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hatari-translations · 4 years ago

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Klemens interview about his furniture, 24.5.20

On May 24th, an interview with Klemens about the furniture he’s made was published on mbl.is. It’s a pretty interesting one, as he mentions having ADHD, talks a lot about his thoughts on art in a way more elaborate manner than any previous interview, and makes some quirky jokes such as declaring that one of his favorite things to do at home is picking his nose.

Below is a bullet point translation of what's said in the interview (not a word-for-word translation of the entire thing, but everything new said in it is there, and there are a lot of full quotes).

(Content warning: bodily fluids mention.)

The intro explains that Klemens thinks visually and contributes stylistically both to Hatari and his home. He learned carpentry before he joined a band, and he's worked on designing furniture alongside his composing.

"I learned furniture building at the Technical College Reykjavík and then went into product design at the Academy of the Arts, but found my passions lay elsewhere. I needed a broader spectrum to create and found an outlet for my ADHD in visual art. My wife Ronja Mogensen and I are classmates at the Academy of the Arts."

Klemens has always been creating things, for as long as he can remember. "I've always found joy in creating, and nothing is as creative as a childlike nature. After all, you lose your innocence somewhere on an abandoned playground and then spend most of your life trying to find it again. Creativity makes the world go round endlessly in our heads and sparks our imagination, which lets us have the most magnificent adventures, express and cope with loss, grief, fear, disappointment, joy, hope, the entire spectrum of emotions that are often so difficult to spit out. I've always sought out music as an outlet for that, but also carpentry and visual art, whether it's making cucumbers out of mud, making sculptures out of semen and hair, or making chairs out of wood."

The interviewer asks what makes a good home in his mind. "They say that home is where your family is, and there's a lot to that. Some years ago I might not have said that, and would never have imagined being a father of two and engaged in a passionate relationship, but the home and love go hand in hand, and you need to decide on where you want to live and die, so I see the home as more of a state of mind. A good home is a decently healthy mind, but if I were to imagine my dream home as a physical place, it's a house in the countryside with a workshop, a place to make music, some chickens and maybe a goat called Old Túbal, a brook that we can wade into naked, a vegetable garden and a greenhouse with fruit, a giant treehouse castle that we can climb in, and we built the house and everything in it ourselves."

He first discovered carpentry in a woodworking class in primary school; as far as he can remember, the first thing he made was a lamp for his parents with a face carved into it, though he's not sure if it was meant to be a self-portrait. He also made a baseball bat, which was subsequently stolen. The first proper furniture he did was for the Technical College when he was nineteen, a chair and a cabinet in a 70s-esque style with a modern touch. He found joy in creating a unique, useful object that you could carry with you throughout your life and perhaps even longer.

The interviewer says she heard his graduation project was sold on the spot. He corrects her and says he actually made a second copy to interior designer Thelma Friðriksdóttir's specifications, because he wanted to let his grandkids inherit the original.

Klemens recites a poem that he wrote with Matthías to encompass the core of Klemens' art sensibilities. It reads thus: I am a naivist perfectionist. I take making a fool of myself very seriously. I contemplate my own navel with humility. I'm willing to do the work of pitying myself. I capitulate to art. I want to have perfect control over my art.

"I notice that when I myself am in frame, it takes on a different tone than when the painting, the sculpture, the furniture, the evidence get to speak for themselves. On the one hand, I myself take on the role of the artist and the subject, comment on the medium through the medium and poke fun at myself while I'm at it. The artist Klemens creates a photo series that parodies the concept of photo series and simultaneously parodies Klemens. When Klemens takes on the role of 'pop star in a political supergroup' it means a radical staging where he embodies the sexy porn boy, a perverted narcissist in the depths of self-pity. Even if you use humour as a shield, you have to face that in the end, art comes from yourself. Thus, you're always vulnerable before art. It becomes an endless navel-gazing at the same time as I hope it encompasses some wider context - is bigger than my own personal experiences. When I step out of frame you see a totally different tone, like with the cabinet or the sculptures. I'm more humble before my creation and I seek a texture that could simultaneously be called naivistic, expressionistic but also formalistic and colored by a palate-driven compulsion. Unrestrained figures emerge and take on a life of their own without being commentary on the medium of painting and parodying the one who paints it."

When the interviewer asks about his studies at the Academy of the Arts, he admits he was on paternity leave for a year and also missed the second half of the first year because of Hatari's ESC journey, but it was fun and he's looking forward to continuing in the fall.

What can you tell me about the furniture you've made for your home? "It gives the house a certain character and I'm proud of it."

During the COVID-19 epidemic, he made a set of bookshelves for his parents, which he says was mostly them wanting to support a poor unemployed artist in a difficult time. Originally he was going to do something very simple from existing components but then he just kind of unthinkingly started making it all from scratch without even drawing up more than a rough sketch, and he was as excited as his parents to see how it'd turn out.

How would you describe your home? "Muy grandioso!"

Who lives in your home and do you and your fiancée have the same tastes? "The pillar of the household is my wife Ronja, and then we share it with our daughters Valkyrja and Aþena, 'V-kay and A-J'. Aþena doesn't have much in the way of taste yet as she's only ten months old, two-year-old Valkyrja admires everything and thinks everything is art, so she's not picky except when it comes to precisely how you dunk Graham crackers into a glass of milk. Ronja and I may not have similar tastes, but her strengths make up for my weaknesses and she's very patient with my perfectionism."

What's your favorite thing to do at home? "Watching the kids laugh and cry, watering the plants, picking my nose and passing time."

Klemens doesn't currently have his own workshop, but the owners of a small furniture business have kindly given him access to their workshop, and the Academy of the Arts has a good one as well.

As far as Klemens is concerned he's already living the dream, asked if there's anything he'd do with nothing holding him back.

Klemens will mix together furniture he's received for free or bought used and tries to make it work. He tries to avoid mass-produced furniture even though it can be beautiful; what he loves most is uniqueness. He wants to build as much himself as he can.

What time periods in furniture design appeal to you most? "Mid-century modern and slick."

When you look for ideas, where do you look? "Into the depths of my subconscious and to Foucault."

Is a garden or outside area important when you have kids? "Oh yes. The new trampoline, admittedly mass-produced, has really delivered."

What's your favorite kind of wood to build out of? "Oak."

What's your favorite color to paint your walls? "That depends completely on the context of the room, the lighting and the shape of it, but I love really bright colors and want a lot of those."

Is there anything you're good at at home that nobody knows about? "I'm naturally very limber."

#hatari #klemens hannigan #interview #translation

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murasaki-murasame · 4 years ago

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Thoughts on Higurashi Gou Ep1-6

It took me way longer than I expected to get around to writing this, and now we’re like one day away from ep7 coming out so that’s a bit awkward, but better late than never, lol.

Anyway I’ve slipped back into full-on When They Cry brainworms mode because of this new series, and I have a whole lot to say about it.

One thing I wanna say before I put the rest of this post under a cut, though, is that I think Gou should be approached as a remake/retelling first, and a sequel second. That might change later on, but I think Ryukishi and the director really meant it when they said that they wanted this to be accessible to new fans.

Since we’ve already gone through one and a half full arcs, I guess I’ll just start off with my overall thoughts on the series, and how I think it’ll go in the long run, before I get into the specifics of what’s happened thus far.

Like I said above, I really do think that this was written from the ground up as a remake or retelling first and foremost, with the sequel aspects being more like background fanservice to give old fans something to chew on. In spite of the various changes and cuts they’ve made to the story thus far, they’ve been very faithful about replicating the overall experience and vibe of the VN in a way that works well in an anime format.

For one thing, I think this is basically the reason why Rika seems to be weirdly hands-off about everything in this series, instead of actively interfering with everything going on and telling everyone about what’s going on. I get why it frustrates people, but I think it really just boils down to how Gou is specifically trying not to spoil new fans on the story in advance, so they’re keeping Rika pretty much entirely as a background figure who doesn’t actually do much. I think it’s a good set-up, though, since instead of having Rika dominate the narrative in the same way as in Minagoroshi and Matsuribayashi, Keiichi is still the ‘primary’ protagonist of Gou, who’s perspective aligns more with that of new fans, while Rika is a secondary protagonist of sorts, who old fans can see things from the perspective of because of what we all know about the story.

Which I think is actually pretty similar to the VN, since if you go back and reread it, you end up seeing things more from Rika’s point of view, even though she’s more of a background figure for most of the story.

I know there’s the whole scene from the start of ep2 where she’s talking to Hanyuu in the fragment world, but now that we’re further into this new series, I think that scene didn’t actually change a whole lot compared to the VN. It’s mostly just there to spell out that supernatural elements and time loops exist right from the start, instead of only revealing it later on. But in the long run it’s not really that important, so I can see why they decided to just get it out the way immediately. And they still intentionally side-stepped having Rika actually say anything explicit about who the mastermind is, or what the rules of Hinamizawa are, so new fans are still mostly in the dark about what’s actually going on.

Anyway, I’ve been kinda surprised by the sort of pacing and structure Gou’s had thus far, especially since it’s ended up feeling more like a full on remake with mostly superficial differences from the source material. I was worried about how it might go when it became obvious that it’d probably only be 24 episodes, but at this point I think they know what they’re doing with this. And even though it seems to still be trying to cover the same plot beats as the VN, I honestly think that they can pull it off in just 24 episodes. As long as they’re willing to make some ambitious and controversial edits, at least.

I suppose it’s still possible we might get a second season later, and that it’ll end up playing out more like the pacing of the 2006 anime, but I doubt it. The fact that they intentionally combined different elements of Tsumihoroboshi into the Onidamashi arc makes me much more inclined to think that this is going to be a more compact retelling of the VN, with it all being condensed into just 24 episodes.

Going by how many BD/DVDs there are gonna be for Gou, and how they divide up the episodes, I think it’s safe to assume that this will be split into five arcs with 4, 4, 5, 4, and 7 episodes, respectively. Which gives us a better idea of how things will go later on. I think it’s at least safe to assume that they’re splitting up the arcs this way, since that seems like a very strange and lopsided way to split up the discs, and we’ve already seen that Onidamashi was four episodes, and Watadamashi will probably be the same, so it seems to line up thus far.

Basically I think that after this we’ll get a new version of Tatarigoroshi covering five episodes, and then the rest of the series will be made up of two ‘answer arcs’, which will probably be where Gou gets more into original story stuff, and/or more major plot editing. I know the 2006 anime covered the first two answer arcs in season one, and then basically spent the entirety of Kai on the last two answer arcs, but I’m leaning more towards assuming that they’re actually going to cover all the important answers in just these two arcs.

Which seems kinda hard to believe, and I’m still kinda wary about how it might pan out, but there’s a lot they can do to shorten the answer arcs. For one thing, I think everyone’s already guessed that Takano probably won’t be the main villain anymore in Gou, so if that means they can basically skip over all/most of her material from the VN, that’d already let them cut out a lot.

And for one thing, it seems like Gou’s whole framing device with Rika is kinda already doing the same stuff as Minagoroshi, so I think that basically already makes most of that arc unnecessary for this series.

This is just my speculation at the moment, but I think that Gou’s ‘game board’ might be based on the timeline where Takano’s parents don’t die, and she doesn’t end up involved in the politics surrounding her grandfather’s research, which is I think how they’ll explain her not being the villain anymore. Even though she seems to be the same sort of person thus far in Gou, it’s entirely possible that in this version of events she’s just a regular nurse who has a bit of an obsession with Hinamizawa’s history, but isn’t actually part of any nefarious conspiracies.

At the very least I think this is the ‘simplest’ theory for where Gou’s heading, since it’s just based on stuff that already happened in the VN.

I also don’t really think that there’s a ‘new villain’, so to say, even if Takano’s more or less out of the picture in this version. I think we’re gonna find out that Featherine and Bernkastel are responsible for throwing Rika back into the loop, but I think that’s a bit different to the idea of there being some entirely new villain or something causing problems.

Anyway, I think it might be a bit more clear if I go into my thoughts on what went down in Onidamashi, lol.

Basically I think that 90% of what happened in Onidamashi was just Rena being infected by the virus like in Tsumihoroboshi. Rika and Satoko’s deaths is a bit of a mystery, but the main thing is that I think Rena killed Tomitake and Takano on the night of the festival. I think it’ll be a bit more clear what’s going on when the next episode comes out and we see what happens to those two again in Watadamashi, but I think it makes sense that Rena killed them in Onidamashi. I think she’d already killed Rina and Teppei before the story even started, and she seemed immediately suspicious of Tomitake when she first saw him and Keiichi joked about how he might be a spy, so I think she ended up killing him and Takano out of fear that they were gonna find out about the murders she did. Also there’s the whole scene where she was ominously watching them on the night of the festival, so there’s that, lol.

And on the note of Rena’s paranoia in that arc, it’s worth noting that the bit where she accuses Keiichi of hiding stuff from her at the dump site is [I think] entirely new, and seems to heavily imply that she was paranoid about the idea that he might have found out about the murders she did. So it makes sense to me that she might have had similar fears about Tomitake. It’s also probably the main reason why she ended up trying to kill Keiichi at the end of the arc, since he’s the other person who she would have been afraid might rat her out to the police.

I think there was also some element of her believing in the idea of Oyashiro-sama’s Curse, and going along with the expected patterns of that, but mostly I think she was concerned about protecting herself and her father.

I’m also assuming that at some point we’ll find out that Keiichi hallucinated the second half of their fight, and that what probably happened was that Rena got knocked unconscious when she hit the table, and Keiichi then went over the edge into full-blown virus paranoia and started attacking her, while hallucinating that she’d woken back up and started stabbing him.

On the other hand, I’m leaning towards assuming that she wasn’t actually involved with Rika and Satoko’s deaths, since there wouldn’t have been any real motive for that. With Keiichi, Tomitake, and by extension Takano, she had clear reasons to be suspicious of them and to want to get rid of them, but there’s no real reason she would have suspected Rika or Satoko. I think they also got killed in their house, so she would have had to really go out of her way to kill them, which seems unlikely. It’s also worth noting that Rika was convinced the whole time that she was back in the Onikakushi route, which is made more explicit in the manga version of Gou where the scene with her and Hanyuu happens after the end of the arc. For one thing she reveals that she was murdered by someone [but she doesn’t remember who], so we can at least rule out the idea that Rika killed Satoko and then herself, but it also indicates that Rika was assuming the whole time that Rena was totally innocent, which is why she told Keiichi to trust her. So I think there’s no real chance that she confronted Rena about her murders and then got killed by her.

So basically I think their deaths are completely unrelated to the other stuff going on in the arc. Which is why I don’t really have any super confident theories about them, lol. My best guess is that, unless there’s some entirely new and unpredictable stuff going on, maybe Shion was off in the background dealing with her own version of the virus. So maybe like how the Tsumihoroboshi scenario seemed to be going on in the background, it’s possible that the Meakashi scenario was happening too. Which would at least be a fairly understandable explanation for why Rika and Satoko would wind up mysteriously dead.

I’ve seen people also raise the theory that maybe Shion also killed Mion, and that it was her disguised as Mion talking to Keiichi at the hospital at the end of the arc, but I’m not entirely sure about that. It’d be a neat twist, though, and in a way it’d help address one issue I’ve always had with the VN, in that Shion seemed to be 100% completely irrelevant to the events of Onikakushi.

I’m also very curious about the scene where Keiichi goes to the Irie Clinic and finds that it’s being remodeled. Which seems to imply that they were basically packing up shop and abandoning the village. I imagine it’s a response to Tomitake and Takano dying, but it might still be consistent with my theory of Takano not being very important this time around. Even if she’s not involved in all that anymore, it’s possible that just means that Tomitake still is, so maybe it was his death specifically that caused the rest of the team to stop their mission and leave the village.

Either way, I think it goes to show that either Tomitake and Takano both actually died this time around, or they were at least taken out of commission in some way or another. Even when Tomitake dies in each arc, the clinic still continues it’s operations since Takano never actually died.

It makes me wonder if the Great Hinamizawa Disaster would even happen in a version of events where Takano isn’t in charge of things. Unless we’re meant to think that it happened off-screen while Keiichi was in the hospital, it’s odd to think that they’d just pack up and leave before doing it.

Keiichi probably got more or less assassinated by that random nurse at the end of the arc, though, so I think the people from Tokyo in general are still around, and are still at least somewhat aware of the virus. I’m not sure how that might impact things with the GHD, though.

Anyway, I’ve got less thoughts and predictions related to Watadamashi since it’s only halfway done at this point, and is a lot closer to the VN than the last arc was, so I’ll just go over them quickly.

In general I really do think that the arc’s been 1:1 with the Watanagashi arc thus far, aside from Keiichi giving the doll to Mion, which I don’t even think is that important. After ep5 I was wondering if maybe they were going to avoid showing Mion and Shion together until the very end of the arc, but then they immediately went into that in ep6, lol. It looks like they’re trying to make it a bit more obvious what’s going on with the whole Mion and Shion thing in general this time around, though, which I think is a good choice. I think it’s still the same as it was in the VN, but my current understanding of the timeline here is that Mion was pretending to be Shion, and we only first see Shion herself when she invites Keiichi to the cafe in ep6. And I think for the rest of the episode they were just being themselves.

There also seems to be a subtle difference in how Mion and Shion’s eyes are drawn in this version, as a hint to who’s who in each scene, so that’s neat. They’re similar enough that it’s kinda hard to be sure sometimes, but still.

Going by the ep7 preview images, I think the arc will continue following the same path as Watanagashi, with us seeing the group breaking into the Saiguden and talking about Hinamizawa’s history. Though one thing that’s really interesting is that in one of the preview images, Takano seems to be holding a folder of some kind inside the Saiguden, which makes me wonder it’s the same folder of documents she gave to Rena in Tsumihoroboshi, and that she’s gonna talk to Keiichi and Mion about her theory with the virus. That’d at least be one way to bring certain plot points up earlier, and it’d be another way to let them skip Tsumihoroboshi.

Since Watadamashi seems like it should be four episodes, but has also been going notably slower than the 2006 adaptation of Watanagashi, I think it’s safe to assume that like with Onidamashi, it’ll have a more abrupt ending than the VN, and skip over some stuff. There’s already several scenes from the PVs that seem to be from the whole torture basement part of Watanagashi, so what I think will happen is that Rika will just preemptively avoid getting herself and Satoko killed by Shion, and the story will just go more immediately from Shion killing the other family head people to Keiichi and Rena interrogating her. Assuming that the arc as a whole continues going in the same direction as Watanagashi, at least. And I can’t really imagine Rika letting herself and Satoko get killed yet again like this, so it’d make sense to just cut out that part. Also, if I’m right about my guess that Shion killed the two of them in Onidamashi, that’d be another excuse to skip that part in this arc, and that way they’d just be moving it to a different arc instead of outright skipping it.

After how Onidamashi went, it’s hard not to assume that this arc will diverge heavily from Watanagashi at the end, but honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up being more or less the same. I think Shion would have basically the same motives for everything even in this version of events where Mion got the doll. And if I’m also right about the idea that Takano might talk to them about the virus theory in the next episode, maybe that’d push Shion over the edge for basically the same reasons as Rena in Tsumihoroboshi. At the very least I’d prefer them to keep Shion as the villain instead of making Mion the villain just for shock value, since it’s an important part of Mion’s character that she doesn’t ever do that.

I think the only way I could see it working is if Mion does the murdering in this arc not because of paranoia or the virus, but just because of her family obligations. Like, maybe she finds out about the Saiguden break-in, and ends up being obligated to kill the four of them as punishment for it. I still think that might be kinda contrived, but it’d be better than making her get the virus for the first time in the whole franchise.

I’m also still really curious to see if they’re going to talk about Satoshi at all in this arc, since they haven’t really talked about him at all thus far in Gou, which has been one of the more notable cuts. They did still show that one shot of him killing his aunt when Oishi was explaining how the past incidents went, so I don’t think he’s been completely written out of the story, but they’re being a lot more evasive about him than in the VN. At the very least, like with how the last arc contained references to Tsumihoroboshi, I wonder if this arc will reference Shion’s whole relationship with Satoshi, or if that’ll only be revealed later.

Also, since Onidamashi’s ending felt pretty similar to Watanagashi’s ending, I think the very end of this arc will go in a different direction to shake things up. I dunno what to expect from that, but maybe it’ll play out more like Tatarigoroshi, and Keiichi will leave the torture basement only to find out that the GHD’s happened.

Anyway, that aside, I wanna go back over why I think that they’re basically cutting Tsumihoroboshi out of the story, and moving different parts of it to other arcs. Like I said, I think the whole scenario with her killing Rina and Teppei was going on in the background in Onidamashi, but there’s also multiple instances of them reusing quotes from Tsumihoroboshi in that arc. The main one is that, when she’s venting out her paranoia to Keiichi, she says part of her monologue about ‘trying really hard’, which in the VN was from when she was explaining her motives for killing Rina and Teppei when she confessed to her friends. I don’t think there’s any major twists or subversion there. I think that was straight up just her alluding to the murders she’d done, even if Keiichi didn’t know what she meant this time around. The manga version of this scene is also a fair bit longer, and contains much more of the Tsumihoroboshi monologue, which makes it even more obvious.

Along the same lines, the manga version of the fight between Keiichi and Rena in this arc also used Keiichi’s internal monologue from the rooftop battle between them in Tsumihoroboshi, so that’s another example of them reusing stuff from that arc in Onidamashi. It’s not quite as obvious in the anime since they don’t really have any internal monologues at all, but the manga makes it very obvious.

And like I said above, it’s possible that the next episode of Watadamashi will also reuse elements of Tsumihoroboshi by having Shion find out about the virus from Takano and get paranoid about it.

Also there’s the whole fact that Keiichi was having flashbacks to Onikakushi throughout the last arc, which is also what basically happened in Tsumihoroboshi.

So basically there’s just a whole list of reasons why I think they’ve decided to skip that arc in Gou and spread out the important bits of it to other arcs, which is a major reason why I think they’re going to try and cover the whole story in just 24 episodes.

If they skip Tsumihoroboshi entirely, and cut out huge portions of Minagoroshi and Matsuribayashi depending on how they handle Takano, then I think it’d actually be pretty easy to just cover the remaining parts of the answer arcs in just two arcs across 11 episodes.

Considering that they haven’t really referenced Meakashi at all thus far, unlike how Onidamashi was blatantly a mash-up of Onikakushi and Tsumihoroboshi from start to finish, I think they’re going to basically have Meakashi just be the fourth arc in Gou, and be kept mostly intact. But going by how it’ll probably be four episodes long, compared to being six episodes long in the 2006 anime, I think it’ll focus mainly on the flashback stuff, and the present-day part of the arc will be changed so it’s shorter and doesn’t feel like a repeat of Watadamashi.

