#Northern Perspectives 2024 | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

phoebehalliwell · 5 months ago

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have you ever wondered which actresses could portray the charmed ones if the story was set nowadays? (it may seem weird but i like to make fancasts about the books/shows i like and i was curious if you also thought about it...) i love your blog btw!

hiiiii i actually have never thought of this but i did some thinking over a lunch break or two and i came up with five different options ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Option One

The Tried And True Brunettes!!

basically a one-to-one of the original except set in 2024 so adding a couple more modern slants i imagine prue would maybe work in tech or an app or a start up instead of the auction house, phoebe would def have some plotline with dating apps something or other tying into her column, chappell roan is def performing at p3

Claudia Jessie as Prue Halliwell // i’ve only seen her on bridgerton but the sharpness and the softness she displays with eloise i think would really help encapsulate prue

Victoria Pedritti as Piper Halliwell // ive seen her in a couple things but specifically the characters in the haunting of hill house and the haunting of bly manor i think could really lend itself to her earlier seasons versus her agro kind of insane variant as love in you could def show itself in the later seasons

Danielle Rose Russell as Phoebe Halliwell // if anyone’s seen legacies whenever drr is playing lizzie… i know she’s got the sauce

Mikey Madison as Paige Matthews // i only know her from the scream reboot but i totally see the vision

Option Two

It’s San Francisco!!

for a show that so frequently reminds us it is set in san francisco and the surrounding bay area, it features so few asian characters it is honestly confusing, given that the city itself is roughly one third asian. the show initially seemed like in wanted to lean into that in the very first season given episodes like dead man dating, but it really petered out. this recasting offers a new perspective of the city as well as different facets of life for the charmed ones to explore (i would love to see a lunar new year episode / zodiac episode to overwrite the existing one in canon which is just so :///). for this specific casting, i would have them be a vietnamese family, with paige being half asian and half white raised by adopted white parents, so when she comes into the fold, it's not just her learning about her magical heritage but also her getting to learn and connect with her asian heritage as well

Kelly Marie Tran as Prue Halliwell // i've only seen her in star wars admittedly i don't even know which one i'm not a star wars girlie But i think she carries with her both the bravery of prue and that kind of strong dignity/forceful aura that would really help shape the role

Lana Condor as Piper Halliwell // i know her as lara jean from to all the boys i've loved before and honestly from that alone i think she'd kill as piper

Leah Lewis as Phoebe Halliwell // okay. so while i haven't actually watched nancy drew, my mutuals love it, and from the gifsets i've seen + the promos they would show before riverdale, i do think we've found our phoebe

Piper Curda as Paige Matthews // not the first and not the last pick from Legacies, piper was introduced in the 4th season i'm p sure and i really like her laid back / obviously gay aura and i think she would make a really interesting obviously gay paige

Option Three

Asian Doesn’t Inherently Mean East Asian!!

i wanna see desi witches i feel like i never see desi witches!! plus the bay area / northern california as a whole has a very vibrant indian community so i would love to see that tapped into

Simone Ashley as Prue Halliwell // while she is in sex education we all know the example i'm going to give you here is kate sharma from bridgerton who is basically just regency prue halliwell

Amita Suman as Piper Halliwell // i know her as inej from shadow and bone which admittedly as a series, i did not like. however, i think amita is a talented actress and could pull off an excellent piper

Avantika Vandanapu as Phoebe Halliwell // best known for playing karen in the new mean girls movie. definitely would kill it as phoebe

Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as Paige Matthews // best known as devi in never have i ever, a show that i actually did not watch but my mom did so i've seen roughly 1/3 of all episodes. i think she's a very skilled actress and could play the willful, stubborn, and creative paige excellently

option four

Black Girl Magic!!

i'm going to be perfectly honest with you -- this was absolutely motivated by having an ayo piper. think on it. like. gas.

Omono Okojie as Prue Halliwell // yet another legacies pick but what can i say i love the cast. i think she would bring an appropriate gravitas and like cool stubborness to prue

Ayo Edibiri as Piper Halliwell // hold up sydney adamu from the bear. hold up piper halliwell. they're the same picture.

Jadah Marie as Phoebe Halliwell // i know her from descendants 3 where she was playing dr facilier's daughter celia and that was really all the evidence i needed. she's totally phoebe

Madison Reyes as Paige Matthews // she's julie from julie and the phantoms which if you haven't seen you should esp if you love dcoms bc it's another kenny ortega classic. i think madison brings the right spirit to paige. additionally, being the half sister, she is actually not just black but afro latina, and could introduce new perspectives from her specific puerto rican descent esp in regards to brujeria (a la josefina in season 2 or maybe 3 of the charmed reboot)

Option Five

Everyone Knows The Charmed Ones Are Blonde!!

We're standing in the home of the Charmed Ones, we've got their powers, we got their book, and we got blonde multi-tonal hair!!! on a very real level, could not resist making the blonde variants. largely motivated by sabrina carpenter as phoebe

Meghann Fahy as Prue Halliwell // known for the bold type and the white lotus i think meghann could really the convey the whole i'm lonely but i'm good/i'm bitter but i swear i'm fine vibe prue has going for her

Elle Fanning as Piper Halliwell // we see piper's soft side when elle plays aurora in maleficent and her agro side when she plays catherine in the great

Sabrina Carpenter as Phoebe Halliwell // do i really need to explain this? i'm right. you know i'm right.

Renee Rapp as Paige Matthews // come back to television the kids miss you. i know she usually plays the more prue coded characters like with leighton in the sex lives of college girls and arguably even regina george in mean girls but i've seen her in those interviews. "There is this man who owns a bus touring company. His name is buddy, and he is such an asshole, and he was so disrespectful to my friends, Priscilla and Bella, who I work with, and to my mother. If you're watching this, I can't stand you, and I hope your business burns. You are so disrespectful and so misogynistic. I. Hate. You." that's my paige matthews

castings for other characters under the cut ❤️

Leo Wyatt

Dev Patel // like. logically. could we book dev patel? no. but does that make me want him any less? also no.

Kedar Williams Stirling // best known as jackson in sex education where he just exudes such good vibes you know what i'm saying? that just like nice aura. that's what i want for leo. when leo's around i want the feeling like things are going to be okay bc he's just so good

Alex Roe // if any of you watched siren on freeform i highly recommend the first two seasons i did give up on the third season but the first two were really good. he plays the male lead ben who i feel like honestly would translate over really well to leo. knowledgeable and constantly dealing with the women he loves as shit keeps getting weirder

Vanessa Morgan // she does that "gazes lovingly at a person you are basically cosmically tied to" so well in riverdale i know she could kill as leah wyatt

Cole Turner

Manny Jacinto // i'm not watching the acolyte but i am watching those fancams and i'm gonna need more sexy villian manny jacinto asap

Nathan Parsons // one of those cw actors that gets passed around like the blunt so it only makes sense to have him here. i know him best as max from roswell new mexico but it's specifically when he plays jones, for all intents and purposes max's evil twin that he really starts cole cooking imo. i think he would offer a really fun take on cole.

Havana Rose Liu // who wouldn't go against both heaven and hell to be with her? i mainly know her from bottoms where she might not feel super cole coded but i see the vision

Chris O'Shea // i only know him as percival pickens in season six of riverdale but he served down and i know he'd make a great cole. watch s6 of riverdale. you don't have to watch any of the earlier seasons or any of the seasons after it to understand what's going on i promise. it's the season where they all get magic powers.

Darryl Morris

Quentin Plair // another pick from roswell new mexico he plays dallas the sexy preacher among other things and i think he has a really good um. it's like. that running out of patience type vibe you know what i'm saying? i really like the way he can get the terse like i am being nice right now but i need you to know that is a choice i am making type vibe that i really like when darryl gets (like when darryl first meets cole and there's that tension its such a good darryl moment)

John David Washington // could we book him? idk i don't know if he's really been in any tv shows i know his mainly blackKklansman and tenet and i feel like he def has the chops to give us an excellent darryl

Charles Michael Davis // another cw actor best known to me personally as marcel on the originals and as we can see in the photo looks great in a suit i think he would make a really good darryl esp in the softer moments connecting with the sisters/leo

William Jackson Harper // okay thru googling him right now he's 44?? that's insane to me he does not look 44. most know him as chidi from the good place which i think offers the perfect "this might as well be happening" type energy darryl so often has

#charmed #fancast #this was fun!!

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artzonestuff · 6 months ago

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Differences Between the Southern and Northern Renaissance: A Study Through Jan van Eyck's "Portrait of a Man" (self portrait?)"

Written by ArtZoneStuff, 2024

The Renaissance, a period of cultural rebirth and revival of classical learning, manifested differently in the southern and northern regions of Europe. While both regions shared a common interest in humanism, art, and science, the way these ideas were expressed varied significantly due to differing cultural, social, and economic contexts.

The Southern Renaissance, centered in Italy, emphasized classical antiquity, proportion, perspective, and human anatomy. Artists like Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Michelangelo (1475-1564), and Raphael (1483-1520) focused on idealized beauty, harmony, and balanced compositions.

In contrast, the Northern Renaissance, which flourished in regions such as the Netherlands, Germany, and Flanders, focused more on meticulous detail, naturalism, and domestic interiors. Northern artists like Jan van Eyck (1390-1441), Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), and Hieronymus Bosch (?-1516) were known for their detailed and realistic depictions of nature, landscapes, and everyday life. Their work often contained rich symbolism and a focus on surface textures and fine details.

Jan Van Eyck's self portrait

Jan van Eyck's "Portrait of a Man" (Appendix 1), also known as his Self-Portrait from 1433, is a small-scale Dutch portrait measuring 25.9 x 33.1 cm (Google Arts and Culture, n.d.). The man in the painting emerges from a dark background, with his body depicted in three-quarter view. On his head, he wears a red chaperon, often mistaken for a turban, styled upward rather than hanging down (Nash, 2008, p.154). His dark fur-lined garment resembles the attire in "The Arnolfini Portrait" (Appendix 2), indicative of wealth during an era when textiles were extremely costly (ArtUK, 2019). His detailed face features a faint stubble, white highlights in his eyes and on his cheekbones, non-idealized features such as wrinkles and veins on his forehead, showcasing the Northern realism (Hall, 2014, p.44).

