#Internationalisation

[cycas]

I'm not sure this is just Americanisation.

I think the Americans are probably losing a lot of their own local cultures too, but because of the US domination of the English-language international space, it's less obvious to them than language loss or communication breakdowns are for the smaller groupings.

Local culture loss is not always a bad thing. Local cultures can be oppressive, nationalistic, bigoted, destructive or simply cruel. A lot of people feel out of place in their own local culture and are glad to take on ideas from outside of it. It's so nice to meet people who share interests at a distance rather than feeling that you have to stick to your local worldview.

Change can be good.

So hard to keep hold of the good kind of identity while learning so much about other people and their very strong (and sometimes wrong) opinions.

I wish people would put a nationality on legal and political advice though. US legal advice is NOT generic!

DO NOT LET SOCIAL MEDIA TURN YOU INTO AN AMERICAN

[totalplanning]

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[mv-altios]

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[soullikethesea]

Well. That was unexpected.

I mean, I could have predicted this. And yet I thought it wouldn't have happened so fast. Monday we got an invite to a meeting. Tuesday we heard that there will be budget cuts that will effectively shrink our work with 40%.

Today I'm seeing that 50% of another great program will also be cut. I had secretely planned to branch out into this program.

So yeah. They said that everyone who will be fired will get great compensation... and that they will invest in the building (lol).

The meeting felt strange. 150 people in a small room, 100 online. Passionate debate. So many good arguments! But it's already been decided. Today it is communicated to the press.

Strange times.

[tyrannuspitch]

posting this here actually. who wants to know what the danish for ninety is? :)

"half-five"? how do you get ninety from a half and a five? there must be more to it than that.

oh i see. follow-up question: what the fuck

[linkhansacom]

De Amerikaanse dollar? Internationalisering, globalisering, digitalisering … of marginalisering.

[kirstythejetblackgoldfish]

Defenders of Hannibal Gaddafi, detained in Lebanon, threaten to “internationalize” his case

Human Rights Watch accused Internal Security of detaining him for 8 years on a “fabricated charge.”

Khaled Al-Ghawil, advisor to the Libyan Tribal Union for Foreign Relations, said that the “clear and official” accusation made by Human Rights Watch against the Lebanese authorities is an additional move that “clarifies the extent of the injustice suffered by (Captain) Hannibal,” expressing his hope that he will be released “immediately.” “Unconditionally,” otherwise they will move toward “internationalizing the issue.”

In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, Al-Ghawil considered that continuing to detain Hannibal “is considered an arbitrary measure, because there is no evidence or charges against him, given that he was two years old at the time, and therefore continuing to detain him is considered a political matter, not a legal one.” He called on the Lebanese judiciary to “apply the law,” stressing that the Libyan people “reject these arbitrary measures by describing Hannibal as a Libyan citizen with all rights.”

Hannibal previously said, after announcing his imprisonment in Lebanon, that his kidnappers “forced him to enter Lebanon illegally, across the Syrian border, after chaining him and torturing him for days, in the hope of interrogating him with information about Imam al-Sadr.”

According to various sources, Hannibal is arrested under a memorandum issued by the judicial investigator in Lebanon, in connection with the case of the disappearance of Imam al-Sadr, but his defense team and loyalists to the former regime always confirm that “no crime has been proven against him for which he is punished as a secret-keeper, given that he was A young child when Al-Sadr’s disappearance was announced,” pointing out that the news of his disappearance was announced “while Hannibal was on vacation in Morocco with his mother.”

Al-Ghawil explained, “(The Union of Libyan Tribes) will communicate with an international legal team to internationalize the Hannibal case. If the Lebanese authorities do not release him immediately; Especially since his detention period was unlawfully prolonged.”

Hannibal's health condition deteriorated recently, after he went on a hunger strike, to protest his arrest, which prompted the Libyan Tribal Union's advisor for foreign relations to say that "the Lebanese authorities must listen to all calls from all humanitarian and human rights organizations to release Hannibal."

[croded]

Hopefully Mostly Accurate Translation of the Link Click Art Book Interview with Director Li Haoling

thank you very much to @yingdu-lover for the initial post+tag and also the interview!!

I made a chinese transcript of the entire interview and goddamn it was 4 Google doc pages long 😭this is going to be a long post but let's go :)

Blue text=interviewer, white text=Director Li (small text=little translator notes. don't worry they won't pop up too often :))

About the production team and production process

Q1. The main production team of Link Click is an internationalised lineup, can you introduce the members of the team and their usual responsibilities to the readers?

---About Link Click's main production team's structure, I am the screenwriter and director, the executive director is (Zhang) Yuxia, his position is equivalent to the assistant director. Our work distribution is I mainly work on content creation and overall control; he leans more towards communicating, interacting and executing the created content. The members in the country (China) also include Studio LAN, who have overall control of the production process. Their work includes Chief Producer, original design, mid-term character modeling et cetera. Besides, there are also our colleagues in the Japanese branch taking part in and leading the post-production work.

As for the pre-production process of the show, INPLICK-laoshi* from Korea was in charge of the character design. She is a very well-known illustrator. On the art aspect, since we have previous cooperation experience with Shinkai Makoto-laoshi's* team, the process was quite enjoyable, and we established a long-term cooperation relationship, so this time we also invited Tanji Takumi-laoshi* to help with the art supervision and design; whereas Tenmon-laoshi* is in charge of the music. This is roughly our team configuration.

