#I'm not particularly sure that's a good thing

[tpup]

I'm not sure what you are particularly thinking of but I think it's good that I can go down the street to the store, get a vast variety of vitamins and supplements and be back home within the hour.

"A bit of control" on T and I haven't been able to be on it in almost a year now, even it is a massive benefit to my overall health and wellness, and I've been trying to work with insurances and providers for ages to get it.

People should be able to decide what they do with their bodies full stop. I see absolutely no benefit in gatekeeping vitamins? If anything I wish they were more affordable / easier to have covered by your insurance, and that it were easier to have lab work done to check your levels.

But I love being able to try taking a supplement for a while just to see if it makes me feel better or not & think people should have the option to do that with pretty much any supplement or drug

Regulations should be making sure products are what they say they are, aren't contaminated, etc not arbitrarily making it difficult-to-impossible for people to access what they want. I should be determining my own risk tolerance re: what I put in my body, not the government. Readily available information (including studies that aren't behind pay walls), accessible lab work, decriminalization and the ability to try things would be the difference btwn life and death for so many people. B12 makes a huge difference in my depression and being able to get as much as I want over the counter is awesome 💗 I should be able to get T and molly just as easy lmao I'M SERIOUS

genuinely insane to me that our bodies are controlled to the point we "can't" / "aren't supposed to" tweak our hormones levels as we wish

[wirewitchviolet]

Let's talk about how Ranma is trans in the 2024 anime, part 1

Way the hell back in 2018, after a random exchange with a friend, I sat down and wrote a series of four blog posts where I looked at the manga Ranma ½, which ran from 1988 to 1996, explicitly through a lens where I assumed the protagonist is in fact a trans girl. A major component of the series being that Ranma and several other characters fell into various pools in a cursed set of natural springs causing them to magically change into whatever tragically drowned in one when hit with cold water, then back to their original body with hot, and Ranma fell in the girl one, so it was bound to be a series that would crack a lot of eggs regardless, but my memory of reading it years before transitioning was that it worked on a mundane level too, particularly later. I did somehow forget a bit towards the end where Ranma honestly just kinda straight up comes out of the closet, but I'm not going to link to that panel yet again for the sake of preview links not blending together. Anyway, those posts were already the most popular things I ever put on this blog and have never stopped circulating, despite it being a pretty old and largely forgotten series at the time.

I had always had the idea that I really should go back and also watch the anime adaptation(s) of Ranma, which deviates a good bit from the manga, but that is 161 episodes, 3 movies, and 11 OAVs which are terribly terribly paced, and I don't actually get paid for this. But then lo and behold, here's a brand new anime adaptation coming out decades later, looking really nice, and surely that will deviate even more from the source material, so here I am diving in to find all new bits of gender stuff to talk about, under the fold here and-

Oh. Turns out the new anime series is actually an EXTREMELY faithful adaptation of the original manga and the only deviations I've actually noticed are that there's a little bit less nudity and the one scene with Ranma's breasts fully on display goes the route of not drawing nipples. And really that's only significant because the original anime adaptation somehow got away with that one. Speaking of the original anime run, this adaptation brings back the entire surviving voice cast, and continues the tradition of coloring Ranma's hair red in cold-water form as an extra tell for the audience. And speaking of color, one thing this adaptation does now and then that I really appreciate is punctuating certain scenes with the sort of cool pastel palettes (see above) that were used for the cover illustrations of the original manga.

Another thing the 2024 anime does is throw in a quick little vignette before the opening credits of each episode to restate that Ranma and Akane are engaged, and the feminizing water thing, which mostly feels like it's there as just a little extra emphasis that regardless of all the other shenanigans going on, those two are the one actual couple and making it clear that the rest of the tangled web of crushes and obsessions don't really matter. Something I feel like this adapatation is keen to emphasize in general. In fact, being as nearly 1 to 1 an adaptation as it is, the title of every episode is directly lifted from the chapter names of the manga, so we can just slap together a little infographic and see what's getting compressed a bit and what's getting the time it needs to breathe!

We're chewing through the extended fight scenes pretty quick and slowing down any time Akane's having an emotional moment or some time in the spotlight basically. Which makes sense since the action scenes in the manga are like all full page splash images with a word of text and need to be flowing quickly, and because we have the benefit of hindsight knowing that the Kunos become irrelevant real quick. We're also squeezing out a little early identity crisis stuff for Ranma in the process (there's an early dream sequence after first meeting Kuno, coming to grips with the whole "since I'm a girl, dudes want to sleep with me" realization that barely makes it in and a few early moments of internalized misogyny that get dropped), and we really give Shampoo's debut some space (not QUITE as much as the above suggests, most of episode 10 is wrapping up a three parter on the ice skating with her just punching through the wall as a cliffhanger at the end).

The whole thing is also paced out to nicely cover the first four volumes of the manga, out of 38. They might up the compression rate a little, but as it stands, it's going to take another 8 or 9 seasons to get through everything at this rate. In comparison, my first blog post got through three times this much of it, but the original anime covered only the first half of this in the same episode count (and then for some reason introduced Shampoo and Mousse early and didn't get through the ice skating until episode 27).

Anyway, like I said, this doesn't really change things up enough to have a lot to say about how clearly Ranma is trans. Jumping back to the start though yet again, it really cannot be emphasized enough though just how clearly, even from the very first episode, she is SO much more comfortable presenting as a girl, not at all nervous meeting Akane's family like that, then suddenly super tense and awkward and closed off when interacting with... really anyone while boy-moding. So I guess it's time to bust out some of these other lenses to look at this...