As described by the English art historian James Hall, the painting appears almost fleeting and alive - with the gaze seeming to capture the viewer before the face, and just like that, the penetrating stare turns away, perhaps followed by the light streaming from the right (Hall, 2014, p.43). The portrait conveys that the artist scrutinizes everything closely, including himself, without losing sight of the bigger picture (Hall, 2014, p.43). All these naturalistic details clearly indicate a Flemish painting.

The work is considered a self-portrait due to the frame. Jan van Eyck often used frames he designed and painted to enhance understanding and add meaning to his works (Hall, 2014, p.43; The National Gallery, 2021, 4:45-5.15). The gilded original frame of "Portrait of a Man" is crucial for interpreting the piece. Inscribed at the top of the frame is Jan van Eyck’s motto: "Als Ich can," translated to English: "As I can." At the bottom is his signature, and the date in Roman numerals: October 21, and in Arabic numerals, the year 1433. This results in the inscription: "Jan van Eyck made me on October 21, 1433" (Hall, 2014, p.43). He capitalizes the "I" in "Ich," playing on the pun Ich/Eyck. The motto can be interpreted as either boastful, "As I can," or modest, "As best as I can" (Hall, 2014, p.43).

The inscription highlights the relationship between words and image, indicating his awareness of his talent. His skill in painting surpasses that of a craftsman, which painters in this period was considered as. "As I can" suggests he is the only one capable of achieving such stylistic naturalism which cannot be imitated (The National Gallery, 2021, 5:10-5:58). "Jan van Eyck made me" also reflects a high degree of self-awareness, as he claims a painting of this quality, emphasizing that he created it and is conscious of his own abilities (The National Gallery, 2021, 5:10-5:58). All of this, along with his signing of his works as one of the first artists to do so, demonstrates a desire not to remain an anonymous craftsman (Hall, 2014, p.43; Farmer, 1968, p.159; Blunt, 1962).

The motto "Als Ich can" appears on several of his works, but the self-portrait is the only one where it is so prominent and clear. Additionally, the motto is placed at the top of the frame, where he would usually write the model’s name, thus, the motto can be seen as the model's identity (The National Gallery, 2021, 5:15-6:25). This, along with his direct gaze at the viewer, suggesting it was painted from a mirror, are the strongest indicators that the portrait is a self-portrait (Hall, 2014, p.43).

However, this can be taken with some skepticism, as other portraits by him, such as "Portrait of Margaret van Eyck" (Appendix 3) and "Portrait of Jan De Leeuw" (Appendix 4), share the same penetrating gaze (Pächt, 1994, p.107). This might instead indicate his realism, where the painter’s position does not function as an observer but rather takes an active role. The model’s direct gaze towards the viewer shows that the model has looked at Jan Van Eyck. This shows Jan Van Eyck possessing an active role, which was very different from painters in this period, and by doing so, creating a new respect for the painter as an artist, again showcasing his self-awareness of his position and talent (Pächt, 1994, pp.106-108).

Literature

Books and Journals:

Hall, James (2014). The self-portrait, a cultural history. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd

Nash, Susie (2008). Northeren Renaissance Art. New York: Oxford University Press.

Blunt, Anthony (1962). The Social Position of the Artist. Artistic Theory in Italy, 1450-1600. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press

Farmer, David (1968). Reflections on a Van Eyck Self-Portrait. Oud Holland. S. 159

Online

Google Arts and Culture (n.d.): Portrait of a Man in a Red Turban (selfportrait). Found at: https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/portrait-of-a-man-in-a-red-turban-selfportrait/SAFcS1U8kYssmg?hl=en

ArtUK: Butchart, Amber (2019). Fashion reconstructed: the dress in Van Eyck's Arnolfini portrait. Found at: https://artuk.org/discover/stories/fashion-reconstructed-the-dress-in-van-eycks-arnolfini-portrait

The National Gallery (2021). Jan van Eyck's self portrait in 10 minutes or less | National Gallery. Found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMJK1EDG2X8&t=1s&ab_channel=TheNationalGallery

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phanfictioncatalogue · 1 month ago

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In Progress Chaptered (9) Masterlist

part one, part two, part three, part four, part five, part six, part seven, part eight

In progress as of October 14, 2024

A Semester Abroad (ao3) - EverythingIsAsItWas

Summary: Phil is walking home when he comes across a uni student, barely conscious, confused, sobbing on a bench. He tries to figure out where he's staying, or what happened to lead to his state, but with no avail. It's well past midnight in the freezing London winter, so he does the only thing he can think of, and brings him home. Dan isn't happy.

Fallen and Found (ao3) - Love_Anarchy

Summary: Dan, a demon tasked with the thankless job of observing Earth’s moral decay for nearly 250,000 years, has grown disillusioned and depressed. Each day, he witnesses the worst of humanity’s cruelty and selfishness, reinforcing his belief that there’s no hope left. But everything changes when he meets Phil, a seemingly carefree and oddly authentic angel who challenges Dan’s jaded perspective. As Phil invites Dan to see the world from a different vantage point, the demon must confront the possibility that, maybe, not everything is as hopeless as it seems.

haunted house (ao3) - vvuptic

Summary: this party’s just another haunted house. i can’t wait to lose all my friends tomorrow. this party’s just another haunted house. i can’t wait to carry it with me forever.

or, Dan and Phil were roommates in a frat house for three years before the breakup to end all breakups. Now they have to navigate living in the same house for one final semester before graduation. Surely it won’t end in flames.

Heart to heart (ao3) - amzingmati

Summary: In a world where you get assigned your soulmate at birth, there isn’t much surprise or anticipation about love, or at least that is what Phil thinks. He will be 20 years old in a week and that means that in a week he will find out who his soulmate is. But what happens when a boy enters the picture ?

It's all but fate (ao3) - achromatic__sky

Summary: In an alternate universe, Dan and Phil’s meeting in 2009 went horribly wrong.

Flash forward to 2021. Dan Howell is a depressed, closeted lawyer on the verge of a loveless proposal, and Phil Lester's successful career as a forensic linguist can’t mask the chaos of his love life.

When they lock eyes again in a courtroom twelve years later, they're forced to confront the past and consider the possibilities that taking a chance at the future might hold.

The lingering echoes of a bond that transcends the fabric of time.

All but fate.

Or is it ?

Keep Calm and Carry On (ao3) - That_cool_weirdo

Summary: Phil, an ordinary 15-year-old from Manchester, is being evacuated to some tiny place down south to avoid getting blown up by a German bomb.

Dan works on his dad’s farm down south and is not too happy that he is going to have to share his room with a northern evacuee. That's only until he meets the boy though.

Lights Out and Away We Go (ao3) - Melancholy_Mango

Summary: Dan Howell is a champion. A 7-time World Champion in Formula 1. Nothing would ever stand in his way. He's set to retire after record breaking success in his career just after he wins 1 more world champion. He assumes this year will be no different and the win will be as easy as it was last year.

Phil Lester is Redbull's top driver. He was the oldest debut in Formula 1 after starting his training later than most. His raw talent has gotten him to the second step on the podium, but can he find the discipline to knock out his top competitor or will he be left in the gravel?

What happens when their rivalry is used to capitalize the new age of Formula 1. Will it bring the two closer or rip them further apart?

Or, Dan and Phil enemies to lovers Formula 1 AU

Limerence (ao3) - cherryheartz

Summary: Limerence [ li-mer-uhns] noun

1 the state of being obsessively infatuated with someone, usually accompanied by delusions of or a desire for an intense romantic relationship with that person…

Dan Howell likes Phil Lester's raven colored hair and ice blue eyes. But so does someone else…

not a star i see (it’s always you) (ao3) - dprkives

Summary: Phil Lester returned from the Great War with a box full of medals and haunting dreams, and he had no idea how to pick his life back up. Society wasn’t kind to those who gave their life for their country, and Phil was about to give up all and any hope when a handsome stranger entered his life.

nylon is for delicate work (ao3) - Anonymous

Summary: A forensic linguist meets a lawyer in Rawtenstall.

Say It In French (ao3) - steddieornot

Summary: After years of blood, sweat, and tears, Dan Howell was finally representing Great Britain at the Paris Olympics. It had been his dream for longer than he could remember and he had finally made it. Unfortunately, his rival Phil Lester - son of former Olympian, Kathryn Lester - had also qualified and was to be his teammate... and roommate. It was going to be hell, but Dan refused to let this nepotism brat ruin his dream. But Phil doesn't seem to be the douchebag that Dan remembers meeting all of those years ago.

AKA the olympian showjumping rivals to lovers au no one asked for

Sickness and Health, Work and Holiday (ao3) - incrediblytired

Summary: What's worse than having an unexpected GI bleed? Having an unexpected GI bleed on a derailed holiday in America.

Silver Arrows To The Heart (ao3) - evermorepeyton

Summary: Phil loves his life, he loves being a Mercedes Formula 1 driver and he loves being PJ’s teammate, friend and neighbor. He loves the routine he has going on. He lives in a perfect bubble.

But now that bubble is about to burst when the news that PJ is leaving Mercedes hit the tabloids. And worst of all, his replacement is Red Bull’s two-time world champion Daniel Howell, who has a reputation for having a little bit of an ego.

Phil isn’t exactly happy about this.

To put it lightly, he fucking hates it here.

take a picture, it'll last longer. (ao3) - eftychja

Summary: when new opportunities arise, you take them. no matter the cost, no matter the "what ifs". but when met with an attractive and obnoxious asshole, are you supposed to say no?

dan howell is a photographer for a luxury fashion brand + magazine, phil lester is their star and most prized model. however, he's sassy and not at all compatible to work with. when they start working together, what will come of it?