*In the original interview, Director Li added -老师 to the ends of the names of these other creators. Much like Japanese's sensei, this is used as an honorific, used to indicate respect. I don't think there's an English equivalent for these honorifics, so I kept them in rough Pinyin 🥹 I'll keep it like this for the rest of the translation too

Just now you said the assistant director was Yuxia-laoshi, is this the same person as Yu Xia from episode 2, "Secret Recipe"?

Correct. Actually there are a lot of character names in the show that are the same as our friends at work. But in the real world, Lin Zhen and Yu Xia are two guys. They're college classmates.

*Director Li says 工作里的小伙伴 in the part that says "friends at work", and 小伙伴 directly translates to "little partner", so it's like a bit cuter? lol :') also noodle lesbian name lore?!?!

Q2. Sounds like the team atmosphere is quite relaxed, can you further introduce how the usual work atmosphere is? And how is the state/condition when communicating with overseas teams?

---Because Link Click is an original donghua, so there is a higher freedom in the creating process. Like the part with using the names of work friends as character names, I also think it is more relaxed this way, and more meaningful. As for communicating with overseas teams, because we have a greater experience in cooperating with overseas teams, the process is quite smooth. For example, we have had several indirect cooperations with Tanji-laoshi from the Shinkai Makoto team. At the time, we mentioned that we wanted to do some new challenges and content, and they were willing to take part in it, they also thought it was something new and were very interested. The more novel it is, the more enthusiasm they have to give it a try.

Q3. Going back to Link Click, what was your (Director Li's) original intent during the creation of Link Click?

---At first it was because I saw a photo one time, that time I thought the people in the photo were particularly happy, but the person looking at the photo was not that happy. At that time I felt that photos were quite a unique thing, through a piece of paper, it connects two different worlds, different states of yourself. Because of this feeling, I got the idea of using photos as a base for a story's script, and then from there, I thought about if I could go back to a certain scene or time in a photo, what kind of feeling would I have. I took the thoughts I had while trying to figure out this kind of feeling and expanded them further, and it slowly formed into Link Click's overall story.

Q4. The impression that photos give us is mostly warm, so how come you thought of using a theme that carried some suspense to fill in each episodic story?

---If we're talking about only setting an ability that can enter photos, I imagine there definitely isn't a shortage of similar themes, so I wanted to include an even more interesting setting.

Take the point of entering a photo to change the past and save the future for example, there are actually many ways to travel through. When setting the plot, my first thought was to separate/disassemble this ability. The more imperfect the ability, the more it can create changes and plot conflicts. Like how we see that even though Cheng Xiaoshi can enter photos, but he doesn't know what will happen in the photo, so him inside the photo will become an unstable factor; whereas Lu Guang is outside the photo, he can see what is about to happen in the photo, but he has no way of completely controlling Cheng Xiaoshi's actions. Both of their abilities are imperfect, so they must cooperate to sufficiently utilize each other's effect. I expanded the later plot based on this point.

Additionally, about returning to the last through photos, that itself already carries many elements of suspense. Everyone probably has had this experience before: you're all smiling when the photo is taken, but the you at the time might not actually feel like smiling, deep inside. In that photo, everyone looks very happy on the surface, but maybe there are different thoughts in everyone's hearts. It's actually quite interesting. To me, this is also a kind of suspense - what's the real meaning behind the photo?

So a conflict between appearances and the inside?

That's right. What's truly beneath those appearances, the process to unearth this in itself will carry suspense, I suppose this is also a main point that I abided by when I designed the story to go towards suspense. This is one of the reasons. Another point is that there are very few donghuas in the country (China) that use a suspense theme, I wanted to try to break through, and do a fresh theme.

Q5. Link Click is in the form of an episodic show, with every episode having a different story, what is your original intent when picking stories? What is your starting point?

---Some stories were already thought out, but actually every story was not "picked out", but instead expanded from several angles. For example, the story of "Farewell" (s1e5 T_T) first had a narrative inspiration: everyone says going back to the past is to change the future, but if you went back to the past and made changes, only to find out in the end that nothing had changed in the future after all? I will assume this situation: it changed, and yet it didn't. As long as there is this hypothetical, there will be a lot of plot conflicts. The emotional level will also be very high. I think this is a plot core for having something interesting happening, and the story "Farewell" sprouted from this point.

Let's take another example of the special episode, "Marrying by Contesting". It originated from a story I read before. At that time there was a news report, saying that in a certain place, a girl was banned from something by her family*** and gave up her whole life. After reading, it left a deep impression on me, something like this actually happened, so I used it as a main theme to create. And the episode about kidnapping, "Aunt May" as well, I hope that through this donghua I can not only show entertaining content, but also embody some social value.

***GUYS IM SO SORRY for this part, the word was NOT eligible in the picture of the interview log 😭the closest (and only) thing I could think of when I saw that blob of pixels was the word 锠, but the phrase 禁锠 had no meaning. I looked it up. Nothing. 禁 means ban, so the general meaning of the sentence is that the girl's family banned her from something and she gave up on her life. I don't know what they banned her from 😭 so sorry once again

Q6. From the OP and ED, we can see that Link Click's art style is quite intense, how did you think of using this kind of style to make a donghua?

---About the style of the OP and the ED, the earliest intention was to create a sense of trendiness. I invited many teams to work together with, like INPLICK-laoshi, her art style can give people the impression of trendiness. Aside from characterization, the backgrounds were also considered to be stylised a bit, and not just done in a realistic style, because a realistic style will make it look heavy and serious. I hope that the backgrounds can be made to have more personality, more tactile, with a more artistic effect, so I discussed it with Tanji-laoshi and the artistic design done with this target in mind had a stronger drawing sense.

