm. They swim towards a concrete wall, which closes the lake(after that wall the lake becomes an underground river). C1 lifts him with his hands and gets out of the water, C2 do not have enough strength, so C2 waits until C1 would help. C1 helps, but damages C2’s body, which gets scratched  by the rough surface of the concrete wall. They are standing by the lake on the road, a glowing car lights fall on them and disappear. C1 and C2 decide to get big leaves and to cover themselves. They are cold and decide to get back to their clothes and bikes and gin by the forest in order not to swim anymore. They are a bit afraid bikes are stolen - they took this bikes from their neighbors.Bikes and clothes are still there. In order to get warmer we decide to drink more gin.

Why/how Survival Reality Show?                                                                When I was a child I remember watching Russian reality show «The Last Hero». I remember all the stuff, which happened to the participants of that show: their dangerous tasks and challenges, fear, enjoyment of something simple, like tasty food, love, and some hints of scandal for Russian TV, like naked lady swimming. This episode of the story reminds me a lot of such an activity and I think it would be interesting to adopt it to that format (with some actions recognized like tasks/challenges, with food as reward and with operator’s boat next to the action, trying to communicate the feeling of shooting a TV Programm through the comics format)

PART 2 - ANIMAL DOCUMENTARY

They see a giant spider on the bridge. They name it Gosha. C1 is gets totally drunk. C2 is a bit afraid. They decide to go to the forest. They go through a night field, C1 is falling and standing back like a ball. The field path became thinner and difficult to recognize. C1 says he has a light, but he couldn't use it as he drives the bike. They decide to go further without bikes. They put those bikes into the grass and cover them with different parts of trees. C1 took the lighter - it was an unusual one, one side knife one light, which was given to him by his grandad in his childhood. We went further with the light, seeing some parts of trees.C2 lost the lighter, has a cigarette and badly want to smoke.  They go further and suddenly hear voices. The next moment a group of people appear from the woods. They are quite noisy, but to C2 they looked harmless from 1st glance: C2 drank some gin plus there was a girl or two in this company. So I asked them for a lighter, C1 was using his light, which had a knife on the other side.They gave me the lighter, but suddenly выхватили the light from C1 hand.

Why/how Animal Documentary? This reference would communicate the change and the way the change is perceived. watching someone getting drunk could be compared to watching the behavior of animal - the person is near, but the animal couldn’t see hm, the animal don’t know the person is documenting, shooting, talking to the audience.

PART 3 - 18 CENTURY DRAMA

I asked them to give the knife back. They started to laugh. C1 was shouting «GIVE THE KNIFE BACK THAT’S MY GRANDPAS KNIFE» C1 was drunk as hell and wasn’t able to recognize the danger of the situation. I was not that drunk and was trying to save the situation, I asked them one more time to give the knife back, but they only laughed once more. They asked to join them and to drink beer and vodka with them and than they would return the knife. In parallel C1 and one of the Gopniks was бычились, the girl laughed and was bad. Everybody was turning aggressive. The new guy arrived to the place on the motorbike. He said unless we will join them for the beer he would arrest us as we are drinking in the public space and we are dangerous people. This moment, when everybody was angry I gave a bottle of gin (which was almost empty) to the man with the knife and as he was grabbing it, loosing his attention, I took the knife from his pocket. I grabbed C1 and told him to run super fast in the direction of the forest.

Why/how 18 century drama? The place, where the action took place was abandoned from any civilization signs, the moment was quite dramatic and overloaded with actions, the behavior of people reminded of hyperbolic actor’s play.

Part 4 - DADA, SURREALISM, THEATRE OF ABSURD

He was drunk, but still understood my point. We ran but then we heard the engine of the motorbike started to work. We decided to go to the deep forest, to the бурелом, where it is impossible to ride. I walked first, there was no path, only sharp branches and ямы.  We замерли and started to listen, the voices were quite near plus we heard the engine. we sit like that, then decided to go deeper - I carefully started to walk, C1 just fell and прокувыркался куда-то вниз. we walked through the forest until there was a field and bunkers. we sit on the top of the bunkers on the grassy hill and was just lying there and resting and telling scary stories to each other for an hour.

Why/how Dada, Surrealism and Theatre of Absurd? This part of the journey happened in almost absolute darkness, the perception of reality was based on the combination of tactile/verbal experiences. It seems some abstraction, visual rhythm, visual metaphors and metamorphoses, absurd, nonsense would communicate this part of the story in the most appropriate way.

PART 5 - CONTEMPORARY THEATRICAL PERFORMANCE

Then we decided to return to our bikes, we went through the forest slowly and with a great tiredness. We went to the place but there was no bikes. This was a huge problem, as we took them from our neighbors.(imagine how they would be punished and изгнаны from heaven) We started to look for it, but without any luck.we were to go about 2 hours home. we decided to go through the field. Suddenly we heard a roar of the motorbike. It felt like it’s far but then the sound become closer.  We saw a burning house on the field and roar of motorbike. We felt onto the dirty ground. This roar and fire were something beyond. (gopniks like witches were fire-jumping in chaotic agony) We managed to go away, crawling through that field. We went back to the forest. It was early morning. We went with our eyes closed through dachas. we came home and felt asleep.

Why/how Contemporary theatrical Performance? Work with space, expressive movements, multiple storylines and reach decorative material, contemporary dance and balley body language and choreography plus visually reach metamorphoses.

PART 6 - CHEAP DETECTIVE STORY

The next morning he called his brother and we went to that place from the other side through the road in order to search bikes. Another car was following as closely. As long as we reached the bridge there was no more road. We decided to go by foot. Two people got out of the car. It was two of the yesterday gopniks. They said that they apologize for yesterdays behavior. They also said one house burned that night, but no one new the story. They said  they took our bikes so that they were safe. They said we should go with them to the place nearby. We agreed, but was concerned. We went to some sort of dacha-farm, in the straw garage there was our bikes. They gave our bikes to us with their mouths wide shut.  

Why/how Cheap Detective story?                                                                  The actual narrative of this section, which communicates some cheap mystery with a hint go absurd would benefit through hypertrophied usage of some detective story characteristics: some foolish deduction, flashbacks, pace and false mysterious/scary moments.