The Brackenwood Murders (ao3) - Mysticallykai

Summary: After nine murders of gay men in Brackenwood, detective Phil Lester is called in at last to help them catch the killer. Dan Howell is always eager to get a scoop for his blog, so he is often in Phil's way. What has the potential to be an easy enough case proves to be much more in depth than Phil expects, especially when feelings come into the equation.

The Death of Our Star (ao3) - queerbonafide

Summary: Dan Howell has always wanted to be an astronaut. As soon as he graduated, the strange message from the deep space has arrived. As one of the most talented pilots of his generations, he's been chosen to this two-people mission with the purpose of finding out who exactly tried to communicate with them. The second person was Phil Lester, an incredible scientist with PhD in theoretical physics and amazing specialist in black holes.

The Rise of Susan (ao3) - ablonimous

Summary: An AU in which psychic Phil and his helper Dan find different versions of Susan to save the world.

Two birds on a wire (ao3) - EverythingIsAsItWas, solarpower21

Summary: Ever since they met as small children, Dan and Phil have been inseparable. But as they graduate secondary school, life moves them in opposite directions and feelings run high, threatening their relationship. Through the years, Dan and Phil orbit each other, never quite colliding, but getting ever so closer, and closer, and closer…

wait, is this fucking book about us? (ao3) - noxhsw

Summary: dan is a depressed lawyer, phil is a sad romance author. they meet when they're stranded at an airport, thinking they'll never see each other again. but when phil writes a book about their encounter, dan wants to meet him once more.

We don't talk about it (ao3) - Secret_rendezvous

Summary: There is sharing dick pics with your best friend then there is sending a picture of your own dick to said best friend.

Dan thought the implicit rule of not making it personal was obvious, but it seems Phil didn’t get the memo.

Or the one in which they’re obliviously more than best friends (but they don’t talk about it).

you (and all of us in this town) (ao3) - buskingalbatross

Summary: A traveler hears tales of a town's local legends

Your Mess is Mine (ao3) - castrotophic

Summary: Looking to get bred ?

Dan stared down at the message from where he stood in the middle of his kitchen, waiting for the coffee he was making to finish. The man was hot, Dan would give him that much, but that wasn't the part of the image that had caught his attention. He shook his head and messaged the guy back:

why are all of your cabinets open

#phanfictioncatalogue #phanfic #phan #phanfiction #dan and phil #masterlists #inprogresschaptered masterlist #inprogresschaptered

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dustedmagazine · 3 months ago

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Dust, Volume 10, Number 8

Orcas (not Oasis)

Welcome to our all-Oasis edition of Dust!

Just kidding. We slog through August bemused by the excitement over big ticket tours, though we will, if pressed, admit to a fondness for “Wonderwall,” a song often sung jubiliantly by someone we love on the way to track meets and XC ski practice and theater rehearsal years ago (though not as many years ago as it first emerged).

Anyway, we once again trawl the slush pile for the good stuff, opine briefly on its merits and share it with you. We’re sure you’ll find out what the Gallagher brothers are up to from other sources.

This month’s contributors included Bryon Hayes, Ian Mathers, Jonathan Shaw, Tim Clarke, Jennifer Kelly, Bill Meyer, Mason Jones and Christian Carey.

Ark Zead — Niptaktuk (Glacial Movements)

The Italian label Glacial Movements specializes in music that’s chilled, immense and slow, just like its namesake. Niptaktuk continues this icy throughline, offering a series of highly resonant, frost-tinged drone passages. The creator, of which no information is known, sourced these textures from gongs and singing bowls, stretching the frequencies into lengthy, subtly shifting tone clouds. They cleverly balance lighter shades against darker hues, layering pre-dawn shimmer over sub-sonic bass pulses. The delicate patter of scraped and stroked metal adds a sense of the real to these otherwise uncanny soundscapes. Ark Zead drew influence from the cold northern Canadian winter when they created these sounds, yet the experience of listening doesn’t evoke frostbite or blinding blizzards. Instead Niptaktuk, which is an Inuit word that implies oncoming clear skies, is a remedy against frostiness, a kernel of warmth that seeks to melt the winter ice.

Bryon Hayes

The Body & Dis Fig — Orchards of a Futile Heaven (Thrill Jockey)

At this point, at least going by actual releases, surely there are no greater collaborators in heavy music (in all its forms) than The Body. In addition to their stellar work as “just” a duo, Chip King and Lee Buford have at this point collaborated with a real murderers’ row of bands and artists, and those albums absolutely refuse to stick to any particular formula. That they’d work with Dis Fig (aka Felicia Chen), who’s made an excellent, emotionally/sonically challenging record called Purge and sang on a full length by The Bug, makes perfect sense. The result, as with many “The Body &” LPs, is so seamlessly satisfying you’d think this was everyone involved’s main gig. The thunderous drums, harsh noise, and King’s peerless shrieks are all present, and Chen gives a hell of a lead vocal performance to centre it all. The closing one-two punch of “Coils of Kaa”/“Back to the Water” is one of the best endings any 2024 is going to get, Chen wailing in rage and despair as the music collapses buildings around her.

Ian Mathers

Demiser — Slave to the Scythe (Blacklight Media/Metal Blade)

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Retrograde throwback thrash isn’t exactly a growth area in metal, or a particularly enlightened undertaking, culturally speaking. But dudes in denim and bullet-lined bandoliers don’t make records like Slave to the Scythe because they foresee mass-market opportunity or stadiums full of fans in the immediate future. Mostly they don’t see much future at all. Demiser seems to share those perspectives — live fast, die faster, have as much fun as possible in the brief and weird interregnum. Is Slave to the Scythe fun? Depends on your sense of humor, and your tolerance for metal’s more reductive shenanigans. The fellows in the band have given themselves stage names like Gravepisser (he plays guitar) and Infestor (he drums), and they have supplied us with the sublime song title “Hell Is Full of Fire”; no points for innovation, but maximum points for unconquerably up-for-it idiocy. Motörhead seems as significant to Demiser as early Exodus and Kreator (especially the genius of Pleasure to Kill). Sort of nice to hear a thrash record that’s more interested in the riffs than the solos. Sort of fun to play this record really, really loud. Sort of certain that doing so results in becoming materially stupider. That’s okay — it makes that aforementioned lack of a viable future a little less awful to contemplate.

Jonathan Shaw

Dummy — Free Energy (Trouble In Mind)

Dummy’s debut, Mandatory Enjoyment, lived up to its title; it was a record difficult not to appreciate. In her Dusted review, Jennifer Kelly praised it as “a listening experience that simultaneously braces and soothes, agitates and lulls.” Dummy’s second album, Free Energy,has a similar appeal, but knocks this listener off balance with its bizarre fixation on dated drum machines and backwards sounds that bring to mind the baggy indie-dance of the 1990s. You know the stuff: Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine, Jesus Jones, Pop Will Eat Itself. There are some great songs here, such as “Nine Clean Nails,” but you have dig around amongst the misfires to find them. Dummy still have an ear for a good tune, so you can forgive their more questionable aesthetic decision-making.

Tim Clarke

“Father” John Misty — Greatish Hits: I Followed My Dreams and My Dreams Said to Crawl (Sub Pop)

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With streaming supplying abundant amounts of playlists, one might reasonably ask why a greatest hits compilation would be useful. Curation instead of algorithms. “Father” John Misty’s Greatish Hits presents the high points in his catalog, beginning with early songs“Real Love Baby” (2016) and “Nancy from Now On” (2012). It is by no means a chronological survey, nor is it front-loaded like so many collections and playlists. The popular “I Love You Honeybear” (2015) is saved for the penultimate track. The finale, “I Guess Time Just Makes Fools of Us All,” is new. At eight and a half minutes long, it stretches out with saxophone, bongo, and electric piano solos interspersing bluesy pop vocals. Worth the wait - don’t skip ahead!

Christian Carey

Ben Felton A Lot (Island House)

Ben Felton lets the drones linger, layering sounds on top of sounds, like primary-toned transparencies on an overhead projector. You can spend this album watching the colors these tones make when the light shines through them, hitting one, two, three or more guitar/synth textures before getting to the other side. Complex yes, but peaceful, drowsy almost. One track called “A Foghorn or a Loudspeaker,” sounds like just that, an uneasy truce between natural serenity and amplified buzz and hiss. The space it lives in is large and echoey, a cathedral or, more likely, a vast underground cavern with water lapping at the walls. Occasionally, the electronic mode predominates as in the airy percolation of “What You Need.” Yet though the blippy motif is bright and uncorroded, it sits atop a woozy soup of tone; guitar notes crash in sporadically intimating a rustier, more industrial territory nearby. Felton comes from New York but now resides in more bucolic Carrboro, North Carolina. His soundscapes find a meeting place between folk-adjacent ambience and rougher, noisier music. The album gets more propulsive as it goes. Shaken-not-stirred “The Fifth Day,” turns a three-note upward lilting motif into something approaching rock anthemry. You can’t blame the sustained notes for hanging around. It’s nice here, and you want to stay.

Jennifer Kelly

Margarida Garcia And Manuel Mota—Domestic Scene (Feeding Tube)

Upright electric bassist Margarida Garcia and electric guitarist Manuel Mota are part of Lisbon, Portugal’s experimental/improvisational music scene and have worked together with and without the participation of others on seven records besides Domestic Scene over the past decade. It is their first LP to be released in the USA, and there’s something poetic about that fact, because it feels like an echo of the work of one American musician — Loren Connors, and more specifically, 21st century Connors in solo mode. It shares his sparseness, boiled-down lyricism and willingness to disappear into a haze of noise. Since Garcia has associated with him at times, there’s definitely a shared aesthetic. However, these are not young copycats. Mota’s spare progressions proceed according to a different logic, purged of blues and baroque elements, guided by a north star of sequential consonance that adds up to quiet dissonance. And Garcia’s subdued, bow-born cries have an ability to compound, making the music thick with atmosphere, but still stingy with note counts. Play it late.