Q7. In the episode "Marrying by Contesting", a quote by Edward Weston appeared, and we understand by communicating with the team that there is a quote in the beginning of every episode, what is the purpose of this setting?

---Because we're making a theme based on photos, so I hoped to take the quotes of world-famous photographers and pick appropriate quotes for each episode, it's mainly an expression of form.

When I saw that line I felt quite moved, I was touched.

Yes, we had this intention. The intentions of animators making animations are the same, people who like the content often have this kind of empathy, we all hope to unearth the differentness of the world through our content. Just like how war photographers are willing to give their lives to document reality, to be able to capture that moment in time with your own life, that spirit is quite a great thing.

Q8. We heard that the donghua had been accepting fans' commissions since it began airing, and the donghua also showed everyone's submissions and story collections, like the Time Photo Studio really exists, can you talk about the purpose of this setting?

---This was the first thing we thought of. We could really open a Time Photo Studio and find real-life stories, restore them, help people complete their commissions. I think this is rather romantic. We have also been doing this continuously, collecting everyone's stories, be it in the mini-theatre series (it's The Daily Life in Lightime chibi series!) or in the later plot, we'll show them in future parts. The saying of "breaking the fourth wall" might be a little cliché, but it does indeed have the feeling of breaking "the fourth wall".

About the characters and the setting

Q9. This question may have been asked quite a few times on other occasions, how did you (Director Li) decide on using a double male protagonist setting like with Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang?

---As I mentioned earlier, I wanted the powers of the protagonists to be imperfect. The abilities must be split into two halves and be distributed to two separate people. This is the first point. Secondly, we had discussed at the time, if it were a male-and-female setting, putting the two characters together will have one problem: should we give them a romantic storyline or not? Later on we found that this problem was too complicated/troublesome, and couldn't be resolved well no matter how we tried to do it, and there were things to consider in every aspect of the matter. So in the end, we ended up with the double male protagonist setting that we have now.

Regarding Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang's personalities, I mentioned it earlier as well: Cheng Xiaoshi is an unstable factor, since he can enter the photos but doesn't know what will happen next, whereas Lu Guang is a stable factor. The two of them must partner up and complement each other, then only can they utilize their abilities perfectly.

Q10. About this female character Qiao Ling, how did you (Director Li) adjust the character relationship between them and the interaction atmosphere?

---The audience has always cared a lot about Qiao Ling. Although she doesn't get much screen time, her existence is still very important. To express the kinship* between two boys, this isn't much of a problem, but to make these two boys open their hearts to each other is not as easy. I want to set a link that allows there to be emotional communication between the boys, such as Lu Guang wanting to know how Cheng Xiaoshi sees "me" (Lu Guang), Cheng Xiaoshi wants to know how Lu Guang sees "me" (Cheng Xiaoshi), how is Cheng Xiaoshi's thoughts towards "me" (Lu Guang), how is Lu Guang's thoughts towards "me" (Cheng Xiaoshi), all these thoughts can be converted and conveyed through Qiao Ling.

*(sorry in advance for the long tl note) this "kinship" might be more of a "tacit understanding", which is 默契 in Chinese. I don't think there's an English equivalent that sounds as good, so basically 默契is where people work together so well they don't even need to talk to each other to do something together. Think something like maybe you and your best friend turn around to high five each other at the same time without looking, or when you do the same action (e.g. tilting your head a certain way, saying something, closing a book etc.) at the exact same time in the exact same way. That's 默契 :) in cxs and lg terms, it's them passing the ball around to each other flawlessly and dogwalking the rest of the court without even really looking at each other or communicating verbally. They just do, and they work together seamlessly without even trying. 默契 babyy

Is it equivalent to Qiao Ling between them balancing their views towards each other, balancing the relationship between the two of them?

It isn't balancing their relationship, but rather she is a path for their communication. The communication I mean is core communication between hearts.

Is it the more sentimental/emotional part?

Yes, for example episode 10, where Cheng Xiaoshi possessed Xu Shanshan and listened to Qiao Ling talk about how Lu Guang saw him at the time. This kind of trope can only be conveyed and converted very well through her.

Q11. Among all the characters, who do you (Director Li) like the most?

---This is like asking which of your children is your favourite, it's kind of difficult to choose. You ask which one I like, I can only say I like them all; but saying I like them all, this answer seems kind of boring. I'll be honest, I still like them all, they each have their special characteristics.

Then let's talk about the points of the three main characters that shine/stand out.

Cheng Xiaoshi is righteous, and he's very genuine. He's a very naïve person, and naivety is commendable. In the current society, naivety is becoming increasingly scarce.

Lu Guang is calm, knowledgeable, and very smart and mysterious. He's a rather perfect male image.

Qiao Ling cannot simply be said to just be a "girl next door", instead she has more of a big sister image, and can hold the trio. While she has a rational, strong side, she also has a very soft side, the future plots will also bring out these virtues of hers.

Q13. You (Director Li) seem to have a soft spot for the word "light"(光), what meaning does the word "light" represent? Outside of the donghua, what does this "light" repose?

---"Light" is a symbolic hope, or maybe energy, giving people an uplifting feeling. Personally as a practitioner of animation, the reason I chose such a difficult job was because this job could bring people some direction and light. I also think I'm a little delusional* when it comes to this aspect, the people watching animations usually aren't very old, planting a little bit of light in the hearts of children, I think this is the lovable part of animation and the value of its existence. So at the time I kept bringing up "light", including many characters' names have something to do with light, the theme is also related to light, it all comes from this kind of thoughts.