Let's talk about how Akane is gay, part 1

I mean, we've established she's into Ranma, with extra emphasis in this adaptation, and we've established that Ranma is in fact a girl, but that's just the one data point. What else do we have? Well, she's quite explicitly not a fan of guys, particularly guys who are attracted to her, and we're keeping plenty of a focus on that while not wasting time trying to pretend Kuno matters at all in the grand scheme of things. The closest she ever comes to showing interest in a guy is Dr. Kuno, and the anime here is strongly emphasizing how that's less of a real crush and more just emulating her oldest sister (Nabiki of course is also some flavor of queer, and I don't think anyone has ever questioned that) since that's kinda what you do, right? She also gets intensely jealous of the idea of Shampoo kissing Ranma while assuming Ranma is a girl, talks about how hot she is, and hell, at the start of things when everyone's assuming they've somehow gotten into a situation where one of the three sisters has to marry a cis girl, Nabiki points out how that works out perfectly for her. Because she is extremely gay.

Let's talk about how Ryoga is trans, part 1

OK so this isn't the same absolute slam dunk as Ranma turned out to be, but there is a surprisingly strong case to argue that Ryoga is also a trans girl. What do we know about Ryoga after all? Real real socially awkward. Only has one sorta-friend from childhood, who turned out to be trans later. Can we call Ryoga a furry? I'm not even talking about the pig curse, but there's this whole feral wolf vibe before that's even established. In a series where basically every guy who is ever introduced is a horny creep obsessed with rigid gender roles, Ryoga does not bat an eye at seeing women naked (which comes up oddly often), spends a lot of these early arcs hanging out with the gal pals to help practice gymnastics and skating, deals well enough with the pink heart collar and being called Charlotte, and like so many of us, Ryoga is introduced to the series indignantly sputtering about how Ranma's situation shouldn't really be called a curse and is a situation we'd be happy to be in. You could argue that Ryoga's saying this just relative to the pig curse, I guess, but I do at least get the vibe that Ryoga wouldn't be too super worried about finding hot water with that one.

Speaking of the pig curse, I feel like every time I revisit Ranma I have a different perspective on the whole "P-Chan" situation. With this adaptation, it does feel significantly closer to "it's really just this super awkward situation where I've been looking for a good moment to explain and at this point it's been so long she'll probably kill me" than "I am a loathsome sex offender using a disguise to snuggle up with this girl who thinks I am a small animal" and Ranma is doing an appropriate amount of "I'm not going to blurt it out, but you should seriously come clean already" so, glad to know we're downplaying that.

Also, the emphasis on Ranma and Akane as The Couple in this adaptation really makes it clear that Ryoga isn't so much into Akane as just kinda... incapable of conceiving of any sort of existence that doesn't involve being Ranma's rival/friend/polycule member.

Anyway, I guess that's where I have to leave this until the second season drops? Have a patreon link?

[noxiatoxia]

i love komaeda tidbits!!! his valley girl dialect adds so much ahhh... do you recall any particularly funny/notable instances of him speaking like that, or times where other characters comment on it?

I wouldn't go as far as to say it is a valley girl-type accent. 1, because that is just the closest approximate to English (obviously the exact same thing doesn't exist in Japanese) and 2, Komaeda does not use sa and ne nearly enough for it to be those levels...well, in my opinion. I'm sure other people could weigh in on what they think.

Either way he's still stumbling over his words a lot, and I do think that's very charming.

I guess you could make the argument that he does have a valley girl accent by proxy of the fact most other characters don't over-use filler particles as much...like I said in the post, people do it all the time in real life, but in media, characters rarely ever stutter or use filler words (unless it's, like, a super tense situation). So the casual usage, even if it is small, stands out. I guess in that way, you can argue Komaeda has a "noticeable" accent in that regard...but that's very much a topic up for debate.

I'm getting side-tricked, lol.

Anyways, while not related to ne or sa, there is another thing I love that's overlooked, and that's how he uses ってば (tte ba)!

Again, this is a very cute detail. It does not happen often, but I can recall 2 instances where he uses it.

Firstly, let me explain. tte ba in the case I'm talking about is a sentence ender used to express frustration, annoyance, urgency, etc. It can kind of sound like whining, but it's the verbal equivalent of stomping your foot.

What's fun is that this word is predominantly used by women. Men use it too of course, but overwhelmingly it just seems to be a word that girls use.

But Komaeda uses it too!

First instance is in the prologue, where he says it to Hanamura.

ちょっと！花村クンってば！

The English translation is perfectly fine. But to go more in depth, as you recall, earlier in the prologue Komaeda told Hanamura to stop pestering Sonia with sexual advances. Here, Hanamura does it again. So, naturally, Komaeda responds...

Come on, Hanamura-kun! I told you to quit it already!

The tte ba added at the end makes Komaeda sound like he's scolding Hanamura and is very exasperated.

Also, while the sentence literally is just "Hey, Hanamura-kun!" with an irritated edge, using prior context and knowing what tte ba means (kind of serving to be like "I already told you this!" sort of thing) we can make the sentence sound better in English.

Next is in chapter 2.

おーい、日向クンってばー！

This one is extra funny, because おーい (usually just おい, oi) is neutral-leaning-male, while as we've said, tte ba is neutral-leaning-female. That's what I love about Komaeda's dialogue: he mixes together "traditionally" male speech patterns and female speech patterns. While, again, not uncommon in real life, anime is so much different. Scripts and word choice are used to tell you about a character's personality. As such, you usually get characters who speak hyper-masculine or hyper-feminine or deliberately ambiguous. I'd say a character who speaks a clean mix of feminine and masculine is very rare. Although, to be more precise, Komaeda speaks masculine and neutral-leaning-feminine...if that makes sense (I will explain later).

Anyways, again, the English translation is good. Komaeda does sound pretty whiny in this scene.

Heeeey! C'mon, Hinata-kuuun!

Now, for the opposite. Something that gets overlooked is an interesting scene in 2.5.