Bill Meyer

Geneva Jacuzzi — Triple Fire (Dais)

Geneva has been making bedroom synth pop for years. On Triple Fire (named after her astrological sign), the production values tick upward, and several of the songs are club ready. “Laps of Luxury” is a case in point, with Geneva’s dulcet singing abetted by backing vocals, early digital synth sonics, and mechanized beats. “Scena Ballerina” recalls her early bedroom pop, with a taut riff and harmonic swerves. Trebly synths and out of the box percussion underscore an emotive vocal on “Take it or Leave it.” Geneva’s speechsong in “Art is Dangerous” and “Speed of Light” recalls Laurie Anderson’s 1980s work, while “Heart of Poison” has an art rock ambience that incorporates tenor saxophone and is rife with shimmering synths. “Rock and a Hard Place” is an aggressive example of dark wave electronica. The closer, “Yo-yo Boy” is an anthemic piece of minimal synth-pop that reminds listeners of Geneva’s roots while presenting memorable tunefulness.

Christian Carey

Katatonic Silentio — Axis Of Light (Midnight Shift)

Axis Of Light by Katatonic Silentio

Italy-based Mariachiara Troianiello is a long-time DJ, and independent audio and ethnomusicology researcher at the University of San Marino. She also creates electronic music under the name Katatonic Silentio, and on Axis of Light explores a spatial dub, filled with palpating beats and flickering synthesizer sounds. The five tracks on this EP are all based on rhythmic frameworks that skitter and thud with a dark, night-time vibe for the most part. As the title indicates, opener “Drip in the Cave” is indeed subterranean in nature, with rubbery pads and liquid drums reverberating in tactile space. “Bridging the Gap” is lighter and bouncier, bubbling at a fast tempo and filled with electronic hoots and blips. The other pieces mix slow with fast, and machine-like rhythms with heartbeat-like pulses, all swirling in a warehouse ambience populated by ghostly static, quiet bells, or spooky, whistling tones. It’s all a neat combination of machine world and organic atmosphere, like a science-fiction world populated by real, messy people.

Mason Jones

Nicole Marxen — Thorns (Self-Release)

youtube

Nicole Marxen puts an eerie shimmer over rough crescendos of metallic noise, keening in the ghostliest, most disembodied way amidst vibrating slabs of guitar sound. “Thorns,” the album’s spiritual center, floats a chilly line of vocal melody—think Beth Gibbons or Chelsea Wolfe—over a machine-like industrial beat. Fragility blooms in an apocalyptic afterworld. “The Executioner” is heavier, more ominous, slithering to life out of the flickering buzz of downed powerlines. A stolid march emerges soon, swaggering with drums, swelling with amp-frying volume. Marxen presides like a high priestess, unperturbed amid flares, fills and violence. Like Jarboe astride a Justin Broadrick wall of noise, she stakes her claim, with operatic trills and whispered confidences. Dramatic, large-scale stuff.

Jennifer Kelly

Magda Mayas’ Filamental — Ritual Mechanics (Relative Pitch)

Keyboardist Magda Mayas’ music has often evidenced expansive thinking, but it took the resources of a festival to first bring her large group Filamental together. Once convened, she took full advantage of her octet’s assembled potentialities for imagination and sound. Having had one such experience, Mayas wasn’t going to wait for a festival to marshal such a breadth of mindpower and material again, nor was she going to let the impediments to travel and gathering imposed by a world pandemic get in the way. So, she sent out an invitation to an invitation to Filamental’s members and turned their gathered input into two pieces that run a bout 20 minutes in length. Each sets small, contrasting gestures dancing atop a consonant surface of elongated, layered sonorities. Ritual Mechanics is not so much a drone piece as an expression of continuous, focused action, richly detailed and consistently focused.

Bill Meyer

Rob Mazurek — Milan (Clean Feed)

Rob Mazurek has been recording for nearly three decades and performing much longer. His methods encompass composition and improvisation using brass, electronics, voice, and other instruments. In any body of work so broad, there are themes, some more dominant than others. Milan is a successor to Rome, which together comprise a smaller trend that involves recording solo performances in Italian radio studios with nice pianos. Recorded nine years apart, they offer a measure of how Mazurek’s work has changed in that time. Instead of cornet, he plays concert and piccolo trumpets; sternly ceremonial vocalizing and fistfuls of percussion dropped purposefully into the piano assert a more explicitly ritual intent. And, perhaps reflecting the amount of work that Mazurek has done with Damon Locks of late, the electronics now include playback options, so that vocal and instrumental samples (Is that Sun Ra I hear in there? And maybe some Ocora ethnic recordings?) as well as beat patterns muscle their way through the sizzle and smash of the prepared piano. Explicitly conceived as a journey, it’s quite a trip. Mazurek’s ensemble work can be pretty widescreen, but Milan reminds us that he can be epic on his own.

Bill Meyer

Nadja — Jumper (momentarily records)

Out of the many, many records put out by ambient and/or doom metal duo Nadja, it’s truly rare to find one that doesn’t feature Aidan Baker’s guitar in one form or another. But on Jumper, originally released as a bit of an art object on cassette (the online cover art is a look at the contraption that the tape comes in), he restricts himself not just to their drum machine but to layering and processing one particular pattern from it. Leah Buckereff provides bass, a more typical entry in the credits of their release, but here the way the slowly accreting digital noise plays over and around its pulses and feedback gives the whole album a very distinct feeling. Despite the use of drum machine there’s almost no rhythm to the whole hour here (until a surprise right at the end that catches me off guard every time), instead the effect is one of meditative harshness. The result is absolutely industrial, like a factory that’s weirdly compelling to listen to.

Ian Mathers

Orcas — How to Color a Thousand Mistakes (Morr Music)

Orcas — Rafael Anton Irisarri and Benoît Pioulard — haven’t recorded together in a decade, but they have been abundantly busy with their own projects. How to Color a Thousand Mistakes is consistent with past Orcas recordings and also reflects the music they have made in the interim. “Wrong Way to Fall” stands out in both regards, with Pioulard’s husky vocals over shimmering electric guitar solos, synth riffs and minimally complicated, but driving, drums. “Riptide” is populated by a number of different synth parts against a terse countermelody in the guitar. “Swells” has a strong vocal performance, while vibrato and pitch bends in the synths and economical guitar parts make for a memorable arrangement. “Fare” covers all the bases, with Pioulard’s voice double-tracked in a soaring chorus alongside mellifluous electronics, emphatic guitars, and plenty of drum fills. The recording’s closer, “Umbra,” has an extended introduction with a bass melody and warm synths. Then tangy dissonance and glissandos abound in both voice and instruments. It epitomizes the atmospheric textures that Orcas seem able to summon at will.

Christian Carey

Oxygen Destroyer — Guardian of the Universe (Redefining Darkness)

Guardian of the Universe by Oxygen Destroyer

Guardian of the Universe is another slab of monster-movie-themed, death-metal-inflected thrash from Oxygen Destroyer. The Seattle-based band’s previous LP, Sinister Monstrosities Spawned by the Unfathomable Ignorance of Mankind (2021), expanded their long-standing kaiju theme to include colossal beasts from outside the canon of the Tojo Studios Godzilla movies. The new record shifts tactics, focusing exclusively on Gamera and the giant turtle’s films for one of Tojo’s competitors, Daiei Films. It’s hard to know how much the record will appeal to listeners for whom those inside-baseball kaiju references mean little to nothing. But if you’re down for songs that attempt to replicate the absurd pleasures of Gamera in flight — head and limbs retracted into its massive shell, which then spins and shoots sheets of sparks from the holes, natch — this may be the record for you. Guardian of the Universe is non-stop fireworks: crazy, thrashy riffs; maniacal flat-out sprints; dive-bombing guitar solos. Should we take any of it seriously? This reviewer won’t hold forth (again) on the cultural stakes of post-war kaiju films. If you know, you know. And mostly what matters here is the band’s complete conviction and the joys of the music’s excesses. In these dog days of summer, it’s exactly what some of us need.

Jonathan Shaw

Peel Dream Magazine — Rose Main Reading Room (Topshelf)

Rose Main Reading Room by Peel Dream Magazine

It’s been four years since I’ve checked in on Peel Dream Magazine, whose second album Agitpop Alterna I described in my Dust review as “just like early Stereolab, with occasional blasts of shoe-gazey guitar thrown in for good measure.” I missed PDM’s third album Pad, so this brings us to album number four, Rose Main Reading Room. There’s still plenty of Stereolab in the mix, especially in the Mary Hansen-style backing vocals, the Farfisa, and the squelchy synth sounds (see “Oblast”). But here there’s more of a lean towards the baroque pop of Sufjan Stevens circa Illinois, mainly thanks to the chunky glimmer of vibraphone and the spiraling flute lines, which really brighten up proceedings. This balance between droning indie-rock and tuneful pop is very pretty, with sufficient musical complexity to invite rewarding repeat listens.

Tim Clarke

Plastic Bubble — Circular Breathing EP (Garden Gate/Moon Control)

The Circular Breathing EP by Plastic Bubble

Here’s a slab of happy, giddy, psychedelic garage rock which, except for the 2024 release date, wouldn’t be out of place in the Elephant Six universe. Lexington, KY’s Matt Taylor and Elisa McCabe are the chief blowers of bubbles, spinning out rough but iridescent songs like “Recontextualize,” where a guitar vamp grinds but vocals drift in pop ideality, “ah, ah, ah,” indeed. A classic indie boy-girl vibe permeates these five songs, with McCabe especially fetching in “Bright Morning.” “Forever” pulls back on the guitar roar to uncover a jaunty, girl-group bounce, with sweet counterparts and harmonies weaving in and around McCabe’s part. The set closes with a banger, part Who, part Fountains of Wayne, and all the way infectious, “Anything and Everything.”

Jennifer Kelly

SUUNS — The Breaks (Joyful Noise)

The Breaks by SUUNS

Elusiveness characterized SUUNS’ last album, 2021’s The Witness. As I noted in my Dusted review, “There’s no denying that its elusive character is part of its charm, but there are stretches where it feels more evasive than elusive, stubbornly refusing to engage more directly.” On their new album, The Breaks, the Montreal band are more direct in terms of the sounds they’re employing, but more evasive when it comes to songwriting. The majority of contemporary pop music is based around heavily effected vocal melodies and beats, which The Breaks seems to take as a cue towards similar immediacy. However, aside from the title track, the nagging piano of “Road Signs and Meanings,” and the loping stomp of opener “Vanishing Point,” this record is a tough nut to crack.