*he says 中二. which is basically chuuni, for chuunibyou (中二病) and is usually known as "delusional disease" or "8th grade syndrome" but the gist of it (though I think yall know what chuunibyou is 😭) is that he's calling himself delusional here lmaoo

Q13. During the process of creating Link Click, what were the parts where you felt the happiest?

---The happiest part is still the good overall creating atmosphere. The creation of Link Click began in 2019, at that time I had the rare chance of creating without much concern, purely creating for the sake of creating. So Link Click getting everyone's approval in the end is partially because that time the conditions for creating were good.

Q14. Can you reveal some details about Season 2, some details that everyone wants to know.

---Season 2 is mainly suspense. The storyline of pursuing the culprit was a very large tension/cliffhanger in Season 1, Season 2 will definitely go through this tension/cliffhanger till the end. I saw a lot of viewers wish to keep some things from Season 1, such as the episodic stories, and some portrayals of real-life stories. So I'm also thinking of a way to satisfy the condition of Season 2 being suspenseful and following a main storyline while also adding these elements into it.

Will it be more angsty* than season 1?

As the audience, are your expectations wishing for it to be "angsty*" or not "angsty*"?

It's hard to say, this mentality is quite dilemmatic.

Personally, I think a lot of Season 1's content was real-life things, so its "angst*" is an "angst that hits close to home*", akin to the regrets in real life. But in Season 2, since it has a storyline of pursuing the culprit, so some parts with emotional concentration will be different from Season 1, the feeling of "angst that hits close to home*" will be weaker.

*(hoo boy this will be a long one) so the words they are using here are Chinese internet language/slang: 刀, which means knife/blade, is used to mean something that makes your heart hurt when you read it. Yknow, like cxs dying! Chen Bin falling! Chen Bin's wife walking down the funeral hall in her wedding dress! S1e5 in general! That kinda stuff. That's 刀. It makes you cry, it makes you hurt, it makes you sad. So I ended up using "angst" with the definition of the fanfic term here since that was the closest thing with that meaning. With the "angst that hits close to home" part, he used "贴肉刀" which directly translates to "knife that sticks to meat" and like... basically it's blade that cuts you deep (emotionally) because it's something you've experienced? something like that? the closest thing I could think of was "hits close to home" :') sorry this particular section is so confusing. its like 50% chinese slang

Q15. One last question, say something to the readers that are eagerly awaiting Season 2, increase the anticipation.

---Just like the creating process I mentioned earlier, I wish to be able to tell a beautiful story in a quiet, peaceful condition. I also hope the viewers can be more calm when treating/regarding this work, whether everyone likes it or dislikes it, I accept it all, but sometimes the feelings of the audience becomes a form of pressure on the work. The original intent of this work was to present it in a quiet, good condition, so I still hope that in the future, everyone can maintain a level head towards Link Click.

Thank you, Director Li. Thanks for all your hard work.

-interview end-

that's the end of this VERY long post! :'D translating is kinda fun ngl

I tried my best to keep it as accurate as possible, forgive me if there are any mistakes :') (especially the "girl was banned from something by her family" one... ooh. I am on my knees apologising for that one I am cringing at myself)

and also sorry for the longass translator notes in the middle of some segments... I hope it didn't disrupt your reading too much 🥹

[meeravandaseera]

Similarities of Folklore in H2O: Just Add Water

Previously I did a post on Cleo's bathtub transformation and how it's a previous motif in some legends. I now want to dive into the rest of the folklore that can be fished out of the show. Many parallels are not directly the same, but still share some interesting origins. First, let's look at the powers.

Edited and cropped "Sous la Vague" or "Les Baigneuses" by Nicolas Auguste Laurens in 1898.

1: Cleo's hydrokinesis can be found in many waterpeople. Almost all humanoid water deities across the world are able to bend water to some extent, many of would would be countless to name in one post. For instance, Poseidon/Neptune was said to be able to control the seas. Triton could calm and raise the waves of the sea with the blow of his conch shell. Aside from water deities themselves, other waterpeople were able to control water. According to "Scaled for Success: The Internationalisation of the Mermaid" on page 108, the Filipino sirenas were said to be able to control water "by manipulating water levels and/or create whirlpools to swamp their prey". According to "Mermaids: The Myths, Legends, and Lore" on page 180, the Filipino kataws control the waters around the Philippine Islands, namely its "tides, currents" and even the "movements of the aquatic creatures". The Asturian xanas were in charge of keeping rivers and fountains calm according to: Mitología Asturiana - Marsellaviana on Freehostia under the llavanderes or washerwomen entry http://marsellaviana.freehostia.com/mitologiaasturiana/seresmitologicos.html

One xana in particular was able to flood as she supposedly flooded the town of Gayangos and created an entire lagoon and the lakes in the area according to: La leyenda de la Xana de Gayangos - La Cantabria Burgalesa https://lacantabriaburgalesa.wordpress.com/2016/12/03/la-leyenda-de-la-xana-de-gayangos/

Asturian llavanderes, basically mythical washerwomen, were able to summon floods and create whirlpools according to the aforementioned Marsellaviana site.