In general I think a lot of the changes and edits they’re making are being done to avoid unnecessary repetition between the different arcs, so yeah, if they do a Meakashi arc, I think they’ll try and make it a bit more unique.

After that, I think the final 7-episode arc will effectively be Gou’s version of Matsuribayashi, but that’s probably be where it gets more into it’s original plot points and stuff.

I get why lots of people would be worried about them condensing the answer arcs that much, but I think it could work just fine, and if anything it might end up just feeling less back-loaded and slow than it was in the VN.

I think the overall structure of the last arc will probably be fairly similar to Matsuribayashi, though, with us probably revisiting the earlier fragments and seeing what was going on in the background. Which would probably be where we’d get reveals for stuff like what happened to Rika and Satoko in Onidamashi, and whether or not Keiichi hallucinated any of his fight with Rena.

Also, I agree with basically everyone who thinks that Featherine is gonna end up being part of Gou’s story [since she literally shows up in the OP, lol]. And probably Bernkastel as well, by extension. I’m not sure exactly how that’ll play out, especially since in Umineko, Featherine was more of a passive observer than anything else, but still, the idea of them being directly involved in Gou’s story is extremely interesting to me. Mainly just because it makes me wonder if maybe they’re setting up for an Umineko remake, since it’d feel kinda weird to bring up Featherine if they aren’t.

I’m kinda worried that Featherine coming into play would alienate pretty much everyone on both sides of the fandom, since it might seem confusing to new fans, and irritating to old fans who don’t want Higurashi and Umineko stuff to get merged together to that extent. So I hope they pull it off well.

At the very least, I think Bernkastel would work fine if they make her into a major part of Gou’s story. She’s technically the one who created the timeline where Takano’s parents survived, if they follow up on that here, and also she’s literally Rika, so it’d probably be pretty easy for new fans to understand their connection and any emotional stakes involved in them getting into conflict with each other.

I’m not really sure at all exactly what their motives might be for throwing Rika back into the loop, but that’ll probably be the core of what Gou’s endgame is about.

One thing that’s interesting, though, is that Rika was a teenager when she died and woke up in the fragment world with Hanyuu, and I think Ryukishi’s implied that we’ll find out more about that later on. So I think the circumstances behind her death as a teenager will also be a big deal.

Going by how she was apparently wearing the same uniform as Shion, it makes me wonder if maybe she got bullied into suicide, or if maybe Satoko did, and Rika fell into despair afterward and killed herself. Which kinda makes me wonder if maybe part of the whole story and message this time around will be about Rika struggling to come to terms with actually moving on with her life after leaving the loop. Maybe for a variety of reasons she just isn’t able to cope with it, and without really realizing it she just wants to return to the time loop where she at least got to hang out with her friends in a comfortable, familiar environment. But who knows, lol.

If Featherine does end up being important here, I hope they make her connection to Hanyuu a bit more clear, since that’s always been a bit vague. It’d also make me wonder if they’ll also elaborate on Lambdadelta and her whole history with Bernkastel, but I really can’t imagine how they’d have her show up without her completely clashing with Higurashi’s whole aesthetic and tone.

Anyway, I could probably make a whole separate post about my feelings on a theoretical Umineko anime remake and what I’d want and expect from that.

Also, before I forget, my current prediction for the next arc in Gou is that it’ll basically just be Tatarigoroshi, but this time around they’ll mix in Onikakushi elements with Keiichi learning about all the stuff with Satoshi and becoming paranoid that the whole town’s out to get him. I also think they might move the part with Keiichi’s letter to the reader to the end of that arc. They included part of it in the PVs for Gou, so I assume they’ll include it some way or another, and I think it’d make a lot of sense to have it happen at the end of Gou’s version of the question arcs.

Oh, and I’m also expecting that Himatsubushi will get entirely cut out, since at least if we assume that Takano won’t be the obstacle this time around, there’s no real reason to include anything related to Akasaka, and they’ve already spelled out that Rika’s part of a time loop and knows what’s going on, so all of that foreshadowing from that arc would be kinda pointless here.

So yeah that’s basically all of my predictions, and my thoughts on the whole structure and plot of Gou thus far. But aside from all that, I’ve also just really been enjoying Gou in general. I get why a lot of people dislike how it’s been surprisingly similar to the VN, but I really like it. I think it’s doing a great job of preserving as much of the whole experience of reading the VN as possible, while repackaging it into a more condensed, cinematic format. Rather than being a very slow-burn, dread-filled thriller in the VN, Onidamashi felt more like a concise yet effective horror movie that built up to an abrupt, violent conclusion, so I think that was handled really well.

I’ve also really warmed up to the character designs over the last few weeks. At first they felt a bit too shiny and cute to me, but the more I see them, the more I think they work well, especially in the more serious moments. It’s going for a slightly different sort of vibe to basically any other iteration of the character designs in the franchise, but I like it.

Which also reminds me that my favourite version of the character designs might actually be the ones from the light novels, but that kinda feels like cheating since those are just used for covers and illustrations, lol. But I just really like the simple, atmospheric, painterly style that artist has. I’d love to see a version of the VN sprites done in their style, but that’ll probably happen.

And on the note of the LNs, they’ve recently gotten a new print run to celebrate Gou coming out, so I’ve decided to start importing them. I know I’m not even fluent in Japanese so I can’t even properly read them, but I’ve always loved the artwork for them, so I’ve been wanting to own them, but I think they were all out of print before Gou came out. Maybe they’ll eventually get released in English, but I don’t want to risk it. It’s a lot more likely that the Gou manga will get released in English sometime next year, so I’ll probably wait for that instead of importing it in Japanese.

[Also, I recently bought the VN on Steam since it’s on sale and the first arc is for free at the moment, so I’m gonna start rereading that soon to compare it more thoroughly to Gou]

Anyway, this got MUCH longer than I would have wanted it to be, but that’s what I get for waiting so long to start talking about this, lol.

#murasaki rambles #higurashi #higurashi gou #this got way too long and rambley but oh well lmao #it feels really nice to be getting back into Higurashi after it's been so long since I read the VN originally #though if they actually do make an Umineko anime remake after this then I will ABSOLUTELY go feral #it'll be the only thing I talk about for months

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kingspoetrysoc · 4 years ago

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Interview with Konstantinos Pappis

Konstantinos Pappis is a poet and King’s alumnus who studied Strategic Entrepreneurship and Innovation for his Master’s. He shares his blackout poems on Tumblr @blackout-diary and on Instagram @blackout_diary, and is the Music Editor at Our Culture. The King’s Poet’s Karen Ng talks to Konstantinos about his poetic experiences, process, and inspirations.

What is your earliest memory of poetry?

Like many people, my earliest memories of poetry are associated with school, where I felt pretty alienated by the way we approached poetry. It felt cold and analytical and I struggled to connect with it on a personal level – or perhaps there was less of a need to at that age. Although there were some Greek poets we studied in school whose work I remember liking, including C.P. Cavafy, Kostas Karyotakis, and Odysseas Elitis, it wasn't until later during my adolescence when I started discovering poetry outside of an academic context that I was able to appreciate it more. Things really started to change when I was introduced to English and American poets; for some reason, something about it not being in my native language made it easier to engage with and relate to. And then eventually I was able to approach different kinds of poetry from both an intellectual and an emotional standpoint.

How did you first realise you wanted to write poetry? What do you enjoy the most about writing?

In a word, Tumblr (RIP). But honestly, finding a community of people who used poetry as a form of expression more than anything else inspired me to do the same. I realised it wasn’t this inaccessible, overly sophisticated thing that you had to be especially clever or well-read to really get. Again, if you weren’t doing it to get a good grade, it was considered a bit weird to engage with poetry in any way, so seeing it outside of that context was pretty eye-opening.

It was also something that came with realising I had a passion for the arts in general. Music had always been my primary outlet, but poetry took over when I felt I needed the words to have more space on their own – to jump out on the page and release all the teenage angst I was going through, because listening to Creep every day somehow wasn’t enough. None of that poetry was any good, of course, but it was vital. And when I felt like this really personal thing was something I could share and exchange with friends, writing also became an important part of embracing vulnerability and forming close connections, too. I came to enjoy it more as a medium than an art form, in a way – at first, at least.

In terms of what I enjoy about it now… Well, it’s hard to articulate, but if we’re talking about writing poetry specifically, I guess the appeal hasn’t changed all that much. It’s been a while since I’ve felt inspired to write a poem, but in the past it’s always been when I felt like I need to channel something that I couldn’t through any other form. Some might view the poetic form as being kind of limiting, but I feel like it’s quite the opposite – it’s almost freeing in the endless possibilities that it presents.

Above: a blackout poem by Konstantinos. The source text is “Moon” by @makingthingswrite on Instagram.

You’ve written a lot of amazing blackout poems! What about this form appeals the most to you?

Blackout poetry appeals to me for almost entirely different reasons. I treat it more like a mental exercise that can be both calming and stimulating; something that operates on a more subconscious level. I like that I don’t have to be particularly inspired to do it, not even by the text that I’m using. I like that it doesn’t necessarily have to make sense, that I don’t have to stress over the final result too much. I like that it can then inspire me to make something else. I like the visual aspect of it, the act of repurposing something and giving it new meaning not just by altering the text but also its surroundings. Of course, people can make blackout poetry in a much more intentional way, but what sets it apart for me is that it’s a creative outlet that can be simple and almost passive yet gratifying at the same time.

How do you select a text for your blackout poems – where do you look? What do you look for?

It really varies: sometimes I’ll take photos from a book – I used to do blackout on old books nobody would ever open, but I switched to doing everything digitally – and sometimes I’ll search for poems or articles randomly online. Reviews often work quite well. There does have to be something about the text that sticks out to me for me to use it as a source, but I tend not to overthink it.

I love that – inspiration is everywhere in our daily lives, even when we aren’t looking for it! Can you tell us a little about your writing process? Is it more emotion-led or methodical?

For blackout it’s entirely intuitive. For poetry in general I would say it’s almost always emotion-led, but the editing part can be more methodical. Normally, a lot of it happens late at night when I can’t sleep, and if I can’t sleep long enough for me to write things down and it doesn’t strike me as absolutely terrible in the morning, then it might turn into a poem.

Above: a blackout poem by Konstantinos. The source text is Sam Sodomsky’s review of duendita’s song “Open Eyes”. Your poem pebble (an ode) was one of the first poems to be published in our magazine. It isn’t a blackout poem, but could you tell us a little about it too – do you remember what it was like writing it?

See above re: late-night thoughts and the utter absurdity of the human condition!

How has your experience of sharing your poetry to Instagram been? Are there any tips you could share with our readers?

I haven’t done it in a year, partly due to a lack of inspiration and partly because I’ve tried to distance myself from Instagram and other social media platforms as much as I can – though maybe I’ll go back to Tumblr? But my experiences with the Instagram writing community have been nothing but great – I participated in Escapril back in April of last year, a yearly event founded by Savannah Brown, that encourages users to write and share a poem a day based on a prompt. It was a really great and fun challenge that helped me write and read more and connect with other poets. I would say participating in these kinds of communities is probably the best way to utilise the platform.

Thank you for that advice! On a similar note, which poets and poems inspire you the most? These could include childhood inspirations… Have your influences changed over the years?

I would not be the person I am nor would I have any interest in poetry if it weren’t for Sylvia Plath. I can’t even pinpoint exactly when I first encountered her work, but I identified with it to an almost unhealthy degree as a teenager, as I’m sure many people have. I still get that feeling whenever I revisit her poetry or read more about her life and art. Also, a lot of spoken word videos from people like Sarah Kay really resonated with me at a young age.

More recently, the closest I’ve gotten to that feeling of being deeply excited and inspired by poetry was when I discovered Savannah Brown’s work a couple of years ago. Her spoken word videos and poetry films really moved me, and her second poetry collection – which came out last year – is absolutely incredible (I wrote about it here). Lately I’ve also been listening to a lot of musicians whose work intersects with poetry, including Cassandra Jenkins and Anika Pyle, whose most recent albums reckon with grief and loss in a really powerful way.

Above: a blackout poem by Konstantinos. The source text is Christopher Gilbert’s poem “Fire Gotten Brighter”. Are there any styles besides blackout which you particularly love, or themes? Are there any topics you gravitate towards?

I’ve always gravitated towards confessional poetry, both in terms of what I tend to write and what I like to read. Something most of the writers I’ve mentioned have in common is that they use intimate language to evoke a deep yearning for connection, in the face of existential dread and the unfathomable vastness of the cosmos. That usually does the trick!

Have any experiences at King’s Poetry Society or King’s in general – events, classes, readings, people you’ve met, or London itself – been particularly memorable, or inspired you? Can you tell us a little about them?

Absolutely. Just being in London, not even necessarily the experiences I had there, made me want to write more poetry than I had in a long time. There’s a Savannah Brown video essay on YouTube where she talks about passing a billion people on the street – obviously in the before times – and being like, “Who are all of you people? Could I care for you? How many of you idiots could I love?” That’s basically the gist of what had been stirring in me for a long time and that I still think about to this day. And then being a part of King’s Poetry Society was an opportunity for me to try and channel that, and engage in an actual physical writing community in a way I never had before. I literally read a poem inspired by that video during one of our poetry reading events – that will certainly stay with me.

Above: Konstantinos’ poem “doors on the underground”. He read this poem at one of the 2019-20 King’s Poetry Society critique sessions.

How important do you think writing communities are, in fostering “better” writing? In your experience, is writing helped by discussion?

I think they’re incredibly important, not just in fostering “better” writing but also fostering a space for vulnerability. Poetry can be an intensely private form of writing, but so much can be gained from discussing it, especially if one is looking to not only hone their craft but also learn from and connect with others. Us writers can be especially introverted people (hi!), and may be discouraged by the long stretches of silence that can pervade a poetry meeting, but there’s power in hearing the words you or someone else has written out loud. Even a single comment can completely change a way you think about a poem.

What do you think the value of reading poetry is? Can a poem profoundly change someone’s life? Conversely, can someone read a poem and be unaffected – and if this happens, has a poet “failed”?

I think Marianne Moore sums it up pretty well in her poem Poetry, where she talks about finding in it “a place for the genuine.” As for the second question, poetry can definitely change someone’s life – not to be corny or anything, but like all art, it can also save someone’s life.

That said, I don’t think a poet has failed if the reader feels emotionally unaffected by their work. Sometimes, a writer may wish to portray an event or theme in a cold and unaffecting manner to get a certain point across. There’s value in that type of poetry, too, and art’s inherent subjectivity means that someone might be moved by a poem that someone else feels indifferent towards. There’s also value in poetry that is private and not meant to be shared, because even if only one person derives something from it, then it is valuable. I do think, however, that the further one strays from that ideal of earnestness, the closer the work hinges on being trivial or pretentious. We’ve moved past the need to be overly cynical or ironic.

I agree, poetry that is never shared is not lesser by any means – I find great personal value in treating a poem like a diary of sorts. Maybe each stanza mimics a different entry... With all that you feel manifesting into this thing that is at once completely attached to your experience but also – if shared – something that becomes detached and open to reinterpretation... That is really powerful. How do you think people who have never written before could be encouraged to start writing for themselves, whether for fun or as catharsis – without the pressures of becoming someone recognised or followed?

I really like that approach! I think the diaristic style of writing is often looked down upon as less legitimate, even though it isn’t. To answer your question, I think normalising the act of writing poetry purely for enjoyment or as a form of catharsis is really important, especially from a young age. Part of that could be achieved by exposing young people to more than what one might call the poetic canon. Being disappointed that a student isn’t engaging with poetry when they’ve only been introduced to Shakespeare is like assuming someone isn’t musically inclined when they’ve only been exposed to a single genre of music. Another way would be to incorporate more writing activities that utilise the poetic form, and allow the freedom to explore it outside the confines of academic study. I’m not saying all teachers should follow the example of Dead Poets Society, but there are so many ways to foster creativity and make poetry more approachable.

Do you think poetry is sometimes perceived as an inaccessible art?

100%. I think that’s the biggest problem with how poetry is perceived. A lot of it comes down to the way poetry has been taught and disseminated for centuries – through a lens that is inherently exclusionary, upheld by systems that are classist, racist, sexist, etc. Hopefully that is starting to change – studies have shown that more and more young people read and write poetry, largely thanks to the rise of social media poetry. Poetry can represent such a wide range of experiences, but for people to view it as an accessible art form, more barriers need to be broken. Amanda Gorman becoming the youngest inaugural poet in American history, and the first Black poet ever to perform at the Super Bowl this year alone is certainly a huge sign of progress.

Do you have a favourite literary journal, or a poetry platform you would like to recommend? What have you been reading lately?

Subscribing to the Poetry Foundation and the Academy of American Poets’ poem-a-day newsletters has been a great way of keeping poetry in my everyday life. Recently, I’ve also been loving a podcast called Poetry Unbound, where each 10-15 minute episode immerses you into a single poem. On YouTube, I love Ours Poetica, a video series curated by poet Paige Lewis in collaboration with the Poetry Foundation that features readings of poems by writers, artists, and actors – including John Green reading Moore’s Poetry and Savannah Brown reading her poem the universe may stop expanding in five billion years. It offers a truly intimate and approachable way of experiencing poetry.

Above: Konstantinos’ poem “lonely little london”.

Is it important to you to read a wide variety of poetry, from different communities and on different subjects? Do you think it’s important for poets to write about things beyond their immediate world?

That’s probably the biggest shift that has happened since I first got into poetry – realising how important it is to read widely. I was mostly drawn to poetry that reflected my own limited experience, but now more than ever I find it vital to immerse myself in different points of view, especially from underrepresented or marginalised groups. I now see poetry less as a means of personal expression than a form of empathy, and because of that I’m able to gain so much more from it. That said, I don’t think it’s necessary for poets to write about things that aren’t part of their immediate world. It depends on one’s goals and ambitions, but there’s already so much that’s unique about a person’s immediate world – things that are reflected in society at large – that being forced to write outside of it can often lead to work that feels hollow and insincere, or even insensitive. That doesn’t mean it has to be limiting – the beauty of poetry is that you can write about your immediate world but not necessarily through it.

Lastly… Do you think a poet is born a poet, or made into one? Which is more important: natural talent, or practice and growth? Can anyone become a poet? If everyone has it in them, do you think anyone who puts their mind to it can produce meaningful work – since, of course, all work is meaningful in one way or another, whether privately or publicly?

This is a slightly tricky question to answer, because either way it could imply that only some are afforded the privilege of becoming poets. If a small percentage of people are born poets, then of course that means everyone else is inherently excluded; if one is made into a poet, then only those who are able to cultivate any artistic inclinations will have the opportunity of fulfilling their potential. Most people will say the truth, as always, is somewhere in the middle, that it’s some complicated combination of the two. But I feel it’s much simpler than that – when you boil it down, really, everyone is born a poet.

#Konstantinos Pappis #interviewer: Karen Ng #Interviews #king's poetry society

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onisiondrama · 4 years ago

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RealStream’s Onision Interview Summary Part 2

(Note: I’m not repeating stories he’s told before and just putting them in parenthesis. I have a lot more videos to go until I’m caught up so that would save me a lot of time. If he gives details I never heard from him before, I will type those.)

RS asks why Kai hasn’t spoken up about anything. James says Kai doesn’t want to engage in drama. He says himself and Trump are not mentally past high school, but Kai is fully mature. He compares Kai to LedaBunny, DanIsNotOnFire, and Jenna Marbles. He says they are mature and when they see drama they leave instead of engaging with it. He says people like himself like to get in the drama pit and fight.

RS asks if Kai would come back or if he’s done. James says he seriously doubts Kai will come back because he trusted someone as a friend and got stabbed him in the back 50 times. He says Sarah only said bad things about Kai because she wanted to get back at James because James rejected her.

RS says Sarah accused Kai of sending her pictures, but as time passed it turns out they were from the computer Sarah bought from Kai. James says it’s stupid to discuss this because that’s for Kai to discuss, but he wants to say Kai would rather vomit than send something like that to Sarah.

(James was mean to Sarah until she became an adult story.) He says Kai had similar feelings. He says he doesn’t know what it is about Billie, but they were stuck on her for a really long time and Sarah hated that they wanted Billie. RS asks if they were stuck on Billie when they were with Sarah. James says they are stuck on Billie to this day, “however sad that is.” He says they will go through scenarios on what if they were still with Billie even though she wronged them.

RS asks what James thinks of Billie going on Chris Hansen. James says he doesn’t know, he didn’t see it. He says if you make Billie mad, she’ll probably try to hurt you. He says she probably went on there out of spite because she was rejected.

He says he outted Billie for things for things he probably should have not outted her for. She said he was the worst person she ever encountered. He was dumb enough to list the things she told him other people did to her. He says Ayalla wrote him and asked him to take it down and he took it down. [Off of twitter. Then he uploaded a video saying all those things. He deleted the video, then later re-uploaded it to another channel. He also listed these things in a sketch and mentioned one of them on twitter recently.]

RS asks why Ayalla kept inserting herself. James says Billie has an umbilical cord attached to Ayalla. He says he would try to point out to Billie that her relationship to Ayalla was unhealthy. He says she would have Billie hang out with drug dealers and was not morally compatible with their lifestyle. Billie told him Ayalla goes wherever she goes. James says they should just get married. He says when Billie was caught cheating, that night Ayalla tried to sneak her out. He says they were trying to act like they were in a danger situation. He says you’re supposed to make it right, not sneak away. He said that was Ayalla’s doing.

(He asked Billie to get a Lilly tattoo story, Remember Love tattoo story) RS asks if James can see that’s a little toxic. James says don’t lie to people. He says if you cheat on the woman of you dreams and all you have to do to prove how much you care about the relationship is by doing something like getting a tattoo. He says she could design the tattoo herself and she already had a bunch of tattoos of sculls and flowers. He thought “another flower, who cares?” He wanted them to get a symbol of love and it doesn’t have to be something exclusive to the person. Like his “remember love” tattoo he got for Shiloh. He said it didn’t have to be a tattoo, but they had to show they cared. He gives another made-up example with Kai asking him to get a Power Ranger tattoo for him. He says he would have gotten that tattoo anyway. He says they were giving Billie an easy out and Ayalla made it out like they were crazy.

