#The real life segment was also going to be different originally

[krafterwrites]

Since I didn't have the video planned at all and had to think of how it would go across the span of a few hours, it was originally going to cut to a few Gmod segments before going to the one in real life. Here's the three segments that I filmed connected to each other

[radiation]

Ok here are my brief thoughts on Mouthwashing. SPOILERS WARNING And mostly negative sorry. Lots of things i liked but i think most ppl have said that stuff already so i wont repeat it

Loved the art direction, really loved the dialogue, I enjoyed the game a lot in the first half. Unfortunately towards the halfway point where it began leaning further into the horror game shit it really started losing me. The gameplay segments where you get chased around by something or other were seriously just horrendously, horrendously badly designed and a lot of the puzzles felt repetitive or inscrutable (Altho keep in mind I'm terrible at solving puzzles/finding shit in video games. When people talk about "yellow paint" I'm 100% who that shit is for)

It wasnt just the gameplay though, I also just wasn't a huge fan of the metaphorical / scary visuals / out-of-body experience stuff. I felt it slowed down the pace of events and put a barrier between me and the reality of the story being told. It rarely communicated new plot points and ideas and mostly restated information I'd already received verbally in an abstract way. Yes they were visually stunning, very technically impressive, and a few felt genuinely novel and well-placed (the reveal of the mouthwash ad on the TV fucking ruled), but I feel like for the most part those moments were almost obligatorily following modern indie horror game trends. I understand the point of that kind of stuff and it definitely can be effective, but idk i see it so much Im just personally very tired of it unless it really justifies its own existence, and in this case i unfortunately felt it didnt

I also didnt find the sort of "twist" with the main character very compelling and the more extreme his actions became the more I became disappointed. Like once you start getting a guy feeding another dude his own leg at a table with a bunch of dead ppl set on chairs with party hats on (even if its intended to be metaphorical) you have killed my suspension of disbelief. Especially since the character work at the beginning of the game felt a lot more grounded it was just like really. I get its horror but thats trite as fuck sorry.

A lot of this comes down to personal preference but if it were me Id have pared down the gameplay so its more towards the visual novel direction and made the scenario and character behaviors toward the end more grounded/real world so the horror comes more from the Real Fucked Up And Horrible Shit That Is Actually Happening, not the abstraction of it. I really found the character dialogue so much more compelling, original, and better at communicating ideas than the metaphorical visuals, so just own that instead. Like i personally wouldnt have had much of this stuff or any at all but again, definitely personal preference, so if it we're going middle ground -- horror visuals can still exist in some form, but i think would be better as a backdrop that fades in and out rather than being something that, in order to experience, you have to totally disengage with the story at hand for long stretches

Another thing I felt and like, sorry this is pretty mean, but as much as people praise the story it really isn't doing much of anything new or different. It's largely well-executed, but as far as sci-fi and horror goes, it's really quite generic. A well-put together combination of a handful of movies and games and whatnot, but rarely much more than the sum of its parts. The moments where it went beyond that were in the very real-life themes and the character work, which again got lost little by little due to its increasing insistence on being an indie horror game. The point for me isn't that everything has to be totally original and not at all contrived, like familiar ideas being well executed can be really really powerful, its more that with all the issues there were i didnt feel the story was strong enough to completely redeem it

Also slowly dawned on me that Anya is pretty much just shelley duvall and it started bothering me like i couldnt stop seeing it

+ I found the writing kind of misogynist. Anya isnt a bad character but if you look at all the individual points of her character its like wow you had to have the singular woman in the cast have literally all of those traits and all of those things happen to her? Its very like 1980s male auteur movie director type shit. And if the shelley duvall thing wasnt a total coincidence that like, especially does not put a good taste in my mouth

Also Swansea fucking rules best character eva

[deacblues]

In your opinion, what makes a good spider-variant design? I'm trying to avoid the pitfall of "bunch of normal ass clothes over the suit" I typically see, but also struggling to come up with anything that's clearly a spider-man when you look at it and doesn't confuse with peter parker's spider-man

That's a good question! So good that I'm going to bust out the proper capitalization and everything.

I'll give you a freebie right off the bat, because this is probably going to be a long post: one easy way to distinguish your character from Peter Parker is to draw them with a different body type. That way, even if their costume was similar to Peter's, it would obviously not be him.

Now, before getting into what I think makes a good Spider-Man design, I feel obligated to speak on what makes a good superhero design. Namely: Keep it simple, stupid! The best superhero costumes are pretty easy to draw, probably because they were designed to be drawn a million times by a million different artists. These costumes are simple enough that they can reduced to bands of colour and stay recognizable.

I promise that keeping your design simple will undoubtedly make it better-- or at least more superheroic, because this applies to Spider-Man, too!

Onto making a Spider-Man costume that is recognizably Spider-Man, but clearly not Peter Parker's. Obviously this costume is going to look different than Peter's classic costume, so we could start by figuring out what about that costume we can change. Thankfully, they already stripped Spider-Man down to the essentials in 1984.

Mike Zeck's black costume identifies these necessary elements of Spider-Man's costume:

Those luchador eyes

The front and back spider emblem

Form-fitting tights

The rest of the costume (the segmented colours, the web pattern, etc.) are basically fine for you to ignore or change at your leisure. Okay, maybe not... you could just draw Green Lantern and put a spider on his chest and back, and that probably wouldn't make for a great Spider-Man. But it's a place to start, at least. As long as you're putting serious thought into this costume, though, you should be able to ignore pitfalls like that.

Hey, speaking of thought, I thought I should cover some of those extraneous details Ditko included in his iconic Spider-Man design! Namely the way he chose to segment the reds and blues, he actually put loads of thought into it:

Namely, the high-rise gloves and boots help Peter's costume remain invisible beneath his civvies. I actually think these logistics are important to consider when designing a Spider-Man costume (or really any costume).

Anon mentions the "bunch of normal ass clothes over the suit" trend in spider-design in their ask, which I was happy to see because it means I can talk about something that really bugs me about recent Spider-Man stuff: How does Spider-Man stick to walls through regular shoes? No, seriously? Think about it for a second! When Miles wears Jordans over his Spider-Man costume and tries to stick his feet to a wall, wouldn't his feet just stick to his shoes instead?

Ditko rationalized this by deciding that Spider-Man can stick to walls through thin fabrics, but that rule has basically been forgotten. Despite how I sound, I'm mostly fine with this change (this is a textbook 'rule of cool' case), but these kinds of things are worth thinking about.

In that vein, keep in mind that Spider-Man's superpowers really lend themselves to acrobatics. Your spider-character probably shouldn't be wearing a suit of armour, or something that would greatly restrict their movement or sticking ability. That's why I labelled "Form-fitting tights" as a necessary characteristic of a Spider-Man costume earlier on in this post.

Before I wrap this up, one more thing you can try doing if you're stumped is looking at real life for inspiration. Whether that's going back to the old strongman outfits that gave way to the original superhero costumes, looking at modern day equivalent athletic wear, or even looking at actual fashion (as long as you're not just putting that fashion over the suit), there's bound to be something that could give you ideas.