The subtitles has Komaeda as saying "I've heard enough!" but I disagree with this. Komaeda says 黙れよ！in the dub. This is a very masculine turn of phrase because of the imperative nature of it - something Komaeda, to my knowledge, never uses. Very masculine characters do use it often - like Hinata or Oowada or Kuzuryuu - but not Komaeda.

2.5 is complex enough, but this adds a whole new layer to it...Komaeda has never spoke so roughly before. I think it shows just how emotional he truly was in this scene.

I'd translate this line as:

Just shut the fuck up!

And finally...while not canon per se, it is voiced by Megumi Ogata and is very in-character for Komaeda, so I count it. This cute little voice line she recorded for the Danganronpa x Crash Fever on Halloween. It let's me segue into something.

トリック・オア・トリート！お菓子をくれなきゃイタズラしちゃうぞ...なんてね。

Earlier I said Komaeda speaks masculine + neutral-leaning-feminine, and this probably sounds like gibberish to a lot of people because...what does that even mean?

(Keep in mind I'm speaking for the perspective of anime, where these grammar rules carry exaggerated connotations compared to real life! I am also speaking from the perspective of Tokyo dialect aka standard Japanese.)

Komaeda typically uses these particles: sa, ne, yo.

All of these particles are gender-neutral, but ne can be more feminine depending on the context. For example, Saonji uses ne constantly, and so does Mioda. But characters like Hinata and Souda still use ne because again it's context dependent.

There are feminine particles, such as wa, which Komaeda does not use. It is used by characters like Sonia and Celestia and even Kirigiri, which is surprising considering her stoic image (it's very cute).

Then, there's masculine particles, like zo, ze and na. Characters who use zo are Kuzuryuu, Souda, Hinata, and Owari to name a few. Despite Owari being female, she talks very masculine, which adds to her rough image. Ze is also used by all of those characters, as is na.

Komaeda's choice of pronoun is also mild-mannered. Boku is a polite masculine pronoun. It makes sense for him to use it when speaking casually which he is always seen doing. If he used Watashi - also gender neutral (to a point) - while speaking casually, it would make him seem feminine or like a girl.

However, the vast majority of male characters when speaking casually will use Ore, which is a hyper-masculine pronoun. I have lost count of the amount of characters who use this. Only characters I can remember who use Boku (besides Komaeda and Naegi) are Yamada, Hanamura, and Ishimaru.

And for those three, I think it makes sense - they all have this level of acting polite/wanting to be polite or seen as proper.

Which is why the fact Komaeda/Naegi uses it stands out a little bit with the rest of the cast. Makes them appear more mild. opting to use gender-neutral particles only and a mild-mannered male pronoun for your male character tells you a lot about them, especially when almost every other guy in the same series is talking super masculine.

Okay, back to that video. What's cute about it is how Komaeda switches from talking masculine to feminine on purpose.

Trick or Treat! If you don't gimmie some candy...I'mma pull a trick on ya! ...Joking!

I'm unsure how to word this in a way that sounds "masculine" or "feminine" as that doesn't really exist in English I don't think...but the first half of his sentence, Komaeda uses zo at the end to sound threatening/rough, then the last part, nante-ne, sounds feminine when pitched up at the end there. It definitely makes him sound playful.

I also want to point out...though I use masculine/feminine (as what I've talked about are usually employed by men, hence masculine, or women, hence feminine) it is not a matter of being absolute...for example, dresses are seen as being feminine, but that does not mean a man can't wear a dress and still be a man.

Wow, this post got long...I sure do talk. I hope this answers something at least haha. Thank you for the ask!

[batsplat]

thought of a prompt that might be fun for you:) assign any motogp riders of your choice (or maybe even entire rivalries if you want) a classical piece of music

ahaha anon not only would this be fun for me - this is something I have put enough thought into that I already have notes for several of these and like... an entire quite long spotify playlist for classical music that reminds me of casey specifically. I'm going to go for quality over quantity here and give you one pick each for three rivalries. none of these picks are... the height of originality and I'm sure they might feel a bit hackneyed to the connoisseur lol. but well, sometimes pieces are popular for a reason

first off, the sete/valentino rivalry. this pick also works for valentino's arc in general 2003-04, but it fits particularly well to this rivalry

berlioz! the unorthodox rebel, the ambitious and controversial revolutionary. a delightful curiosity to his experimentation, an eccentricity and willingness to push the bounds of what was acceptable in his music - as well as a certain enjoyment of the macabre

berlioz as a composer gives me valentino vibes in general and I could have gone for another work here ('damnation of faust' has obvious relevancy to the sete/valentino situation) - but here I've opted for one of berlioz's most well-known works. his symphonie fantastique. the video above should start at the fifth and last movement, 'dream of a witches' sabbath', which is the most weird and fun and works so well for the sete/vale rivalry. however, I'd definitely encourage you to listen to the whole thing - if nothing else, to hear the innocent version of the melody that eventually is so perverted

the symphonie fantastique is a piece of program music, which means it uses solely instrumental music to tell the listener a story. in this case, it's a (loosely autobiographical) story of a bloke who falls desperately in love with a woman and does some opium before eventually ending up at a witches' orgy, where the woman he's in love with is having a lovely time. here's a slightly better summary:

the movements are tied together by an idée fixe - this recurring musical motif used as a way of representing the woman the artist is in love with, the object of obsession... a melody he hears everywhere he goes. the first movement starts so gently, with so much promise - daydreams, passions as the artist first lays eyes on his love. which is how, after a long slow build-up, the idée fixe is introduced: sweet and brightly romantic. light and breezy - but also with a real passion injected in its wake. it livens up the music with its presence. the next movement, a waltz, followed by a third gentle pastoral movement. and then, the dream is transformed into a nightmare with the fourth movement's 'march to the scaffold' as the artist poisons himself and suffers from hallucinations. has he killed his lover? perhaps by being responsible for her receiving a back-of-the-grid penalty? or was it all just an illusion? and then, finally, comes the infamous witches' sabbath. here is berlioz's description of the fifth movement:

in a way, it's almost cheating using a piece of music that directly tells a story. but, well, how can you resist! the story of sete and valentino is the story of a friendship twisted by rivalry, of an innocent camaraderie turned sour - until from one day to the next, sete turned around to look at someone he was so insistent was a 'good man' and could no longer see his friend at all. perhaps a monster. perhaps a witch

the whole thing is fittingly gothic for sete/vale. who doesn't love a good witch's curse, right. again, I would recommend the whole thing - in particular the fourth movement where the artist is marched to his grave - but for now we're focusing on the fifth movement. by this point, the 'beloved melody' of the previous movements (the idée fixe) has been twisted, perverted. no longer is it 'noble' or 'shy'... it enters the movement as a silly, jaunty tune that almost immediately manages to summon the entire orchestral hordes of hell upon the listener's head. silly, yes, but capable of remarkable feats of malice - as it cheerily ushers in the funeral bells. valentino's journey from 2003 to 2004 is a form of self-actualisation, leaving honda to strike his own path and control his destiny. to sete, by the end he has been transformed - gone is the cheerful friend, now sete has to deal with the monster. valentino had already shown prior to 2004 that he was capable of both joy and cruelty, but here he marries the two: he uses his silly little celebrations to directly mock and humiliate sete. the face of the artist's lover might remain the same, but now she joins the diabolical orgy to roars of delight. maybe she even leads it

listen to the music, to its whimsy - the imitation of laughter, the 'strange sounds', disjointed, until the idée fixe comes through. in all its energy, that jaunty jig... you can hear something a little mocking in that, how it cannot even take its macabre surroundings seriously. cheerily chaotic, wild in its unrestrained swing. brimming with malice. the ominous chime of the funeral bells... and yet you never quite lose the frenetic, silly energy that keeps the piece moving. the curse strikes, sete's career dies a painful death and the music keeps flowing. the crescendo to reach the depths of hell is both violent and triumphant... depending on whether you are the artist or the witch. there is a pleasing surrealism to this musical landscape that suits the sete/vale rivalry. like that rivalry, it starts in what feels like a normal place but becomes far more bizarre, more cruel - strange and sudden enough it really must have felt to sete like he had suddenly been trapped in a nightmare. he thought he had known the rules of engagement. he had been wrong

berlioz was hardly a universally beloved composer - with one contemporary describing his music as 'the work of a tipsy chimpanzee'. some other remarks:

isn't there something compelling about that willingness to dispense with self-seriousness? berlioz might have been clownish but at least he was doing something interesting. this is a pick that suits valentino because berlioz suits valentino. there is a power to whimsy that berlioz embraced - and sometimes, genius is more important than talent. berlioz's idée fixe becomes no less beautiful for the corruption it undergoes over the course of the symphonie fantastique. and what's so wrong about witches' orgies anyway?

moving on to valentino/casey. I do feel like this is a. very basic pick. but I'm SORRY I do associate it with them, sue me

you can't go wrong with beethoven, can you. and for these two... a proper duet is only right. so we're going for beethoven's ninth violin sonata, the famous kreutzer sonata. specifically the first movement, and if you only listen to one movement then make it that one - but as above, of course I'd recommend listening to the whole work

said first movement starts out gently enough, two voices testing each other out before they lock horns. soon enough the music develops into a ferocious competition between the violin and the piano, both vying for supremacy. you may note that this piece is called a violin sonata and you'd really expect the piano to have more of an accompanying role - but instead the two parts are unusually well-balanced, both giving as good as they get. fitting! whichever way round you want to play it... perhaps it's all about casey refusing to accept his role as a background character in motogp, as anything other than the protagonist. announcing his arrival to the top of the sport in fiercely determined fashion at the start of 2007 and refusing to budge since then. or perhaps it's about valentino not accepting the role of second fiddle to his hungry young challenger - he will not countenance being replaced just yet. this is a rivalry about defiance. this piece is plenty defiant

the kreutzer sonata also happens to have a troubled composition history, which adds rather nicely to how well this piece fits the pair of them on a meta-level. here's a piece on the topic that details how beethoven initially composed the piece for a lovely new violinist friend who he then fell out with --

-- except kreutzer, the guy beethoven then dedicated the sonata to, fucking HATED the piece and never played it (hey, look, there's berlioz again) --

-- and I'm sorry. I'm not assigning anyone specific characters here, but this story just has a vale/casey vibe somehow. the pettiness of it all... there's something of casey in beethoven's temper - a heartfelt dedication removed after a quarrel, a championship shirt that bears valentino's name before casey furiously disavows him. but you can also find hints of casey in kreutzer's unimpressed dismissal... a man who saw one of beethoven's most beloved works as amateurish and didn't deign to play it himself. except now he's stuck forevermore with his name associated with that piece - something poetic about that, isn't there? we've got some proper characters here

another thing that works on a meta level: the first movement really is the best. I like the other movements just fine - but (as the piece I linked to details) the three movements feel disconnected, with beethoven semi-plagiarising himself for the third and using a half-finished sketch for the second because he was rushing for a deadline. the casey/vale rivalry peters out pretty sharpish after 2008 for various reasons - which gives you that slightly frustrated feel that the narrative arc which reached its climax at laguna 2008 was never quite completed. there's still a loping grace to the latter two movements... the gentle, near playful ribbing of the second - not absent of tension - that meanders delicately to a conclusion... the manic energy of the third, neither party willing to relent as they continue to trade blows - vivacious in its chaos. just like the abysmal bickering of vale/casey's 2010-12 dynamic, it lacks the narrative genius of the first act... but it's not without its merits. at the very least, it's plenty of fun

one more bit of the work's history worth bringing up - the tolstoy short story about a guy who kills his wife because of how she performed the kreutzer sonata with another man