Months later Billie tried to get back together with them. He says Billie was sick at the time, but they had a baby so they didn’t want to get the baby sick. Billie agreed to come in a hazmat suit. He says she also agreed to sitting in their bedroom / basement with a 50-foot cord to a dog collar. He says they had a big projector down there and they would have given her pizza delivery. He says it was very kinky, but he wasn’t thinking about it sexually. He says he was thinking it would have been something he would have loved to do if he betrayed someone and they were giving him a 2nd chance. He says in hindsight, it looks creepy. He says kinks like bondage becomes unflattering when you’re not still with that person. RS agrees. He says in texts she said she didn’t want to do it, but over the phone she was down for it.

Before she came he asked her if she was still doing illegal drugs. She said yes and he said she couldn’t come. She said “lol be bad.” [”Lol be bad” was not in response to him saying she couldn’t come. It was when he was accusing her of lying and betraying them over text.] He says it was bizarre and it seemed like she didn’t care. He said that’s when she went on her rants about how horrible they are, because they didn’t want to be around criminal behavior. [She did not go on any unprovoked rants. He was the one that started shit over and over on twitter and made multiple videos about her pot smoking. He kept calling her a liar and criminal scum. He said "I wish people could overdose on pot. Far less druggy scumbags in the world." She didn’t really say much until after he release her private information. You can read the whole twitter fight here.]

RS says it’s been years since Ayalla was around them personally. (Social Repose threatening to leak info on Ayalla story.) James asks what they did that was so bad that they were afraid of SR leaking? He says Ayalla was in their house losing her mind because of SR. He says it was 2016.

RS says whenever Ayalla loses relevancy, she brings up James. James says he doesn’t know, he doesn’t pay attention to that. He says maybe she gets more support on OnlyFans.

James asks why Ayalla never addresses her trying to have sex with Sarah? RS immediately agrees and asks how old Sarah was at the time. [Why is RS so skeptical of all the accusations against James, but totally believes James’ accusation against Ayalla??] James says Ayalla was 19 and Sarah was 16, but he could be wrong. He says she tried to accuse people who weren’t trying to sleep with Sarah when she was actively trying to sleep with Sarah? He says she’s projecting.

RS says you can call Onision a bad guy, but being a bad guy doesn’t send you to prison.

RS shows a text from Sarah on screen:

RS says that proves there was never any grooming. James says Sarah said, “if anything I groomed you guys” as an adult.

He says he posted a video from when they kicked her out for texting someone about how she was trying to get with them. He says she was plotting and being malicious and creepy. [If you actually watch the video from back then, he says it’s not her fault they are sending her home, he blame the internet for making things weird. Also, the message she sent the friend wasn’t her plotting to be with them. She told the friend that James told her she would be in a relationship with Kai one day. Transcript]

RS starts asking a question, but spells out r-a-p-e. They start talking about Youtube and monetization. James says Youtube told him the primary keyword on his channel was “rape.” He says he never used that word in keywords, but he realized they were using every word he said from voice recognition.

RS says everyone asks why don’t Kai and James press charges against Sarah for sexually extorting them? James says they would have to spend thousands and they would have to re-live the situation again. He says Kai still hasn’t talked about it because he’s so traumatized by everything he went through. He says police have bigger priorities and it’s probably more of a civil case. He asks how he would get compensation if Sarah is broke?

James said a guy Kai dated in high school admitted to raping him. They dated a long time ago. Kai went to the police and they sidebar him even though this guy admitted to it. James says he should be embarrassed because for a long time he told people if this happened to you you should go to the police or you’re helping that person get away with their crime. He says now he knows you need video evidence to get justice and even then it’s still hard.

He says people think Sarah lived with them when they dated, but she was just visiting. She lived with them before, but was kicked out. He says people say he raised Sarah, but he met her when she was 16. Says it’s legal in his state to be with someone 16, but they were with Billie. They didn’t pursue her after she turned 18. Then she sexually extorted them after she said she was r-a-p-e-d and they felt bad for her.

He says he already lost money on a lawyer.

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pitterpatterpot · 5 years ago

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Giant Mice?

Sheryl will admit that the change is… disorientating.

The purple-haired ghost girl definitely isn’t happy that Sheryl is her new roommate. Sheryl isn’t happy that she’s stuck will a little alien who nearly blows her head off every time she has a nightmare and randomly shoots purple fire.

The Tryvuulian edges around her, giving nervous smiles as he tries to strike up conversations. HUE does the same before awkwardly waddling away, Mooncake usually floating after him. AVA insults her to her face, not that Sheryl really minds.

Gary is trying, truely trying, to get along with his mother. There are times where Sheryl sees him flinch away from her, but overall her son seems to enjoy their conversations about piloting. She doesn’t doubt it, she knows how long he must have wanted to have a conversation with his mother without her trying to kill him. If anything, she’s the one that struggles during their talks.

Quinn is…

Sheryl is unsure of what to make of Quinn. She reminds Sheryl of John, which hurts more than the thief would like to admit. Quinn edges around Sheryl in a similar manner, not knowing the full story between her and Gary. The poor lady seems torn between wanting Gary’s mother to like her and being cautious of the criminal.

Avocato has been indifferent ever since Sheryl tried to distract him with a red dot. Really though, floating through Final Space can be quite boring. She needed some kind of entertainment. Barely-repressed hostility seems to be the only thing between them.

There’s only one person she hasn’t really interacted with yet.

“Hey, Grandma.”

And there’s a good reason for that.

Plastering on a smile, Sheryl swivels around in the pilots seat. “Hey… kiddo.”

The small Ventrexian hops into the seat to the right, tapping away at the screen. If there’s one thing Sheryl has to admit it’s that the kid knows how to fly. But being called Grandma? She’s still getting used to Mom.

“Are the primary thrusters online?” Little Cato perks up, eyes big and wide as he looks at her.

“Uh… yep.”

“Cool, cool… whydon’tyousoundlikeGary?”

The kid says it so fast Sheryl has to blink. “What?”

“You, um,” Little Cato’s ears droop slightly, his eyes flickering away. “You sound different to Gary. He said you have an accent.”

Ah, right. Most aliens learn American English. Her Aussie accent must sound weird to the kid.

“It’s ‘cause I’m from Australia,” Sheryl keeps her focus on the controls. “We speak English there too, but different from America.”

“America?”

“The place Gary is from. It’s a country on Earth.”

“Oh, cool.”

Sheryl waits for another question, but the kid stays silent. They both fiddle with the controls, the ship slowly following Bolo through Final Space, everyone on edge as they wait to come across the first Titan besides Bolo.

“We have kangaroo’s in Australia.”

“Huh?”

Sheryl winces, regretting the words. “They’re a, uh, an animal. Kind of like a giant, jumping mouse.”

Preparing to face the kid, she turns slightly in her seat. And immediately swears at the large eyes of the kid blinking right at her. Somewhere during the giant mouse moment the kid had left his seat and padded over to her, leaning with his hands against her arm rests and eyes wide with wonder.

“Jesus Christ,” Sheryl hisses, clamping a hand over her heart. “You’re a quiet one, aren’t you?”

She gets a little shrug in response, the kid leaning in closer. “Giant mice?”

Sighing, the thief settles back in her seat. “Yeah, kid. Giant mice. Most are red, like a rusty red, and some are kind of blue and gray. Depends on the kind.”

“Whoa,” the little Ventrexian breathes the word. “Giant, colourful mice? Can you eat them?”

Now that throws Sheryl off for a moment, making her laugh. “Uh, yeah. We can eat kangaroo meat. It’s actually pretty good. I’d never eat a joey though.”

“Joey? Is that, like, a person?”

“No,” Sheryl snorts. “It’s a baby kangaroo. Their mum’s keep them in a pouch they have on their belly to carry them around.”

“Huh,” Little Cato rests his head on his arms. “My dad’s carry me around sometimes. Usually on their shoulders.”

“I noticed,” Sheryl smiles slightly. “You’re a light one, aren’t ya?”

“Yeah,” those little ears droop again. “I didn’t really eat properly for a while. I’m kind of small for my age.”

“What, did Gary forget to feed you?” Sheryl smirks, chuckling. “Or let me guess, only gave you cookies?”

She expects some kind of comeback. Not for the kid to shuffle on his feet and look away. It makes something oily roll in her stomach, a weird feeling that’s been occurring more frequently lately ever since she decided to stop trying to kill her son. So far the feeling has only been restricted to when she’s dealing with Gary and her past mistakes. It can’t be a good thing if that feeling is spreading to the kid.

“What?” Sheryl rotates the seat to face the kid. “When didn’t you eat?”

“I…uh…” Little Cato winces. “I kind of spent three years in prison? Well, different prisons. They had to move me around a lot.”

Sheryl blinks.

And blinks again.

“You went to prison?”

“Yeah,” Little Cato shrugs once again. “The Lord Commander placed me there to keep me from my dad. I was in the Sector F8 military base until I started a small fire, then got moved to the Sector 472 prison colony, and after my third escape attempt there they decided to just keep moving me.”

For the first time, in a long time, Sheryl laughs. Her head tips back and the sound bellows out of her lungs. Little Cato jerks back, surprised, before starting to giggle along. It isn’t long before they’re both cackling.

“Crickey,” Sheryl wheezes, tears nearly squeezing out of her eyes. “You little bastard! You’re a demon!”

“Yeah, and?” Little Cato raises his brows, grinning.

Sheryl looks the kid over. The Ventrexian that Gary trusted to fix the light-fold engines, that obviously knows his way around mechanics. And that has obviously raised hell in his short life-time.

“And have you ever hot-wired a ship before?” Sheryl smirks.

“No,” the kid pivotes around to poke at Sheryl’s controls. “Always wanted to learn. Just don’t tell my dads.”

“I think we can make that work. Alright, so what you’re gonna want to do is remove this panel here…”

~~~

“Uh, Mom?” Gary eyes the second plate in his mother’s hand, tiredly rubbing at his eyes. “What are you doing?”

Sheryl throws a look over her shoulder. “I’m showing that kid of yours how to really pilot. We need fuel.”

“We’re in Final Space, now isn’t the time for a lesson!”

“All times are good times, sweetheart.”

~~~

“So,” Little Cato speaks around a mouthful of what has been deemed the ‘purple yams’ by Gary. “You’re pretty good at fighting.”

“Thanks,” Sheryl throws a glance to the kid, relaxed in the pilot’s chair. “Can I ask you something?”

“Shoot.”

“Why do you call me ‘grandma’?”

“Because Gary is my dad,” Little Cato shrugs. “Or at least one of them. And he loves you and wants you to be his mom. That makes you my grand-mom. Or, you know, grandma.”

“Huh, it’s that easy for you?” Sheryl taps against the arm rest of the chair.

“I guess,” Little Cato fiddles with a loose screw. “I can stop calling you that if you want.”

“…Nah, it’s alright. Say, kiddo, you mind passing me that screwdriver? We should probably keep that panel from falling off.”

“I’ll fix it.”

“Thanks.”

They spend the next few minutes fiddling with the systems, Sheryl checking over the systems as Little Cato fixes all loose screws. After a while Sheryl pauses for a moments, blinking, annoyed when she struggles to open her eyes again. A yawn from the kid sets her off, her jaw clicking.

“Alright,” Sheryl stands, cracking her back in a stretch. “I’m gonna go get Gary to take over. I’m hitting the hay.”

“’Kay,” Little Cato mumbles, finishing the last screw.

Sheryl pauses at the doorway, sending one last look at the kid. She can see his fuzzy ears, the rest of him hidden by the pilot’s chair. The orange tips are drooping slightly and she knows that the little Ventrexian is slouched. The door clicks behind her as she makes her way to the dining room, where everyone most likely is. Take your shift, sleep, then eat. No doubt Gary is having breakfast with the rest.

Now that she thinks about, Sheryl took the shift that no one else wanted to avoid everyone. The kid shouldn’t have been awake.

Shaking the thought out of her herd, Sheryl pokes her head into the dining room. “Hey, hun, I’m hitting the hay.”

“Oh,” Gary looks up from his plate, blinking. “Cool. Uh, thanks, Mom. I’ll take over.”

Before she leaves, Sheryl looks to the adult Ventrexian with the name that sound like an Earth fruit, Avocado… Avocato. “Hey, your son’s asleep in the control room. He’s been there for hours.”

Swearing under his breath the Ventrexian stands immediately, hurrying past Sheryl. Garry gives his mother a long look before he begins to smile. She tries to ignore it for the first few minutes. Her skin begins to crawl.

“So, you talked to Little Cato?” Gary grins, leaning forward with his arms braced on the table.

“Oh, yeah,” Sheryl smiles over her shoulder, her usual aloof yet sarcastic tone in place. “I did. Oh, and just a quick warning, hun. Don’t be surprised if the kid starts asking about giant mice.”

“Giant- Mom, what were you talking about? Mom?”

Sheryl closes the door behind her, smirking.

The kid isn’t so bad.

________

I like to imagine that Sheryl and Little Cato would eventually get along. Also, it is so good to have an Australian character. I don’t need to worry about keeping her speech and dialect American.

#final space #little cato #sheryl goodspeed

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purplerose244 · 6 years ago

Text

MY THOUGHTS ON EPISODE 98!!!

SPOILERS ALERT!!!

And adding this to the pilot episodes, which are four in two episodes, we finally reached 100 episodes of Ninjagooooo!!! 🎊🎊🎊 YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! 🎉🎉🎉

I can't believe we really achieved this, like, I remember getting interested because of that elevator gag with Jay in season 1, now look at this!!! 😍😍 I love this show, I love how much I have grown during it, and I can't wait to see what the future has in store for it!

And after getting all hyped with this, let's get to the episode! 😎

I wanna start by saying that, back when I watched it, I really liked Day of the Departed, but I would've LOVED IT if it was a season. Like, it's clear that a lot could've been done, and it came out really freaking cool but not mindblowing (and I kinda expect that from my favorite show, not sorry 😙)

My opinion on March of the Oni is similar, I definitely enjoyed more than DotD because it was basically a season of four episodes, it's just that some parts went by a little fast.

But you're asking if I liked it, right?

OF COURSE I DID! ❤❤

And let me tell, with the amount of parts coming from pilots and first season, I can die happily 😆 That's what I love about Ninjago, even when I think it's not perfect, there are still moments that I fall in love with immediately!

LET'S GO THEN!

For the start, Faith's story. I'm so sorry for the poor dragon hunters, can't even have the time to fully redeem themselves that darkness arises 😅

To be honest, when the ninja arrived and Wu was smiling at them like waiting for good news, I was too worried for Cole and was grieving like all of the ninja 😢 Then it reminded me of that one scene in Kung fu Panda with Shifu being all "ah yeah, I really need good news" with his messanger and it turns out it's fricking Tai Lung coming for him 😂😂

But yeah, that was heavy. And Garmy was still merciless with his brother, as much as with his wife (weird that I kinda enjoyed that part? He never went all bad against her, not even as Lord Garmadon. He is full beast now)

And oh man. WU'S REACTION.

One of his first pupil, the first leader of the team; not only that, Cole was always there when Wu turned into a baby and grew up, he basically became a second father for him in a weird but cute way. Can you imagine the grief? It would be really sad if he got to remember him being to affectionate with his infant version, singing for him 😭😭 (woa, fanfiction idea!)

Well played, I must say, Ninjago crew. I'm already on feels mode 👏 But don't think you can fool me again writers, I'm not that easy to impress for y-

*throw away the pizza she had for dinner* NO PRIMARY NEEDS WILL COME BEFORE THIS, KAI FREAKING SMITH IS BACK OMG YAS YAS YAAAAAASSSS!!!!! 🔥🔥🔥❤❤❤

... I screamed at that part. A LOT.

It's been AGES! He wore it two pilot episodes, period, he looks so young 😍 From this point of few I appreciate that he changed design, it's like he really grew up from before. And he looked so worried, or disappointed? Maybe because he gave up on being blacksmith a long time ago for doing something he's actually good at, and going back again it's like saying he didn't improve at all...

... or maybe I just overthink Kai all day all night

MY FLAME BABE 😍

Well, forge happens, no Ray and Maya but it was kinda hopeless anyway 😅 I really want them to come back, come on Tommy!

And bam, golden weapons. BAM 👊

They made me feel way more excited than I thought, I really squeaked all over while they were fighting! ☺ Back then there was nothing more important and powerful, and now they are back. But I think the golden power in them is weak? I guess they forged in a different way the first time, or maybe they need to be charged by golden power user. I don't know but good job anyway, my hot blacksmith 😚

Meanwhile, in another dark place...

I screamed again 😅

I was just super happy to see Cole fully alive and not frozen and stuff. I thought it had a deeper meaning him moving, but then I guess he woke up in time? And wasn't in the middle of the toxic darkness, thank lord 😵😵

Or maybe they'll explain it better next season and it's important? You never know

Kirby did his best at talking to himself 😂 Rocky you gotta stop loving your best bud that much, you were panicking just like him 💙 Also the part when he was so close to despair, man if I wanted nothing more but broke my phone screen and give him a hug 😢

Luckily, cuteness came to my rescue

"WE THOUGHT WE LOST YOU, YOU... YOU... YOU JERK!!"

My bruise heart is beating faster? My bruise heart is beating faster 🖤💙🖤💙 Sorry, can't help it, moving on!

I missed some full team fighting action! I wanted more, especially with the new golden weapons and how amazing the landscape look now near the monastery ☺ But it was cool, and I love Nya and Lloyd fighting back to back since they don't have golden weapons! Also Wu is getting so active in season 9 and 10 😊 And Faith is a queen 🖤

While we're at it, my idea is that Garmadon's doubts about his evilness are meaningful, but not for now. I like that they didn't push him into full redemption, it would've been too early. He clearly wants to know more about himself and his family. I think that the next adventure will be important for him, even if I still don't know how, maybe a full life-changing field trip (if so, my warlord, I have a half burnt prince from the Fire Nation to recommend 🔥)

... I did enough serious stuff for him, right? Well then...

... OKAY I CAN'T 😂😂😂😂

Like, I get the point and everything about him being almost full oni and stuff, but I can't look at his face 😂 I think it's the only part I really don't think it fits, the rest is pretty cool. I like the staff, looks all sorcery. They even used the design of the oni masks, nice touch.

... still, the face is weird, happy it didn't last 😙

Back to the monastery, everyone's scared, it might be the end, I actually liked the situation very much for the yang proposal. Jay stopped overthinking and went for it, it's hard for someone like him 😂

And of course Nya was ecstatic, and when our goddess is happy I am 💙💙💙

THEY HAVE THE MEDALIONS ON THEIR CHEST IT'S SUCH A CUTE AND ROMANTIC SYMBOL!!! 😍😍😍

I'm a sucker for romance, I'm sorry 😅

I'm also a sucker for references from past seasons, so...

*inhale*

THE FREAKING TORNADO OF CREATION!!!! FINALLY, AFTER THE FERRISWHEEL IN THE UNDERGROUND, THE ULTRA SONIC RAIDER AND ALL THE GAMES THAT HAD IT FEATURED, IT'S BAAAAACK!!!! THANK YOU NINJAGO FOR THIS GLORIOUS DAY!!! NINJAAAAAAAA-GOOOOOOOO!!!

*exhale*

They played it as they didn't use it again because it was kinda a miracle... I guess I can buy that, even if the Hagemans explained that they didn't expect Ninjago to continue and put the ultimate power immediately in the pilots... regretting it 😅 So I'm not hard on the writers in general, I'm happy to see this old friend back 💛

They all used spinjitzu, and the new design is so good, I was so happy!!! 🤩🤩🤩 Well I was, but then... boy... 😳

Now... let me tell you... how FREAKING nervewrecking... the last minutes of the episode... have been for me

First of all, the transition in black and soundless was so sudden that it got me thinking "okay this is new, got a weird feeling about it". Lloyd wakes up into such a heavenly beautiful place with a paradisiac great view. And I was already on what the frisk mode, because the others are gone and there's a beautiful golden dragon right there. And I freaking love those (I WANT ONE), so I got distracted.

Then a voice. Good Garmadon? I guess it could be, but why now and here? The heck?

Then of course I recognized him...

Because he still gives his back to the camera 😂 Also he freaking called him Lloyd MONTGOMERY Garmadon, I can't even 👏👏 This compensate the fact that I kinda wanted green bean to just go and call him granpa 😘

And while I thought it was super cool and over the top and reminded me again of Kung fu Panda, the third movie this time, I was still thinking from time to time:

"This looks like afterlife."

"The first Spinjitzu Master is gone."

"This can't be happening."

"This can't... can't..."

And after making sure to remind us that yes, first Spinjitzu Master-san is indeed Wu's dad, with his wise words because...

... he said that. THAT. Come back to your friends, or come with me. Go back being the green ninja, or reach the light once and for all. And darn it. I could feel my heart pulsing in my head. It ached when Lloyd extended his hand, and suddenly everything went white.

Back to the monastery. Guys are fine, Jaya is still beatiful and my poor sweetie flame got under a colomn thanks Cole I bet lavashippers appreciated

Then the worry. All of then running to him, checking, my flame so scared, "come on buddy, wake up". Wu following, he's the only hope, he can manage...

He can... can...

"There is nothing to be done."

I sobbed. Like, I didn't even dare to look at the time, I was too scared. I just didn't want it to be real.

Gotta say, when it comes to grieving, Ninjago makes me feel the most. Jay stuttering, asking Wu to help him. Nya sobbing calling his name. Kai slowly shaking his head, so desperate, like it wasn't enough they lost Cole even if not for long, and then going to comfort Wu because Garmy is not his brother right now and he's not showing emotion at all (although he was backing off, I wonder if he was trying to keep the distance from such a strong scene)

... and then Lloyd came back

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! 💚💚💚💚💚

I CRIED FOR HAPPINESS, THE TOUGHEST SECONDS OF MY LIFE!!! MY GREEN BEAN, MY SUNSHINE BOY, MY SWEET ANGEL IS HERE AND HERE TO STAY!!! 💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

Also Kai and Cole hugging, it was really sweet 🖤❤🖤❤

Oh man, OH MAN 😵

They put everything into that last fragment, now did they? Very nice, loved every part of it and it's really cool how we now kinda know what could be waiting on the afterlife 🤩 I wonder if there is more of that world...

This is why I said I wanted a longer special/season, we had two beautiful moments of pure sadness, really impactful and intense, that could've been even stronger if we had more time to struggle. But you know what? I died inside twice, came back to life twice as well, and nobody died!! 😊 ... except the oni I guess. I think... they died, didn't they?

Well whatever, going for the end!

Okay can I call upon myself the frame meme of Gravity Falls without actually showing it? I can't put more pictures 😅

"Oh, this."