[sparkyblizz]

I need to talk about Robonyan and B3-NK1. if you're a fan of whatever the hell these two have going on, please read through this entire post I beg you. (I am a Fellow Fan of whatever the hell these two have going on and I'm just rambling about the hilarity of the writer's decisions, especially looking at episode 119.)

I'm gonna set the scene. been a fan of the game for years. used to watch the anime with my parents back when it aired on TV. I watched episode 23. even back then, even though it was the dub, with reanimated scenes, I picked up on what they were putting down. eventually forgot about this, went about my life. years later, talking about queercoding in video games with friend. bring up Yo-Kai Watch, talking about another instance of queerness, and then I remember episode 23. go to the wiki, research it. lose my shit when I find out that the version that I saw on TV was edited to make it less suggestive. also lost my shit when the wiki said the Latin American dub skipped it entirely. I just need you to know that because it's hilarious to me.

I ended up rewatching said episode, but the subbed version. the original, unedited version. holy shit. anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself. I learned about episode 85 and the Komasan Taxi segment. I watched it (subbed version). it seems the complaints may be from real viewers. I can't say I can prove that, but it is extremely funny, because Robonyan (at this point upgraded to Robonyan F) gets put on blast by someone's disapproving mother. Robonyan F becomes increasingly more mortified, trying to explain what happened by first saying that he's from the future and it's different there (hilarious excuse, based) and that it's B3-NK1's fault (which, I mean, he was the one who stuck his naginata in Robonyan, so, fair enough man). you might think at this point that the writers are gonna try and backtrack, apologise, something! you would be wrong. they FUCKING DOUBLE DOWN. Koma bros bring B3-NK1 in. guy is friendly and immediately initiates conversation with Robonyan F who cannot handle this situation at all, and the fact B3-NK1 just comes off friendly and relatively casual is amazing to me. (at least, that's how the subs where I watched it portrayed him.) peak writing decision. Robonyan F tries to not be horny, ends up being horny anyway. writers are committed to the bit. AND THEN THERE'S EPISODE 119. I only briefly perused tumblr to see what the fandom's got to say and I had yet to see anyone acknowledge episode 119. I myself was intent upon finding it and watching it after I see this in the wiki.

me, looking at the wiki saying B3-NK1 "distracted" Robonyan F: "what do you mean by that?" I just had to know the full context. so I watched the episode (subbed as well). and if you haven't seen it, let me explain its relevance. Nate and several other Yo-Kai end up competing in a grand prix. one of the racers is Robonyan F. according to the subs (which I know may differ depending on where you watch the show), Robonyan F is the crowd favourite. he's got a cool ass car (that he himself seems to be a part of) that manages to break free of the ice that trapped everyone else, caused by Blizzaria, who is also one of the racers. B3-NK1 is cheering for Robonyan F. he has a flag with Robonyan F's face on it attached to his naginata. he says that as they're both mechanical yo-kai, he'll cheer him on. he waves the flag excitedly. he then does something reminiscent of a cheerleader—he shouts "Hooray! Hooray!" then cheers Robonyan F's name, punctuating each syllable by swinging the flag—and his naginata—in a different direction. he then twirls it in his hand and it spins out of his grip and out of control, and ends up flying onto the track and embedding itself in the rear of Robonyan F's car. this causes him to lose control, the car starts transforming into references to different anime, and then promptly veers off the racetrack and smashes into a rock, making him the first racer to lose. he is in eighth place, LAST PLACE. that detail is hilarious and important to me. what this episode tells me is that the writers not only doubled down, THEY TRIPLED DOWN. they did it again! they made the joke again! and the way they do it is criminally funny. I'm just imagining that in the writer's room, they decided that they needed Robonyan F in this race because robot and robot car. but Nate has to win the race, which means everyone else has to lose in an interesting way. what's the best way to make him lose? reference episode 23 again! B3-NK1 is here purely for the joke! he's cheering him on, excitedly to boot! he seems genuinely happy to be here! but oops! he accidentally loses control of his naginata and it goes and stabs Robonyan F's car, and by proxy him, in the ass, and is what puts him in last place. FUCKING L. has this happened enough times for it to be a running gag? it might as well be one!

anyway I just like episode 119's implication that B3-NK1 at the very least likes Robonyan F, enough to cheer him on happily. even if it's just for a gag! love wins!

[retronator]

I never played Karateka in the 80s, but as a big fan of Prince of Persia and Jordan Mechner's journals, I was stoked to hear that an interactive documentary about Jordan's prototypical cinematic platformer was in the works by Digital Eclipse.

Released this week, The Making of Karateka on the surface looks like any other game you buy through Steam ($20, Windows-only), GOG, or whichever favorite store or console you prefer (available also for Xbox, PS4/5, Switch). Once the thing loads though, you really get 3 things: a documentary, the original Karateka, and a new remaster.

The documentary part is an audio-visual slideshow retelling Jordan's development story starting with his teenage years pitching his earlier title Deathbounce to the publishing house Brøderbund. It's an interesting look into the iterative process, seen through correspondence letters, journal entries, and many playable builds at various stages of completion. After we reach the eventual rejection of that title, Jordan comes back with a prototype of a visual-narrative experience unseen on home computers. We get to follow Karateka's full life cycle from pre- to post-production, ending with the conception of its sequel (which eventually turned into Prince of Persia). It's a real treasure trove! Fellow pixel artists will appreciate the many graph-paper sketches and interactive overlays of final game sprites compared to rotoscoped outlines and filmed footage. There are also video segments, from a comprehensive breakdown of the music to interviews with other developers reflecting on the impact Jordan's games had on their careers. You'll even encounter a fan letter signed by the one and only "John Romero, Disciple of the Great Jordan and worshipper of the Magnificent Mechner!" (I kid you not, you can't make this stuff up).

Perhaps just as crucial for an interactive documentary like this, you can launch any of the floppy disks in the emulator, trying out various iterations and ports of Karateka.

The emulation is fantastic and lets you fiddle with display settings (monochrome or color display, scanlines, pixel perfect or zoomed) as well as enhance the frame rate. You can even rewind the many deaths you will face if you've never played the game before (like me). If you spend some more time obsessing over the weird artifacts of the Apple II hi-res graphics, you might even go down the rabbit hole of realizing that on the Apple II you didn't really paint colors as much as you used different monochrome dithering patterns that the graphics display would then turn into 4 different hues. A fascinating learning experience if you include some of your own research online!

Add to this the Commodore 64 and the Atari 8-bit versions to compare how the graphics got adapted across the earlier ports and you have a nice way to relieve the mid-80s with a bit of help from modern emulation (I did beat the C64 version without rewinding though!). I'd love to see more art from the other remakes, especially the 16-bit Atari ST port, but I understand their decision to omit playable versions of those due to the lower quality on the gameplay side of the translations.

This brings us to the final part of the package, the modern remaster. Unlike the 2012 complete reimagining of the game (with 3D graphics and all), Digital Eclipse approached the remake as the ultimate port of the original to an imaginary system along the lines of a 90s VGA PC.