Tim Clarke

Tatsongs — Bushcraft (Self-Release)

Bushcraft by tat songs

Tatsongs are neither tat, nor really songs. The former implies fussy decoration, and these long, glacially evolving pieces seem as raw and elemental as rock formations. You can almost hear an icy wind blowing through their sheered off contours. The latter argues for a Pavlov’s buzzer of pleasing tone arrangements, and Tatsongs’ Tom Sadler is really not concerned whether you can guess then next 10 seconds of his compositions from the preceding 20. But even so, there’s something to be said for looming, sheeny layers of guitar and synth sounds that carve space and time into epic, barren landscapes. Tones vibrate in and out of true, zooming close and fading back, twitching in rhythm and coalescing in static fuzzed drones. Not a song in the bunch, nor much embroidery, but powerful stuff nonetheless.

Jennifer Kelly

TELESTIALVISIONS — Taurus in a Field (Island House)

Taurus in a Field by TELESTIALVISION

As Dittocrush, Pittsburgh resident Trevor D. Crush assembles tape loops into ambient symphonies. He often adds layers of live instrumentation from other musicians, such as Island House associate Chaz Prymek (Lake Mary, Fuubutsushi) and guitarist Ryan Fedor. TELESTIALVISIONS is his latest project, a tag team with New York guitarist Brinton Jones. The pair offer up a frothy brew that tastes rich and complex. Their debut Taurus in a Field is a pair of woozy collages that, while undeniably loose, are sharp in focus when compared to Dittocrush’s ghostly soundscapes. Crush’s tapes construct tangible shapes that intersect in a variety of patterns, while Jones unveils angelic melodies with his guitar. These two are telling a story that’s more Borges than Burroughs, a fantastical tale that defies conventional logic but manages to meander toward a graspable conclusion.

Bryon Hayes

Tycho — Infinite Health (Ninja Tune)

Infinite Health by Tycho

Tycho is Scott Hansen, and Scott Hansen is a designer. You can hear Hansen’s day job in Tycho’s music: the clean lines, the smart use of space, the sheer digestibility of it all. But should music go down quite this easy? Listening to Infinite Health feels a little bit like you’re at a trendy gym, playing a bit-part in an advert, or hitting up a bar packed with influencers. The common denominator is wanting to feel seen; everything plays a part in attracting attention. The synths sound like Boards of Canada, some of the funkier electro-pop moments sound like Daft Punk, and there’s an expensive sheen over everything. It’s hard to deny it’s appealing, but it also feels like experiencing capitalist obsolescence in real time.

Tim Clarke

White Collar—S/T (Static Shock)

White Collar by White Collar

Listeners with a long memory for North American hardcore might flash on those mid-1980s records by White Flag when listening to this new release from White Collar. Like that earlier Inland Empire band, White Collar frequently turns its critical gaze and its caustic smart-assery on the contemporary cultural climate of punk and politics as lifestyle (and your reviewer uses that odious term advisedly here). Songs like “Compassion Fatigue” and “Petition Signer” snarl at and spit on liberalism’s excesses of self-righteous smugness, to often hilarious effect. There’s a puritanical element to Gen Z’s dispositions and discourse that White Collar finds deeply irritating — not that the band is against strong ethico-political speech; check out “Meat Market” and “Equal Wrongs.” This is not the space for sustained analysis of Gen Z punk, and the extent to which we may want some sort of political purity from punk in the first place. But certainly, it’s an intrinsic good for punk to have snotty, disputatious and nasty voices in the mix. White Collar’s songs are short and sharp, and vocalist Loosey C’s performance is memorably unpleasant. Snarl on, punks.

Jonathan Shaw

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ritchiepage2001newaccount · 3 months ago

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Project2025 #CorpMedia #Oligarchs #MegaBanks vs #Union #Occupy #NoDAPL #BLM #SDF #DACA #MeToo #Humanity #FeelTheBern

JinJiyanAzadi #BijiRojava Portrait of Cihan Shekh Ahmed @cihan_shekh

, Spokeswoman of #SDF #Raqqa operation, former Nusra (Al Qaeda) prisoner. [UPDATES]

RELATED: Welcome to Raqqa

RELATED UPDATE: SDF Begins Raqqa Offensive, Progress Continues in Mosul

RELATED UPDATE: Syrian Democratic Forces Make Gains in Raqqa Against ISIS

RELATED UPDATE: WATCH Raqqa: IS 'capital' falls to US-backed Syrian forces

RELATED UPDATE: WATCH Thousands celebrate 18th Zîlan Kurdish women’s festival

RELATED UPDATE: Internationalist Commune releases a series of videos about the Rojava Revolution

RELATED UPDATE: SDF captures an ISIS member near Raqqa

RELATED UPDATE: 12 years ago, the Rojava Revolution

FURTHER READING:

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script-a-world · 4 months ago

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Submitted via Google Form, Follow Up:

Some clarifications about the various human races question. (https://scriptaworld.wordpress.com/2024/04/01/submitted-via-google-form-where-do-various-human-races-come-from-when-building-a-sci-fi-story/) First of all, my story is sci-fi mainly because it takes place over a dozen planets over multiple solar systems in a universe I've created from scratch. All the humanoid species started from the same ancestors and spread over the universe in the distant past due to outside interference and had parallel evolution. But the creation of racial traits is microevolution due to local environment unchanging and people not mingling. How do I build all these various things across planets. On earth, we know how race evolved and where people have been and are still discovering connections. But I'm creating entirely new planets and new but habitable terrain. So.. microevolution will likely not be the same across different planets. How can I create such variations? How similar will these microevolutions on different planets? How do I make the terrain and microevolution match up with history on those particular planets? Racial dynamics are even more fluid and are not caused by evolution at all, it's just society itself. Also because the history will be completely different than real life... that will completely change what kind of racial dynamics that might be possible. Such variations will however, be rather important for identification however... race also the the result of how to give these variations names that will help distinguish someone from others. Regardless of any solving of societal issues arising from such tension, when people share or don't share microevolution traits - it is a distinguisher.

Tex: People on Earth look like people from Earth. Presumably people from Venus will look like they’re from Venus, so on and so forth. No matter how large a planet is - and planets are very, very large - there will still be baseline environmental factors at play, such as a planet’s magnetosphere and atmospheric gas composition. There might be a few degrees difference in particular nice environments, but it’s not generally large enough to produce entirely different species unless you’re keen on segregation.

To pull from my extant example, would someone from southern Venus look noticeable different from someone on northern Venus? What about a Venusian living at a higher elevation than another Venusian living at a lower elevation? This would likely introduce some genetic drifts if the societies in different areas only reproduced with their neighbors, yes? Would they all still be people from Venus? Also yes. From an outside perspective, you would likely be able to distinguish the commonalities that make it a singular race.

Addy: If you’re looking at microevolution, I’d say to look at Earth for some ideas. Extreme changes, like gills or tails, probably won’t happen - they’d take significant amounts of restructuring in the body to get to that point. But smaller changes are totally doable. Maybe some people can hold their breath underwater for significant periods of time due to enlarged spleens* and changes in their blood. Maybe you’ve got people adapted to planets with thinner atmospheres, with traits like what you’d find in high-altitude populations – more nitric oxide in the blood, better energy reserve molecules, more efficient red blood cells, and/or more efficient lungs (such as IRL Sherpas or Andean people). Gravity/climate differences - how do heights vary? Maybe some people are average tall (like Danish people, who average ~5'6" for women and ~5'11" for men) or average short (like Himalayan people, who average ~5' for women and ~5'4" for men). Arm length, general disorders (thalassemia, for example, helps provide resistance to malaria), muscle insertion (tradeoff between strength and finesse)... you’ve got a lot of flexibility for different traits.

* While the IRL Bajau people can hold their breath impressively long (3-5 minutes), there’s a common figure floating around that claims 13 minutes. One of the men being interviewed claimed he could hold his breath for up to that long in his youth, but I have seen no confirmation of anything like that.

If you’re looking for ideas on how to get terrains and traits for those terrains, think about the problems that could arise from a given environment. Lower gravity means thinner atmosphere, for one, but also means less pressure on joints and fewer demands on bone and cartilage. Dark vs bright planet, how do eyes change for that (blue-eyed people actually have better night vision than dark-eyed people, but can have light sensitivity issues during the day)? Humidity, climate, all kinds of things. Play around with it.

And racial dynamics… don’t forget that things as simple as accents can absolutely change how people perceive in-group vs out-group behavior.

#google submitted #follow up reply #races #sci fi #species

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spn-fanfic-reblog-writes · 4 months ago

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(Updated 2024-07-27)

✍️ Writing Resources 📝

This will be updated as I come across more, and will add titles or brief descriptions as I can.