Another mermaid is the seewief or seewiefken of German folklore in Minsen. She once got caught in the net of some fishermen and got tormented, yet she eventually escaped. In revenge, she cast a curse and created storm floods in the years of 1164, 1362, 1717 and 1962 that hit Minsen. This is told according to: The Minsen Mermaid Statue - a Seewief from the Middle Ages https://mermaidsofearth.com/mermaid-statues-mermaid-sculptures/public/minsen-mermaid-statue-seewief/ (This sourced some other sites, but they are gone), Die Sage from Minsener Seewiefken - NAKUK https://www.nakuk.de/wiki/seewiefken/, Seewiefken - Wangerland https://www.wangerland.de/poi/seewiefken and Das Minsener Seewiefken Vom Fluch der Meerjungfrau - NWZ Online https://www.nwzonline.de/kultur/minsen-das-minsener-seewiefken-vom-fluch-einer-meerjungfrau_a_50,6,796560382.html

Yet another is the zeemermann of the Saeftinghe legend in the Netherlands. A zeemermin once got caught by a fisherman who refused to let her go. Her husband swam after the boat, yet to no avail. He cursed Saeftinghe and flooded the land. It was said that only Saeftinghe's towers would remain. Now, the land, it's called the drowned land of Saeftinghe. This is told according to "The Mermaid Atlas - Merfolk of the World" by Anna Claybourne on page 31 and Wandelen in het verdronken land van Seaftinghe - JNM https://jnm.be/nl/activiteiten/wandelen-in-het-verdronken-land-van-seaftinghe

~~~

2: Rikki's fire power: Waterpeople can be associated with fire, the sun or warmth despite inhabiting the water. (Added note: Originally, I did not acknowledge that). In Thai folklore exists the so-called Phi thale ผีทะเล sea spirit who is able to appear as a mermaid or a beautiful woman who can lure sailors to their demise. Sometimes a Phi Thale takes form as a St. Elmo's fire, basically a weather phenomenon caused by electrical discharges during thunderstorms. It seems to appear like faint luminosity or "fire" and in context of the Phi Thale it might, for example, take place on a ship's mast as shown on the illustration, but one is not absolutely shore. St. Elmo's fire also appears in many other forms like on church towers. Phi Thale description is from: What is a Phi Thale (ผีทะเล)? - PAHUYUTH https://pahuyuth.com/en/glossar/phi-thale/ and information on the Saint Elmo's Fire - Britannica https://www.britannica.com/science/Saint-Elmos-fire

Illustration from "The Aerial World" by Dr. G. Hartwig in 1886 on page 310.

Sulis is a Celtic water goddess from the United Kingdom who is still associated with the sun and is thus both a water and solar deity. She was also associated with the hot springs in Bath according to Sulis, Goddess of Celtic Mythology | Characteristics & Depictions - Study. com https://study.com/academy/lesson/sulis-celtic-goddess-mythology-history.html?srsltid=AfmBOopQslCH2QEArMfaq5VE7QDgXuMQS3z55jnppUGbVGlpA3E7ldu2.

The lakes of the Catalan freshwater-maidens called the dones d'aigua were said to boil if a stranger would dive into them, yet this is only said on Wikipedia without a source and until I do not have found any good source for this, please do not claim it as fact.

The Portuguese water-maiden Maria da Manta meaning "Mary of the Blanket", Maria Gancha namely "Mary Hook", Maria Ganta meaning "Mary of the Grid" or as in the Miranese language, Mariamanta, was said to live in wells. While her appearance varied a lot, some would say she possessed eyes made of fire despite living in the waters of wells according to: Maria Gancha - Portuguese Creatures and Legends Galore https://portuguesecreaturesandlegendsgalore.wordpress.com/2020/02/14/maria-gancha/

 Illustration for "Las Supersticiones De La Humanidad" by Jose Coroleu in 1881.

Melusine from French folklore is sometimes said to grow wings when she flies away in the legend and therefore is sometimes considered to be a literal dragon-maiden either with one or two fishtails and sometimes only with a serpent tail depending on the version. She is both considered a watermaid and a dragon-maid in different versions because of that.

Illustration from "Le Roman de Mélusine" in ca. 1450-1500.

An enchanted xana could also turn into a cuélebre, namely a snake-like dragon, in order to be disenchanted. Her savior must perform some tasks so that she would be able to be free from her spell, turn back into a xana or a normal human being and be freed from being bound to her lair. This disenchantment is really complex and one can find a wide sea of different methods. One source of mine is: Some thoughts on Asturian Mythology - David A. Wacks https://davidwacks.uoregon.edu/2014/12/12/asturian/. In spite of that, both of these dragon-turned watermaids didn't emit fire from their mouths. I still included them because it shares a little of the fire aspect due to their dragon forms.

~~~

3: Emma's ice power: Plenty of waterpeople live in colder waters, but do not possess the power to manipulate water and turn it into ice. The only mention one ever heard of are the Filipino kataws who can also turn water into ice according to this Wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kataw_(Philippine_mythology) that sourced "Mga Engkanto: A Bestiary of Filipino Fairies. Philippines: eLf ideas Publication. 2003". It's probably a privately published book as I can only find a Blogspot post about its concept idea. Would like to confirm the source, but as of now one does not have the book.

~~~

"The Last of the Fairies" by Ida Rentoul Outhwaite (1888-1960)

4: Simply the moon or the full moon: Waterfolk has a relationship to the full moon. There is no moon pool or a direct moon spell affecting waterfolk, yet Catalan dones d'aigua tended to only show up on full moon nights where they would come out of their caves to dance, to comb their hair and to wash their laundry. Some would only sing on full or new moon nights, maybe they got spell-bound by the moon? Who knows. This is told according to: Les dones d'aigua - Elisenda Vilaró Móra http://www.elisendavilaromora.com/2012/03/les-dones-daigua/, Llegendes del riu i les done's d'aigua - Turisme Les Planes D'Hostoles https://turismelesplanes.cat/localitzacions/el-riu-i-les-dones-daigua/, Llegendes: Dona D'Aigua - Generalitat de Catalunya Departament d'Educació https://agora.xtec.cat/ceipcamins/4t/llegendes-dona-daigua/, Llegenda de les Dones d'Aigua - Mapes de Patrimoni Cultural https://patrimonicultural.diba.cat/element/llegenda-de-les-dones-daigua, Les dones d'aigua en la tradició popular - Mitologia Catalana Blogspot https://mitologiacatalans.blogspot.com/2016/09/les-dones-daigua-en-la-tradicio-popular_23.html and Mitologia Catalana - Isaac Baley https://www.isaacbaley.com/mitologia-catalana.html

One xana was said to be only present on full moon nights, dancing in the forest. This is said according to: La leyenda de La Xana: una historia de amor en Asturias - Crónica Asturias https://cronicaasturias.es/blog/la-leyenda-de-la-xana-una-historia-de-amor-en-asturias

Atargatis is one of the earliest waterfolk deities aside from the kullulû of Mesopotamia. She's an Assyrian fertility and mermaid goddess, yet was also described to be a moon goddess according to "Mermaids: The Myths, Legends, and Lore" on page 78.

The selkies were also said to go ashore on full moon-lit nights to shed their sealskins and dance at the seaside.