It's well done. Some of the fully-redrawn scenes are a bit overpainted for my taste (I'd prefer a pixel art rendition of the castle than a blurry photographic collage, although there were many games in the 90s that did take this approach), but the in-game graphics are really in style, including the smooth animations that are like one would imagine granted a beefier CPU. It's also a sort of director's cut with previously unseen scenes added, in particular, the battle with the leopard as a clever action-puzzle in the middle. The AI is unfortunately even less challenging than Jordan's implementation. As great as the 6-move fighting system could have been, you yet again resort to simply kicking away opponents as they tirelessly crawl into your range. There isn't even the nuance from the original where you were the one who had to approach some enemies with skilled timing. On the other hand, you now have optional goals and achievements that make the repetitive/easy combat work in your favor (stringing various combos, beating opponents or the level under a time limit …). As the Digital Eclipse president Mike Mika admits at the end of the welcome commentary mode, they didn't manage to achieve their perfect port, but they did come close.

In conclusion, I thoroughly enjoyed playing both the original as well as the remake and while the combat system lacks any sort of depth beneath its stunning animations, Karateka is instead a monumental experience for its presentation. Big characters with personality and realistic motion are displayed through cinematic camera cuts and story vignettes (3 years before Ron Gilbert came up with the word "cutscene"). There are details like animating the unfortunate falling off the cliff at the start of the game, or respectfully bowing to the first guard as they bow in return. Jordan's creative work is precious and worth the attention this release gifts it.

I highly recommend The Making of Karateka to all retro gamers and/or game developers for its immersive documentation which provides an experience that goes beyond the usual video documentaries. It's interactive—just like the subject it's talking about—something I want to see more in the future. And if the $20 by any chance seems high to you, consider that the original retailed at $35 (and that was in 1984 dollars).

[mamuzzy]

MAMUZZY READS HARD CONTACT: Chapter 1.2.

In case you need to hear it from someone: reading this book won’t make you misogynistic, queerphobic, terf, ableist, genocide-supporter and [insert whatever antis may have called you]. In fact, no book or movie, or game makes you one of these. How you behave with a flesh-and-blood person is what defines you, not the media you consume.

But maaaan… you can’t believe how hard this was to write. We are at still only on chapter 1, yet heavy themes such as grief, survival guilt and possible caste-system among the clones was already mentioned. And now as we follow a different point of view by introducing the secondary protagonist in Hard Contact, Etain Tur-Mukan, we’ll get into more darker topics. Getting the right words to talk about sensitive and serious topics like misogyny and sexism, rape and xenophobia was truly a challenge.

While I’m grateful to those repcomm-critical people who actually sat down and pointed out the problematic parts of the book for me in the past, I still feel that being critical of RepComm is like an exclusive club, where you can get inside if you already possess the secret of knowledge of… well, being critical thinker, and other “basic” criteria.

I mean, these are supposed to be serious problems. They fucking are. Misogyny is a serious problem all around the world, helping people to understand why you find certain parts problematic might be much more effective instead of going on full rage and tearing people heads off and make a fucking joke out of real people’s misery by gatekeeping information about serious topics.

In this essay, I will use related quotes from this section of the book to talk about an issue what I’m struggling with lately: relearning english language to be all-gender and sexuality inclusive. I know that lot of non-native english speakers are struggling with this, especially around my age or above, so I try to explain what does it mean to have addressed as female/male instead of woman/man in an everyday conversation, without calling you derogatory names for not knowing. Sorry that this has to be specific, but I’m truly angry about how antis rhetorics are basically about “if you don’t already know this, the problem is with you”. You can never assume with what background the readers come. Never.

-- FEMALE vs. WOMAN --

I started to recognize the differences between Hungarian edition and the original English release. Hungarian translations can be really good when a passionate and professional hand touches it and the more I read the English version, the more I think that the translation is faulty at some places. I often had that feeling that yeaaah, I get what the original english sentence would have sounded like. Karen Traviss’ style is much more simple, less-artistic and surprisingly easy to read despite the military topics.

Because of these differences, nuances can be lost in the translation.

Also, I started to feel the influence of the constant exposure of critical voices toward the books, and made this segment truly hard to read. Because when you hear certain voices, labels and slogans all the time, you are unconsciously trained to notice these things, I mean, that's how real life propaganda works. Immediately getting focused on certain words or expressions and immediately have the "appropriate" emotional response. And then you spend hours to figure it out if this is how the author intended or the curtain is just blue and that was it.

Here are some examples:

A friend of mine once told me that the book uses the word “female” a lot instead of woman and that is usually a telltale sign of someone being a TERF. Because of this, I immediately noticed that Ghez Hokan referred to women as such, moreover, he was talking to an alien.

I thought that our culture uses these terms entirely differently, but now that I researched a bit, it is not that different: the only difference is that english language uses “female/male” terms are incorporated in everyday speech like it’s nothing, while in Hungary, you don’t use such terms so casually.

What does this mean and why is this important in connection to queerness and especially trans-related topics?

In what context you use female/male?

You refer to people by their sex.

It is used in scientific context.

You use this when talking about flora and fauna.

You use this when you are talking other species that are not human and fantasy species.

If you use female/male terms on a human, you basicly degrade them to their mammalian status and reproductive abilities. You basicly call them animals.

A little Hungarian lesson: Hungarian language doesn’t have a word for gender. We use the same word for sex and gender, so basically there is no difference. Government use “dzsender” as a slur against transpeople in their propaganda, and deliberately don’t invent a Hungarian word for it, so it will still sound like english, therefore, it makes easier to alienate people even more from the “rotten west” when you use scary foreign words which meaning you don’t know and you don’t care to look up.

Because we don’t use female/male in our everyday language, only in scientific context, calling a women “female” sounds exceptionally rude and people will give you a weird look because of it.

You would say how our country is progressive language-wise (I love how people are going crazy over how we have a single gender neutral pronoun <3), but actually we are far from it. Yeah, it sounds nice that we use respective language when addressing women, but when a women are culturally encouraged to be treated like a breeding cattle based on their reproductive organs and constantly associated to motherhood, nice words just simply lose their meanings. That’s why I don’t really hung up on single words usages and labels. You totally focus on one thing and miss everything else around it. Women are treated shit no matter how appropriately you call them.

So imagine the confusion that I was introduced to a culture where you call women or men casually as animals and I’m expected to learn this language so the majority of the world may understand me, only to encounter with other people who will call me TERF and I don’t even know why. Progressive fandom spaces don’t automatically come with unconditional friendliness and patience.

Just for curiosity, I upload the hungarian version of this scene.

English in comparison

Because hungarian used the term of “nőket” (woman+plural+accusative), the potential problematic usage of “female” are completely lost in the translation. Even if you have the misogyny-lense on, in hungarian, you won’t find this scene problematic... well apart from the obvious that someone is getting killed brutally. “Nő” is a completely acceptable way to talk about women in Hungary, and you use “hölgy” if you especially want to be polite or talking face-to-face.