Interesting perspective on Aromantics and Asexuals when it come to relationships https://www.tumblr.com/spn-fanfic-reblog-writes/753560136453324800/crypt

Reverse Trope Writing Prompts https://www.tumblr.com/out-of-jams/747204416306806784/reverse-trope-writing-prompts

how to write and research mental illness: https://www.tumblr.com/hayatheauthor/712950945678524416/how-to-write-and-research-mental-illnesses

@littlewhispersofsolitude ‘s OTP Prompts: Gestures/Phrases of Appreciation

OTP Prompts: Physical Affection

OTP Prompts: Failing to Hide Mental Break https://www.tumblr.com/spn-fanfic-reblog-writes/757122490700070912/this-might-be-too-specific-but-could-i-ask-for-a

OTP Prompts: Long Distance Relationships https://www.tumblr.com/littlewhispersofsolitude/715822104469274624/otp-prompts-long-distance-relationships

OTP Prompts: Vulnerability https://www.tumblr.com/littlewhispersofsolitude/718070826712416256/otp-prompts-fighting

OTP Prompts: Height differences https://www.tumblr.com/littlewhispersofsolitude/718171652079419392/otp-prompts-height-differences

OTP Prompts: Kisses https://www.tumblr.com/littlewhispersofsolitude/718826612085358593/otp-prompts-kisses

OTP Prompts: Smut https://www.tumblr.com/littlewhispersofsolitude/720154490097041408/otp-prompts-sex

OTP Prompts: Road Trips https://www.tumblr.com/littlewhispersofsolitude/721993031725776896/otp-prompts-road-trips

OTP prompts: Arguments https://www.tumblr.com/littlewhispersofsolitude/722455459125133312/otp-prompts-arguments

OTP Prompts: Touch Starvation https://www.tumblr.com/littlewhispersofsolitude/733580783585017856/otp-prompts-touch-starvation

OTP Prompts: Relationship Progression https://www.tumblr.com/littlewhispersofsolitude/730951252628881408/otp-prompts

Dean Winchester Whump List, Season 1-14

Different Writing Prompts

https://www.tumblr.com/spn-fanfic-reblog-writes/731980344484560896/saving-for-later

https://www.tumblr.com/creativepromptsforwriting/731891013263736832

@creativepromptsforwriting ‘s how to write a story

@creativepromptsforwriting ‘s Master Prompt list

https://www.tumblr.com/spn-fanfic-reblog-writes/753917743487762432

What is Whump

Other Writing Resources https://www.tumblr.com/spn-fanfic-reblog-writes/753629611597905920/writing-resource-spnfanficpond-fanficocean

https://www.tumblr.com/spn-fanfic-reblog-writes/753549049600344064/avian-misdemeanors-meinenaffenhosen

https://www.tumblr.com/spn-fanfic-reblog-writes/753029417271443456/oh-the-things-thank-you-so-much

https://www.tumblr.com/spn-fanfic-reblog-writes/752938530623438848/im-saving-this-to-read-later-when-i-have-time

https://www.tumblr.com/spn-fanfic-reblog-writes/752680835449257984/oooo-like-a-challenge-almost

https://www.tumblr.com/spn-fanfic-reblog-writes/752503082307518464

Dean Winchester https://www.tumblr.com/spn-fanfic-reblog-writes/752318883861610496/masochism-is-another-he-likes-to-be-slapped

Inspiration and snippets from Mark Rosenfelder https://www.tumblr.com/spn-fanfic-reblog-writes/751460464981082112/now-that-it-writer-inspiration-spnfanficpond

5 things your characters can’t do while speaking

Common mistakes in writing https://www.tumblr.com/spn-fanfic-reblog-writes/751386389803909120/good-stuff-guys-i-edit-professionally-this-list

https://www.tumblr.com/spn-fanfic-reblog-writes/751322758361825280/spnfanficpond-fanficocean

https://www.tumblr.com/spn-fanfic-reblog-writes/750996846602829824/spnfanficpond-fanficocean

https://www.tumblr.com/spn-fanfic-reblog-writes/750995529984606208/spnfanficpond-fanficocean

https://www.tumblr.com/spn-fanfic-reblog-writes/750644246754754560/i-love-science

SPN Cosmos

https://www.tumblr.com/spn-fanfic-reblog-writes/750024063023480833/northern-sparrow-all-right-i-was-forced-to

https://www.tumblr.com/spn-fanfic-reblog-writes/748584348899475456/i-never-thought-of-it-that-way-i-wonder-how-it

https://www.tumblr.com/spn-fanfic-reblog-writes/748196584402173952

https://www.tumblr.com/spn-fanfic-reblog-writes/747701241413566464/lovetheirloves-so-you-want-to-write-about-the

https://www.tumblr.com/spn-fanfic-reblog-writes/747701067072094208/i-mean-when-i-say-he-plays-the-most-accurate

https://www.tumblr.com/spn-fanfic-reblog-writes/747700722569723904/waywardfanficwriter-superlology-safiyabat

https://spn-fanfic-reblog-writes.tumblr.com/post/747563875375972352/silvergryphonart-riptidepublishing

https://spn-fanfic-reblog-writes.tumblr.com/post/747419977899032576/this-is-so-spot-on

https://spn-fanfic-reblog-writes.tumblr.com/post/747402328562368512

Side Note to Fanfic Authors

Spn Headcanon https://spn-fanfic-reblog-writes.tumblr.com/post/742865604003971072/headcanon-accepted

Omega verse worldbuilding tools

https://spn-fanfic-reblog-writes.tumblr.com/post/739528032588611584/this-has-saved-me-so-many-headaches-because-i-can

https://spn-fanfic-reblog-writes.tumblr.com/post/739094601922740225

https://spn-fanfic-reblog-writes.tumblr.com/post/739094567645757440

https://spn-fanfic-reblog-writes.tumblr.com/post/738982483727728640

Fanfic Writers https://spn-fanfic-reblog-writes.tumblr.com/post/734251608704172032/i-feel-this-is-important-for-fic-writers

https://spn-fanfic-reblog-writes.tumblr.com/post/745146140066004992/spnfanficpond-thought-you-might-wanna-see?is_related_post=1

https://spn-fanfic-reblog-writes.tumblr.com/post/726762546062835712/spnfanficpond?is_related_post=1

https://spn-fanfic-reblog-writes.tumblr.com/post/714912936095875072/spnfanficpond?is_related_post=1

https://spn-fanfic-reblog-writes.tumblr.com/post/731534063386689536/reblog?is_related_post=1

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18TkgdoWKxpPxrs2E5-7CPtkA5zJEu15aCaesfLKQzgQ/edit?usp=sharing

A Master Prompt List https://spn-fanfic-reblog-writes.tumblr.com/post/732570661708578816/master-prompt-list

How to write a story

Tips on writing ASL

https://spn-fanfic-reblog-writes.tumblr.com/post/732386244195237888/yes-awesome-spnfanficpond

How not to write smut

Over 600 dialogue prompts without a cut

https://spn-fanfic-reblog-writes.tumblr.com/post/731980344484560896/saving-for-later

https://spn-fanfic-reblog-writes.tumblr.com/post/729487681253408768

@cevansbaby-dove ‘s https://www.tumblr.com/cevansbaby-dove/754007306214260736

@falloutcoys ‘ reasons not to kiss him

A viewpoint on RPFs

@deancrowleycas Season 1 Known Aliases and References https://www.tumblr.com/deancrowleycas/132286561719/supernatural-known-aliases

Archive Of Our Own Helpful Resources

How to comment on ao3 stories

How to lock all your ao3 works at once

Ideas on how to make a profile that can be used for ao3

A Lesson Learned on Tumblr

#writerblr #writeblr #writing prompts #prose help #different writing perspectives for lgbt+#supernatural #spn #spn headcanon #sign language #body types #writing point of views #writing tips

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magickfromscratch · 8 months ago

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According to the article (3/18/2024):

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to send a team of Israeli officials to Washington.

Each side is looking to make “clear to the other its perspective,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said.

The disagreement between Biden and Netanyahu is over the food crisis in Gaza and Israel’s conduct during the war, according to the White House.

The White House is skeptical of Netanyahu’s plan to carry out an operation in the southern city of Rafah, where about 1.5 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering.

Biden has once again urged Netanyahu not to carry out a Rafah operation.

U.S. officials will lay out “an alternative approach that would target key Hamas elements in Rafah and secure the Egypt-Gaza border without a major ground invasion.”

“The president has rejected, and did again today, the straw man that raising questions about Rafah is the same as raising questions about defeating Hamas,” Sullivan said. “That’s just nonsense. Our position is that Hamas should not be allowed a safe haven in Rafah or anywhere else, but a major ground operation there would be a mistake. It would lead to more innocent civilian deaths, worsen the already dire humanitarian crisis, deepen the anarchy in Gaza and further isolate Israel internationally.”

Israel has yet to present a credible plan to ensure the safety of innocent Palestinian civilians., according to White House officials.

Biden administration officials have warned that they would not support the operation in Rafah as presently constituted.

A new report warned that “famine is imminent” in northern Gaza, where 70% of the remaining population is experiencing catastrophic hunger, and that a further escalation of the war could push around half of Gaza’s population to the brink of starvation. The report came from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a partnership of more than a dozen governments, U.N. aid and other agencies that determines the severity of food crises.

Netanyahu lashed out against the American criticism on Sunday, describing calls for a new election as “wholly inappropriate.”

Biden after his State of the Union address earlier this month was caught on a hot mic telling a Democratic ally that he has told Netanyahu they would have a “come to Jesus” meeting over the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. His frustration with Netanyahu’s prosecution of the war was also on display in a recent MSNBC interview, in which he asserted Netanyahu was “hurting Israel.”

Israel's actions in Gaza have been described as one of the deadliest and most destructive military campaigns in recent history. The war has killed over 31,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Around 80% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million have fled their homes, and a quarter of the population faces starvation.

#gaza #palestine #israel

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laoih · 9 months ago

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Avatar: The Last Airbender (2024)

Another version of Bumi & why I like him

Let me preface this with the disclaimer that I'm fully aware that Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender has its flaws. But for me personally, the things it does well are fare more interesting, and so I would like to explain why I like how they changed Bumi as a character within the story of the live action adaptation. I'm bad at keeping it short, so this turned out a rather long post – my apologies. Also: potential trigger warning for mentions of suicidal ideation.

The starting point: Bumi in the cartoon

Cartoon-Bumi in the original series is a character who is very much rooted in the original medium. He lends himself well to comedy, and his challenges for Aang teach Aang and the young audience about opening onself to new possibilities, to think outside the box, to approach obstacles from new perspectives. It's good advice, and Aang takes it to heart and implements it at times later on. The reunion between Aang and Bumi is also sweet, and all in all it's an enjoyable episode.

Aang's position from the live action angle

Now, if the same plot is moved to the live action series (LA), the tone of this storyline is automatically changed as well because we are now looking at it through the lense of the LA. The cartoon is aimed at a young audience and has a big focus on comedy, so we can easily ignore some aspects of the situation that now come more into focus in the adaptation:

Aang just recently has learned that all of his people, the Air Nomads, have been wiped out and he is the last airbender.