so, as you see, it's so powerful a piece you could kill someone over it. that's how closely the work connects the two duellists - it's a passion and an intimacy formed in close combat. a unique bond between the two performers... if they are perfectly matched, there's nothing quite like the magic they can produce

and it's that daring, suspenseful beauty to the first movement that so evokes this specific rivalry. two voices testing each other every step of the way - the broiling tension of the first few exchanges preceding the explosion of bright noise and colour. when the music builds into a furious contest, think about laguna in valentino's determination and casey's rage and their mutual refusal to yield to the other. this is stubborn music. neither party can ever back down. and the thing about violins, they sure can yearn. for all its antagonism, perhaps the voice of the violin is longing for something unattainable... something impossible. casey never entirely got over his early hero worship of valentino - he might have hated valentino, but he never could quite stop himself from liking him. even as the violin challenges the piano - the pluck of the strings in feisty counterpoint to the voice that should have been its accompaniment - it would be impossible to conceal the emotional depths of the violin's cry. it's a duet that mixes aggression and melancholy and hope... it wouldn't be anywhere close to as compelling if it were just one thing

this duet needs true equals who manage to both compete and compliment each other. both parts play fully realised melodies beautiful in isolation that together still manage to be more than the sum of their parts - because sometimes, rivalry makes both sides better. sometimes it is only by hearing both voices that their brilliance can be truly appreciated. sometimes both sides push each other to new heights because that's the only way they can keep up with each other. the kreutzer is defiant - but it is also endlessly demanding. and it will not allow either side to let up

last but not least, a piece for the marc/valentino rivalry

here, we go to sibelius and his violin concerto in d minor - the only concerto he ever composed, one of a kind and thus impossible to take for granted. again, my recommendation for the purposes of this post is the first movement - and again I'd encourage you to listen to the complete piece. hey, did you know that sibelius had to give up on his dreams to be a violinist in his twenties due to a shoulder injury? perhaps that explains why he wanted to compose a piece for a true virtuoso... a piece that throws the hardest stuff you can possibly demand at the violinist and then some. it requires a dazzling technical mastery of the violinist - one voice that stands out clearly against the full might of the orchestra

this is another work with a troubled history. its composition followed a difficult period for sibelius (who suffered from depression and alcoholism for much of his life) - he composed this concerto once he'd picked himself up from rock bottom

the concerto was originally dedicated to violinist burmester who was supposed to play it for the premiere in berlin... but in the end, the premier was in helsinki - making use of a violin teacher instead who supposedly played the piece poorly, and the first performance was not a success. sibelius heavily revised the piece. when the berlin premiere eventually happened, burmester apparently got offended by them using someone else (from andrew barnett's book about sibelius):

in danger of over-exposure, eh

speaking of that young hungarian violinist: he wasn't just 'young' he was really young. a proper child prodigy

so then, a piece sibelius was himself not able to perform, with the leading role granted to a child prodigy. you see where I'm going with this... perhaps there's something appropriate to marc following the notes that valentino had already penned, right. the marc/valentino rivalry is inevitably heavily preoccupied with the frailties of ageing, with the existential agony caused by loss of youth, yearning after what was once possible and will never be again. it is a rivalry of sliding doors - an age gap that should have been to immense to allow for competition at all, its very existence was improbable. the sliding doors just about made it possible for them to fight but also made that fight limited... it was too late for valentino to compete fully against marc. but sibelius never lost his love for the violin and found new ways of expressing that love - and valentino, too, can never walk away entirely from motogp

the first movement starts off with an achingly romantic violin melody. it has such heart and such vigour, it captures the attention, it is alone at the top - but eventually the second melody sets in, darker, brooding, as the tension builds. the music is caught between the soaring heights of what could be and the creeping horror of what will come to pass. the orchestra heralds the storm clouds as they begin to encroach upon the scene... eventually, the movement reaches its climax as the violin cries out, by itself, in the cadenza. even as the violinist recaptures the initial romantic melody in the midst of a frenzied display of technical mastery and excess, the melancholy of the movement's ending feels inevitable

the marc/vale rivalry is narratively structured like a tragedy - one that feels both inevitable on a grand scale but deeply avoidable in its specifics. a conflict that both felt like it had to happen but didn't need to happen like that. this music is uncompromising as it reaches that very same conclusion... it never loses its heart even as it descends into fury. the second movement that follows it is slower, sad and poignant, the aftermath of the sorrow - while the third is warmer, more energetic, a flurry of the violinist to show off every virtuoso skill imaginable in service of some chance at emotional release. blindingly brilliant

one thing about sibelius - he's very effective at establishing a mood. at setting the tone. he's got the drama, he's got the terseness, he knows how to stress you out and make you sit with that tension. and really, that's what the marc/valentino rivalry is all about... something that lingers. an open wound. the genius of the composer and the virtuosity of the violinist come together to provide a way of expressing that lasting pain. the result is uncompromising from start to finish

[shinosarna]

Fun public domain variants on a Beholder I considered for this exact reason:

Evil Eye : the concept of an Evil Eye is pretty much universal across many, many cultures across the world. Stretching it to an flying magic eyeball monsters that has sight-based attack is not particularly hard. As they're usually associated with witches, making them be, idk, a transformed form of a witch or an eyeball of a witch turned into a monster would probably follow.

Fachan: a single-eyed head in Scottish folklore, The most distinct part is that it has a single leg it stands on. But if you let it levitate, it's not hard to make it as a beholder replacement.

Popobawa: Evil spirit from folklore of Tanzania, a shapeshifter, most commonly depicted a bat with a single giant eye in its head.

Eye bats - while the specific name comes from Gravity Falls, "eyeball with bat wings" has been a stock horror monster for a long, long time (often as a generic enemy in a video game).