-- ABOUT XENOPHOBIA --

Other thing I wanted to show you regarding this scene, that beside misogyny and terf-associations, Karen Traviss is often accused by fans by being xenophobic to alien species other than humans. If you remember in what cases we call living beings female/male, anything that is not human are referred like that in everyday English language.

I honestly can’t decide if the word usage of “female” was due to the guy being weequay (an alien, other than human), or because Ghez Hokan don’t respect women or it has some significance at all. We actually see Hokan talking to a woman later so we can check this later.

Also I can’t decide if comparing the “incoherent animal sound beings made when pain overwhelmed them” is just a description of sound or the so-called KarenTravissness. See what slogans and labels do to your brain? If you are fed that this book is xenophobic, you will see xenophobia everywhere.

I’m not here to make judgment about english language, but I hope I could provide help in translating one of the common slogans and catchphrases people usually don’t bother to explain, because this is something you are supposed to know on your own.

Don’t gatekeep important information to make yourself feel more intellectually and morally superior!

-- WEEQUAY LORE --

Etain actually has opinions about the Weequays. She starts the chapter being on the run, chased by a Weequay mercenary. First of all, Etain is not having a graceful entry because she spends her first minutes hiding in a barq-field (very expensivy luxury grain), most precisely, in manure, and this scene alone made me fall in love with her. But also the Weequay didn’t hide what intention he has when he founds Etain.

A certain someone in repcomm tumblr said that Etain should sort out her racist and xenophobic thoughts because Hondo Ohnaka definitely has a diverse vocabulary. I don’t know, but if I was chased by a someone in threat of getting raped, I wouldn’t think nice and politically and socially correct things either, but it's probably just me. People really should sort out their priorities. But it only made me wonder and research further. Because I played old Star Wars games, I know that Weequays are fluent in Huttese but it made me wonder: do weeqays have their own language?

LORE TIME!!!!!!!!!

The first weequay appeared in the Original Trilogy serving Jabba the Hutt, called Pagetti Rook.

But who are these guys actually?

Weequays are a humanoid race originating from the desert planet of Sriluur, The Outer Rim with a neighbouring Hutt Space/Hutt Sector. Their appearance evolved due to the harsh weather conditions. They have clan-based, harsh society with a mindset of “only the strongest will survive”, and what is especially interesting about them that they don’t use speech as their primary communication form, they use pheromones to communicate. When a weequay is from another clan, there is no guarantee that they will understand each other, let alone people from other races. They don’t use names (only when they are blending among non-weequays), because they identify each other by smell. This is one reason other species find them inferior and uncivilized and unintelligent. You can see braids on his head which has cultural significance, weequay women are bald.

Weequays already appeared in the Original Trilogy serving Jabba the Hutt, and usually in this role you will find them: due to their neighbouring influence of Hutt Space, they serve Hutt clans. It’s one of the very common star wars cantina scenes, where you see women of different alien species entertaining guest, and if the bar is Hutt affiliated, there is a chance that they are slaves and kept against their will. Weequays are different: they remained independent from the Hutts, but they will lend their aid, lend their mercenaries to serve them, so they are mostly associated in with gangs, crime syndicates, drug cartels, smugglers etc. Weequays and Rodians often associated with criminal gangs in Legends.

On the bright side, there were force-sensitive weequays in the Jedi Order: Que-Mars Redath-Gom - Died in the Battle of Geonosis Master Kossex - died in the First Battle of Kamino Master Tyr - died in the Battle of Thustra Master Sora Bulk - Betrayed the Order and joined Count Dooku General Sev - Died during O66

So according to Legends-lore, Etain’s little comment about the weequays’ communication skills is not entirely out of place. Now if Etain was aware that they had weequays in the Jedi Order or not is another question, or more like, if Karen Traviss was aware. From what I know about her, she wasn’t well versed in the Extended Universe’s (now Legends) lore.

… I really hope that my little lore-detours don’t bore you. It will happen again.

-- ABOUT MISOGYNY --

UFFFFFF-!!!!!!! Reminds me of a time, when once I walked late at night to home, I looked behind my back because I heard someone and the guy yelled after me with hurt self-esteem: YOU especially don’t have to worry!

The swift comeback indicates that maybe this isn’t the first when Etain got such comments about her looks. We actually got a glimpse about her appearance by that weequay.

Scrag-end is a derogatory slang for thin and veiny people.

I want to make clear another thing. Misogyny is present in this book, and I truly believe that depicting misogyny itself is not misogyny. WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT MISOGYNY, but like a mature person, and not treat it like a fucking fandom trope!!!

It’s the sad reality that things like this exist in the real world. Erasing it from literature because it makes you uncomfortable - regardless if you are affected or not - won’t help anyone. “It should be actively condemned by the narrative!!!!” Like you would actively condemn misogyny happening before your very eyes? Would you be brave enough to step between a guy and her girlfriend who is being yelled at or you decide it’s not your business? Will you call out a woman (and your boss) who claims that women should make the environment clean because boys are just stupid boys who can’t do shit on their own (which is now a road to misandry as well. LOL! Misandry is not recognized as a legit word in scrivener)? You would probably just politely smile while serving a woman customer who just told you that you shouldn’t lift heavy things and do man’s job because your uterus will be damaged and you can’t have kids. I’ve got more misogynistic remarks from women than men actually.

Nobody will teach you how to protect yourself from misogyny and people like these. I never feel protected and loved by couch activists who are supposedly on women-side preaching about fictional misogyny but I can protect myself from actual assholes face-to-face, because I had to learn to do it. This book won’t teach either the how-tos, but maybe you can recognize speech patterns. This is how you use a “problematic” literature. You learn from it. If you learn from all this that it’s okay to talk about women like that, the problem is with you, my friend.

-- ABOUT ETAIN --

We get to know about Etain that she is not very good user of the Force, or at least she is not mindful in stressful situations like this. She is exhausted and not have any strength left, emotions completely overrun her.

It made me really wonder what Etain was through if her first thought was to cut down a farmer with her lightsaber.

You know… the more I read about Etain (and what I remember about her in the other books), I would say that she is written as a child soldier. Which is weird because Jedi are ultimately are not trained to be soldiers

There are a lot of paragraphs where she compares herself to the clones and comparing their upbringing to hers, but her reactions in this scenes, it made me really wonder.

*SNORT* This part made me chuckle. Clever girl.

Etain definitely has doubts in her own abilities. It is not known if Master Fulier truly thought about Etain this way, some gestures indicated that in the past, or simply Etain’s low-self-esteem is talking. In this part, we don’t get to know more about her relationship with her master, but Fulier is described a challenge-loving person, and that could explain Etain’s jumpiness as well.

Interesting parallel that for a clone’s punishment is decomission if they fail their tests.

While it’s not supposed to be a punishment for a Jedi, those padawans who are not suited for knighthood are sent to one of the four service corps (Medical, Agricultural, Educational and Exploration). Etain is certainly feels it as a punishment to be sent here. Imagine you are trained for one thing in your life, and if you fail, you ultimately failed everything in life. Not exactly death, but almost.