Aang also has leaned that as the Avatar it is his duty to restore balance to the world and to defeat the Firelord.

A 100 years old man is challenging a traumatized kid to solve some tasks while his friends are being threatend by death-by-growing-crystal.

As I said – in the cartoon it's fine to think of riding Koi fish as the first order of business, and it's fine to threaten the kids with death because nobody dies anyway. It's fine for the cartoon not to dwell on these things. But the live action series explicilty wants to pay attention to some of these aspects, propbably especially because the cartoon could only address them in very small doses. I'm not saying that the live action always does it well, but the intention is there and it's different to the cartoon.

Aang's trauma and Bumi's response

In the live action, Aang cannot easily put his loss or his responsibilities aside. He is mourning Gyatso and the Airbenders in basically every episode, he is shocked by what he sees of the war in Omashu, and the need to go to the Northern Water Tribe is much more urgent because of Kyoshi's warning.

Would or should Bumi as Aang's friend as he is in the cartoon really pretend he does not know Aang in the LA, and would or should he trick him into believing his friends are in danger of dying? Even if he thinks Aang needs to learn a lesson, is that the right time and the right way to do it? Coming from the perspective of the LA, to me it seems needlessly cruel to threaten Katara and Sokka with death and Aang with the possibility that his friends might die, all while Aang is still dealing with the loss of his people and the fact that he somehow has to save the Northern Water Tribe. I think Bumi would no seem like a nice person or a good friend even if he was copied 1:1 from the cartoon. To me, in this new context it wouldn't make much sense to treat Aang in such a way, just because he thinks that Aang needs to learn a lesson or because it's fun to mess with people.

Fitting Bumi in the new context

Bumi in the cartoon is the episode's obstacle that Aang needs to overcome. If Bumi is to stay an obstacle in the live action, he now needs to have a different reason or motivation to become such an obstacle. A cartoon Bumi who is neither bitter nor angry but rather wants to help and is happy to see Aang can no longer realistically be that obstacle. Rather, I would expect that a wise old man of a 100 years would be more open and supportive right from the start when he meets his young 12 year old friend who just learned that his whole family has been massacred.

So how and why would Bumi still be an obstacle? The writer's answer to that was: because he is no longer wise and friendly, but lethargic and bitter. Why is he bitter? Because he has lived through 100 years of war and had to make horrible choices that still haunt him, and each year the hope for the war and for the suffering to end became smaller and smaller. The Avatar may have been the representation of that hope when the war started – but 100 years later he has become the representation of all the times that Bumi was hopeful but eventually disappointed.

His opposition to Aang in the episode includes three main aspects:

I. Bitterness towards Aang and the Avatar: Bumi blames the Avatar for being absent because the Avatar should have been there to help and wasn't. This isn't a rational reaction though, it's born out of the loss and the bitterness in Bumi's life. It's also personal for him, because Aang was Bumi's friend, and as the Avatar could have helped but didn't. On top of that Bumi resents Aang's disbelief when it comes to Bumi's capacity to care – they are separated by 100 years of lived experience that Aang completely missed and Bumi had to endure. Of course in this case Bumi also ignores the loss that Aang recently (from his perception) has suffered.

→ With this the writers set up a character who is emotionally no longer able to support Aang or take Aang's own situation and problems into consideration. He is mentallypositioned to be an obstacle to Aang, to be inconsiderate, ruthless and actually dangerous.

II. A lesson to learn: Bumi intends to teach Aang a lesson to make him understand why he is the way he is now. He cannot speedrun the last 100 years for Aang, but can give him and example of what his own experience has been in the past and what forced him to stop caring: he shows him what it's been like in the past when you are forced to make impossible choices, and what – in Bumi's mind – awaits Aang in the future.

→ This provides a motivation for Bumi to fight against Aang in all seriousness. Bumi is not playing games, because this has been the harsh reality for him. It rises the dramaturgical stakes of the fight.

III. Losing the will to live: Bumi is tired after 100 years, and that becomes very apparent in the fight. It is a part of a larger theme in the LA that explores what war does to people. In Bumi's case it has made him numb because he wouldn't have been able to deal with the horrors of war otherwise all this time. That is why he does not move a hand when he is about to be crushed – it seems to be a relief, and if it can teach Aang the intended lesson: all the better.

→ With Aang already knowing who Bumi is, this rises the emotional stake of the fight. Aang no longer is fighting an unknown weird old man, he is fighting someone who he believes to be a friend, and even worse: his friend appears to be suicidal. Having to fight and protect Bumi at the same time puts Aang under a huge amount of pressure both emotionally and when it comes to his bending skills.

The resolution: fighting hopelessness with connection

Granted, the ending is not as well executed as it could be. But for me it still carries the intended idea – or at least the idea as I understood it:

War can isolate people. Bumi has been fighting a war, and surely has lost people close to him, or cannot see them because battle grounds have a habit of interrupting travel. We also know there have been spies in the city as well as rebells who are unhappy with Bumi's rule, so it's difficult to even trust the people who are supposed to fight on Bumi's side.

Aang is the counter to all of that: he was able travel to the city because he can fly and cross borders and distances more easily. He is also saved from the predicament that Bumi has put him in because his friends have independently found a way to reach them, and luckily in time.

When he pulls out the gift that Bumi had given him all these years ago, it's very symbolic: the sky bison whistle allows Aang to call upon his friend Appa. And Appa has already saved Aang in the first episode, and will do so again in the episode following Aang's and Bumi's fight.

It's a reminder that for people who have lost the will to live the best hope is the connection with other people. It may seem trivial to those who don't have to struggle in that way, but a reminder of a connection, of friendship, of support or even just shared struggle can be incredible powerful. That's why I believe it is believable for Bumi to give it one more try. After all, the return of the Avatar as a potential powerful ally is also a good motivation to fight back once more.

#natla #Netflix Avatar #netflix atla #Bumi #Avatar The Last Airbender #natla review #natla meta #avatar: the last airbender #trigger warning: mentions of suicidal ideation

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once-and-future-loser · 1 month ago

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My Fandom Informed Experience Attending the 2024 USGP in Austin TX

Hey! I just wanted to share my favorite experience at the 2024 USGP in Austin TX. My goal is to provide some tips and general information from a fandom perspective to those thinking about attending in the future! I've been to many comic cons, two Supernatural conventions, plenty of Ren faires, tons of baseball, soccer, hockey, basketball, football games as well as a number of horse races and concerts. So that's my background. Read if you want!

Thursday

So we flew into TX on the Thursday before. The airport and rental cars were a nightmare. Be sure to book ahead and separately (don't book the car through the airline) and confirm as much as you can by phone. (I'm a paranoid anxious traveler, but also with the UT vs. Georgia game the same weekend the greater Austin are probably increased in size by 400,000-500,000 people that weekend so…)

Anyway, we got to our Airbnb in a Northern suburban area and then took a train downtown (the returning train is at like 8 so might not be a good option for you, but I have a weird train thing). There was amazing BBQ and the downtown is decent, no Chicago or Nashville, but pretty cool. There were some pop-up F1 events (that we missed because my dad wanted to see the bats fly out of the bridge (they didn't come out that night)) that you should totally look into and try to go to. We checked out the music scene and bars and then called it a night. Not a lot of night life happens downtown till later, so wouldn't really recommend that kinda stuff, but if that's your thing definitely check it out!

Friday

Let's get into the good stuff. We bought our general admission and Lot R parking pass ahead of time. I highly recommend this, but it's a pretty long walk so be prepared for that reoccurring theme for the whole weekend. We got to the circuit around 8ish, took about 15-20 minutes to get parked and were inside the gates by around 9. When we got in there were a ton of experiences and stores and whatnot. I went straight to the fan stage because none of the driver interviews were advertised online. There was a schedule on the screens there. So it's very important to get there when the gates open to see the schedule and secure a spot to watch.

We then walked around to all the GA viewing spots just for fun. Early in the day Friday is the only time you'll be able to do this without waiting in significant lines to cross bridges or service roads. We watched FP from the area between T2 and T3 then SQ from T19. Great spots and some interesting people to meet. Merch is hella expensive, but ya gotta get something at the track just because. COTA Merch is much more reasonable than the F1 stuff. I also got a branded personalized cowboy hat with my initials and the shape of the circuit which was pretty cool!

We didn't stick around for Sting because we wanted to go to Academy Sports and Outdoors to buy some $6 fold up chairs. You need these for GA. Believe me. Sitting on the ground on dried up dusty Texas drought stricken grass sucked.

Saturday

We managed to sneak water into the track and some snacks as well which helped a lot because food was expensive. $20 a meal per person and $16 for a beer roughly. We also got the race radios from Amex with my card, although they seemed to give them to anyone really.

I insisted we get there as the gates were opening which is good because it got us front seats for the driver interviews. They were really cool but only about 10mins per team and then Hass and RBR shared a slot.

I knew going into it that I would not meet any important people and would not get much exposure to the drivers. So that realistic expectation was very helpful. It's a sporting event for hundreds of thousands of spectators after all and I'm a simple musician and office worker so I couldn't afford anything like paddock club passes. GA was under $500 which I thought provided A LOT of value. Money well spent. That being said, seeing the drivers IRL was still really really cool and fulfilling in a reasonably healthy way. Would a picture or handshake been cool like when I met Jared, and Jensen in Nashville at a SPN con? Yes. But that's NOT what kind of event this is, which I knew going into it. All that to say, if you want to go to meet a driver and engage in that kind of fan event, it's likely not realistic. But I love the sport as well so the race was my real reason for attending and talking with other fans was cool. I wouldn't bring up RPF if I was you…. But I could tell the amount of lore I knew about the drivers and their interconnected careers did raise some suspicion amongst those I talked to. But I'm paranoid. Mostly people (my dad mostly lol) were impressed with how much I knew about the actual racing.