"This is beautiful."

It's both extremely funny for the claw lego thingy, and meaningful. Only they could do that. Only those that really follow Ninjago could recognize this. I just like it a lot, the Tornado of Creation in its on way ❤💚💙🖤💦💎

(give me white and gray hearts emoji you COWARDS)

And of course, reunion for the finale

Sky you have no idea how happy I am to see you, girl I missed you a lot 😘 Also dat wink, Kai you might be the next to the yang proposal 😙 Cyrus is okay, I'm happy, and random Ronin because why not? He has better things to do than being caught up with all this drama 🤣

AND THE POSTMAN IS THERE 😎 Of course, our greatest ruler appear! 💪💪💪

While at the end that little moment between Wu and Garmy, I wonder what's waiting for the two sons of mister too shy for facing the camera 😜

And of course our Ninjago alphabet, THE END, with mama dragon who seems to be okay, good 😊 Pretty cool

Well guys, this is it. I enjoyed, no matter how it could've gone as a full season or other formats, it's refreshing knowing that they still remember stuff from the very beginning (MONTGOMERY 🤣🤣🤣). I think we had a good ending for a good beginning to a new fragment of Ninjago, involving what, I have no idea 😅 Also I really appreciate what they did with my Kai, the hotheaded, cocky but selfless warrior that I love so much. Thanks a lot ❤❤

Guess we'll find out sooner or later what's in store for this show, for now I'm done! Thank you guys a lot for all the notes in the last post, you guys are amazing! 😁

Nothing else to say, see ya around! 💜

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snow-lavender · 5 years ago

Text

The Last Day of Normality

AKA, “Why is there a superpowered teenager in my kitchen?”

Word count: 3075

Didn’t have anything specifically written for Jackie’s birthday today, so I decided to post something I had pre-written. This is my take on Jackie's first appearance. Fully headcanon!

Heads up, contains trans JBM, I know that’s really not some people’s thing.

AO3 link: here

July 10th, 2016

Jackie was done.

He couldn’t deal with this anymore. Fuck his classmates and fuck the school policy and fuck his Aunt Doris and fuck Irish conservatism and just...fuck. He dumped all the books and supplies out of his backpack and threw it onto the bed. You need to start acting properly. Jackie snorted. Yeah, that wasn’t gonna happen anytime soon. Your niece has some behavioral issues we need to address. Of course leave out the fact that the people he kept fighting were total assholes. Any more suspensions and we may have to consider expulsion. As the floorboards creaked, he noticed he was shaking. He tried to take a deep breath and calm down and...no, screw that, he needed to punch something.

You have such a bright future ahead.

Thump, went the pillow.

You can’t solve every problem like this

Thump.

I’m glad you’re experimenting, but you’ll be an adult soon.

Thump.

What will people think?

Thump.

I have your best interests at heart.

Thump.

Jackie paused, shoulders heaving. It felt like he’d been going at it for ten minutes, but, like always, his clock showed that only two had passed.

I have your best interests at heart. Yeah, that was the problem, wasn’t it. Doris legitimately thought she was in the right, thought they had the same plans for Jackie’s life, expected that her perfect little child would be just that. Perfect.

And Jackie loved her, he really did. Doris was the only family he’d ever known. But damn it, he couldn’t spend another day in this house.

He grabbed his bag and went to raid his closet. Jeans, shorts, loose tees, sports bras, everything was dumped unceremoniously in. Laptop, chargers, socks, toothbrush- photos.

Jackie stared at the two photos on top of his bookshelf. One was of his parents, cuddling a small bundle of blankets. The other was of him and Doris from a few years ago, smiling in front of the Cliffs of Moher. He hesitated, then shoved them both in his bag as well.

‘hey, can i come over? -Jackie’. He shot off a text to one of his friends, then paced around the room, trying to burn energy.

“Jackie, dinner’s in ten minutes!” his aunt yelled up.

‘Now? -Morgan :P’

‘preferably -Jackie’

“Alright, I’ll be there soon!” he replied.

‘Kay. Need a drive? -Morgan :P’

‘i can walk -Jackie’

Well, it was now or never. He shouldered his pack and reached for the doorknob...the fuck?

Jackie turned around, blinking in the sudden bright light. A green orb floated in the centre of his room. “What?” he murmured under his breath, reaching out to touch it-

Then there was a flash, and nothing remained in the bedroom but piles of scattered belongings.

>=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=<

Jackie blinked the spots out of his eyes. When had he fallen on the floor? He moved to get up, then froze when he felt the floor. That wasn’t the carpet from his bedroom. He looked around as his vision cleared up. Instead, he was in a small, wood furnished kitchen.

“What the fuck?” came a voice to his left.

Jackie looked over. In front of him was a man in his mid-twenties, looking just as confused as he felt. Jackie blinked away the blue glow around him, eyes still spotty from the flash.

“Who the hell are you? How did you get into my apartment?” the man asked.

“I-I don’t know!” Jackie stuttered. “I was just in my bedroom, and there was this weird orb, and then I was here!”

“Orb?” the man repeated. “Like a green, glowy type orb?”

“...yeah?”

He ran his fingers through his very green hair. “ ‘Cause the same thing happened here; I was just makin’ coffee, then there was an orb and it flashed and out popped some random kid.”

Jackie tried to even his breathing. “What the hell? Do you have, like any clue what that was?”

“Maybe? Do you have magic blood?”

“Uh, what?” answered Jackie.

“You don’t come from a magic family, then?” the man pressed. Was this dude delusional? Did Jackie just get teleported into a psych ward? It didn’t look like any hospital he’d ever seen before.

“Magic isn’t real, though.” he said hesitantly, trying not to provoke the man.

He snorted. “You sure about that?” he said, gesturing around the room, and okay, Jackie had to admit, he might have had a point. The man held out a hand. “I’m Sean.”

The teen took it slowly. “...Jackie.” he replied. “Where am I, exactly?”

“Athlone, County Westmeath.” As he pulled Jackie up, Sean squinted. “Are you Irish? Do you even know what that means?”

“I’m from Dublin. And I made it through fucking primary school, I think I can piece it together.” Jackie said indignantly

Sean held up his hands. “Hey, you can never be too careful.” he chuckled. “You want some tea, Jackie?”

>=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=<

Half an hour later, the two were in Sean’s sitting room. An awkward silence had fallen after the bare minimum of information had been exchanged. (How to contact Jackie’s parents/guardians had been the main point of conversation. Sean had looked a little confused at Jackie's reluctance to contact any other adults, but thankfully hadn’t pried. He’d simply said that it was Jackie’s priorities were his choice, and agreed to figure out their current situation first)

“You said you were from Dublin?” Sean finally asked.

Jackie looked over at him. “Yeah, why?”

Sean squinted. “You looked familiar, so I was wondering if we might be related, but I don’t have much for family in the city.” He paused. “Maybe it’s like that whole ‘There are seven people in the world who look like you’ thing? ‘Cause you look a lot like I did in Uni.”

Jackie took his first real, long look at the man on the other end of the sofa. “You do look kinda like my Dad did.” he conceded after a minute or two.

Sean’s eyes widened. “We’re not dealing with, like, time travel, right? It’s 2016 for you?”

“Yeah.” Jackie laughed. “Thank fuck.”

Sean smiled. “Good, meeting my future kid would come with a shit-ton of questions I don’t want to think about.”

Jackie made a face, setting off another round of laughter between the two. When they calmed, Jackie let out a huff and fell back onto the couch cushions. “So we’re back at square one.”

Sean sat up suddenly. “We might not be, actually.” He fished his phone out of his pocket and started tapping away. “This could be a stretch, but....”

“But what?” Jackie asked. When he got no response, he repeated, “But what?”

Sean still didn’t acknowledge his question, but he did mutter “Perfect.” and then pull himself up from the couch. “I have a friend who might have more information. C’mon.” he said, walking out into the hall.

As he followed after the man, Jackie kept on prodding for information. “You said something about magic families? Can you use magic, then?”

Sean looked up from his phone. “Hm? Oh, yeah, I grew up with it.” he said distractedly. Then he stopped abruptly. “Shit. If you could keep that a secret, that’d be great.”

“Even from this friend of yours?”

“Please.”

Up the stairs and around the corner, Sean opened a door and entered. “Huh.” Jackie said as he followed in. “I think this room has more tech than all of my classrooms combined. What d’you need all this for anyway?”

“I’m a youtuber.” Sean answered from the desk.

“What, like Pewdiepie?”

“Yep.”

Jackie took in his surroundings. His eyes were drawn to a bookshelf filled with various merch and figurines. “What are all of these?”

Sean turned back from the desk. “Huh?” Then a fond smile fell across his face. “They’re gifts, mostly.” He started pointing things out. “That bug is from my friend Suzy, those are from this kid Alfie that I met in London, the Undertale ones there I got at Pax this year, this buddy here I bought myself, but I love him, so he goes on the shelf anyway..”

Jackie nodded as each item was pointed out. He noticed a particular abundance of one logo, and the pieces finally clicked. “Wait…” Jackie whirled around. “You’re that septic dude that Quinn won’t shut up about!”

“Hm?” Sean turned to face him, mid-tangent. “Oh! Probably, yeah.”

“Aren’t you, like, famous?” Jackie questioned. “Why do you live in such a tiny apartment?”

Sean gave him a look. “I’m sorry, that was kinda shitty, wasn’t it?” Jackie said after a second. “Kinda.” the other agreed, “I get that sort of thing a lot, don’t worry about.” He set a hand on Jackie’s shoulder.

The two were interrupted by a skype ringtone coming from the desktop. Sean bolted over to pick up, Jackie following behind a moment later.

The call opened, displaying a worried looking man. “Jack! Is everything okay over there?”

“Uhh, sorta? It’s a little complicated.” Sean gestured for Jackie to move into frame. As he did, Sean’s friend inhaled sharply. “Jackie, this is Mark. Mark, Jackie. He just kinda ...popped into my apartment. Soo… yeah.” he finished awkwardly.

“Hi?” Jackie said, giving a small wave.

Mark cursed under his breath. “Okay, now I get why you mentioned the... yeah, that clears things up. Uhh, I’m gonna just...gimme a sec.” He typed something frantically into his phone. “Nice to meet you Jackie. Jack mentioned-” he paused. “That’ll get confusing fast.”

“You could just, you know, call me by my actual name?” Sean replied with a smirk.

“But that’s weird!” the other whined, grinning. “Alright then, Seeaaan. I’m gonna pop into the office to grab Google. Be right back!” and with that, Mark hung up the call.

“Did he say Google?” Jackie asked hesitantly.

“I think so?”

The two stood silently for a few minutes, before Mark called once again. This time, he was sitting at a computer desk. Standing behind him was another person who looked strangely similar to him. This stranger stood rigidly, arms behind their back and face blank.

“This is Google,'' Mark said. “He’s... uhh...hm, how do I explain you?” he muttered, turning around to glance at him.

Google’s eyes glowed blue. “Designation: Google IRL Humanoid Home Assistant. Model Serial Number: G-IRL 001B. For more information about this product, please consult your user’s manual or contact Google Support online or through telephone.”

“I guess that works.'' Mark said after a moment.

Jackie and Sean stared, dumbfounded. “...Holy shit, is that a robot?” Jackie asked.

“I am an Android.” it (he?) corrected sharply.

“What the fuck.” said Sean.

“Why are you surprised?” Mark asked. “I told you about him. I texted you to complain about him literally last week.”

“Well yeah, but I didn’t think he’d look so much like a machine!”. Sean protested. The robot frowned deeper.

“But they don’t have that kind of tech at Google yet, right? They would have told us! This is a huge technological leap!” Jackie said, brow furrowed.

“That’s because they didn’t make him.” Mark replied.

“Huh?”

Mark grimaced. “Okay, um, the gist of it is, you have a character, right? From a skit or joke or something. So in my case, sometimes to characters, well,” he gestured behind him, “become real. Somehow. I still have no clue how it works.”

Jackie gaped, slack jawed. “So you made a video about a robot ...and he just came to life.”

“Yup.”

“Do they all look like you?”

“Yeah, ‘cause I play them first.”

��....uhh….”

“Yup.”

Jackie turned back to Sean. “And you’ve met these...things?”

“I call them figments.” Mark interrupted. “Like ‘figment of the imagination’.”

Sean was still staring at the robot, looking uncomfortable. “I’ve only met one other, when Mark was telling me about them last year.”

Mark winced. “Yeah, I figured Googs would be a better first introduction than Wilford. He’s less...well, just less in general, I guess.”

“Why are you telling me any of this? I don’t get how any of this is-” Jackie froze. “You think I’m like them.”

Sean looked sheepish. “It would explain why we look so similar.”

“But I’m real!” Jackie protested. “I existed before this. I have a life, and friends and all that shit! I’m a real person!”

Mark spoke softly. “All of my guys have backstories, things that feel like they happened. But those people never existed.” He smiled apologetically. “It gets easier with time, I promise.”

“But I’m real.” Jackie repeated. “I can prove it!” He pulled out his phone. “Look, my friends have been texting me non-stop!”. As he spoke, another notification popped up.

New Text from Morgan :P

Jackie, please answer. Everyone’s really worried about you. Doris called the Garda and everything.

“See!” Jackie yelled. “They’re real! I’m real! I’m not some imaginary character!”

Sean raised his hands placatingly. “Jackie, calm down. It was just an idea.” He stepped forward.

“Get off of me!” Jackie yelled. He pushed Sean away and ran out the door.

>=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=<

Jackie ran down the stairs, looking for the bathroom. He needed someplace private. He bolted into the small room and locked the door. Curling up on the floor, he rubbed at his face, and checked his phone to try to calm down.

Meanwhile, in the recording room, Sean and Mark stared in shock at the door. Slowly, Sean pulled himself out of the mattress he’d been shoved into. “Um.” he said eloquently.

“Are you okay?” Mark asked. “Yeah, I think so.” he replied.

“So, this isn’t exactly the same thing. But do you have any clue what could cause..” He gestured at the door.

“Some random teenager throwing me across the room and then super speeding himself away?” Sean finished.

“Yeah.”

“Unfortunately.”

He stretched, grimacing as he wiggled a shoulder. “I recorded a video where I dressed up like a superhero. It went up today.” Sean sighed. “And I called myself ‘Jackie-boy-man’.”

“Jackie.” Mark echoed.

Sean didn’t reply. “Can I call you if I need anything else?” he said after a moment.

“Course you can. Anything at all, man.”

“Thanks.” Sean walked over to the computer. “Thanks for everything. See ya.”

“Bye. Good luck Sean.”

Sean hung up the call and put his head in his hands. “What the hell am I supposed to do now?” he muttered.

Leave him. Make him leave.

“Nope, none of that.” Sean replied.

Not his home. Not your responsibility.

“Stop it. Just because I don’t need to help doesn't mean I shouldn’t.”

Bleeding heart. Weak resolve.

“Okay, you can stop now.” Sean said, standing up. “I’m going to talk to him, and he’ll decide what to do, and you,” he emphasized, “are going to shut up and be reasonable for once.”

He left to recording room and started looking through the house. Jackie wasn’t in any of the bedrooms, not in the living room, not the dining room, or the kitchen…

When he tried the door to the toilet, it was locked. Sean knocked hesitantly. “You okay in there?” he asked. There was no response. “Can I do anything to help?” Still nothing. He tried once more. “D’you want some more tea?”.

That one got a quiet “Okay.” Sean left for the kitchen, and when he returned, Jackie was sitting against the hall wall, head on his knees. He set the two mugs down on the floor, before sitting himself. It took a little while, but Jackie finally spoke up. “I’ve been missing for two days.”

“What?” Sean exclaimed.

“Before I was here, I was in my room, on Friday night.” he sighed. “My friends think I ran away or something.”

“Did you talk to them just now?”

Jackie covered his face further. “Mhm. Told ‘em I was safe. But what else do I say? ‘Hey, by the way, I got magically transported across the country, and also imaginary friends can be real, and also I might be one of them?!’”, he rambled.

“Yeah, Mark and I talked some more after you left.” Sean paused. “You got out of there crazy fast. Like, inhumanly fast. Did...did you know you have super speed?”

Jackie stared at him. “...I just figured I was bad at time management.”

“You threw me across the room.”

“...And anger management.” He looked up, worriedly. “You’re okay, right?”

“Yeah, I landed on a mattress.” Sean smiled. “And I’m not mad. You should have seen some of the shit I did when I was still learning control. My parents have repainted the kitchen twice, and you can still see some of the scorch marks.” he chuckled.

Jackie laughed too. “Okay, sure, why not add superpowers to today’s what-the-fuck list.” He looked up at the ceiling. “Anything else, Universe? You wanna add multiple realities or some shit to the mix?”

They laughed. “Yeah, what a fuckin’ great birthday.” Jackie snorted.

Sean turned to him, surprised. “Happy Birthday! How old are you?”

“Seventeen.” Jackie smiled. “One more year, then I can finally move out.” Then he froze. “What if I lived here?”

“What?” said Sean. “How does that make sense?”

“Well, you think I’m one of those figment things, right?” Jackie continued.

Sean nodded. “Yeah, I think you’re supposed to be a superhero character I made up.”

“All of your friend’s figments are close to him. Besides, you’re the only person who knows what’s going on.”

“I really don’t.” Sean protested.

Jackie shrugged. “Still. We’re, like, connected or something. You could help me figure out these powers or whatever. And…” he shrunk down again. “I wouldn’t really mind moving. I was about to get expelled, anyway.”

Sean rubbed at his forehead. “I’m twenty-six. I can’t raise a teenager. You’re like, ten years younger than me.”

“People make it work.”

He sighed. “I..I’ll think about it?”

Jackie nodded. Sean moved to get up, when Jackie suddenly interrupted. “Wait! Okay. Umm... so, you’re cool with gay people, right?”

Sean looked confused. “Yeah?” Then it clicked. “Oh! Oh no, don’t worry, I’m cool with you being-yeah, it’s okay.”

Jackie looked relieved. “Okay. Okay, cool. Then we’re good. No issue here”

“Gotcha.” Sean stood up, grabbing the mugs. “I’mma deal with these., then I gotta go record. You can use my Playstation, if you want. And I’m upstairs if you need anything.”

Jackie flashed him a thumbs up, then went back into the bathroom. He braced himself on the sink and looked into the mirror.

A superhero, huh?

Yeah, that could work.

#jackieboy man #jacksepticeye egos #septic egos #writersofjack #writers of jack #fanfiction #trans jackieboy man #my writing #snow shitposts #please let me know if i made a mistake or was disrespectful #the last day series

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writer-of-the-revolution · 6 years ago

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Icarus Ch3 - Discovery

Hospitals suck. The first few weeks were all right, you know, being in pain in all, but at this point I think anyone would be stir crazy. The nightly trips to the gym and intermittent visits from Alex and co. became too little, far too soon for my liking. To make matters worse, I’m fine. Despite being given a near clean bill of health I’m still stuck here. The unwelcome truth is, the agency doesn’t know what to do with something like me. Can’t let the Angel of Death loose on the town.

My latest visit was one of the most surprising. I looked up from my daily staring into space i saw none other than the Mighty Captain Warshow. How sweet. Here I was thinking I was his least favorite agent.

“Boss!” I exclaim, oozing with excitement, “How’s it goin’?” He looks mildly uncomfortable under my cheerful smile,wringing his hands as he shuffles into the room. I continue, “So, when can I get out of this hell-hole? Nurses cleared me days ago! Even Alex says I’ve made a miraculous recovery, and she’s a mother hen.” He glances at the wings with thinly veiled disgust. How dare he.. “Don’t like what your assignment did to me?” He looks away.

“Agent Valerius, that's why I’m here. HQ has decided to board you in the compound until further arrangements are made. They will be prepared for your arrival by the end of the week.” Of course. Always and easy way out. Keep me on base and keep me secure, out of the public's vengeful eye. Those snakes.

After fulfilling the purpose of his visit, the burly man turns to leave and I let him reach the door before I call out, “When will I be cleared for duty?” He frowns and leaves without another word.

Alex was ecstatic when I told her the following afternoon. Being my primary visiter for duration of my stay in this hell-hole, she had heard enough of my frustrated ramblings to last a lifetime.

“You know what this means right?” She looked practically giddy with excitement. Her trademark tabled gripped tightly in her hands. “You can finally stop bothering me!”

“I take offence to that! I don't ‘bother’ you.” She looked at me disbelievingly before laughing. “Besides,” I roll my eyes, “I’m literally moving two building over.”

“It’s the thought that counts. Your own space and all.”

“Space regulated by B.O.A.”

“Well what do you want them to do? They can’t exactly send you off like you are. And I’m sure you’ll be out in the field before you know it!” Ouch.

I look away. The genius seemed to hit every nerve in one fell swoop. Managing to cover both my inability to ever live a normal life again, and my careers destined closure. My position had always seemed like the one thing I had. As a kid in a military family, always moving across the country, and never fitting in. Learning to blend in and evaluate people, a skill that later made him an asset in intel gathering. So much in fact, that even the higher ups were willing to deal with my recalcitrance. Kind of hard to fade into the crowd if the crown is running away screaming.

Alex, as painfully oblivious as she is realized her mistake swiftly. Torn between reaching out as comfort and not, her hand hovered between us unsure. With both of us reticent tension filled the atmosphere as thick as maple syrup. We looked away, each not meeting the others eyes.

The genius stood sharply and headed to the door. In her final glance back I caught her gaze. Pity. The quiet monster that seemed to follow my every step. A predator tracking its prey. Antagonising me. Look what you are. You will never be like us. You poor, poor thing. Eating me alive.

As Dr. Gray’s figure left the door, disappearing into shadowy confines of my thinly veiled prison cell. What she left unsaid lingered in the still air.

The next day crept by at an agonizingly slow pace like molasses flooding the streets. With no visitors to distract me time seemed to stand still. The need to escape crawled across my skin like a swarm of fire ants. In a last effort to ease the feeling I checked the bindings on the wings, swept on a large coat (okay, a trench coat), and made my way through the hallway to the gym.

The large room was fortunately near empty, it’s only inhabitant a 40ish agent asleep on the bench. I removed my coat and made my way to the punching bag to vent my frustrations. One hit turned to two, then twenty. It seemed so much easier to lose myself in a haze of adrenaline than it was to think. Sweat poured down my back soaking uncomfortably into feathers of the wings. My movement tearing the bandages loose, letting the limbs loose. Despite that I felt more alive since I woke up in a hospital room.

“Kai!?” Standing on the other side of the room was none other than Alex Gray.