-- JEDI AND THE TERRITORIES OUTSIDE OF THE REPUBLIC --

Another so-much-heard critic about Karen Traviss’ work that she wrote everyone hating on the Jedi, even the civilians.

But: Qiirula at this time (and probably before) is a Neutral planet in the midrim. Meaning, they have no ties with Republic. They don’t get aid, they don’t get Jedi visitors because it’s not their jurisdiction to care about. Ultimately the Senate decides where a Jedi should go and maintain peace. I don’t see why should an average quiirulan look at the Jedi like a godly entity and positive figure if they never see one before. Legends and hero stories won’t feed your stomach after all but you have bullies like Ghez Hokan and his mercenaries and the Neimoidians traders who will exploit you shitless.

There is no active war on Qiirula, but the Jedi are here - Padawan Etain and her master, Kast Fulier -, and that means, there is something here that is worth something to the Republic and something requires a Jedi presence after all.

The Jedi are not obligated to help the neutral systems or those under the CIS unless the Republic sends there forces to occupy and then they have maintain peace and enforcing the political decisions that had been made. At least that's what real life peacekeepers are doing in contries with tension. Do what you will with this information.

I certainly don't vibe with the Jedi Order as a government supported religious order.

That’s it for now, Chapter 1.3 will be the next, a smaller post introducing Fi and Niner and that will sums up the entire Chapter 1. ^^

Sorry if this one sounded like a rant, but I hate when people are throwing labels here and there and words eventually lose their impact.

[acaplaya-musings]

VoicePlay Visuals - Classical Chaos (part 1/2)

(The video itself obviously isn't a two-parter, but this post is! You can go to part 2 here, and there'll also be a link at the bottom of this post.)

VoicePlay's "Classical Chaos" video publically released on the 29th of June, 2024 (well, the 28th of June for Americans I suppose, but I've been going off of my own timezone for all my other posts - no point changing now), and it features the one and only Rachel Potter, back with VoicePlay for the first time in two and a half years!

The arrangement, creative direction, and editing of this video was all Layne (with a bit of additional creative direction from Tony), and some have said this is an accurate look into what the inside of Layne's brain is like😂 Layne took snippets of a dozen different classical music pieces (ranging from "somewhat known" to "definitely well-known"), and turned them into a super original, super amazing acapella medley, and created a very entertaining and amusing video to go with it! And the video is what I'm here to talk about!

Also, if you somehow haven't figured it out yet, the Classical Chaos video is somewhat of a sequel to VoicePlay's In The Hall Of The Mountain King video they did back in September of 2022. You can find my VoicePlay Visuals post for that video here!

Anyway, enough introduction, let's get into this!

First of all, had to get a shot of that bat flying past - it's a cute touch - and second of all my goodness let's talk about set design because WOW. This is inside Pattycake Studios, believe it or not! Seriously, Mountain King I think maybe just had a handful of real trees that were dragged into the studio and then they used a hanging backdrop with a forest on it in addition? But this is heaps! (Someone in the VP Discord said apparently there were 39 trees used, damn)

This forest also did double duty, as Pattycake Productions also used it for their new Villains Lair episode, Ancient Relics (hey, might as well make the absolute most of it!), and unlike VP's video, that actually does have credits for set design! The trees themselves are credited to Orlando Art Squad, Djon Pearson, Layne, Tony, and also Big Oaks Ranch!

(Also I'm fairly certain that moon in the background is the same moon lamp/spotlight that Geoff used for his Jack's Lament video)

Eli's here! He uses the spellbook to re-summon all the others (I think), but how/why did he reappear I wonder? (Grundel magic perhaps 😝 (yeah they're playing creatures called "Grundels", I think maybe Layne came up with the name?))

"Advanced Conjuring And Other Spells (Beginners Do Not Attempt)"

Dang, I guess music really is magic after all! 😉😁

I can't read sheet music to save my life, but this appears to be the sheet music for Toccata & Fugue In D Minor (it's the first piece in this medley, and I googled what the sheet music looked like and it seems to line up).

Geoff giving a little smile and wave at Eli is very cute, and reminds me of the way Kathy waved to Geoff at the end of Golden Hour, which in turn reminded some people of Rachel's little wave in the Kiss The Girl segment of the Little Mermaid Medley, another video where Geoff got painted blue, so I guess it's a full-circle moment really!

Also yes, their appearances have been tweaked slightly since Mountain King (both Geoff and Layne have different horns, Eli and Geoff have different 'shirt' things, and Geoff's skin is more blue than it was last time), but I have many other things to talk about, so I shan't spend too much time on this.

The queen has arrived! Or rather, should I say, the White Witch!

Pfft I love Cesar's face here 😆

Man I really love Rachel's makeup and costuming here, she always looks amazing in VoicePlay videos! Also definitely Elvira: Mistress Of The Dark vibes

(And of course shoutout to Rick Underwood and Renette Feren for makeup and prosthetics for everyone in the video!)

Geoff is Planning Something(tm) 😝

The fire in this video works similarly to how the cauldron did in Mountain King in regards to colour coding, but while the cauldron only appeared to change colour whenever someone added something to it, this fire changes colour whenever a different person starts singing lead vocals! E.g., white for Rachel, as shown here. (I'm not sure how tough this was to pull off in editing/post-production, but it turned out amazing!)

The queen White Witch is busy casting spells and doing witch stuff! Do not disturb and definitely do not touch the spellbook!

(Also Cesar manages to be as adorable as ever in this video 😄)

🎶I could put a spell on you and you're done for!🎶

No wait wrong fandom 😝

Eli: "Ooh maybe while she's distracted I could-"

Rachel: "NOPE don't even think about it!"

Layne: "Lol rip tough luck"

(But seriously *pfft* @ this screenshot 😂)

Wait for it...

"WHERE IS THE BOOK?"

Even Layne is like "oh dang" 😂

Geoff got a hold of it! (good for him) Using what I can only assume is the power of Looney Tunes Logic! 😝

Geoff: Hey look I got this cool book! Isn't it neat? The other three guys: GIMME! Rachel: *Big Mad*

Okay I do kinda love the huge grin on Geoff's face here - it's very him, and he's having fun!

(Also notice how the fire has turned blue now that he's singing!)

Geoff holds up the book...

...And suddenly he no longer has the book!

Unfortunately for Geoff (and Rachel), he's not the only one with the power of Looney Tunes Cartoon Nonsense Logic! 😝😂

(Also the fire has changed again!)

Okay I have to talk a teeny bit about the music here because 1, I love how Geoff's "wait where did it go" head turns are perfectly timed to the "doo-doo," backing parts here, and 2, as I said in my Thoughts And Commentary post, I find it very amusing that Layne's section here is The Blue Danube, considering he just yoinked the spellbook from Geoff, who is Very Blue 😂

*pfft*

"Don't be suspicious, don't be suspicious, don't be suspicious-"

Aww look at that mischievious-but-lovable grin!

And look at what's happened to the fire! It's still mostly orange, but with a bit of green on top! Kinda like... a carrot! Layne The Carrot Lord strikes again! 😆

Rachel: "Yeah I'll have that back thanks"

And I've officially hit image limit, so that's part 1! Now you understand why I made this into two posts, not one? You can go find part 2 here! See you there!