Backbeard - a Japanese interpretation of 'bugbear', it's been relatively common to see Backbeard interpreted as a floating eyeball with tentacles in Japanese media (notably in SMT).

Cyclops/Balore - you know, since id Software used a cut off head of a giant to create visuals for Cacodemon... do the exact same thing! A decapitated undead head of a Cyclops/one eyed Fomorian. Floats around and uses it's eye to attack with magic.

Important note that I'm not sure how good of an idea would be to use Doom Cacodemon, as while it was clearly created as a knockoff of Beholder, it is owned by Bethesda. Though Cacodemons are not trademarked as far as I could find.

I love it when an RPG really, really wants to have a beholder in it, but since beholders are one of the very few iconic Dungeons & Dragons monsters that are actually original to Dungeons & Dragons and thus not public domain, they're not allowed to call it that. The writers all sweating as they make sure to have some random bystander say the critter's totally-not-"beholder" name out loud every single time it appears so that it's 100% clear that no trademarks have been infringed.

[ssentimentals]

hi love ur works! can i request 43 and 45 for idol!cheol and idol!reader?

hi babe! aw, thank you :') thank you for requesting, hopefully you'll like it! 💜

prompt: realization of the feelings at the Worst Possible Moment & fake dating

'pr relationships' are very common in the idol world. seungcheol never particularly cared for semantics but he wished he did, because when he got into pr relationship with you, he was totally clueless. the whole 'fake dating' thing spiraled from few videos of you two on the awards ceremony laughing and then your fans made their own conclusions and... well. seungcheol supposes there are weirder things out there than seeing an article about himself being in happy relationship with you, when in reality he never even met you outside of big events.

'it worked very well,' his manager says, smiling at him reassuringly. 'it's a normal practice, seungcheol. we will just put out a statement that you two didn't manage to hold on to your love due to very busy schedules and that's it, you will officially be a free man. those five months were probably very tiring for you.'

seungcheol doesn't think he should say that those five months were actually the best months of his life, so he wisely keeps his mouth shut. he tried to ask around about this - are there any pr relationships that turned out to be real? did any couple in the history go from 'fake dating' to very much real dating? answer is no and it weighs heavily on his chest. he never thought how fake dating would work, but you made it so easy. going out with you was awkward at first but then? days when you two were supposed to meet quickly became his favorites. he anticipated them, got ready for them, enjoyed them fully. somehow from 'just another idol' you turned into 'a good friend' and then-

'okay, let's get this done. today is the day we put an end to that pr stunt,' his manager pats him on the back. 'she and her manager are already inside.'

seungcheol thinks that universe is probably laughing at him right now. he's about to walk into the meeting where you two are supposed to sign the document specifying the end of 'pr stunt' and 'fake dating' and seungcheol? seungcheol wants none of that. seungcheol wants to take your hand and kiss you for the first time in those five months. he wants to wrap his arms around you and look into your eyes and tell you that he's fallen in love for real. he wants to go on those dates but not because it's an obligation due to contract, but because he genuinely wants to spend time with you. he wants you to be his real girlfriend with no pretense. and he thinks that you might want it too. after five months seungcheol likes to think that he knows you well and if there's even a tiny chance that you might feel the same - he's going to go for it.

'any questions before we start?' the lawyer asks once everyone sits down.

seungcheol chews on his bottom lip. you're sitting in front of him, looking as nervous as he feels. he wants to reach out and take your hand in his, wants to tell you that there's nothing to worry about, that he will handle it all. he truly is an idiot for figuring his feelings out the day this contract is supposed to end. 'i have a question,' he says loudly, startling everyone. you look up at him with raised eyebrows and cheol leans on the table, stretching his hand out to you. 'you're with me, yes?'

you blink. there's moment of hesitation but then you clasp his hand. 'not sure what's happening, but yeah, i'm with you.'

seungcheol gives your hand a squeeze. that's all he needs. 'what if i didn't want to break up?' he asks, causing both managers to freeze in shock. 'what if i wanted to keep going?' you start to pull your hand out of his grip and he quickly adds: 'as a real thing this time.'

'seungcheol, what?' you breathe out with widened eyes. 'what-'

'for real this time,' he repeats, turning to you. you look shocked but you also look hopeful and yeah, seungcheol is going all in. 'you and me. as a couple. no contract anymore, no stupid pr things that we have to do. just us.'

'just us,' you repeat in awe. blush colors your cheeks when the meaning behind his words resonates. 'cheol, i-'

'with me?' he asks, interlacing your fingers. 'still with me, yeah?'

his manager is going to kill him. shocked looking lawyer will probably have his ass too. but none of it matters when your eyes sparkle prettily at him. when you lean closer, smiling. when you squeeze his hand in reassurance. 'yeah. still with you.'

seungcheol smiles. there's some stuff happening at the background: managers bickering, lawyer shouting. none of it matters though, not when he moves his chair until he's right next to you. when you let him kiss your cheek and your shoulder. 'can't wait to take you out on a real date,' he whispers, grinning.

you chuckle, leaning on his right side. 'me too.'

people on the background fade. seungcheol kisses your hand and smiles - nothing else matters.

a/n: oh this was so fun to write hehe :D hope you enjoyed, let me know! - nini

request your own here

my other seventeen work is here

[thedreadvampy]

Sorry about your loss :( when youre feeling up to it, I'd love to hear some memories about Otis.

well as often happens in these situations one thing I'm finding is I didn't take enough pictures of him while I had the chance.

Otis, as my friend said in some distress when I told them last week that he was sick, was The People's Boy. Everybody loved him and he loved people, he was enthusiastically ready to meet strangers and greet friends. He was an exceptionally sweet and chill man and he actively enjoyed handling, so he converted several people who weren't sure of snakes at all into huge Otis fans.