The man slumbering in the corner woke at Alex’s yell. Panic fluttered in my chest. The agent’s eyes opened and he seemed to panic at the sight of me. I realized with a cold feeling of dread that my gut. I grabbed my coat and ran, not stopping till I reached my desolate room. Alex was right behind me.

“Kai I’m so sorry!” My response was vitriolic.

“Sorry doesn’t cut it, Alex!” A heavy weight settled on my chest, forcing he breath out of my lungs and leaving me gasping. My hands shook as I held them against my chest. I couldn’t breathe. Chills rushed down my spine.

“I didn’t mean to scare anyone! I just needed to get out of here.” Alex’s hand rested on my shoulder but panic still flooded my senses.

“Kai, it’s gonna be alright.”

“No it’s not. I know i’m an abomination. Do you have any idea what it feels like to know that no matter what you do you can never get better. I’m going to spend the rest of my life either a lab rat or glorified prisoner being transferred from one facility to the next.” I fell to the floor and something warm wrapped around me.

“K-Kai!” Alex watched me, her eyes flooded with astonishment, “Your wings!”

That’s when I noticed. The feathered limbs that always dragged so uselessly behind me were not so now. Dull, dark feathers blocked my vision as the wings held themselves in front of me, almost as if to protect me.

Then, spasms of pain shot down my spine, burning like a wildfire. Black spots cloud my vision as my nerves scream in agony. Through my blurry vision I see Alex rush over to me. Tears streamed down my face as my body fell limp and I finally lost consciousness.

Waking up in a hospital bed in varying amounts of pain, with a certain genius perched at the foot, seems to be becoming a very unwelcome habit. Alex looked up from the device in her hand and smiled as she saw my bleary gaze.

“Valerius, you’re up! You have no idea how big this is!” The brunettes incessant energy was back in full swing. Completely disregarding my empty stare, she continued, “I've never seen anything like it. The sensory output from your wings has increased exponentially! The nerve endings knit together almost over night and your brain has managed to add another set of limbs to its control system. If we can replicate it, the applications to paralytics and amputees would be unparalleled.” Finally, she paused to take a breath. “You must be able to feel the difference?”

She was right, as always. I could feel the feathers bend awkwardly under my weight, and the way their barbs are rubbed the wrong way by the material. It was horrible. Feeling the wings so intimately just serve as another reminder that I’m just someone else’s experiment.

“Yeah it’s great… Who knows, maybe one day i'll fly like some kind of angel man!” Alex smiled and the lie felt worthwhile if it fueled her enthusiasm. It seemed as if my years of fake faces and fronts finally did some good. So, I let Alex babble on with a smile on my face.

The next day my move went on as planned despite the wing incident. I stood in my room taking one last look around the place that has been my home for the last 5 months. The plain space was especially empty with my few belonging laying in a duffel at my feet. I caught a glimpse of myself and I couldn’t look away. A gaunt face with prominent cheekbones and sunken eyes stared back at me, a reflection of my months of disappearance and recovery. I could almost see why people looked at me like i’m glass about to shatter.

I hear an eager knock at the door, quickly followed by Alex barging into my room. Back to her energetic self, she was practically vibrating with anticipation.

“It’s moving day!” she said in a sing-songy voice, grabbing my bag and pulling me away from the mirror. The wings were bound again but I almost regretted it. Aside from yesterday, the wings were still unable to hold themselves. Unfortunately, with the enhanced feeling, the setup was hot, restricting, and uncomfortable, leaving me unable to really focus on anything in particular. I followed the genius like a lost puppy.

As Alex and I walked out of the Med Wing, I couldn’t help but feel a hint of melancholy. I’m leaving behind the place where I healed, and all hopes of being fixed, resigning myself to a life of isolation.

My new building is the sumptuous housing for the higher ups, equipped with apartments more similar to those outside the compound than the cramped rooms we stayed in as trainees and agents. Most of the rooms contained kitchens and lounges, luxuries i've been without for far too long.

The moment we entered the building I could tell it was reserved for those of importance. Although not overly decorated, the plush carpet and gleaming chandeliers were impressive. Alex talked my ear off the duration of our ride in the elevator. Obviously I would be staying on the top floor, like a princess trapped in a tower.

“Agent, are you even listening?” Alex’s irritated voice broke me out of my thoughts. I smirked.

“Why would I need to listen to you?” We reached the door and she mock frowned as she opened the door with her set of keys. I walked in and turned of the lights before stumbling back.

“Surprise!” Inside were various friends and acquaintances I had come to know in my years in the agency. Various greetings were thrown my way and Alex watched my reaction with a smug grin.

“Welcome to the real world!”

“Good to have you back”

Then, someone had to say the word that started it all.

“Everyone give it up for Icarus.”

The world fell into madness.

#icarus #Superversemk1

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emma-what-son · 4 years ago

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(Echee post) Did Emma Watson try stealing credit for a class?

Posted November 14, 2015

Emma Watson crafts a careful image, backed up by the media (even getting news outlets like the New York Times and the Associated Press to lie for her) and a legion of Harry Potter fans who uncritically accept anything their goddess/idol says as the truth. Still, it must suck, a lot, to put in a lot of effort into a group project and then have some witch (pun noted) steal all the credit on a national platform, kissing her own ass, and knowing you cannot do a single thing because her mentally ill fans will send you death/rape threats. Shocking. Who would do such a terrible thing? Below is a picture of the class of the Group Independent Study Project (GISP) at Brown University, called "How and Why We Fall In Love: Science, Psychology, and Philosophy" Notice that Watson who regularly claims to love school and education and whatnot is nowhere to be found. Remember that attendance is mandatory for GISPs and is required to pass the class. Also notice that despite Scout Willis (Emma's suite-mate) being the daughter of two multi-millionaires, Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, she still attends class and does things for the class like singing Skinny Love (by Bon Iver) with Roman Gonzalez.

Apparently this is Emma Watson's favorite class but Emma Watson does what Emma Watson wants, and that means not attending her favorite class or something? Who knows the truth of what was going on with that girl. The obnoxious thing is that Emma stans keep claiming this girl is super busy with balancing college/work (yeah which is why she, despite proclaiming how college is the most important thing/priority to her, decided to drop it to film Noah) but every single person is busy with outside activities but yeah somehow still managed to attend class. Like Amanda was busy working as a Minority Peer Counselor at the Third World Center to make sure minority students felt welcome on Brown's campus (the kind of campus that lets rich spoiled girls like Emma and Lena Sclove get away with everything). Sally was a Meiklejohn peer advisor and still managed to get good grades to make Phi Beta Kappa. Lauren founded SmartSitting and was busy working as a babysitter/nanny and working as manager and boss to connect families with caretakers. Victor chaired the planning committee for A Day on College Hill and was getting ready to work in Dr. Connor's lab. And omg Roman was doing a ton of shit. Meanwhile Emma is always whining and moaning about how much she does (without any results by the way).....and still getting paid in the tens of millions. Also, negotiating deals for Lancôme to get more money and attention despite claiming how much she hates fame and has too much money to know what to do with it. Vogue Magazine July 2011, interview by Amanda Foreman: One of her favorite courses at Brown was on the psychology of love. Rookie Magazine May 2013, interview with Tavi Gevinson: Tavi: I know you’re going back to Brown this fall, after taking a couple of years off for work. What made you decide on that school? Emma: A few different things. I really like the fact that it has a very open curriculum, that there aren’t any requirements. Really, I’ve kind of been in charge of my own education since I started out on Potter when I was 9 or 10, and I liked that I could design my own major if I wanted to, and I could take independent studies if I wanted to on subjects that weren’t necessarily in the curriculum. I did an independent study on the psychology and philosophy of how and why we fall in love, which was awesome. [Laughs] Tavi: Whoa! Do you know why? Can you tell me? Emma: [Laughs] We’d need like six hours! Opportunities like that, and the idea of classes being pass/fail, make it sound as if you don’t have to work as hard, but it actually gives you the freedom to try out things that you wouldn’t be able to do if you had to get a certain GPA on your transcript. It lets you take classes that you wouldn’t otherwise. And it attracts a certain type of student: [someone] very independent who wants to take responsibility and control of what they’re learning. That really appealed to me as well. Okay what? Notice how Emma claims "I did an independent study" and also "And it attracts a certain type of student: someone very independent who wants to take responsibility and control of what they're learning". It's pretty disgusting since this was a GROUP independent study project (GISP) and yet we have Emma lying and claiming she did it on her own and she's kissing her own ass and claiming ISPs (Independent Study Project) take someone very driven and focused. Oh yeah, that's why college athletes who can barely read take these classes to stay on the football team. I know Emma stans and loons are so pathetic they'll defend her over stealing credit, but imagine for a second that you work your ass off at work on or a homework project and somebody lies and steals the credit and they get promoted over you. How fair is that? Spoiled, rich, white girl, the most privileged kind of person in America (yes over men, since white women have the longest life spans, most safe jobs, least repercussions for breaking the law, and many many more) wants to get an unfair advantage? Pathetic. This GISP was mainly

led by Roman Gonzalez and Lauren Kay, as you can see by reading the Brown Daily Herald article on it (dated September 30, 2010):

QUOTE Love, factually GISP analyzes the amorous by Amy Rasmussen At Brown, students tackle tough questions every day: They wrestle with organic chemistry, untangle streams of consciousness in Faulkner and talk — openly and unflinchingly — about love. Roman Gonzalez ’11, the independent studies co-coordinator for the Curricular Resource Center, and Lauren Kay ’11 are the leaders of the group independent study project, “The Study of Love,” which encompasses philosophy, neuroscience, religion, psychology, sociology and anthropology. On Monday and Wednesday nights, their group of 13 students gathers to think, to read about and to discuss love — at Brown, and everywhere else. Outlets for love Much like any other class at Brown, students in “The Study of Love” receive college credit, homework and a faculty advisor, Associate Professor of French Studies Virginia Krause. But the course topic and discussions are entirely student directed. The class syllabus, constructed by Gonzalez and accessible to the public on the course website loveatbrown.com, is loosely divided by Helen Fischer’s model of romantic love: lust, romantic love and attachment. Required readings, which were carefully selected by Gonzalez or recommended by Brown faculty, range from the works of Ovid and Shakespeare to primary scientific literature on the neurobiology of love. “I really want it to be a rigorous, scientific study of these things,” Gonzalez said. As he began to develop the class, Gonzalez said, he realized that while there are a number of outlets to discuss sexual health and behavior on campus, there are virtually none available for love or romance. “We want people to be talking more about it,” he added. “To be talking more about love, what it means and whether they’re okay with what it means.” Justine Palefsky ’13, a cognitive neuroscience concentrator in the class, had never even heard of GISPs until the beginning of the fall semester, she wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. When she learned of the class that was all about love, she jumped at the opportunity to take part. “It’s such a powerful force culturally that I feel like you’ve got to be curious about how and why it happens, and what it means to people today,” Palefsky wrote. Part of what makes the class work, Kay emphasized, is that every single person actually wants to be there. “Everyone has a different reason for taking this course,” Gonzalez added. “I want 13 different projects, 13 different paths.”

Finding love at Fish Co.? The group, which counts heavy weekly readings, student-led discussions and a 10-15 page research paper as part of their workload, still manages to handle things a bit differently than most Brown classes: they recently took a field trip. “We went to (the Fish Company) and asked people if they were in love,” Gonzalez said. “There would be people who would be hooking up in front of us, they would say no, and then keep hooking up.” Of the experience, Kay said that a lot of what happened at Fish Co. made her uncomfortable, but she found it to be an interesting place to observe the dynamics of Brown students. What we are “trying to get at here is what is relevant to love,” Kay said. “To a historical analysis of dating — to what’s actually going on after Fish Co., and before.” Ultimately, everyone in the class is required to take part in one of two final projects for the course. Gonzalez is taking charge of the creation of a 30-minute documentary and Kay’s group is in the process of developing a survey that she hopes to eventually publish. Gonzalez, who has a strong interest in filmmaking, said that he plans for the documentary to include both class discussion and interviews with students and faculty. Clips of videos, in which students on the Main Green are asked if they’ve ever been in love, and how they know, are currently available for viewing on the course website and Facebook page. The survey the other half of the class is developing has its roots in a similar project Kay did in her sophomore year. The original survey, which focused mainly on sexual behavior, has been expanded by the group into a 14-page series of questions about everything from marriage to sexual behavior and beliefs. “We want the survey to focus on love, not just sexual behavior,” Kay said. “I want to get it out there to more than just Brown students.” Kay said she hopes to distribute the survey to students in large lecture classes by the end of the semester and to publish the results within a year. The group is currently working with professors to seek approval from the Institutional Review Board for the survey. Love’s labour won Ultimately, Kay said she would like her experience to be about changing perceptions — in the class, at Brown and throughout the world. “I want people feeling happier about the cultures in which we live and the things that we do,” she said. “Dating and romance can be really wonderful things, but they’re not always.” While Gonzalez came into the study with experience — both as a participant and creator — of previous GISPs, it is a novel path for many of the students in the class. “We aren’t learning for the sake of regurgitating material on some final exam,” Palefsky wrote. “We are doing this for the sake of our own exploration of something that profoundly interests us.” Kay, who had never completed a GISP before her senior year, spoke passionately of the benefits of a student-driven class, remarking that everyone should take part in at least one during their time at Brown. “It wasn’t one of my issues to fight for, and now it is,” she said. Though both Gonzalez and Kay are set to graduate in the spring, they hope that the project will extend into next semester and beyond. Gonzalez is already planning his next GISP: “The Science, Psychology, and Philosophy of How and Why We Fall out of Love, and Why Love Fails.” “The project should continue,” Gonzalez said. “I think it needs to continue.”

I wish Scout Willis (Emma's suitemate at Brown) would knock some sense into Emma for lying all the time.....

Below is the syllabus for the class: How and Why We Fall In Love: Science, Psychology, and Philosophy Fall 2010 Note: For the personal Love blogs, you may do any of the following. (1) Comment on our reading (2) Write a post for the LoveAtBrown blog (3) Take an article on romantic love and analyze it with rigor. ********* Adviser: Virginia Krause GISP Student Coordinator: Roman Gonzalez The Goal The goal of this class is to examine, in a very interdisciplinary way, how and why people fall in love, to examine what we mean when we say we’re in love, and what informs these ideas. The Structure The class is divided by themes in the study of love. We try to loosely follow the progression of falling in love, beginning with loneliness and longing, transitioning to attraction and the mating game, then to the experience of loving someone, followed by sex (both in and out of love), attachment, thoughts on marriage, and we end with a broader view of love in today’s world. This loosely follows the Helen Fisher model of romantic love (lust, romantic love, attachment), which we will call into question. We end with cultural/anthropological/historical/contemporary perspectives. The class is primarily discussion, held twice a week, with mini projects throughout. One person will take notes per discussion and post them. Each week we try to blend as many disciplines as we can into our study. We will read selected relevant scholarly articles from the sciences, excerpts from philosophical texts to give us historical and conceptual insights, and pay some attention to pop culture to try and figure out where love is today and where it’s going. Guest Lecturers To further emphasize the earnestness of our study, it would be helpful to note we have been in contact with 13 departments to form this GISP. Guest lecturers are listed below in the syllabus. We have contacted some of our primary sources directly (Robert Sternberg, Alain De Botton, Irving Singer, Rachel Herz), and Professor Irving Singer has asked to be kept in the loop about the progress of our study. Sternberg and De Botton have uncertain futures ahead of them, but asked to be contacted next fall. Interested Guest Lecturers Virginia Krause, French; Bernard Reginster, Philosophy; Mark Cladis, Religious Studies; Carlos Aizenman, Neuroscience; Joachim Kreuger, Psychology; Elizabeth Burbank-Gilb, AmCiv; Our Sources Our sources have been collected from independent research from all members of the GISP, with the team leader organizing the process. Many of our readings also came from recommendations of faculty in the Neuroscience, Religious Studies, Biology, Psychiatry, Psychology, AmCiv, French, and Cognitive Science departments, which have all been enthusiastic and helpful in our study. Some of the weaker reading days were designed to accommodate scheduling guest lecturers, so some readings may be sacrificed come the fall. Course Requirements •1 10-15 page academic paper addressing one of the questions/issues in the study of love. •A collective statistical analysis of all studies done through the semester. •Participation: 1 blog post per week on the theme in discussion •Participation: continual contribution of new research/studies via blog or in class •Participation: 2 studies conducted on Love at Brown (groups of 3). •Participation: attendance •Participation: involvement in the production of the documentary: “A Study In Love” The homepage for the GISP is loveatbrown wordpress which Roman Gonzalez has been updating regularly and publicizing. This will be a place where assignments/ideas are posted. Each student is required to create their own WordPress blog and give a short response to the readings of the previous week. The Guerilla Studies Every few weeks a group of GISP members will conduct and video-record (via Roman’s equipment) surveys to learn more about how Brown University students, faculty, and staff think about and practice romantic love. The questions and methodology for the studies will more or less be

determined according to the interests of the class at the given time. We have suggested some topics below. The Paper The final paper, which will be the only paper (10-15 pages), will be an in-depth analysis of a specific issue, theme, or problem in our study of love. It should have something to do with Why or How We Fall In Love. Given the varying backgrounds of people in the course, the papers can be written in whatever academic form is most comfortable for them. In this way all members of the class can pay particular attention to one area of interest throughout the semester and offer analysis through the scope of their individual project. The Documentary The documentary will examine the goals of the GISP (see above “Goals” header) within the framework of the Brown University campus. The documentary will be composed of several elements, including: (1) recorded class discussions, (2) Main Green interviews with students [which can be done simultaneously with the Guerilla Studies], (3) Dedicated interviews with Brown University students and faculty [ie: Rachel Herz, Bernard Reginster, Mark Cladis]. (4) Dedicated interviews with relevant faculty at nearby universities [ie: Singer, Fisher], (5) interviews with Providence community members. The footage will be edited over the winter of 2010-2011 and the final product will not be graded, but submitted to the Ivy Film Festival. Continuing Study- Love GISP Part II All members of the GISP plan to write and propose a follow-up GISP for the Spring semester entitled, “How and Why We Fall Out of Love: or Why Love Fails”, looking at the science, psychology, and philosophy of waning love, detachment, infidelity, divorce, suicide, “heartache”, and related topics. There will be an additional section on unrequited love. Syllabus Summer Reading On Love: A Novel by Alain De Botton. This book addresses many philosophical issues with romantic love, following the author through his attraction and relationship with a girl named Chloe, whom he meets on a plane. Marxism, love across cultures, the ineffability and cliché of the word “love” and more all pop up in this novel. Week 1- Intro •Sept 2- How do different disciplines approach Erotic love? What are popular conceptions of love? What do we know now? This will be compared at the end of the class to how our perceptions of love have changed. Meet with Adviser. Week 2- Attraction and “Courtship”, The Mating Game part 1 •Sept 7- ◦“The Philosophy of Erotic Love”: ◾Danto’s Foreword, Editors Introduction, ◾The Symposium (44 pages); ◾Jerome Neu, Plato’s Homoerotic Symposium ◦Short excerpt from “On Desire” by William Irvine. ◦Students will discuss the questions and philosophical issues brought up in The Symposium. •Sept 9- ◦“The Philosophy of Erotic Love”: ◾Ovid, The Art of Love ◾Heloise and Abelard, Letters ◾Capellanus, On Love ◾Shakespeare; Thirteen Sonnets ◦“The Game” by Neil Strauss (excerpts); ◦“Anatomy of Love: A Natural History of Mating, Marriage, and Why We Stray” by Helen Fisher ◾Chapter 1: Courting ◾Chapter 2: Why him? Why her? Week 3- Attraction and “Courtship”, The Mating Game part 2 •Sept 14 – ◦“The Neurobiology of Attraction” D. Marazziti, ◦“Strategies of Human Mating” David Buss; ◦“Either/Or” Diapsalmata chapter by Soren Kierkegaard; ◦Rachel Herz podcast on scent (http://personallifemedia.com/podcasts/222-...hel-herz-scents) •Sept 16 – ◦“Some evidence for heightened sexual attraction under conditions of high anxiety” Dutton and Aron, ◦“Defining the Brain Systems of Lust, Romantic Attraction, and Attachment” Helen Fisher ◦“The Scent of Love” (excerpts) by Rachel Herz, Brown University; ◾Chapter 3- As You Like It ◾Chapter 5- Scents and Sensuality ◾Chapter 6- The Odor of the Other ◦Philosophy of Erotic Love ◾Simone De Beauvoir, The Second Sex Suggested Movie: “Before Sunrise” Week 4- The History of the Date, and The Hook Up Culture •Sept 21 – ◦“Hooking Up: Sex, Dating, and Relationships on Campus” ◾Chapter 2: From dating to hooking up ◾Chapter 3: The Hook Up ◾Chapter 4: The