[sneakydraws]

i wanna see fifty five goldfinch pieces 💔💔

OKAY!! So I have this little series I like to call the great decompartmentalisation of Theo decker... Let me walk you through it. I promise there's art after the massive paragraph of meandering analysis alright

You know how Theo's life is segmented into these distinct episodes? And how he himself is split into multiple different identities, and how much shame and fear there is associated with the idea of those identities mixing? For example: the straight a student living a completely, delusionally idyllic life with his adoring mother and the vanilla teenage troublemaker breaking into people's summer homes with his shady homoerotic bestie. When the two identities come into contact via his suspension, it leads to the most traumatic event in Theo's life, and honestly I suspect that might be the origin of this tendency towards compartmentalisation... I could go through the whole book here but the most prominent examples are Theo panicking at the thought of Mrs Barbour or his therapist finding out about Hobie, his cutting himself off from New York when in Vegas with his other shady homoerotic bestie (the amount of times Vegas is compared to an alien planet...) and his dual post timeskip identifies of charming antiques salesman/fraudulent art stealing junkie. And this often manifests in Theo's reluctance to let people from his different periods interact - see him rushing to stop Boris from talking to Pippa, and him keeping Hobie in the dark about the blackmail, and isn't it kind of weird that the barbours - Theo's soon to be legal family - don't really interact with Hobie and Pippa? Anyway. Basically I thought it would be cool to make a series of little vignettes of theo allowing the people and places and things that represent various versions of Him to interact and thus symbolically healing the disconnected parts of himself... Or something. I have more ideas scribbled down but somehow the only ones I ended up with proper art for is the various holidays (which, holidays are also a weirdly prevalent theme in tgf? Idk whats up with that but it's a good tool for this purpose) so we have:

Christmas Eve at Boris's, featuring Pippa and Hobie - I feel kinda bad for only ever portraying Boris with polish customs but let's be real I'm just using him to show off my own heritage lol. In Poland the main Xmas celebrations happen on Xmas Eve, traditionally with the appearance of the first star in the sky. You eat the mostly inoffensive barszcz as well some truly vile shit, such as mushroom and cabbage dumplings, mushroom and cabbage salad, other items made of mushrooms and cabbage, and finally the most disgusting dish of my life: Jewish style carp. No, it's not quite the same thing as gefiltefish, although that's the Wikipedia page you might use to get to the actual dish. All washed down with compote which I hate. You also break and eat communion wafers while wishing each other stuff, which Pippa is doing with popchyk here hehe

Christmas breakfast as a little bonus despite it not having much of a tradition - I associate it with lots of hams/cured meats, gherkins and maybe Tatar sauce (yum). Much superior to the Xmas dinner imho. Really I just wanted Theo and Boris to have a moment to themselves haha

Christmas proper at the barbours, featuring Boris and Tom cable! I could talk about all the tension and who's diffusing it but honestly I think y'all can draw your own conclusions lol. I just think it would be really funny for the infamous dis-engaged couple to each bring their delinquent boytoys and for Boris the drug dealer to actually come out looking superior

Vegetarian friendly Thanksgiving at Hobie's, as tradition requires! I think he'd love to throw one of his big Thanksgiving parties purely for all of Theo's families to get to know each other... you know, kind of an elaboration on that Thanksgiving illustration I drew a while back! This would be before all the Christmases I think. Boris is winning Mrs Barbour over with his roguish charm lol I think old ladies would like him... Theo in the corner freaking the hell out as per this project's mission statement lmao

And on a slightly different note I wanted Theo Pippa and Hobie to all visit weltys grave. I'm borrowing slightly from the polish tradition of all saint's day, when you clean, decorate and light candles on the graves of loved ones.

[arthurdrakoni]

Figment is a great all ages comic from the Disney Kingdom line. This is my review.

Disney Kingdoms was a truly unappreciated gem of a comic book series. Each issue was based on a different Disney Theme Park attraction; past, present, and even ones that were never built. There’s a lot of lore and creativity put into Disney Theme Park attractions, so there is certainly very fertile ground for story telling.

So, I’d like to share with all of you a review I did of the comic Figment. Based on the classic EPCOT attraction Journey Into Imagination. Figment takes place in London in the year 1910.  It follows an aspiring inventor named Blarion Mercurial.  He might not look it, but he is destined to become The Dreamfinder.  Blarion works for The Academy Scientifica Lucidus.  He's always been a dreamer and he wants to harness the power of imagination and creativity.  Unfortunately, his boss, Chairman Illocrant, is only interested in creating a device that can during thought into energy.  While working on the device, Blarion brings Figment, his childhood imaginary friend, to life.  He also opens a portal into a realm of pure imagination.  Before long, our heroes embark on a journey into imagination.

I’d been meaning to read this comic for a while, but it got a major boost after I watched Defunctland’s episode on Journey Into Imagination. By the way, if you haven’t check out Defubctland, fix that as soon as possible. One of the best channels on YouTube. Love his attention to quality, and the amount of information he always manages to find on defunct theme park attractions.

Anyway, back on topic, I loved Figment. It is a great all ages comic with a strong message in believing in yourself. The segments set in the land of Imagination were fun and whimsical, but the real world segments were entertaining as well. It also a surprisingly well done origin story for Dreamfinder. It could easily have done very wrong. He’s one of those characters like Willy Wonka or Mrs. Frizzle where you don’t know much about them or their origins, but they’re so awesome you just don’t care. However, giving a definitive origin to such characters can backfire badly. Thankfully, that is not at all the case here.

Also, Figment is as cute and adorable as ever. Just as he should be. I’m not the only one who thinks this comic is great. It is the only member of the Disney Kingdoms line to get a sequel. Even then Disney CEO Bob Igor was blown away by the comic’s success. I know that Disney+ is going to be producing some shows based on Disney Theme Park attractions. So, perhaps Disney Kingdoms will rise again some day.

Have you read Figment? If so, what did you think?

Link to the full review on my blog is here: http://drakoniandgriffalco.blogspot.com/2018/09/comic-review-figment.html?m=1

[mycomicbox]

Random thoughts on Persona 4 Golden:

(for context, I'm up to 6/25, and I just rescued Rise)

Going from Persona 3 Portable to this, it was lowkey kinda jarring to suddenly have full 3D exploration during the real-world segments. The more upbeat vibe compared to the previous entry also took some getting used to, though it's a nice change of pace.

EVERYTHING IS YELLOW.

I like Margaret and her customer service-ass voice.

I thought that Yosuke would be more similar to Junpei in personality (since they both fill the same "best bro" archetype), but they do have a lot more differences than I originally thought. Yosuke is more level-headed and better at thinking of plans (most of the time). Just an observation.

I like Chie! She's annoying, but in a kind of charming way?

When I heard Yukiko, I was like "why does her voice sound familiar" and then I found out she has the same English VA as Magnolia from Bravely Second.

Speaking of Yukiko, she's kinda like if you mixed Mitsuru's rich girl background with Fuuka's cooking skills.