Anyway. We watched the sprint and qualy in the shade in front of the T10 grandstands which was perfect to then get into the entrance for Eminem after (my dad wanted to see him, I couldn't have cared less). Then we left before he was done and beat all the traffic.

Sunday

We got to parking lots when they were supposed to open (note that they changed the traffic pattern that day so keep your wits about you. There's not much signage to help on Elroy Rd.) and they were already open and starting to fill. We wanted to sit at turn one which took us close to an hour to walk there. There's always a line to cross the track on the bridges. There's a tram but we never used it. That day they were randomly checking bags, but they didn't look in my backpack so not an issue for me and my food and water.

By the time we made it to Turn one it was already packed but we managed to get a decent spot. This was 8:30am.

The good News is there are a ton of other races going on during the day so you don't get too bored waiting seven hours for the actual race. Plus there's the drivers parade and the delight of getting to shout “boos” and curses at the rich fuckers getting hot laps and special track tours on semi trailers. So definitely worth getting there early.

Speaking of "boos", the only real ones I heard were for the rich people and the governor of Texas (for obvious reasons) there was some booing of Max, but not too much.

We also chatted with the people around us. Lots of Checo fans and the guy in front of me was a Max fan but was “tired of him winning all the time” and was wearing a Norris jersey. So. Hot take. Interesting people. But really fun to talk with. People get possessive of their spot so get to know those around you to secure yours and gain goodwill.

It's hot and sunny. Bring sunscreen.

The national anthem and fighter jet flyover is cool and had me feeling patriotic.

Then the race which was a religious experience to see in person. Seeing the pit stops even from afar and seeing the tires strategy. Watching the overtakes and shouting and cheer with other fans was just indescribable.

After Charles won we quickly made our way to get into the long line to watch the podium ceremony from the track. This is very cramped so he prepared.

The podium celebration was amazing and I took a few rocks from the gravel trap and rubber pebbles from the tires home as a souvenir. Probably not supposed to, but hey.

We saw all the cars being inspected in parc ferme which was cool and then walked around the track to exit at T19.

Traffic getting out was hell, but my dad wanted air conditioning, which was in the car. So…. I'd recommend doing something during that time like going up in the tower or doing other experiences or just hanging out. Let the traffic die down.

We flew out the next morning. TSA was packed and took some time so I advise getting there at least 3 hours early or more. I have precheck and it was still an ordeal.

So all around a fantastic weekend that I will cherish forever. My dad was even tolerable if not even enjoyable to be around, so the whole thing about fathers and their gay sons and Motorsports brings people together. Blah blah blah.

Anyway, if you have any questions feel free to drop an ask or send a DM. I plan on pretty much leaving Tumblr after this post, but I'll leave my email notifications on and I'll hopefully get back to you. If you want to see some pictures I took, search the tag OFL goes to Austin.

Hope this was informative!!

#f1 #max verstappen #carlos sainz #mv1 #daniel ricciardo #charles leclerc #cs55 #ofl goes to austin #travel #us gp 2024 #2024 us gp #scuderia ferrari #cota #circuit of the americas #formula 1 #red bull racing #mclaren #lando norris #oscar piastri

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offender42085 · 2 years ago

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Post 0505

Steve E Jones, Arizona inmate 341978, born 1997, incarceration intake in 2020, at age 23, scheduled for release 08/19/2024

Manslaughter, Aggravated Assault

Northern Arizona University gunman and former student Steven Jones was sentenced to six years in prison in 2020.

Jones, who acknowledged firing the shots that killed 20-year-old Colin Brough and injured three others Oct. 9, 2015, is required to serve a minimum of 85% of the sentence based on a plea agreement that was reached prior to the sentencing. Jones formally accepted a plea deal shortly after an agreement was reached by the defendant and prosecutors.

Jones was sentenced to six years on one count of manslaughter and also received five years each on three counts of aggravated assault. Jones was allowed to serve the sentences concurrently, which amounted to six total years in prison based on his longest sentence. Jones has 212 days of credit based on previous time served.

“As to count one, manslaughter, charge involving Colin Brough, you are hereby sentenced to six years,” Judge Dan Slayton said.

Both the plea deal and sentencing followed a mistrial in 2017.

The prosecution began with a five-minute body cam video of one of the victims, Nick Piring, on the night of the incident. In the footage, Piring is shown being treated for gunshot wounds while he pleads for police to save his roommate, Colin Brough.

“Save him, save him. Colin. He’s the one that was shot in the chest,” Piring said in the video.

Victim Kyle Zientek described the shooting from his perspective. Jones approached from a parking lot equipped with a handgun, mounted with a flashlight. Zientek said he and his friends first thought it was a police officer. Then, Jones began to fire in rapid succession.

Zientek was shot twice in the back. His friends, Piring and Nick Prato, were also shot. Piring sustained injuries to his shoulder and hip and Prato sustained an injury to his neck.

Prato was not present. Prosecution attorney Lou Diesel read a letter on his behalf. Prato did not want to be involved or in the presence of Jones, the letter stated. Colin Brough, who was shot in the chest, died at the scene.

Colin Brough’s injuries included a perforated lung, vena cava and aorta. Both shots struck his front side, and a medical examiner’s report indicates that he was leaning forward at the time of being shot.

“I wanted to speak to you today because I felt like I owed it to Colin,” Zientek said while addressing Judge Dan Slayton.

Diesel also read a letter from Colin Brough’s brothers, Douglas and Ashton. Colin Brough’s father, Doug Brough, spoke about his son, the incident and paid respect to Nick Acevedo, a victim who committed suicide following the 2017 mistrial.

“There has been no remorse from the shooter or his family,” Doug said.

Colin Brough’s mother, Claudia Brough, was the last to speak for the prosecution. She spoke about her pain following her son’s death, which included “two nervous breakdowns in two different mental facilities.”

“My brain won’t ever work right again. It’s broken,” Claudia Brough said.

Colin Brough’s family expressed their love for him and their immense pain following his death. All victims, including family members who spoke on Colin Brough’s behalf, requested Jones be sentenced the maximum of 10 years.

Following two hours of statements from the prosecution, the defense began by paying respects to the Colin Brough family. One of Jones’ attorneys, Christopher DuPont, talked about Jones’ life before the 2015 incident and cited praise from his peers.

Audio from a 911 call from the night of the incident played, followed by a demand for justice from the defense.

“We’re never going to get from here back to where we started. The best we can do at this point is justice,” DuPont said.

DuPont expressed his grief over the case, particularly in regard to Claudia Brough. He noted time spent in therapy and other personal experiences during the defense’s opening statement.

A presentation from the defense detailed the “convergence of circumstances that led Steven to be involved in this criminal conduct.” DuPont said Jones had never been in a physical altercation before Oct. 9, 2015.

DuPont detailed the events leading up to the incident and relevant circumstances. The defense claimed Delta Chi, the fraternity of which the victims were involved, was a hub for criminal activity.

The attorney contended that fraternity members’ attack on Jones was an “unprovoked assault.” DuPont presented possible circumstances that led to the assault, including a ding dong ditch, alcohol and drug use, exclusion from a fraternity party and emotional convergence.

Environment, stress, drugs, alcohol and youth were among other factors listed by DuPont.

DuPont played a recording from Nick Pletke, member of Delta Chi who witnessed the shooting, describing the violence that can occur within fraternities. Pletke assaulted Jones, putting him in a “rear choke naked choke hold,” according to the defense.

Fraternities create a pattern of “coordinated thoughts and behaviors of relationship partners,” DuPont said. A video from Aug. 30, 2015 of a fight occuring at an NAU Delta Chi fraternity was played. In the video, yelling and bottles breaking can be heard in the background as a fight ensued. DuPont said he “would not be surprised” if the Aug. 30 altercation looked similar to the Oct. 9 incident that led up to the shooting.

DuPont noted the positive actions that NAU fraternities take, but also said that fraternities exist as a way to circumvent state and university drinking policy.

The defense claimed Jones was “sucker punched,” during the Oct. 9, 2015 incident, knocking out his dental bridges and filling his mouth with blood.

“There’s nothing like tasting your own blood to get you excited,” DuPont said. “Fear.”

The defense primarily relied on police interviews from the night of the incident, which included testimonies not heard in court during the 2017 trial.

According to a witness testimony presented by Jones’ defense, a man in a white shirt, believed by DuPont to be Colin Brough, was running at Jones as Jones shouted, “Please stop. I don’t want to do this,” Witness testimonies presented by the Jones’ defense also placed the man in the white shirt, who was supposedly Colin Brough, 13 feet from Jones just prior to running at Jones. The defense also claims Nick Piring moved toward Jones prior to any shots being fired.

The Jones’ defense conflicted with the prosecution’s accounts that Piring was shot after trying to aid the wounded Brough.

“While the prosecution may try to make it seem like the victims were standing around, trying to help, the truth is that they were all involved,” DuPont said.

DuPont also referenced a medical examination that confirmed that Zientek was shot in the back. The prosecution has often questioned the Jones defense for their claim of self defense based on this examination. DuPont said, that while Jones is legally responsible for Zientek’s assault, Jones was firing from his back on the ground.

“He’s been beaten, he’s been concussed, his teeth are knocked out; it is during these brief moments that Steven made the reckless decision,” said DuPont. “He was undoubtedly impaired.”

DuPont argued that given the number of victims, along with their size and strength, and the danger perceived by Jones, his actions were justified. Jones’ injuries at the time of his initial arrest, which included harm to his head, back and chest, as well as a split lip, supplemented DuPont’s claims.

Mitigating circumstances cited were the conduct of the victims, substantial duress, impairment, cooperation during investigation, good character, young age and remorse. Jones lowered his head and began to cry as a portion of his police interview from the night of the event played before the courtroom.

The defense affirmed mitigation outweighs aggravation, in this case.

Just before the sentencing was announced, Jones was given the opportunity to speak on his own behalf.

“I would in a heartbeat, right now, trade places with Colin Brough. If he could be home with his family and I could be dead ... If I could take his place, I would. That’s all I have to say,” Jones said.

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