Hookup Scene ◾Chapter 8: Dating and Hooking Up, A Comparison ◦“No strings attached: the nature of casual sex in college students” DP Welsh; ◦Sexatbrown.com, a study conducted by Lauren Kay ‘11 on sexual activity at Brown University (2009). •Sept 23 – ◦“Insights into a dating partner’s expectations of how behavior should ensue during the courtship process” Collings, Kennedy, Francis; ◦“Nonverbal courtship patterns in women: context and consequences” Monica Moore. ◦Philosophy of Erotic Love ◾Louis Mackey, Eros Into Logos: The Rhetoric of Courtly Love ◾Spinoza, Ethics ◦Plan guerilla study. ◦Meet with Professor. ***Project: three GISP members conduct a study on dating patterns at Brown. Week 5- Falling part 1- What happens? •Sept 28 – ◦“Falling in love: Prospective studies of self-concept change” Aron, Aron, and Paris, ◦“Hormonal changes when falling in love” D Marazziti; ◦“Reward, motivation, and emotion systems associated with early-stage intense romantic love” Aron et al.; ◦“The Pursuit of Love” by Irving Singer (selected chapters). ◾Chapter 1: Two Myths about love ◾Chapter 2: Persons, Things, Ideals ◾Chapter 3: Sexual Love ◾Chapter 4: Love and Society •Sept 30 – ◦ “The New Psychology of Love” by Robert Sternberg. ◾Chapter 2: A Dynamical Evolutionary view of love ◾Chapter 3: A Behavioral Systems Approach To Romantic Love Relationships ◾Chapter 4: The Evolution of Love Week 6- Falling Part 2- What and Why?: Sinking into Attachment •Oct 5 – ◦ “The Brain in Love and Lust” McMan ◦“Why we love: the Nature and Chemistry of Romantic Love” Helen Fisher ◾Chapter 2: Love Among The Animals ◾Chapter 3: Chemistry of Love ◾Chapter 6: Why We Love •Oct 7 – ◦“The New Psychology of Love” by Robert Sternberg continued. ◾Chapter 6: A Biobehavioral Model of Attachment and Bonding ◦“Love and attachment: the psychobiology of social bonding” DJ Stein. ◦Philosophy of Erotic Love ◾Robert Nozick, Love’s Bonds ◾Lawrence Thomas, Reasons for Loving Week 7- The Experience of Love- Attachment and Love as Madness •Oct 12 – ◦“Acute effects of cocaine on human brain activity and emotion” Brieter ◦“Pathological love: impulsivity, personality, and romantic relationship” Sophia et al. ◦“Sexual addiction, sexual compulsivity, sexual impulsivity or what? Toward a theoretical model” Bancroft & Vukadinovic, ◦“Personality characteristics of sexual addicts and pathological gamblers” M Raviv. ◦Philosophy of Erotic Love ◾DH Lawrence, The Mess of Love ◾Stendhal, On Love •Oct 14 – ◦“The neurobiology of love” S Zeki ◦“Oxytocin: the neuropeptide of love reveals some of its secrets” ID Neumann ◦Readings on Voles as compiled at loveatbrown. Catch up day for reading. Potential lecture from Carlos Aizenman. ◦“Romantic love conceptualized as an attachment process” by Cindy Hazan et. al ◦ “The Nature of Love: Love In Modern World” by Irving Singer ◾Chapter 10: Toward a Modern Theory of Love ◦Meet with professor. ***Project: Conduct a study interpreting how people conceive of themselves as being in love. Week 8- Love As A Story •Oct 19 – ◦“Love is story” by Robert Sternberg ◾Parts 1 and 3 ◾The beginning pages of each section of part 2. Pick a category of love story and present on it to the class. ◦“A Triangular Theory Of Love” article by Robert Sternberg. ◦“Mythology of Love” in Myths to Live By by Joseph Campbell. Chapter 8. ◦Bring in a love story. What do we think of the idea of love as a story we build? Are Sternberg’s ideas convincing? Also, discuss the role of Disney. •Oct 21 – ◦MOVIE and analysis: “Eros”. Three stories of love in Tokyo. Analyze through the Sternberg Love As A Story framework. ◦Philosophy of Erotic Love ◾Hegel, A Fragment on Love ◾Schopenhauer, World as Will and Idea Week 9- Shaping Our Love: Romantic Love, Pop Culture, and the Love song •Oct 26 – • ◦ Changing Courtship Patterns In The Popular Song: www.jstor.org/stable/2775978 ◦ Bring in love songs from a variety of different sources. Listen and compare. How have love songs changed and why is that? What kind of emotional effect does music have on falling? How may

it aid falling? •Oct 28 – • ◦ Guest Lecture: Elizabeth Burk-Gilb from “Selling Sex, Selling Love” on how media forms our ideas about love. ◦Love and Desire in the Cinema: www.jstor.org/stable/1225913 ◦Assignment: bring in a magazine or article on love from pop culture. Collectively analyze popular views of love. How do they conflict? What do they say about the experience of love? Week 10- Love Across Borders •Nov 2 – •Is Romantic Love A Myth Of Western Cultures? (food for thought) www.colorfultimes.com/2010/04/lifes...stern-cultures/ •“A Cross Cultural Perspective On Romantic Love” by William Jankowiak. ◦(www.jstor.org/stable/3773618) •“Historical and Cross Cultural Perspective on Passionate Love and Sexual Desire” Elaine Hatfield (1993) •Philosophy of Erotic Love • ◦ ◾Denis De Rougemont, Love In The Western World •Nov 4- •Movie, Hiroshima Mon Amour. Philosophical discussions of love. •A Collection of sited articles on romantic love in China compared to the US is located here: • “A Cross Cultural Perspective On Romantic Love” by William Jankowiak. ◦(www.jstor.org/stable/3773618) Week 11- Sex •Nov 9- ◦ “Sexual attraction enhances glutamate transmission in mammalian ACC” LJ Wu; ◦“Brain Activation and Sexual Arousal in Healthy, Heterosexual Males” Arnow; ◦“Sex: A Philosophical Primer” by Irving Singer (excerpt) ◾Chapters 1-3 •Philosophy of Erotic Love ◦Shulamith Firestone, The Dialectic of Sex •Nov 11- ◦“Sex differences in sexual fantasy: an evolutionary psychological approach” Ellis & Symons, ◦“Lust? Love? Status? Young Adults’ Motives for Engaging in Casual Sex” Regan & Dreyer; ◦Lucid Dreaming and Sex: “Lucidity Research, Past and Future” by Stephen Laberge. (www.lucidity.com/NL53.ResearchPastFuture.html); ◦“Sex: A Philosophical Primer” by Irving Singer (excerpt) cont. ◾Chapters 4-5, Conclusion “Toward a Theory of Sex” •Meet with professor. Week 12- Love In The Postmodern World •Nov 16 – • Irving Singer: “Love In The Modern World” (excerpts) by Irving Singer. ◦Part 1 and Chapter 8—on The Existentialists as Anti-Romantics •“The Art of Loving” by Eric Fromm, •Philosophy of Erotic Love ◦Robert Solomon, The Virtue of Erotic Love •Nov 18 – ◦“How Will We Love” documentary on love on YouTube. ◦“A Vindication of Love” by Christina Nehring ◾Chapter 2: Love As Inequality ◾Chapter 5: Love as Heroism ◦“Liquid Love: On The Frailty of Human Bonds” by Zygmut Bauman ◾Chapter 1: Falling In and Out of Love Week 13- Love In The Postmodern World cont. •Nov 23 – ◦In-Class Movie – “Paris, I love you” ◦Read Irving Singer’s “Philosophy of Love: A Partial Summing Up” •Nov 25 – THANKSGIVING BREAK. Week 14- Marriage and Monogamy •Nov 30: ◦“Anatomy of Love: A Natural History of Mating, Marriage, and Why We Stray” by Helen Fisher ◾Chapter 3: Is Monogamy natural? ◾Chapter 7: A Theory On The Origin Of Monogamy And Desertion •The Evolution of Monogamy: Hypotheses and Evidence by JF Wittenberger •The Evolution of Monogamy in large primates by CP Van Schaik •Dec 2- ◦Philosophy of Erotic Love ◾Milton, On Marriage and Divorce ◾Carl Jung: Marriage as a Psychological Relationship ◾Emma Goldman, On The Tragedy of Women’s Emancipation and Marriage and Love •“The Existential Function of Close Relationships: Introducing Death Into The Science of Love” by Mario Mikulincer Week 15- (Reading Period) •Dec 7: workshop final papers. •Dec 9: Last class, portfolios due. Suggested Films: •Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; •500 Days of Summer (2009) All projects due by DECEMBER 9, 2010, with the exception of the documentary on love. BIBLIOGRAPHY AND OTHER STUFF Main Texts: 522- The Philosophy of Erotic Love edited by Higgins and Solomon (http://books.google.com/books?id=U68lAQAAI...ve+solomon&cd;=1) 488- The Nature of Love Vol 3: Love In The Modern World (http://books.google.com/books?id=3r6PsaniV...page&q;=&f;=false) 125- Philosophy of Love: A Partial Summing Up by Irving Singer (http://books.google.com/books?id=4o3aGVUb8...page&q;=&f;=false) 320- Helen Fisher: Why We Love? The Nature and Chemistry of Romantic Love

(http://books.google.com/books?id=SPxmHKLwj...page&q;=&f;=false) 430- Anatomy of Love: A Natural History of Mating, Marriage, and Why We Stray by Helen Fisher (http://books.google.com/books?id=f5aTEuku_...page&q;=&f;=false) 130- Sex: A Philosophical Primer (http://books.google.com/books?id=TbAlWhSty...page&q;=&f;=false) 338- The New Psychology of love by Robert Sternberg (2008) (http://books.google.com/books?id=X98bK5iFu...page&q;=&f;=false) Journal Articles (bibliography included at the end) Scientific News Articles/Cultural Articles on Love Peripheral Texts (reading selections from): 225- The Hook Up Culture (http://books.google.com/books?id=zof5SizlE...culture&f;=false) 322- William Irvine, On Desire (http://books.google.com/books?id=mIHTz3hNd...page&q;=&f;=false) 312- Romantic Love and Sexual Behavior (http://books.google.com/books?id=ThYONqpPF...page&q;=&f;=false) 256- Love is a story (1999) (http://books.google.com/books?id=E89Iq94UY...page&q;=&f;=false) 633- Kierkegaard’s Either/Or: Diapsalmata and Either/Or (http://books.google.com/books?id=GJHlYmo7k...page&q;=&f;=false) Love and Limerence: The Experience of Being In Love by Dorothy Tennov The Scent of Love by Rachel Herz, Brown University Sexuality and the Psychology of love by Sigmund Freud Possible Films Disney’s “Cinderella” In the Mood for Love Woody Allen- Annie Hall Eternal Sunshine Paper Heart 500 Days of Summer Eros Paris I Love You Before Sunrise

How Will We Love? ( Possible Guest Lecturers Bernard Reginster, philosophy Mark Cladis, religious studies Charles Larmore, philosophy Robert Sternberg, psychology, Tufts University Irving Singer, Philosophy, MIT Rachel Herz, Psychology Members of Psychiatry department Podcasts Rachel Herz, Brown University, Scents and Sensibilities: (http://personallifemedia.com/podcasts/222-...erz-scents/play) Suggested Texts: Alain De Botton- On Love

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queenieships · 7 years ago

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Questions 1-14 for the most recent one your reblogged!

Thank you for asking! Sorry it took a while lmao I got super lazy and distracted with it. Gonna put some of it under a readmore because it got particularly long!

1. When did youstart self shipping and why?

I mean I officiallystarted this blog I think… middle of last year? I can’t quiteremember the date off the top of my head but it’s been a while.However, I’ve been selfshipping for a very long time, justmentally! I kind of did that whole “Creating Ocs to ship withcharacters I liked and oh no those Ocs definitely aren’t based onme at all aha nope…”

2. How long have youbeen self shipping?

I think I’ve beenself shipping from a very young age! I remember being in primaryschool and being absolutely in love with Tasuki from Fushigi Yuugiand Axel from Kingdom Hearts (had a thing for red heads and fireapparently?) I genuinely must’ve been as young as 8, give or take ayear or two, so I’ve been self shipping and self inserting most ofmy life!

3. Why do you selfship now?

I mean… it’sfun! And I mean, I fall in love with fictional characters withouteven meaning to. I just become very attached to them to the point Ican’t help but imagine myself with them! It’s also been a thingI’ve done for a very long time, a hobby, a habit, a copingmechanism – as a very creative but also very lonely child I thinkit was a huge way for me to feel like I was getting GOOD attentionfor once. I guess that’s kind of extended to adulthood. In ways aswell it helps me deal with some unhealthy situations I’ve had inthe past and it’s a way for me to explore and take interest intoxic and unhealthy ships in a safe and fictional environment. It’shelped me a lot improving with my art and honestly I officiallyjoined the self ship community because I was very lonely and had…NO FRIENDS.

4. Which of yourself insert characters is the most developed?

Probably myborderlands insert or my Newsies insert! I haven’t been toomassively focused on any other ship to develop my insert in thatuniverse very much and SOME of the universes I self insert in arequite difficult and elaborate when it comes to making characters forit (like in HxH)

5. Are your selfinsert characters 100% you or are they an exaggerated version ofyourself/leaning toward an OC?

I think it dependson the universe. Though I would say they’re exaggerated examples ofmyself, ideal versions or particularly troubled versions – All ofmy self insert characters look like me and have the same name and toa degree share my interests and talents – though I’ve also giventhem talents that I admire and really wish I had (such as singing,baking and sewing.)

6. If your selfinserts are closer to OCs what are some similarities they have withyou? What are some differences?

Lmao whoops guess Ikind of explained this in the one above? I guess something I like todo is depending on the universe I self ship in, I kind of pick a partof my personality that is a focus of that character. (For example, myNewsies insert is mostly centred around my social beliefs, mydepression and toxic relationship with my family and to a degree myfeeling of superiority. I’m actually very working class but you’llnotice most of my inserts are either very well off OR from thenicest, cleanest place in that universe they can be from – mynewsies insert is from a very wealthy family and my borderlandsinsert is from Helios.)

7. Do you have a‘type’ when it comes to f/os?

Yes but my type haschanged and shifted over time. There are definitely things I likethat kind of resonate throughout all of my F/Os. For example, almostall of my F/Os are confident to a fault. Most of them are also verymasculine, with a few exceptions. A character type I LOVE is therough delinquent with a heart of gold! (Seen in characters likeMondo, Metal Bat and Knuckle.) I also like perverted characters orones that show a lot of interest in women during the show/gamethey’re in (Examples being Scooter, Lance and Leorio.) I also seemto like people who have manual labour jobs or jobs that require themto be quite strong and get quite dirty and occassionaly kinda bruisedup (Examples being Scooter, Metal Bat, Scout, Hunk and Ellis who isnot yet on my F/O list but will be soon! A character I used to selfship with is Little Mac because I loved the idea of seeing him allsweaty and bruised up after a figh aha,,,)

8. Your top 3 OTPsamong your own selfships?

1. Me and Scooter!He is the problematic love of my life.

2. Me and Davey –although my focus has shifted dramatically from Davey to Scooter Istill definitely love this boy a lot

3. THIS IS SUCH ADIFFICULT PICK because honestly Scooter and Davey are and almostalways will be my top 2 BUT– my level of interest in my other F/Osshifts around so much? I’m even considering adding new F/Os thatI’ve become interested in recently, like… Mondo and Scout are thecharacters on the list I’ve shipped with for the longest but… Ithink maybe Leorio? I’ve always thought of Leorio and I as a reallygood couple, we’re so physically different and our personalitiesare such a good mix of getting along and clashing and I just!! idk Ithink number 3 is Leorio!!

9. Your top 5 OTPsamong others in the community?

@smoochesforseven and everyone she ships with. I love Moon so much and all of her shipsare wonderful though there is a soft spot for her and Newt!!

@better-than-nothin-kay and Rhys! We’ve spoken so much about borderlands and about her shipand honestly I love the female bodyguard dynamic it’s really cuteand they would physically look so good together!

@millizines andEarnest – I think this is like, the most undisputed OTP in thecommunity. I have never seen someone be so dedicated to their F/O andthey’re so genuinely in love with one another and have such aunique relationship!!

@momomochaccino andSandy (and spongebob!) – Seeing Momo so happy recently has beenamazing and witnessing what a positive impact the spongebob musicaland show has been for her is amazing!!

@peachie-doodles andLeonardo! Honestly seeing TMNT stuff on my dash makes me SO HAPPY andLeonardo has always been the one turtle I never really felt aconnection with BUT seeing someone so in love with him andappreciating him makes me really happy and makes me appreciate himmore as well! (also after speaking with her I realised that, althoughRaphael usually draws my attention because he’s big n buff andrough and tough but a total softy which FITS MY TYPE — Mikey isactually… my fucking boy?? I went around ready some fics andwatching some clips and like, damn. I really love Michaelangelo nowlmao, considering adding him as an F/O!!)

10. Has a roleplayblog for one of your f/os every interacted with you?

Lmao no. Honestly Iwould sob if that ever happened to me and I’ve seen other peoplegetting RP anons regularly in their asks and honestly I… reallywant it aha? I used to RP self ship stuff with a friend, where Iwould write as myself and the character she shipped with, and shewould play herself and the character I shipped with and!! it was!!great!! I would die to find something like that again.

11. Are you anartist or a writer in the community? Or do you do something elseentirely?

Um, both I guess! Iby no means think I’m a good artist but self shipping has reallyhelped me improve in a lot of areas. I highkey hate my style and atsome point I want to dedicate some time into developing it intosomething I can actually enjoy looking at. As for my writing, I’vealways been a talented writer – especially a few years ago. I waswriting frequently and everything I wrote was lowkey incredible.Nowadays, my writing is so few and far between and I am so stronglyout of practice it hurts and I feel almost embarrassed readingthrough any new fic I write. I’m hoping with time I can build myskills and confidence back up again!

12. Name a few ofyour favorite things about self shipping.

Honestly, myfavourite thing about self shipping is that I can feel like I havecompany regardless of how alone I actually am. Countless days spentby myself in my room and during lunchtimes back when I was at schoolcould be spent daydreaming about being loved and having adventureswith characters I enjoy! I always daydream a lot before I fallasleep, usually about cuddling up and spending the evening with oneof my F/Os before I fall alseep. Honestly without selfshipping Idon’t know what I’d do with my time. It’s such a huge thingthat fills up my day to day life and makes me happy, I genuinelydon’t think I’d still be here without it.

13. Talk about apositive experience you’ve had with the community.

Honestly this iskind of hard for me lmao? I wouldn’t say I’ve had many hugelypositive or many hugely negative experiences overall. There arepeople I’ve found I get along with, there are some people that rubme the wrong way, there are some people I just haven’t spoken to! Ihaven’t really received any hate apart from someone being a dickabout my aesthetic commissions but I don’t really receive theattention I would like to either (is that bratty and selfish?Probably! But at least I’m honest about it lmao.)

14. Finally, talkabout a few of your favorite self shippers!! (Honestly, talk about asmany as you would like!)

I don’t reallylike doing this because I’m afraid I’ll miss someone off andthey’ll feel sad about it or something BUT HERE’S A LIST OF PEEPSI SPEAK TO OFTEN AND CARE ABOUT AND TREASURE (note just becauseyou’re not on this list it doesn’t mean I don’t like you ordon’t enjoy your content! Just means this people I am particularlyclose with.)

@smoochesforseven

@better-than-nothin-kay

@millizines

@ckselfinsert

@limey-blue-arty-do

@momomochaccino

#long post////#honestly this took me all day because i'm a lazy piece of shit #also got distracted playing borderlands I'm sorry

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houseofvans · 7 years ago

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SKETCHY BEHAVIORS | MARINA MIKA (CROATIA)

Inspired by childhood storytellings of fairy tales and folklore, artist and illustrator Marina Mika creates beautifully detailed pen drawn works that are not only skillfully executed, but also a “real reflection” of the artist herself–her emotions, experiences, and impressions from life. A self proclaimed “perfectionist,” Mika’s elaborate drawings can take days to weeks to form, and only will be completed if the artist feels 100% about it. And, we’re 100% stoked to chat with this talented artist who shares with us her process, her influences and provides some great advice for any emerging artist in this month’s Sketchy Behaviors.

Photographs courtesy of the artist.

Introduce yourself? Hey, my name is Marina Bitunjac but known as Marina Mika over social media. I just got my MA degree at at School of Design university (visual communication – graphic design) in Croatia, Europe. But my expertise was always illustration and illustrative graphics.

When did you first get into drawing? I was drawing for as long as I can remember actually.. but the scene that will always be stuck in my head as the most vivid memory that got me into drawing is when I asked my mom to draw my favorite toy for me. (My mom had a natural talent for drawing but she lacked true creativity and ideas.) But, yeah, I had this beautiful white fairy tale horse toy with long gold hair and a cape full of beautiful pattern and gold details. I really loved that one ,and was very proud of owning it, so I asked mom to draw it. I remember her drawing being (in my eyes then) the best thing ever! It was gorgeous and I fell in love with the skill of drawing, the beauty of it and the so-called magic around the whole process of creating. It is interesting how peaceful and quiet it is to create but how powerful and ‘loud’ the result can be.

What were some of your early influences? My early infulences were also the fairy tales that I was told before going to bed. They had a huge impact on my ideas since they were so strange, yet so captivating and ‘alive’. Also, for some reason I always had japanese pierrot illustrations (artist: Mira Fujita) around my room. I don’t even know how I got them but I still have them with me wherever I go. That is why I tend to like drawing pierrot-like characters.

What’s your art background – were you self taught or did you go to art school? In primary school and high school I was drawing for myself, learning and studying art was a hobby. I was always known as ‘the girl who can draw’ but it was never serious. I knew I was not at my best and that I need to learn A LOT more, to find my own illustrative voice. And so, I got accepted to School of Design after finishing high school. I spent my early uni years discovering myself, experimenting (with life and drawing) and I really kicked off in my later uni years, after realizing who I was, what I want, and how I want to express myself. I finally figured out how to control drawing with what feels natural to my thoughts and emotions of highlighted life experiences and memories or impressions. Of course, design school helped me a lot to figure out ‘how to think’ and how to sort out ideas (what to keep and what to give up on, and more).

Do you keep a sketchbook or work your ideas as you go along? I don’t keep a sketchbook. I never got used to drawing in a sketchbook, so I gave up on it. I sketch when working on and developing ideas for graphic design, but for illustration I just wait for an impression, emotion or taught to grow really ‘loud and clear’ in my mind and then I just get to work. My illustrations are really just an extension of my mind, they are basically a visual diary.

Your work is beautifully detailed, meticulous and rich in pattern and textures. What is your process like? How long does it take from your idea to a finished piece? Hmm.. well, my process is strangely so similar yet so different for each piece. I really like them to be ‘true’. Meaning, a real reflection of myself, not structured to be ‘just pretty’ because then, they would be somewhat fake and shallow, and people always sense if something is true or not. So, there is really no point in ‘faking it’. Sometimes it takes days or weeks for an idea to form, and sometimes it just hits me with ‘That’s it. Do it.’ I have to feel it is 100% the right one before even starting. And then, sometimes it is difficult to translate the idea that is so clear in your mind to paper, but I redraw it and redraw until I get it. So some drawings are done really quick and some take time. Also, it depends on how much fine detailing it takes. I care about details in real life too. Details are very important to me, as they define the whole picture (in life and in art), so I spend a lot of time perfecting it. Basically, I am a plain perfectionist.

In terms of mediums, you work mostly with pen and paper, correct? What are your favorite mediums and are there other mediums you hope to one day utilize more? Yeah, I work with pen and paper. Since I am a perfectionist I like the clean and controled lines I am able to make with pens. But, before I seriously started working with pens I worked with them because I could afford them in any paper shop. As a high school student and in uni I didn’t have time, space and money to buy fancy art supplies just for practice, so I worked with what was affordable and what felt right to work with. I ended up somewhat ‘mastering’ it and created my illustrative style with these mediums, and I am pretty happy with working with them. I would like to try to go digital eventually. All my works are hand drawn and I will continue in creating that way but I love learning and pushing limits. There is no point in being stuck to one thing, change is good, and it is important to discover and re:discover yourself and your abilities.