~~~

Illustration by Hugh Thomson for "Highways and Byways in Devon and Cornwall" in 1897.

5: The granting wishes ability from episode 5 "Hocus Pocus" on season 2: In the Cornish legend of Lutey Curry and the merry-maid, the merry-maid was said to have given Lutey three wishes as he had helped her go back into the water from being beached ashore. He wished for the power to heal the sick, the power to "defuse wicked spells" and to have his powers passed on after his death according to "Mermaids: The Myths, Legends, and Lore" on page 102 and Curses, Vengeance, and Fishtails: The Cornish Mermaid in Perspective https://www.academia.edu/31865439/Curses_Vengeance_and_Fishtails_The_Cornish_Mermaid_in_Perspective

The Scottish ceasg or maid-of-the-wave was also said to grant one three wishes if one caught her and then released her again according to #FolkloreThursday: The Ceasg - Steampunklibrarian Blog https://steampunklibrarian.blog/2021/09/30/folklorethursday-the-ceasg/ and Gaelic Folklore (5): Ceasg - Nicovleeuwen https://nicovleeuwen.blogspot.com/2019/06/gaelic-folklore-5-ceasg_7.html

~~~

6: The shapeshifting from mermaid to human is something prevalent in folklore, but not at the simple touch of a water drop. Instead, primarily only if the lower half is fully submerged, basically when fully going into a water body. Most waterfolk only have a fishtail that they can discard and wear later on again like a piece of clothing, but some do fully shapeshift like the mermaids of the show do. According to "Mermaids: The Myths, Legends and Lore" on page 181, the fishtailed yawkyawks from the mythology of the Kuninjku people in Australia could go ashore and "sprout legs and seem to be wholly human".

~~~

Edited “Unter-Wasser-Philosophie” by Erich Schütz for Mocca in 1934. Yawkyawks were said to have green hair resembling green algae in freshwater streams and rock pools, called man-bak in Kuninjku according to Yawkyawk (Ngalkunburriyaymi) - Maningrida Arts and Culture https://maningrida.com/artwork/683-23/.

As the show is set in Australia, the waterfolk of Australia is another part to consider. Here's a list of the Indigenous Australian watermaid ones. I won't skim through the entirety of their lore due to the fact that there are barely any parallels between them and the show, aside from the yawkyawks who could shapeshift into humans:

< Yawkyawks (other terms: ngalkunburriyaymi, ngalberddjenj (both possibly from the Kuninjku people) ngalworreworre (Wugularr community) from the book "Mermaid and Serpent - A Story from Wugularr Community", and ngalkodjek (Darnkolo people) as from: Owen Yalandja: Ngalkodjek Yawkyawk 2019 - ARTKELCH - Contemporary Aboriginal Art https://www.artkelch.de/en/artists/owen_yalandja_216/works/ngalkodjek_yawkyawk_1827

< The pearl-givers or the mermaids of the Keppel Islands of the Woppaburra people are found in "Among the Mermaids: Facts, Myths, and Enchantments from the Sirens of the Sea" on pages 98-99.

< The Ji-merdiwa from the Burarra people near the Blyth river can be found on: Mermaids tales appear in myths across the world- Arnhem Land included by Anna Whitfeld - ABC News https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-11/mermaids-across-the-world-arnhem-land/9846210

< Wíwa spirits (mermaid spirits) from the Kunibídji people and Djómi and Bábbarra, and the other successor Djómi spirits: Our Bedtime Stories Episode 8: Djómi (Mermaid Story) - ICTV Play https://ictv.com.au/video/item/5508?lp=1, Djomi ( Fresh Water Spirit) Bábbarra Women's Centre https://babbarra.com/design/djomi/

< The karukayn of the Gurindji people as told in “The Penguin Book of Mermaids” on pages 224-225

< and the Muli Kanybubi from the Marri Ngarr Yek Dirrangara people as told in “Muli Kanybubi Tjitjuk Kawuny Na Yagatiya - The Two Mermaids’ Dreaming Place”. 

More resources on the Indigenous Australian watermaids: Mermaids in Folklore & Australian Indigenous Culture - troublemag https://www.troublemag.com/mermaids-in-folklore-australian-indigenous-culture/ and H2O: Just Add Water and myth of mermaids in Australia - Anglophone Literatures Blog https://blogs.phil.hhu.de/anglophoneliteratures/2022/04/04/h2o-just-add-water-and-myth-of-mermaids-in-australia/ 

Whether intentional or not, the lore is pretty deep.