He was an incredibly beautiful boy - he was very big and muscular before he got sick, and he had creamy white and dark brown patterning that made him look like tempered chocolate. His belly was this lovely graphic checkerboard and he had a face that always made me think of a rabbit's face - big brown eyes and a pinkish nose and a little moustache pattern that gave him :3 face.

He liked to climb all over you, and he particularly liked to climb long hair. he would reach himself out so far his whole body was trembling. but he wasn't ever really trying to get away, he was just enjoying exploring - the corn snake we had until 2020 was always gearing up for a dash, but Otis was a pootler, he liked to wander around and smell things.

we got Otis in 2021 from the SSPCA and he was about 3 then. We think they'd misjudged his food requirements cause they told us he had one mouse a week, but that he'd scarf up any leftovers the other snakes didn't eat. and when he moved in with us he fell on food immediately (which was nice cause we'd just lost a baby corn snake who never learned how to eat at all) but then he'd stay activated and looking for more food instead of settling in to digest. also he did this.

literally tried to eat both me and Sam multiple times which was no fun for anyone involved. lots of blood and prising off of jaws with a credit card. anyway then we upped him to two large mice a week and he never showed the slightest signs of aggression or biting ever again. he was literally just starving.

he also grew literally another foot once he was getting enough food, which came as a bit of a surprise cause at 3 we figured he was mostly done growing, but he grew so much we had to get him a bigger viv because he was doing frustrated circles around the old one.

we took him to the vet like a few months or so into having him, because he stopped eating over the winter, which we didn't yet know was normal for him, and because he had a scar on his head when we got him which seemed to be spreading (in retrospect, probably just because he was growing so much that damaged skin was splitting).

First off, the vet loved him. Whenever Otis had to go to the vets, all the nurses would see him through the window and come in to fuss over him.

On that early visit, the vet used the phrase "startlingly healthy" - he was on the biggest end of male kingsnakes and he was basically pure muscle. We called him our long himbo because he was both exceptionally fit, super sweet-natured, and kinda dumb.

I remember one time we gave him a mouse, he leapt on it instantly then dropped it, and he looked back at us in confusion with his tongue flickering like "mOuSe? sMeLl MoUsE? wHeRe MoUsE?????" and we were like buddy. It's on your butt. I can see it. It's draped over you.

he loved to burrow and he loved to swim. Not so much recently, because he was prescribed daily baths to help with his gut issues and he came to find it quite stressful, but in the past if we put him in a bath he'd settle in happily and swim laps around the box. he spent a good chunk of his life buried in between the paper layers in his viv (occasionally terrifying, he was good at hiding) but he refused to stay in pockets, because when he was out and about he wanted to keep an eye on everything.

he was so chill. He didn't mind being handled or kissed on his back, and he'd just do little bleps right on your face. He seemed almost impossible to scare, he'd just wander straight up to things. He did like an explore but he was also totally happy to sit in your lap or around your neck while you got on with things, and he'd often refuse to get back in his viv after. He really really liked people, and he liked us.

I'm really struggling at the moment because for years now when I'm sad and exhausted and out of energy I'd take him out and hold him in my lap and he'd help me feel more safe and present. And I would really like to be doing that again and I can't. I miss his weight and warmth and smoothness and the way he smelled and I miss talking to him. He was the goodest boy.

[hacash]

#you know I’m a bit lukewarm on starmer personally and I don’t like a lot of the social policy decisions his government has made#but I have been both surprised and impressed by how he’s handled the trump situation and subsequently the trump-Zelenskyy meeting#*that* is what I wanted when I voted for an uninspiring speaker who used to be a human rights barrister!#also#‘keir starmer - who is not a tactile individual if we’re being honest’ fucking took me out#but they’re absolutely correct#he’s neither tactile nor particularly dramatic in his presentation of himself#so you can know 100% for certain that when he does things like whip out a letter from the king mid convo#or walks out into the street in breach of typical protocol to hug someone#that he is very much doing it pointedly and on purpose (via @teacakesanddreams)

I hope you don't mind my sharing your tags, but I think this is a really good example of why voting for the best-not-perfect candidate is important. Like, I don't like some of Starmer's social policy decisions either, but at the end of the day I voted for him and a Labour government because they were better than the alternatives.

And regardless of what you think of anything else Labour has done, you can't deny this weekend has been a class act: not just symbolically but with everything that's been happening with the other European leaders (and Canada) in responding to Trump's absolutely piss-poor response to Russia and Ukraine. I'm sure there'll be things that could go better, but I feel like a lot of what's been done has been done well. But can you imagine the Tories doing as good a job at backing Zelenskyy up in the face of all the bullshit from the White House? Can you imagine Farage's response?

We have Labour in power right now probably because a lot of people looked at them and thought 'well, they're not the best but they're better than the Conservatives and Reform'. If all of those people hadn't made the choice to vote for the best-not-perfect candidate, we'd probably have had one of those two parties in power, and last weekend would have gone very fucking differently.

[maeamian]

We can still make rocket engines tho, like we can't make the Rockedyne F-1 anymore for a variety of reasons including it's wicked outdated by this point, particularly since the fall of the soviet union introduced staged combustion to western engineering techniques, but it isn't some great tragedy that we can't make that particular rocket engine tbqh, we can still make rocket engines.

[2boldlyqueer]

Listen, I know we're all exhausted, but we gotta get better about adding image descriptions to disability related stuff. Everyone should be IDing everything anyways, but there's a particularly cruel irony in disability related stuff not being accessible to folks with low/no vision.