Folklore plays a part in your works, what about these early stories do you find yourself drawn to illustrating? Do you have a favorite tale you’d like to share? As mentioned before, traditional fairy tales were always told before bed time when I was a kid. We had a lot of fairy books and fairy tale movies at home. So it is natural that I developed a strong bond with them. Also, the place where I grew up is quite like a fairy tale place itself: by the sea side with lots of nature and woods. You can easily imagine these tales to be true when you are a child in such an environment. I don’t have a favorite tale, or at least I can’t think of any at this moment. Depending on my mood and on what I feel at a certain period of time I bond with a specific tale.

What artists past and present are you really into at the moment? I grew up with Mira Fujita’s work hanging in my childhood room, so she is the first one that had a huge influence on me. Later I discovered Kay Nielsen’s beautiful works and was completely in love. After that, I got hooked on Yoshitaka Amano’s and Erte’s work. They are the 4 artists that influenced me the most. But, I admire so many different atists it is impossible to name them all. I also love children illustrators, since their work is so creative and imaginative, as well as contemporary chinese art. What has been a highlight for you as an artist? A certain show, a project or collaboration? The best thing ever, so far, was when I recieved an e-mail from SHOWstudio with an offer to illustrate Paris Haute Couture. I love fashion, I always have. I love the art of designing clothes and I love how beautiful the models are, but I never had the true desire to be a fashion designer. But, also, I always wanted to be a part of that world, and by getting the chance to illustrate it - I was ecstatic. What would be your ultimate collaboration be like? What’s your experience been like collaborating with companies or other artists, if at all? I don’t have a clear idea what the ultimate one would be.. I approach every collab as the ultimate one. Every single one is different and therefore a new experience. I tend to seek new and fresh experiences trough illustration as it helps me to develop as an individual, what is directly reflected on my work. What’s a common misconception about artists? And what has been your biggest challenge? From my point, I think the common misconception is that every artist can draw anything and with anything. Personally, I work with pens and I spent so much time perfecting this type of work that I don’t know how to control working with brushes for instance (and it just does not feel ‘natural’). Artists have a certain expertise in what they draw and what tools they use. They spent a lot of time, emotions and personality in perfecting it and making something new and original to offer to the world.

Also, in my opinion, the common misconception is that anyone can be an artist or an illustrator. I think that artistry is a work field just like any other. I do illustration, since I worked and studied long and hard for it, my mindset is ‘programmed’ to work in an illustrative way, therefore I am not able to make a groundbreaking painting as someone who works as a painter can. My biggest challenge was discovering myself and reflecting it to a certain style for sure. After I discovered the ‘true me’ and my own way of illustrating I was able to be confident in what I do and what my abilities are. That is when my work started gaining popularity with others. What do you think you’d be doing if you weren’t an artist? If I was not an artist I would work with animals 100%. I have always loved animals and if I was not watching cartoons as a child it would be a documentary movie about animals. Also, my family has always had foster pets. All our pets are from the street, so it is natural for me to help and care for them. What are your favorite Vans? Since I personally mostly wear timeless and classic pieces, I have to say the original ones. But I LOVE all the new and contemporary prints and design you do.

How are you not just ONE thing? What other creative things or hobbies do you find yourself also doing when not drawing? What do you do to unwind in your down time? This is a difficult question.. I do many things, depending on my interest at a specific time. For the past year I am interested in working out and the gym (in my free time), and I found myself discovering the beauty of classic cinema (b/w movies) these past weeks. But, that will change for sure. I tend to spend some time learning and discovering about a specific theme and after gaining enough knowledge I seek for something new.

What are your thoughts on social media? How do you find a balance between work and keeping up with all of it?

Ah I love social media haha, I am hooked on it for sure. Especially instagram. I made an account there quite late actually, and did not use it seriously, but after I got somewhat used to it I started posting my work and it grew. It is not hard to balance work with social media, since it is an extension of what I do. I love the interaction that I am able to get with different people through social media, and the fact that I can discover so many talented and inspirational people with the use of it.

What advice would you give someone thinking about art as a career? I would say: be 100% yourself. Think of what you do and don’t do something just because you saw somebody else do it. When you are true to who you are, it shows, and people recognize it. Also, study hard and practice harder. Learn about your field and interests, get to know the past behind it and after building a strong base: launch something new to the world.

Things are not made over night and it is always quality over quantity.

What’s on the horizon for 2017? Who knows.. As my mom always likes to tell me when I feel overwhelmed: ‘Marina, always one step at a time.’ So, I guess it is the best to focus on delivering the best of what I can do now; while growing and discovering new things in life. Anything can happen ‘tomorrow’, let’s be the best of ourselves now.

Follow Marian Mika Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/MarinaMikaArt Instagram | @marina.mika

#Art #Vans #Vans girls #vans art #marina mika #Sketchy Behavior #interview #female #artist #female artists

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godaddywebsitebuilder285 · 4 years ago

Text

Figure It Out

Color is, without a doubt, the visual element most often misunderstood and misused.

As mentioned earlier, when designing visual representations, color is often the first visual encoding that people use. It’s also quite limited to about a dozen, distinguishable colors. It’s a potent visual element, but one fraught with accessibility and perceptual problems. A general rule of thumb: Save color for things you want to draw people’s attention to. Start with grayscale representations. Add in color only later, where it might be really, really useful. That’s it. We can move along.

Except…

We need to dispel some popular beliefs about colors, beliefs that are often held up as truth, when, in fact, this is not the case. What’s presented in this short chapter is more foundational knowledge than tips for immediate application. But also, this understanding of color is—we found in retrospect—a powerful lens for understanding the concepts shared throughout this book. We see in our exploration of color this pattern: while many of the absolutes we cling to are social constructs (varying across cultures and over time), behind these changing constructs we also find some universal human constants.

How Many Colors Are in the Rainbow?

Let’s begin by unpacking the statement above, suggesting that we only see about a dozen colors. Actually, the human eye can perceive many more colors, perhaps a million or so. Of this million, it’s estimated that each of us—individually—can distinguish somewhere between 130 to 300 colors.[1] But within a cultural group, we can only share about a dozen such colors. These limitations have little to do with personal visual acuity, but rather with language: a group’s ability to see and perceive a specific color is determined by language. Do we—as a society—share the same named color value associations?

We can talk about something being “red” and feel confident in what we all see. From both a developmental perspective and an anthropological perspective, red is the first color (after white and black) that most cultures are aware of. But if I describe something as magenta, do we have a shared agreement as to what that named concept refers to? Perhaps you see hot pink where I see a vibrant, purply-reddish color? Another example of this language-color dependency: the Russian language has a specific word for the color that we (English speakers) perceive as light blue.

To put this shared vocabulary into perspective, let’s start with something that is constant and beyond our language: the visible spectrum of light that is a rainbow.

When Colors Are Constant

Around the world, the meteorological phenomenon we describe as a rainbow is a constant thing. Light refracts across water droplets to create a spectrum visible to humans. What we see as colors are the wavelengths of light visible to the human eye (see Figure 8.1). On either end of this visible spectrum are ultraviolet and infrared waves, which while invisible to human eyes, we know they are visible—that is, seen—by cameras and some nonhuman creatures (cats can see certain infrared frequencies, for example). Beyond this visible spectrum, we have things like gamma rays, X-rays, and radio waves, which all make up the entire spectrum of white light from the sun.

Figure 8.1 The visible light spectrum is a small part of the broader electromagnetic spectrum. Starting from this perspective helps us recognize the subjectivity of what is “seen” and how this might vary with different creatures and devices.

But let’s stay focused on the portion of this light spectrum that is visible to humans, the part that allows us to see. Within this spectrum, the rainbow possesses millions of color combinations, as there are no clearly defined boundaries between the colors.

Why then, should diverse cultures over thousands of years arrive at the same set of color language definitions? Are colors an absolute thing? Not exactly.

The Subjectivity of Color Identification

Consider “ROYGBIV,” which is the acronym we all learned to name the colors of the rainbow. How did we conclude, at least in Western cultures, that a rainbow has seven colors? Why not five, or six, or eleven? We have Sir Isaac Newton to thank for this.

These seven colors—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet—were not the result of any serious scientific inquiry. Rather, Newton was fond of the number seven. Just as there are seven musical notes in a scale, Newton believed that colors should follow a similar pattern. He might have connected this with seven days in the week or the seven known planets (at the time) in our universe. In other words, ROYGBIV was an arbitrary choice based on mystical superstition.

Understanding how we arrived at these seven colors sheds light on the subjective nature of color identification. This may also explain a bit about the challenge that so many people have with indigo—that odd color that sits somewhere between blue and violet—as a separate color!

But here is where we have to be careful, as we are stepping into a decades old debate: Do the number of basic color terms and the location of color category boundaries vary across languages? Or might there be a universal pattern to the color naming systems of all cultures?

This Wikipedia entry sums up the debate rather nicely:

There are two formal sides to the color debate, the universalist and the relativist. The universalist side claims that the biology of all human beings is all the same, so the development of color terminology has absolute universal constraints. The relativist side claims that the variability of color terms cross-linguistically (from language to language) points to more culture-specific phenomena. Because color exhibits both biological and linguistic aspects, it has become a deeply studied domain that addresses the relationship between language and thought. [2]

An Argument for Relative Linguistics

We can characterize what Newton did as imposing an arbitrary number of colors upon the color spectrum. And we might conclude the same thing has happened throughout history as different people groups formed words to describe the world around them.

Indeed, various studies of diverse cultures reveal that “although the physiological basis of color vision is essentially the same for all humans with normal trichromatic color vision, there is considerable diversity in the way that different languages segment the continuum of visible colors.”[3] In other words, the rainbow has no natural boundaries; how we slice it up into colors is a subjective thing that varies across different cultures and time. (See Figure 8.2 for an illustration of this concept.) From one research paper, we learned that “some languages have been reported to use as few as two terms to describe all visible colors (Rosch Heider, 1972). Others have been reported to use between three and eleven (Berlin & Kay, 1969), while some (e.g., Russian; Davies and Corbett, 1997) may have twelve.”[4]

Specific examples in support of this argument:

In Russian culture, there is no generic concept of blue. Rather, Russian makes an obligatory distinction between lighter blues (goluboy) and darker blues (siniy).

The Japanese language (before the modern period) had just one word, Ao, for both blue and green. It wouldn’t be until the year 1,000 that the word midori would be introduced to distinguish a greenish shade of blue

The Himba tribe from Namibia recognizes five basic colors.

The Berinmo of Papua New Guinea has also reached a different conclusion as to the number of colors they recognize. While they draw no distinction between blue and green, they do “draw a distinction within what English speakers would consider yellow, with the word nol on one side and wor on the other.”

From this, we might conclude that the colors of the rainbow do seem to be arbitrary and dependent upon language. (Connect this with earlier points we made about thoughts and cognition as layers upon layers of prior associations.)

Figure 8.2 This comic from Randall Munroe of xkcd nicely illustrates the subjectivity of the shared color language for English speakers.[5]

But surely, you may be thinking, color identification isn’t entirely subjective? Here’s where the research gets interesting: despite these regional differences, a fascinating and consistent pattern begins to emerge.

An Argument for the Universal

In the late 1960s, after studying color terms across many different languages, researchers Berlin and Kay introduced the idea that there were eleven possible basic color categories: white, black, red, green, yellow, blue, brown, purple, pink, orange, and gray. They argued a universalist theory: that color cognition is an innate, physiological process rather than a cultural one.

While their research has been challenged on different grounds, what has since followed is some agreement that for all noted language differences, there is a fixed order in which color names arise. The ways in which color language evolves across cultures suggest maybe there is a universal pattern governing the direction of patterns in the evolution of colors. All cultures start with the ability to distinguish dark things from light things. This is followed by the recognition of red. After that, it might be the addition of yellow or green. And blue always seems to come last. Not every language follows the exact same path, but they adhere to this same general pattern.

While the broader debate is not necessarily concluded, the general consensus seems to be that “in color, relativism appears to overlay a universalist foundation.”

Why All the Fuss over Color?

While this is certainly fascinating, how is this useful? We include this as a mirror to challenge assumptions. If we turn a critical eye to the commonly accepted color wheel, this was likely influenced by Newton’s original color wheel sketch. But is this the “right” way to think about colors? Primary colors combine to make secondary colors, which in turn allow us to describe tertiary colors. We learn this from an early age and accept this way of thinking about color as absolute. But this is just one frame. This is just a way of thinking about visible light. And this singular perspective has limitations, especially when used in medical, scientific, and engineering visualizations. Research papers such as “Rainbow Color Map (Still) Considered Harmful”[6] question the value of the rainbow color spectrum in data visualization applications. The point is simple: there are other ways we might think about color. We can look at alternatives such as perceptually ordered color spectrums, an isoluminant color map, or simply use representations of color that aren’t derived from a wheel. Tools such as ColorBrewer 2.0[7] or the NASA Ames Color Tool[8] are incredibly useful for choosing a palette more suitable for visualizing data.

Since this book is concerned with how human creatures understand information, and because we so often use color to clarify, we felt it worth calling out that color and color recognition are not necessarily universal things, but are dependent on cognition, language, and biology. Understanding this allows us to challenge common assumptions about what is “true” about color and perception.

Which leads us to…

Color, Cultures, and Universal Associations

Red means stop. Green means go. These concepts are universal, right? Not so fast. Across cultures, colors do not necessarily convey the same concept. And where we may have the same ability to identify a color, the associated meaning is just that—a learned association. Concluding that red means passion, vitality, or energy, because blood and fire are red things is not a universal idea. Neither is associating green with growth, just because nature involves so much green. (In some Chinese cultures, green can be associated with death.) At this point, please throw away those blog posts and posters about colors to choose for different cultures. While we’re keen to seek out human universals, color has proven to be something that does not have consistent meaning across cultures, or even within a culture group. Rather, the concepts we associate with particular colors are highly contextual and local, not just to a particular culture, but sometimes to smaller social groups. The meanings we point to—blue as a safe, corporate color, for example—are highly generalized assumptions, highly contextual, and mostly learned associations.

The Color Purple

Let’s take purple, as an example. For many centuries, purple dye was expensive and rare. Procuring purple dye was labor intensive and required collecting a secretion from sea snails. Historian David Jacoby remarked that “twelve thousand snails of Murex brandaris yield no more than 1.4 g of pure dye, enough to colour only the trim of a single garment.”[9] As a result of this laborious process, the high cost of producing purple clothing made this color a status symbol among kings, queens, and other rulers. If you could afford to wear purple, you were quite wealthy. The conceptual association then is one of scarcity (in this case of a particular dye), signaling something to be valued above other things. While we may still see the lingering effects of this history (the Purple Heart is among the highest honors awarded for U.S. military service), the constraint of purple as a scarce color is no longer true. As such, this color is able to take on new meanings.

“Pink Is for Girls, Blue Is for Boys”

To put this into perspective, let’s investigate the idea that “pink is for girls, blue is for boys.” From clothing choices to marketing toys to how we decorate bedrooms, most of us grow up believing there’s some inherent gender association built into the colors pink and blue. But, were we to travel back in time—just over 100 years—we’d find no such distinction. Or we might find the opposite association.

According to University of Maryland historian Jo B. Paoletti, author of Pink and Blue: Telling the Girls from the Boys in America, pink and blue weren't always gender-specific colors. For centuries, young children mostly wore a functional white dress, and then in the early 20th century, things began to change. Consider this quote, pulled from the June 1918 issue of Earnshaw's Infants’ Department, a trade publication:

The generally accepted rule is pink for the boys, and blue for the girls. The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl.

A Smithsonian review of Paoletti’s book,[10] goes on to add:

Other sources said blue was flattering for blonds, pink for brunettes; or blue was for blue-eyed babies, pink for brown-eyed babies, according to Paoletti.

In 1927, Time magazine printed a chart showing sex-appropriate colors for girls and boys according to leading U.S. stores. In Boston, Filene's told parents to dress boys in pink. So did Best & Co. in New York City, Halle's in Cleveland, and Marshall Field in Chicago.

By the 1940s, this association had flipped. Manufacturers had settled on pink for girls and blue for boys (see Figure 8.3 as an example of this association). Baby Boomers were raised with wearing the two colors. The point of this narrative? Color associations are learned things and can change over time. Even something as seemingly strong as the pink/blue binary was a manufactured association. To be clear, this doesn’t mean a color association is any less powerful in the moment, at a particular point in history, but these color associations do not represent any universal truths.

Figure 8.3 - The “blue is for boys and pink is for girls” concept was a manufactured one, originating in the first half of the 20th century.

Accordingly, it’s good to be wary of generalizations such as “blue is a safe, corporate color.” In the case of corporate associations, one generation’s “safe” may—depending on the media and actions—signal stuffy, inauthentic, or distrustful to the next generation. It all depends on the learned associations embraced—for a time—by a particular culture.

Not All Colors Are Created Equal

We tend to treat our color palettes like interchangeable parts. Just pick a color. Or pick some colors we all find pleasing. Consider how many of us use the default color palettes built into software tools like Excel or PowerPoint. We usually choose a pleasing color palette, with the sentiment being “as long as you can distinguish one color from another, it’s okay, right?”

Not exactly. Not all colors are created equal. In terms of visual perception, some colors jump out at you while others recede into the background (see Figure 8.4). This is because of variances in hue and saturation.

Figure 8.4 The range of colors perceived by humans is uneven. (Equiluminant colors from the NASA Ames Color Tool)

A very bright color is going to draw more visual attention than a more desaturated color. This makes sense if we consider how things farther away from us tend to be hazier and desaturated. If something in the distance is noticed, it’s likely because it’s moving or contrasts with the surroundings.

This same disparity applies to color hues. We tend to look at color charts like this one and assume that the extreme ends of red, green, and blue are on equal footing.

However, because of the wavelengths of these colors and how our eyes perceive color, we see green as brighter than red, which itself is brighter than blue.

How Is This Knowledge Useful?

While it’s nice to think that precise color values are interchangeable (setting aside any cultural associations), your perception doesn’t work that way. In the same way that certain frequencies on the radio come in clearer than others, certain colors do the same. You need to account for, or at least consider, the unevenness of color perception.

In the example in Figure 8.5, you see the same eight-segment pie chart. The example on the right uses all high-saturation colors while the example on the left mixes high- and low- saturation colors.

Figure 8.5 Two pie charts showing identical information. The chart on the left uses colors of mixed saturation, meaning some colors will naturally stand out more than others, making this an uneven representation.

Functionally, these both communicate the same thing. But consider how you perceive each. With the example on the right, use of high saturation is consistent; no color should be more prominent than another. But when you mix high and low saturation, as with the example on the left, the higher saturation colors tend to “pop” more—drawing you to these segments. While this chart is more aesthetically pleasing (as it uses half as many colors), it’s also a bit misleading—notice how your eye is drawn to the orange segment in the upper right. The lesson? Assuming the goal is objectivity and truthfulness, you’d want to avoid mixing saturations and hues that are unevenly perceived. If the goal were the opposite, to draw attention away from or toward a particular bit of data, you could manipulate perception by adjusting saturation and hue (not that this is being recommended!). This ability to direct attention by using bolder colors is something that everyone should be aware of and intentional about.

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transgenderteensurvivalguide · 7 years ago

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Do you have any recommendations about using progestin-only birth control to stop shark week pre-t? Does this work? Will a guy get feminizing side-effects from using hormonal birth control?

Lee says:

The progestin/estrogen combination-pill is usually the go-to for stopping your period, but I have heard of people using Norethindrone which is progestin-only to stop periods. With progestin-only pills, it’s super important that you take your pills at exactly the same time every day, and if you don’t then there’s a chance that your period might come back.

I’ve also heard of people using Seasonique (a combo pill) instead of Norethindrone, so it’s worth discussing which type is best for you since there is more than one option!

But it’s established that you can use continuous contraception to stop your period safely, and Planned Parenthood says you can safely stop your period with it.

I have heard of estrogen/progestin combos also working and they shouldn’t cause feminizing effects, but your results may vary.

“The FDA approved the first no-period pill (brand name Lybrel) in 2007. And, yes, this new pill is safe. It isn’t that different from other low-dose birth control pills that use estrogen and progestin to stop ovulation. Instead of taking four to seven days of placebo pills, however, people take Lybrel continuously, with no breaks and no period. Seasonale, another extended-use oral contraceptive, limits menstrual cycles to four per year. The FDA approved Lybrel based on two clinical trials, each lasting one year, of more than 2,400 women ages 18 to 49. The trials showed Lybrel to be a safe and effective contraceptive when used as directed.” (X)

Basically, yes, it’s possible to stop your period with birth control! You may have to try more than one thing if the first one doesn’t work for you, but it’s something you and your doctor should be able to work out. If your primary care physician doesn’t want to work with you with this for any reason, you can try a Planned Parenthood- they tend to be pretty good with this stuff.

From the NY Times: For the Teen Who No Longer Wants a Period …

I’ll collect other mod answers and follower responses from similar asks about stopping periods below for ya:

Kii says:

Estrogen-based birth control isn’t “feminizing.” If you’re AFAB and not intersex, you already have enough estrogen in your body that birth control can’t really feminize your body anymore.

You’ll have to decide for yourself if stopping your period alleviates more dysphoria than taking birth control gives you. Most people see very few physical changes when they take birth control, so it won’t make you “more feminine.”

Plus, estrogen and progesterone are not “female hormones” because everyone has them in their bodies, not just females.

Unless you have a method of birth control that’s especially designed to stop periods, your periods will not stop. There are many different types of period-stopping birth control, so your best bet is to ask your doctor or pharmacist what to expect.

You should always take prescription medication as directed by your doctor. If you want continuous cycle birth control, get a prescription for that instead, but don’t skip pills in your current prescription.

Once you’ve had your first period, you can be on birth control! My doctor once told me, “If you’re old enough to have periods, you’re old enough to be on birth control.” so I would say no, there’s no minimum age to starting birth control. For me personally, it has helped me a ton and I’m very happy that I started taking it.

Addressing a possible concern that wasn’t mentioned- I was on multiple types of birth control prescribed by multiple different doctors, and no one required me to get a gynecological exam until I turned 18. Generally, unless you’re having problems with your bits, you don’t need gynecological exams until you turn 18 or become sexually active. Here’s our big gynecology post!

Also, IUDs do not stop periods for everyone, but that’s definitely something you can try.

Kai says:

I got a hormonal IUD, which will stop my periods.