(If any sources are not able to be viewed, consult an archival site)

Re-published and re-polished from the edited original entry on reddit via r/JustAddWater: https://www.reddit.com/r/JustAddWater/comments/1f934vx/similarities_of_folklore_in_the_show/

In the original entry, I had wanted to include these depictions that can be seen here, but it got removed. I am not shore what the culprit was, but it may have been the second or latter depiction of Melusine as I did not edit it back then since I thought it would be tolerated because no chest was directly visible. On the un-edited version of the depiction, her chest was already obscured by a light spot that looks like as if the paper had been ripped.

[kemetic-dreams]

‘WE ARE NOT AMERICAN’

Malcolm X would have turned 99 today. It’s as good excuse as any to revisit this gem of a clip. In it, X explains why it is so vital that “so-called Negros” in the US identify as AFRICANS.

It’s part of his famous 1964 ‘Ballot or Bullet’ speech, in which he argued that voting rights are a potent weapon if exercised right - and that unity amongst Africans in America can be leveraged to force politicians to accept their demands and agenda once in office.

However, despite his rhetoric, he was also sceptical about whether the electoral process could really bring about genuine racial justice for Africans in America.

His speech was made in the same year as his trips to Africa, which gave him a greater understanding of the need to internationalise the struggle and connect it to the independence of continental Africans.

Do you think Africans in America have a real chance of achieving their aims through elections in the US today, or do X’s words still ring true?

#MalcomX #USA #Africans #Politicians #Racial #Justice #America #Africa #Independence

[didalexiabreakupwitholgaisback]

what do you think of the australian documentary having the liga f president in it? weird that she kind of spoke out against the rfef but is one of theirs no?

beatriz is probably the most useless person around. but if you re-watch the documentary, notice how her comments were more or less directed towards rubiales himself and not a condemnation of the entire organisation as it currently stands. so even then, she's playing the politics game. 🙃 

here she is today with other liga f representatives at rfef headquarters where they discussed "internationalising competitions such as the supercopa, provided that it is to generate income that affects the clubs of all categories." so basically giving rfef the green light to take the supercopa out of spain. talk about a sell out. 🙄

[sputniksflight]

Just wanted to say hi again, after many years 🫡

Call me Grogulec or Gorgulec, as my friends do; I'm a lass in my early 30' and now understand what it means to get old with your body going bonkers :v (just got diagnosed with thyroid gland disorder, wohoo)

In the meantime, I quit my PhD, having written half of it. I just couldn't carry anymore. This and health issues are part of the reason for my inactivity (constant spinal disc herniation & de Quervain syndrome, messing my drawing hand bad).

I've lost one job, then another, until I found my current stable life in a great team as a Specialist at the Internationalisation Office of the University of Economics in Katowice. I mainly deal with specialist translation of internal regulations and orders, but I also get to hang around international students and academics at Welcome Point.

So it seems things will get stable from now on.

I'm all about keeping this blog as an art blog, so there won't be much rambling on my part, save for some holiday wishes or thoughts on art and art-making😊

Have fun browsing!

[147-moths]

lots of people have been saying the exact same thing but honestly netflix's biggest and most frustrating problem is that they really do treat audiences like the biggest of dumbasses. yea we've seen this time and time again but we have two perfect examples rn in the live action atla and 3 body problem. erasing sokka's misogyny and "internationalising" 3 body by?? making everyone british?? perfectly encompass this descent into dumbed-down everything. i get that there would've been people misinterpreting sokka's arc and i get that there would've been people complaining about the chinese names or whatever but by catering to that specific subset of the audience you lose so much nuance and complexity!! but alas, profits.

also one of the major criticisms against the three body problem was the characters being one-dimensional and dull but like. is this better? is shoehorning romantic relationships fucking everywhere better?? what the fuck is up with ye wenjie and mike evans. WHO asked for this. benedict wong as da shi is perfect but why the fuck is his name CLARENCE

[kaiserouo]

Internationalisation is so crazy

You need to learn and talk in this specific language to be able to communicate with most people

Most people are so far from you you have to consider timezones and how many hours people are away from you

Sometimes it still feels weird to me and i suddenly cant take this for granted for some reason

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Brazil and France sign cooperation agreement in the museum and heritage sector

The Ministries of Culture of Brazil and France have sealed an agreement for the development of cooperation in the museum and heritage sector. The Minister of Culture, Margareth Menezes, and the French Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, signed the declaration of intent this Friday, 16th, in France. The agenda takes place while the Brazilian minister is in Cannes, leading a delegation participating in the Marché Du Film, where Brazil is the Country of Honour.

Among the main objectives of the agreement are the promotion of the exchange of good practices and knowledge, encouraging collaboration among professionals and the strengthening of professional networks; initial and continuous training in the heritage and museum sectors; the encouragement of the development of projects to protect and promote Afro-Brazilian heritage on the African continent and in Brazil; and the strengthening of the learning of the languages and cultures of Brazil and France.

For Minister Margareth Menezes, the signing consolidates an important strategic effort between the countries. “Bilateral cultural cooperation contributes to the expansion of knowledge, experiences, and the development of good practices. Not to mention the growth of internationalisation of projects and actions that can benefit both Brazil and France in terms of preserving our heritage and our museums,” she said.

Continue reading.