[beneathsilverstars]

post-canon where siffrin decides they do like isabeau like that and they start dating but eventually it turns out they're not compatible bc they just want different things from a relationship... isabeau wants to settle down, siffrin wants to keep traveling... siffrin likes the same couple casual types of dates, isabeau likes grand romantic schemes... siffrin wants to stay together forever but doesn't want to get bonded about it and isabeau can't not take it personally... siffrin gets so mopey when isabeau stays out late working because being alone in their shared house is way worse than just being alone on the road... isabeau wants to have kids and siffrin isn't sure they'll ever feel up to the task of fulltime parenting... alexa play sad violin music ten hour compilation classical royalty free sad music for crying

[lunammoon]

What type of plant would Harding gift your Rook? Probably something that they can put in food. Like Basil or Rosemary. Just not mint because they already have Too Much in a way that anyone who has planted mint will understand. Harding still tries to give them mint. Again, for reasons anyone who has grown mint can understand.

Do they like Harding's cooking? Harding's Yam and Jam slams are not that bad, but Harding gets bonus points for the thoughtfulness of the gesture more than anything. During the first couple of months where Ezra is legitimately trying to figure out how to separate Lucanis and Spite after the first attempt, but before the second and last attempt (because if anyone could do it without hurting either of them they're sure that they could) in trying to express how fucked up what Zara did to them was on a purely metaphysical level says calls the Ossuary experiments "Facinating in the same way that what Harding does to potatoes is fascinating. "

What animal/monster would Davrin carve for your Rook? I'm torn between some kind of cat, and some kind of dog. If it's a dog, then it's specifically a grim.

Does your Rook like the walks in Arlathan with Davrin? Ezra loves the fresh air and the sunshine and the way Arlathan feels alive. They also enjoy spending time with Davrin and Assan. Sometimes they'll invite him out instead of waiting for him to invite them.

What is something Neve could call on your Rook for if she needs certain expertise for a case? Things related to spirits but unrelated to the deceased. Particularly blood magic, which is used to bind spirits to objects. In like, an au where Ezra is Ezra and not Rook, and Neve was hired by Caterina to locate her grandson (maybe in a timeline where the Inquisitor and Varric successfully talk Solas down long before the 9:51) and she had picked up enough info to know what was happening down there, she would have asked Ezra to assist.

Does your Rook share Neve's love of fried fish? No. While fish is the only meat they eat and they basically only eat if if they're out in the wilderness and it's the easiest food to access. They tried it once since they'd already been given to them by Neve and didn't particularly like them.

Does your Rook join Bellara in her technical talks about the Fade and various artifacts or are they more content to listen? They might join in if it intersects with something that they know about. Or if they're helping Bellara work out an issue. Otherwise, they just sit and listen. They like to listen to Bellara work through a problem.

Do your Rook and Bellara read serials together? Yes. Ezra goes out of their way to find good ones for them to read with, as many containing happy endings as they can.

What is your Rook's favorite dish that Lucanis cooks? I don't know what the exact dish is, but it's either some kind of stew or some kind of pastry stuffed with vegetables.

What would Lucanis buy for your Rook at the Grande Market? An empty notebook small enough to fit in their coat pockets. They end up filling it entirely with information pertaining to helping him and Spite. It's a coincidence that it's the notebook Lucanis gave them mind you. They just need a separate notebook for it since the plan is that when they're done they give the notebook to Lucanis to either keep or burn instead of submitting the contents to the Mourn Watch as part of their research like they normally do.They don't want Lucanis to feel like a thesis project.

What dragon would Taash think your Rook would like the best? The Vinsomer. They are correct.

Do they bring your Rook 'round the Hall of Valor to drink often? Yes absolutely. Ezra doesn't drink much, but Spirits like them and so they'll sit and talk with them for a while.

Would your Rook like Emmrich's mother's hazelnut torte? They adore it.

What kind of tea would Emmrich make for your Rook? If Ezra is making themself tea, it's always mint. But I feel in my heart that if Emmrich is making it, then the answer is a strong black tea. Something so strong that they can taste it and nothing else.

Bonus: What is one thing a companion does to cheer up your Rook if they're feeling down? Davrin - When Ezra is reaching a point where it seems like they're going to lose it, Davrin will come up with some excuse why the three of them (Davrin, Rook, Assan) need to go to Arlathan forest so that they can Touch Grass.

Small Rook & Companion Questions:

What type of plant would Harding gift your Rook?

Do they like Harding's cooking?

What animal/monster would Davrin carve for your Rook?

Does your Rook like the walks in Arlathan with Davrin?

What is something Neve could call on your Rook for if she needs certain expertise for a case?

Does your Rook share Neve's love of fried fish?

Does your Rook join Bellara in her technical talks about the Fade and various artifacts or are they more content to listen?

Do your Rook and Bellara read serials together?

What is your Rook's favorite dish that Lucanis cooks?

What would Lucanis buy for your Rook at the Grande Market?

What dragon would Taash think your Rook would like the best?

Do they bring your Rook 'round the Hall of Valor to drink often?

Would your Rook like Emmrich's mother's hazelnut torte?

What kind of tea would Emmrich make for your Rook?

Bonus: What is one thing a companion does to cheer up your Rook if they're feeling down?

[beatcroc]

pest control TWO!!!!! heres the first one

adn heres the obligatory bonus bc i can't help myself :')

[hephaestuscrew]

Who says the episode title phrases in each episode of Wolf 359?

I've created a spreadsheet to show which character says the episode title phrase (i.e. the words which form the name of that particular episode) in every episode of Wolf 359. Graphs summarising this data can be found below, but to look at the full spreadsheet in all its glory, and see the progression through the series, you can follow this link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cQLkhxbDAItU6rdiUAYGn54FXXxYC-JXlCmP_Dqe9FA/

(Please note: I’ve focused here on which character first speaks the exact title phrase within the episode itself. In some cases, this is not the only - or the most significant - time that the title phrase is spoken.)

EDIT: This post previously stated incorrectly that "the devil's plaything" is not said in Ep57. In fact, it is said by Pryce (through Minkowski). Thank you to @yaghoulghosty for pointing this out!

Season breakdown graphs below the cut...

[celtrist]

Why does Vassago already have merch, we haven't even met him yet

[front-facing-pokemon]