SO many gameplay improvements and quality of life features that weren't in Persona 3. Improved Shuffle Time. Faster animations in battle. More benefits from Social Links. Fusion Search. Ability to select which skills get passed down when fusing Personas. Ability to buy skill cards. Ability to accept more than 3 sidequests at a time. Gaining money from battles without needing Shuffle Time. Costumes are now a separate slot.

The soundtrack continues to go hard, though I guess that's a given with Persona games. Heartbeat-Heartbreak, I'll Face Myself -Battle-, and Reach Out to the Truth are some of my current favorites.

Nanako kinda reminds me of myself when I was her age, mainly because of her habit of singing commercial jingles.

I'm very interested in where Marie's Social Link goes, considering that, IIRC, it wasn't in the original Persona 4: it was a new addition to Golden.

Great vegetables.

I can see why fans call Adachi a boyfailure.

...Okay, after Kanji's dungeon and the summer camp segment, I can see why the story has been criticized. Like, it feels like the writers wanted to explore queer themes, but they were forced to cut them mid-development. Why do I have the sinking feeling that it's not going to get any better in that regard?

Speaking of which, Shadow Kanji was the only boss so far that I got a Game Over against. (Tip: Take out his two helper guys first, they're weak to ice and fire respectively.)

The whole motorcycle flirting scene was even more awkward than the "Operation Babe Hunt" from Persona 3. At least you can skip that scene in Portable if you're playing as the female protagonist.

WHY AM I FIGHTING A STRIPPER (Switch's handheld mode is a godsend for this part)

At first, I hated Teddie, but after fighting his Shadow, I have a good feeling that he's going to get better.

Overall, I'm not really liking the story so far (mainly because of the aforementioned homophobic tones), but gameplay is of the utmost importance, and the gameplay is very fun. After this, I'll probably play Persona 5 Royal during the summer months.

[detailtilted]

Next Enhanced Video In Process - CHICON 2008

WARNING: Heavy camera flashes below.

I thought I'd post an update in case anyone's curious. After finishing Comic-Con 2008, I moved on to CHICON 2008. The videos for the main panels are decent and they're upscaling nicely, but you'll all hate the quality of the Breakfast video. I'm doing that one first.

I made some improvements to the originals which are explained and shown below, but I couldn't upscale them. Jared came out ok, probably because he was closer to the camera, but even the most light-handed approach distorted Jensen's features too much.

However, one thing I improved were the flashes. The original videos are nuts. Flashes have been bad on other videos too, but I think the lighting in the room made them stand out worse here. I was afraid they'd give someone a seizure or something so I found a way to reduce them. I probably won't do this again on other videos because I used a free trial that expired and I've already put way too much money into software for this pet project. I don't think it'd work as reliably on the less dramatically flashy videos anyway, but I may reconsider the purchase if I encounter more videos like this down the road.

I also tried to do some color corrections, but it's erratic. Suppressing the flashes doesn't change the real life effect they had on the lighting in the room. Maybe that's why the color correction settings I applied didn't have consistent results throughout the video. I separated out some longer segments of drastically different colors and fixed them independently, but there was just too much fluctuation. Individually analyzing and correcting all 37,440 frames is way beyond the scope of this project (and my patience) and would probably require more lifetimes than I have.

Anyway, I wanted to post a short comparison video so people can see the difference. I think when people just see the enhanced video by itself they'll be like, "this sucks!" I was hoping people might not hate it as much if they've seen how it originally looked. I think the "enhanced" version, once I publish it, will be the best version that's been posted to date, even if it's still crappy.

This video has three 30-second samples:

Original version of Breakfast video.

My modified version.

Sample of upscaled main J2 panel to prove it will get better again after the Breakfast video. (No flashes removed. You can see them, but I think they're less painful.)

I've also made other adjustments that aren't seen in that sample:

The best-quality video has interruptions because the video taker also took pictures. This caused the frame to freeze and the sound to cut out. When possible, I edited in an alternate lower-quality video at those moments. I also edited in the alternate video to cover brief segments missing in the main videos.

The only other video that has the 1st two minutes is one where the video taker was scared to be too obvious about what they were doing and so recorded their legs and random non-J2 objects instead. 😂 But it was still helpful, because I substituted that video's audio in for the sections that cut out on the primary video due to the picture taking. We'll still have a few freeze frames in the first two minutes, but at least we can hear what was going on.

Speaking of hearing, there were some truly ear-shattering screams when Jared and Jensen first came out. I lowered the volume a little in those moments to save your ears some trauma.

This breakfast video will be the next one I release, but my video releases will be increasingly slow. I have something going on in real life that's eating up most of my spare time and will probably continue to do so off and on for most of this year. Nothing bad, just very time-consuming. This is a shorter video though, and I'm already well into the work on it, so hopefully it won't take too long.

[evelynhk]

Music Video Analysis

Part 1: "thank u, next"

Ariana Grande's "thank u, next" music video is a vibrant homage to iconic romantic comedy movies, including "Mean Girls," "Legally Blonde," "13 Going on 30," and "Bring It On." In the video, Grande recreates memorable scenes from these films while infusing them with her own unique style and narrative, inviting famous friends and other celebrities that have been connected to her to reference her life within these recreations. Throughout the video, Grande reflects on themes of personal growth, self-love, and empowerment, and cleverly addresses her own love life and the public's fascination with it. Having publicly addressed her love for old rom-coms, she also celebrates the strength and resilience of female protagonists from the rom-coms she references. The video showcases Grande's creativity and artistic vision, as she embraces her independence and confidently moves forward after experiencing heartbreak. Overall, "thank u, next" is a visually captivating and empowering tribute to both iconic movies and Grande's own journey of self-discovery.

Deleuze explores the complex interplay between repetition, generality, and law, challenging traditional philosophical notions. Deleuze emphasizes “repetition and generality are distinct; repetition involves non-exchangeable singularities, while generality allows for exchange or substitution of terms.”(1) For him, repetition is not about replicating identical instances but rather about the emergence of difference within a repeated pattern. He argues that genuine repetition involves the recurrence of non-identical elements or singularities, which he terms "difference in itself." This notion of difference disrupts traditional conceptions of identity and sameness, highlighting the dynamic and unpredictable nature of repetition.

 Each segment of the “thank u, next” music video references iconic romantic comedy movies, and represents a repetition of familiar narratives and tropes. However, rather than simply replicating these stories, Grande infuses them with her own unique perspective and experiences. We see this from the very start, when she recreates the iconic introduction of the character Regina George from “Mean Girls” (0:00:01). While the general idea and tone of the scene remains the same, she replaces Regina with herself, and inserts many references from her own life that were considered scandalous by the media, poking fun at the public’s interest. In another shot, still as Regina, Grande is scrapbooking in the famous Burn Book from “Mean Girls” (0:00:43), but instead of writing nasty secrets like the original movie does, she pays homage to her previous relationships with nothing but love and respect, aligning with the lyrics of each ex while she flips the page from one ex to the next. These reinterpretations of familiar narratives highlight Deleuze's notion of difference within repetition. Despite drawing inspiration from existing cultural tropes, Grande introduces new elements and perspectives, allowing for the emergence of difference and novelty within the repeated patterns. 