[justforbooks]

Ratan Tata

Indian business tycoon who turned his family’s Tata Group into a global player, and invested heavily in British industry

Ratan Tata, who has died aged 86, was India’s most celebrated industrialist. He modernised the unwieldy business empire founded by his great grandfather in the 19th century and internationalised it. In the process he spread his interests into western countries, with mixed results.

For the UK, that included the £271m purchase of the Tetley Group in 2000, followed more controversially by the acquisition of the steel company Corus for £6.2bn in 2007. Then, in 2008, Tata, himself a car enthusiast, added the troubled Jaguar Land Rover motor business for a further £1.75bn.

He joined the family firm, Tata Steel, in 1962. Educated in the US, and newly qualified as an architect, the young Tata had, he said, no intention of returning to India. But family ties won out. When his ailing grandmother, Navajbai, who had raised him, asked him to return he did so. He was soon promoted, building his reputation with tough reorganisation, followed by more troubleshooting at the electronics and textile companies.

In 1981, he was made chairman of Tata Industries, and found himself confronting an assortment of separate businesses, with different ownership patterns over which there was little formal control. He made a blueprint for reorganisation, having spent time at the Harvard Business School, but it was rejected after opposition from semi-autonomous bosses.

However, in 1991, the 81-year-old patriarch of the group, JRD Tata, chose him as his successor as the overall chairman. Asked why, he replied: “He has a modern mind.”

Tata soon demonstrated it with a tough programme of reshaping that, against continuing opposition, brought closures, job reductions, and the departure of the heads of the steel, hotel and chemical businesses.

He began to focus more on brands and less on heavy industry, and he benefited from the deregulation of Indian industry championed by Rajiv Gandhi. As part of it, he took the company more heavily into the motor industry. Tata lorries already dominated Indian highways, but now he moved into the car business in line with his own enthusiasms. While always seen as a man of modest habits, he had his own lovingly maintained collection of high-powered and classic cars, and delighted in driving them along Mumbai’s Marine Drive most Sundays.

Tata produced what was called “the first Indian car”, designed by and for Indians, in 1998. Ratan did some of the first drawings himself. The Tata Indica was a success. But when he went further a decade later, and the company conceived the Nano, a tiny saloon described as the world’s most affordable car at a price of about £2,000, the project failed. Such a cheap car was not enticing even to those “on two wheels” whom he hoped to attract.

In 1999 Tata had travelled to Detroit to discuss the sale of the motor business to Ford, only to be asked why his firm had gone into the passenger car business when it clearly knew nothing about it. Later he would turn the tables, buying underperforming Jaguar Land Rover from Ford and reviving it.

With sell-offs and cutbacks, Tata reorganised the group into 98 operating companies from more than 250, reducing the labour force by more than a third. He forged alliances with foreign companies and went into information technology.

He stepped down in 2012, observing the compulsory retirement rule he had himself introduced, but was still regarded as “chairman emeritus” and was brought back unhappily for a few months when his successor was sacked four years later.

His most shocking day came in 2008, when terrorists took over the Tatas’ Taj Mahal hotel on the front at Mumbai with great loss of life. The company has continued to support staff affected and the families of those who died.

Ratan was born in Mumbai, into the large Parsi Tata family, whose wealth came from a scattered collection of businesses including textiles, hotels, engineering, steel and tea. His father, Naval, had been adopted by the son of the founder, Jamsetji Tata. After Naval and his wife, Soonoo, separated when Ratan was seven, the child was brought up with his younger brother, Jimmy, by his grandmother in a grand Tata mansion in central Mumbai.

Aged 17 he was sent to the US to attend Riverdale Country school in New York City, from where he entered Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. He studied engineering before switching to architecture, graduating in 1959. He worked as an architect for a while in Los Angeles before returning to India, and Tata Steel.

In his 20 years at the helm, Tata’s sales grew by 22% annually and its international revenues rose from a quarter to 58% of the total, while Tata Consultancy Services became Asia’s largest software company.

His British investments have been among his less successful. Corus was bought for an over-the-top £6bn just before the global financial crash devastated the industry. Tata claimed it as “the first big step that Indian industry has taken as a global player”. It was later described by a senior Tata executive as “worthless”. The firm is currently negotiating terms of new investment at Port Talbot, which would be accompanied by hundreds of redundancies, while huge plants on Teesside and Scunthorpe have already been closed or sold for a nominal sum.

Jaguar Land Rover was initially a happier story. Tata’s major investment, including in research and development, made the company for a while the largest foreign investor in British industry. But eight years of profits have been followed by losses since 2018.

Surveying the British scene in 2011, Tata told the Times: “Nobody seems to want to exert the effort to make the UK truly competitive. It’s a work ethic issue. In my experience in both Corus and JLR, nobody is willing to go the extra mile.”

He was a major figure in the international business community, close to US politicians as well as the Indian government, advising the former prime ministers Gordon Brown and David Cameron, and sitting on the boards of multinational institutions.

He was also known as a major philanthropist. Many of the Tata companies were owned through trusts he chaired, and huge sums were provided for medical research and university projects both in India and abroad, particularly in the US, where a number of campuses have buildings bearing his name.

A softly spoken man, renowned for his courtesy, he never married, although he described himself as having come close four times. He was known for living modestly, although his recreations included flying his private jet and driving his collection of expensive cars, as well as a speedboat. He was noted for his love of dogs. The Tata headquarters in Mumbai had kennels and made provision for street dogs, and he was a donor to canine charities. In 2014 he was made GBE.

He is survived by Jimmy, by his stepmother, Simone, a half brother, Noel, and two half sisters, Shireen and Deanna.

🔔 Ratan Tata, businessman, born 28 December 1937; died 9 October 2024

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