(tmi ahead)

There’s no feeling/sensation that I would know anything is in there unless I literally inserted my fingers to feel for it, and even then, the strings soften over time. I had some mild cramping and discomfort for 2 days after insertion, but took over the counter ibuprofen and have not felt anything at all since. I’m pretty sure most people, if inserted correctly, won’t be able to feel their IUDs on a daily basis unless something is going weird or they’re very very sensitive.

They would need to have the strings there so that you can tell if it’s either been dislodged or fallen out, or else you wouldn’t know and could potentially not be protected against pregnancy. Definitely talk to your doctor about it. You can also get daily birth control pills, but you will have to take those every day at around the same time, and also that’s not a localized hormone so there may be other effects you may not like, but definitely talk to your doctor about it.

Speaking of, there’s a post-IUD survey here (not affiliated with us) about people who had/have IUDs.

Archer says:

So, before starting testosterone I started on progesterone only birth control and it completely stopped my monthly occurrence. In fact I’d had issues with every other birth control method I’d tried and this one, with no added estrogen, stopped it all together. On top of that, my doctor even told me to continue taking the pill up until about three months on T so I wouldn’t have to deal with my period at all hopefully.

Ren says:

To my knowledge, most long-term birth control methods (the pill, shots, IUDs, etc) don’t cause breast growth, although some will make you more ‘feminine’. But the amount of estrogen in BC usually isn’t enough to cause any noticeable effects. Maybe some boop tenderness, but it’s not enough to, like, cause boop growth.

Phoenix says:

There are lots of non-hormonal birth control options available- you just have to tell your doctor/nurse that you would prefer a non-hormonal method and they can give you more information.

Even non-hormonal birth control can help with cramps and stuff. And honestly, even if you have to use a hormonal method, it isn’t a huge amount of estrogen added to your body. I would look into non-hormonal methods first, though. Best of luck!

Emery says:

Different types of birth control affect different bodies differently. Some birth controls are estrogen and progesterone, some are just progesterone, and some are non-hormonal.

Side effects of birth control that could be considered “feminizing” include weight gain (including in the breasts), breast tenderness, and potentially bleeding/spotting between periods. Birth control shouldn’t significantly affect your body size/shape though.

Implant birth control is usually a good method. They last for about three years typically, and I haven’t heard any horror stories about them. The implantation is relatively painless and pretty quick, and after a day or two you basically don’t notice it anymore. Then a few years later, it’s removed, and that process is also pretty quick and pretty painless. They have no serious side effects that I’m aware of, but you should consult with your doctor about whether it’s a good option for you.

As far as HRT goes, you would probably want to remove your implant before starting testosterone, but there shouldn’t be any complications from having had the implant previously, taking it out, and then taking T. Again, though, always talk to your doctor. None of us here have medical degrees.

You can use BC to have a period once a month, once every three months, once a year, or even once every three years, I think. Discuss with your doctor the best options for you and your body. Also consider visiting a sliding-scale Planned Parenthood for doctor’s feedback and cheap and/or free birth control of many varieties.

Fox says:

Extra estrogen in the body for DFAB individuals actually mimics pregnancy. Generally, the most it does is keep your skin clearer and hair shinier, perhaps similar minor changes. There shouldn’t be any huge changes, depending on the kind you use– but some individuals get bigger chests or hips from it, and that’s something to consider if you experience gender dysphoria. But if you’ve been on it for awhile and haven’t noticed those changes, you should be okay! I’ve been on BC for the same reason for years, and my hips and breasts are on the smaller side of average, so it isn’t an issue for everyone.

Tyler says:

I have Nexplanon, if people have questions about that then they can send an ask.

Autumn Says:

One of your fears is having more estrogen in your body. That is completely valid. But there is a cool fact about estrogen that might put you to ease. If your body has excess estrogen, it actually converts it into testosterone. I don’t know if that will help at all, but it might.

danny says:

birth control, depending on the method, can cause your body to retain water more easily. this means that regardless of your age, it can make your breasts grow. it really depends which method you are using, though. this also means that you will gain weight elsewhere too. when i was on birth control i noticed it made my hips and thighs a lot bigger, and didnt effect my breasts that much, however, it may be different for you!

Harper says:

Yes, one concern that some folks have is weight gain. But most forms of birth control do not cause weight gain:

https://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/contraception-guide/Pages/which-method-suits-me.aspx

The narrative about The Pill being linked to weight gain is based on dubious evidence:

https://www.nhs.uk/news/medication/does-the-pill-really-cause-weight-gain/

What looks like you’re gaining weight can be from water retention. it usually settles down after a few months, and will definitely go away if/when you end up going off the pill. That said if you are concerned I’d say speak to your GP if you can and also consider a the variety of birth control that has the desired effect.

Jay says:

According to this, certain types of hormonal birth control may slightly increase the risk of breast cancer. (Warning at the link for cissexist language). This page states that high-estrogen BC slightly increases your risk, but low-estrogen BC does not. Low-estrogen is the type most people use. This page says nothing about progesterone-only BC (that I saw), so it most likely does not pose a risk either. If you did get breast cancer (which is very unlikely), you could have a mastectomy (it’s actually part of the treatment). A mastectomy for cancer is actually quite different from top surgery. Top surgery removes about 95% of the tissue in and around the chest to create a “male” contour while a mastectomy for cancer removes as close to 100% of the tissue.

Followers, any personal experiences with birth control to add?

Followers say:

shmannah said: For those who cannot/prefer not to introduce outside hormones, paraguard is the only hormone-free BC that I’ve found my research (although it can affect the hormones your body naturally produces). Nexplanon is a hormone releasing implant! Just FYI.

lilulak said: Also depo-provera. Progesterone only, injection every 3 months.

timefrozen-waterstreams said: I hope its okay to say this, but please don’t take the needle variant, if you plan to stop your period with it. I did it and it kinda messed me up? I had my period for 2 whole months and even after it stopped, it won’t come normally and its longer than before. Many peoples body got messed up because of it, most will tell you not to take it. I think the name was “depo-provera”, but I’m not sure.

anon said: for anyone wanting to start the depo shot - it may make you bleed for the first 3 months youre on it due to the thinning of your uterus’ lining but i got my second shot on tuesday and my bleeding has almost stopped entirely! even so, you should talk to an obgyn if you experience this bc it could also be something more serious. its a pretty common side effect and it terrified me because they didnt tell me about it so figured id inform!

sfodijnvwipejrnfgworijnhgfrijfn said: i’m a trans dude and i’m on a depo provera shot (basically progesterone) and i haven’t had a period in years. it’s amazing. also you can continue to take it for birth control after you’re on t if you eventually do decide to go on hormones!

anon said: I’m on depo prevera and it completely stopped my periods. It’s just a shot you get every three months (unless you’re like me and I now get it every 10 weeks because I have poly-cystic ovarian syndrome). It does have some side effects but it could help those who struggle with dysphoria since it can stop periods. :)

anon said: about depo-provera!!! its great if its the right hormone combo for you, but when i talked to my gp about it he suggested taking a pill form birth control for a few months that’s the same sorta composition as depo so you can see how you react to it. some birth controls can lead to like. nausea and depression etc if it’s the wrong composition, so its better to test it out before you put it in for three months!

anon said: trying a different version (?) of depo first to see if the chemical composition works for you is a good idea. i had a really weird experience w/ depo, it messed with my mental state for about a week after i took it. & it only stopped my period for a month or two, then it just made it rlly irregular for a while. everything is back to normal now but i wish i could have tried a version that didn’t last as long.

rammyrue said: It’s worth noting that a few of these options (possibly all, I haven’t tried Seasonale) can mess up your libido but it won’t necessarily be mentioned by your doctor or in the Choose Which Is Best For You type pamphlet (but will in the paperwork with the pills.) I’d say that info is more than just a ‘nice to know’ if getting the 3-monthly injections and don’t get a side effects list. These medications can also make you put on or struggle to lose weight, which can sting if dysphoric about hip size. Oh, and also birth control meds in general can be horrible for your mental health. You might need to try a few different options until you find what works for you :)

anon said: I briefly went on birth control for really painful periods and dysphoria, and i ended up having a nervous breakdown. for any one with mental illnesses who’s considering going on birth control for whatever reason, make sure you talk to your doctor about any and all side effects!!! because stopping periods was not worth the severe depression and panic attacks in my opinion and my doctor never warned me

knifegoth said: I use it, it stops shark week but my chest grew, then again I’m still a teen so it might have just been me

rosemarionttyler said: My sister takes birth control (she takes them so she won’t get her shark week) and she hasn’t had any breast growth

theeightandtheone said: I’ve been on almost a year and my experience is they didn’t grow on their own but when I gained weight it went straight to my chest which is :/ but I recognize that if I lose the weight it should stop

anon said: I’ve been on birth control for awhile and it actually didn’t change my body at all! No more acne. I can skip shark week whenever now! It’s made me more accepting of my non binary identity. But it’s diff for every1

alexisthegayestofgayboys said: it didn’t always stop the bleeding i did this and i bled for 3 months straight

schizo-fractured said: I use nuvaring which stopped my period completely- and you only have to change it once a month so you don’t have to think about it that much, if that helps.

patmolandcornedrue said: i got a prescription for the patch from my family doctor without seeing a gyno, but she did a breast exam, so you should be prepared for that to possibly happen

anon said: to the person wondering about the birth control patch, i have found it to work really well. i have had no side effects, and it makes my periods shorter and less emotionally taxing. i highly recommend it for people like me who have issues with pills because it doesn’t have some of the harsher side effects assosciated with other non-pill birth control methods

xfelvesandmen said: You can also get an IUD for terrible pain since it generally stops periods, I’ve personally found it has fewer side effects that emphasize areas id rather ignore (breast tenderness, etc) than pills but it’s different for everyone

anon said: having and IUD put in is really quick once you’re in for the procedure. However, getting it put in hurts A LOT if you don’t get numbing stuff/pain meds (I’ve fallen asleep getting tattoos and I almost fainted during this), and outcomes vary a lot. Instead of making my period shorter it just made it last a lot longer but each day was lighter. There is a type of pill where you don’t have to have your period more than 3 times a year. I’d ask your doctor about your options and tell them what you want from it.

narrito said: When I was put on birth control when I was 12 or so, they didn’t do a pap smear or anything like that (because I was 12) and hell, they didn’t even do one when I was 16 and given an IUD. (Mostly because both times I could honestly answer no to if I was sexually active or not). So you may have to see a gyno, but you probably won’t have any sort of uncomfortable experience beyond having to answer weird questions with an adult around.

iteraltortoise said: Be aware tho anon some people w iuds end up w complications bc of them

madrigalfan1 said: my mother, aunt, and other people my mom knows have tried the mirena and have experienced really negative side effects like having it cause severe pain from piercing into other body parts bc it moved and being extremely difficult to remove bc of tht

theboychosenbythekeyblade-riku said: I’ve been using an IUD for close to 3 years and I have found that it doesn’t cause breast growth.

sleepyanimal said: Mirena is an IUD that releases progesterone and can be used with testosterone if you are thinking of eventually going on it?? I know this because this is why I chose this birth control method– but yeah it does stop/lessen periods and is a really effective birth control method

tigerqueer said: I second the mirena- it completely stopped shark week for me! Best of luck!

narrito said: I also have the mirena, the only downside is it is vaginally inserted, so it can get kinda uncomfortable. It does take 6+ months to stop your period, but some of the PMS can linger even after that like cramping and all that.

heyhosers said: I’m on Mirena which is an implanted birth control that ONLY relies on progesterone, NOT estrogen, so I’ve heard (not 100% positive) that you can be on it and T together. Anyhow, whether you’re on t or not, I HIGHLY recommend it. It makes most people’s periods stop, so it alleviates that dysphoria for me and it also doesn’t mess with my emotions!! Feel free to talk to me abt it ~

demiiboy said: Progesterone based (ie implant, depoprevera) is okay too, according to my pp. I’ve been on depo for 4 years and testosterone for 5months. No affect on the speed of my physical transition

demiiboy said: Progesterone based birth control (depo preva) is your friend. Has no feminizing effects

socollectioncyclesblog said: Progesterone is an androgen! I’m on continuous progesterone to stop my shark week axtually and it xan make you look a litttle more masxuline in some xases

magicalfairyprince said: Just get the depo shot. Thats what I did. You get it every 3 months and its one of the only forms of birth control that doesnt contain estrogen as well!

anon said: Just wanted to say that I’m on T but I also take a birth control pill. Its a progestogen only pill so I get no oestrogen from it. The good thing about this birth control pill is it stops your monthly stuff, or at least it did for me, so for about 2 years before I started T I never got my period which was great. For some it might be embarrassing to go to the pharmacy to get it but no one has ever raised an eyebrow. Just thought I’d share for people who are interested.

we-came-as-times-new-romans said: Estrogen based birth control and T may affect each other slightly, and you should probably not plan to be on estrogenic BC forever if starting T, but it’s ok

thelaner said: if it adds estrogen to your body in a consistent way, your body should make less estrogen of its own and it really shouldn’t change your hormones that much other than stabilize the hormone cycle

i-am-nathaniel said: I used to use birth control for my periods but the extra estrogen in my system kinda wrecked me mentally. Testosterone will stop your periods altogether if you can get on it.

soldierslightwillforeverburn: Basically from what I know the only one that won’t counteract/will be safe on T is a copper IUD.

toryinnismoved said: ive taken norethindrone and depo provera before and didnt notice any real weight gain on either (compared to gaining quite a bit upon starting T)

palethsharkstudent said: I take Norethindrone and it’s awesome!! completely stops menstruation without any physical changes estrogen-based pills would cause!!

httpcaden said: I took Norenthindrone which is an estrogen free birth control but I do NOT recommend taking it because it gave me 2-3 cycles per month and they were extremely painful and dysphoria inducing so. That’s one i don’t recommend, so if someone mentions it to you be hesitant about going on it. But Depo provara is an injection that - hormonally - is incredibly similar to testosterone and halts the cycle all together with very limited side effects

anon said: i took norethindrone before i took the depo provera. it worked fine (i still bled but even now i still bleed after a year on T and two years on the depo so thats more of a me thing, i think?) but my issue with it was that i had to take it twice a day and if i missed doses frequently my period would hit me Hard (w/ all the lovely cramps and gastro trouble) so if you dont have issues with remembering to take medicine every day it should be fine, but i recommend the depo provera

radical-boy said: Someone I know says the shots stopped her period completely so you could ask about that

crystal-jem said: I’m on the depo shot and have been for about a year, and its awesome. I don’t have a period or cramps at all, and mine were so severe they would make me throw up. Its a shot every three months on your butt cheek, and if you want to do it yourself you can even ask for a needle and syringe with your prescription

Lukas said: If there are any trans guys out there who are looking into BC pills as a way to control or manage their monthly “shark week” but aren’t sure what to use, I would personally recommend Seasonique. Seasonique comes in 3 month packs, which means you get your period only 4 times a year. It also means fewer (and possibly embarrassing) trips to the pharmacy. If you do experience spotting, you can talk to your gyno about adjusting your schedule. I have been using it for about a year and have experienced only minor spotting, my chest did not grow at all, I’ve not had any changes in sex drive or had any changes in weight or mood. While it might not be right for everyone, I know many people who’ve been very satisfied with it; again, it’s something to work out between you and your doctor/gyno.

tangible-crisis said: Cryselle has been really helpful for me. It’s a very small amount of hormones so there is not many feminizing effects. It worked great for me

anon said: I take cryselle (a 28 day pill) for 9 weeks instead of 3 and then take one placebo week! This was prescribed to me as I wanted fewer periods for blood loss reasons. I had tried a pill specifically made to be taken for 9 weeks but the dosage was too low so that’s why I take mine like I do! I can’t say there are any different side effects than the ones I already noticed taking it normally

anon said: i’m a pre-t trans boy on birth control and it hasn’t changed anything about me except made me healthier and more able to do things when i’m menstruating! the chemicals in birth control (well the ones in mine anyway) are actually the same ones used in oestrogen blockers, so you’ve got nothing to worry about!

anon said: I’ve been on birth control, and although it affects everyone differently, I can offer some advice. LoLoestrin FE has been really good for me. I’ve had heavy periods too and it fixed that. Ashlyna, the three month stuff, made my boobs grow though

anon said: The birth control I take is called LoLoestrin. It has really low doses of estrogen and progesterone, and hasn’t given me any side effects while being really effective at managing my period and cramps. I recommend it for afabs who want to use BC!

space-boy-3000 said: This worked well for me for a while but the low dose may not be enough for you, I had to switch to a higher dose because it didn’t have any effect

courteous-lamp said: I take LoLoestrin too and I had side effects. I got a lot of acne and unpredictable mood swings. I’m generally extremely sensitive to medication though

chaeslife said: there’s this one implant that they can put in your arm called Nexplanon that can lighten your period and for most people it will stop completely.

pimptier said: Get the stick! I’ve had my nexplanon stick for a year and it completely rids me of my period and almost all of its symptoms!! Plus there isn’t a pill you have to take every day (mines good up to 3 years but I’ve heard of some good up to five!)

anon said: I’m a cis girl and I got the nexplanon implant. It can stay in your arm for 3 years. After the bruise goes away you hardly notice it’s there. (For most people) it stops your period. It’s great if you can’t remember to take pills.

superbananatime said: My doctor gave me these pills I would take only when I get my period! It makes it not as heavy flow and usually I have like 10 day periods also but it was like seemed like 5 days.

frogprincesstsuyu said: I’m not sure what your pills look like, but if there’s a 4th row of different colored pills (they may be reddish brown, yellow, or another color, or you may only have 3 rows) then you skip that row and immediately start the next pack. This means you pick your pills up one week earlier. The 4th row is placebo pills that don’t contain hormones, so you get withdrawal bleeding. If you skip the placebo pills, then you won’t have the withdrawal bleeding/ “period”.

pageollie said: my best friend takes tri-montly birth control and just skips the week where the pills are just placebos. they’re transmasc and their period causes extreme dysphoria as well as physical pain/issues. they have their period every 6 months I believe?

we-came-as-times-new-romans said: There is a 3-month cycle pill. Please don’t misuse a 1-month prescription without talking to a doctor about it.

physicsmagics: Yeah, some people take the active pills for the entire month instead of taking the sugar pills for a week out of the month, which is what causes you to get your period. It depends on why you’re on the pill. My dr wanted me to do that for 90 days due to painful periods

anon said: I’m on a progesterone-only pill called Desogestrel, and for me it’s been great because: A) it has completely stopped my menstruation B) there’s a 12-hour window for taking it each day, so it’s still effective even when you forget to take it at the usual time (great for my ADHD self) and C) I’ve had no noticeable side effects at all for the whole 2 years I’ve been on it. Not started T yet, but multiple doctors have said the pill should still be effective once I do. :)

anon said: For ppl in the UK I just went to my GP and said “my period is giving me awful gender dysphoria can you prescribe me something to stop it?” and she just gave me a choice of 2, discussed the difference and gave me a prescription for the one I chose! No touching or further explaining was needed :)

anon said: Some doctors will refuse to use continuous birth control to stop your periods. If you get one like this, ask about Seasonale or another similar birth control. It doesn’t stop your periods completely, but it makes it happen every three months.

anon said: In my experience ( and those I know of who also take it) it doesn’t make your body more feminine! You can skip it for ~2 months, shorten the time span & how heavy it is, and virtually no cramps, headaches, other icky stuff.

anon said: My doctor put me on Jolivette, which is a non-estrogen birth control pill. (I wasn’t out, but estrogen birth controls can cause blood clots and my family has a bad history with those kinds of things) It doesn’t make the cramps go away 100% but it helps a LOT (before, I was missing school two days at a time because I would sometimes black out)

sanguis-ripam said: You should def stay in check with blood work to watch your hormone levels, and like if one doesn’t work for you because of mood or physical shit tell your doc. A lot of AFAB people have to experiment with which birth control is best.

trans-chat said: Liam says: I was on birth control for a while and the only thing it did was lower my sex drive and control my periods a bit. You probably won’t gain weight in any way unless you’re on something really strong. Another mod, Lukas, has been on birth control for a while and hasn’t noticed anything other than a lower sex drive, less acne, and a slightly lighter period. I would give it a try and if you don’t like it switch. There are shots you can get every three months that completely stop your period so maybe talk to your doctor about that.

#Lee says #period #menstruation #birth control #Anonymous #transgenderteensurvivalguide #trans #transgender

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suzanneshannon · 5 years ago

Text

Figure It Out

Color is, without a doubt, the visual element most often misunderstood and misused.

Except…

How Many Colors Are in the Rainbow?

To put this shared vocabulary into perspective, let’s start with something that is constant and beyond our language: the visible spectrum of light that is a rainbow.

When Colors Are Constant

Why then, should diverse cultures over thousands of years arrive at the same set of color language definitions? Are colors an absolute thing? Not exactly.

The Subjectivity of Color Identification

This Wikipedia entry sums up the debate rather nicely:

An Argument for Relative Linguistics

Specific examples in support of this argument:

In Russian culture, there is no generic concept of blue. Rather, Russian makes an obligatory distinction between lighter blues (goluboy) and darker blues (siniy).

The Himba tribe from Namibia recognizes five basic colors.

Figure 8.2 This comic from Randall Munroe of xkcd nicely illustrates the subjectivity of the shared color language for English speakers.[5]

An Argument for the Universal

While the broader debate is not necessarily concluded, the general consensus seems to be that “in color, relativism appears to overlay a universalist foundation.”

Why All the Fuss over Color?

Which leads us to…

Color, Cultures, and Universal Associations

The Color Purple

“Pink Is for Girls, Blue Is for Boys”

A Smithsonian review of Paoletti’s book,[10] goes on to add:

Other sources said blue was flattering for blonds, pink for brunettes; or blue was for blue-eyed babies, pink for brown-eyed babies, according to Paoletti.

Figure 8.3 - The “blue is for boys and pink is for girls” concept was a manufactured one, originating in the first half of the 20th century.

Not All Colors Are Created Equal

Figure 8.4 The range of colors perceived by humans is uneven. (Equiluminant colors from the NASA Ames Color Tool)

This same disparity applies to color hues. We tend to look at color charts like this one and assume that the extreme ends of red, green, and blue are on equal footing.

However, because of the wavelengths of these colors and how our eyes perceive color, we see green as brighter than red, which itself is brighter than blue.

How Is This Knowledge Useful?

In the example in Figure 8.5, you see the same eight-segment pie chart. The example on the right uses all high-saturation colors while the example on the left mixes high- and low- saturation colors.

Figure It Out published first on https://deskbysnafu.tumblr.com/

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