Baudrillard examines the dominance of consumption and the signifier in capitalist societies, exploring how “postmodern communication technologies, principally television, are said to flood the world with self-generating, self-mirroring images; and experience” (2). He contrasts simulation with representation, arguing that simulation has replaced representation, challenging conventional notions of reality and power dynamics. Images no longer reflect reality but create their own hyperreal realm, blurring the boundaries between real and simulated experiences. His work offers a critical perspective on the impact of hyperreality, highlighting the complexities of navigating between real and simulated realms. 

In "thank u, next", Grande’s idealization of high school culture and romantic comedy (rom-com) tropes contributes to the construction of a hyperreal world, resonating with Jean Baudrillard's concept of simulation. The video references iconic high school movies like "Mean Girls" and "Bring It On," as well as rom-com classics such as "Legally Blonde" and "13 Going on 30," embodying specific tropes and narratives associated with adolescence and romantic relationships. She blurs the line of reality and simulation consistently. In one instance, Grande pays homage to the movie “Legally Blonde”, where she replaces the main character, Elle, with herself. When she talks to Jennifer Coolidge in a montage referencing the iconic hair salon, who originally plays Paulette in the film, she talks about her real life relationship as Ariana Grande, while Coolidge fully embodies her original character and responds as Paulette (0:03:20). With this exaggerated and hilarious reference to the movie, Grande’s using these classic rom-com scenes to explore her own reality ends up contributing to the construction of a hyperreal realm, where the boundaries between reality and fiction are blurred, and images and narratives take on a heightened, almost surreal quality. Baudrillard argues that in hyperreality, signs and symbols no longer represent anything real but instead simulate reality itself. Grande's idealization of high school culture and rom-com tropes in "thank u, next" contributes to the construction of a hyperreal world, where the boundaries between reality and fiction are blurred, and images and narratives take on a life of their own in the realm of popular culture.

Fredric Jameson explores the impact of postmodernism on social, economic, and cultural changes, challenging the idea of a 'post-industrial' phase and highlighting capitalism's expanded hegemony. He argues that capitalism's power has intensified throughout the years, and examines how changes in capitalism's mode of production relate to new forms of cultural production, identifying postmodernism in literature, music, film, and environments as characterized by surface, pastiche, and paranoia. He discusses pastiche as a key element in postmodernism, representing a neutral mimicry without parody's satirical impulse, reflecting a shift towards stylistic diversity.

Fredric Jameson's analysis of postmodernism within the framework of consumer society underscores the dominance of capitalism in shaping cultural production and consumption. In his essay, he critiques the notion of a distinct 'post-industrial' phase, arguing instead for the expanded hegemony of capitalism. He highlights how changes in the mode of capitalist production influence cultural forms and expressions. The video itself is a product of the entertainment industry, driven by commercial interests and profit motives. It serves as a form of cultural commodity produced and consumed within a capitalist system. The references to iconic romantic comedy movies in the music video can be seen as part of a broader cultural phenomenon where nostalgia is commodified and marketed to consumers. The inclusion of many famous celebrities as the other stars in the video also highlight this obvious tactic of gaining consumer's attention. Fredric Jameson's exploration of postmodernism also offers insights into how Ariana Grande's "thank u, next" music video engages with this cultural phenomenon. Postmodernism, characterized by Jameson as a cultural shift towards surface, pastiche, and a blurring of boundaries between reality and fiction, resonates with various aspects of the music video. Grande's incorporation of references to iconic romantic comedy movies and high school culture embodies the postmodern tendency towards pastiche, where cultural elements are borrowed and recontextualized without necessarily critiquing or subverting them. While she does use them to focus on the story of her own life, the original elements of the rom-com movies aren’t particularly built on. The stylized and exaggerated portrayal of these cultural tropes reflects a focus on surface aesthetics and a blurring of the distinction between original and copied content.

Part 2: "Freedom! '90"

"Freedom! '90" is not just a music video but a statement of artistic intent by George Michael, featuring iconic supermodels (ie. Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford) lip-syncing the song's lyrics without himself into the video. This decision to have the models represent him was a way to signal his desire to break free from the manufactured pop star image that had defined his earlier career. The video is visually captivating, with the models of all different looks exuding confidence and attitude as they strut and pose in an abandoned mansion. Their presence symbolizes not only glamor and beauty but also a sense of power and independence. By placing the focus on these iconic figures rather than himself, George Michael effectively distances himself from his previous image and asserts his autonomy as an artist. Thematically, the video explores concepts of liberation and authenticity. It represents a departure from the glossy, commercialized imagery typically associated with pop music videos of the time. Instead, "Freedom! '90" embraces a more raw and authentic aesthetic, reflecting Michael's personal journey towards self-discovery and creative freedom. 

Through the lens of Deleuze, who emphasizes the idea that repetition involves non-exchangeable singularities and challenges established norms or structures, we can analyze Michael’s music video as a unique singularity amongst music videos themselves. In contrast to typical music videos that portray the artists in a spotlighted fashion and generally shape the narratives around the presence of the singers, “Freedom! 90” chooses to feature supermodels lip-syncing to his song. This departure from the expected repetition of the artist's presence challenges the conventional structure of music videos and disrupts the established norms of representation. Additionally, his decision to step back and allow the models to take center stage can be seen as a form of resistance against the manufactured image and commercial pressures often associated with the music industry. In this video, he intentionally distances himself from his previous image, which is symbolically conveyed through visual elements, like leaking water. Water is often associated with purification and renewal, and its presence in the video suggests a cleansing process—a metaphorical washing away of the old to make room for the new. As the water pours from various sources like the walls and the ceiling (0:03:22), it represents a release from the pressures and expectations of celebrity, allowing George Michael to distance himself from his previous image and embrace a fresh start. By breaking away from the expected repetition of celebrity presence, the video embraces a new form of repetition—one that is non-exchangeable and challenges the norms of representation and identity.

In Baudrillard's framework, Michael’s breaks free of the traditional simulation of artists we typically see from the music industry. Many artists in the music industry are carefully curated and marketed by record labels to fit specific personas or images that appeal to target demographics. These constructed identities don’t reflect the artist's true self or experiences, leading to a simulated version of their identity being presented to the public. The music industry relies heavily on media coverage and public relations strategies to shape public perception of artists and their work. In his early years as a pop star with Wham! and as a solo artist, George Michael was presented to the public as a polished, marketable figure with carefully curated image and persona. This manufactured image, while successful commercially, often overshadowed his true identity and artistic intentions. In later years, George Michael sought to break free from the constraints of his manufactured pop star image and assert his authenticity as an artist. As his lyrics illustrate the process of “breaking free” and deviating from societal expectations, he includes the iconic blazing jacket (0:2:18). The blazing jacket worn by a model in the video serves as a powerful metaphor for shedding the past and breaking free from the constraints of fame. As the jacket ignites and burns, it represents the destruction of the old persona—the glossy, manufactured pop star image that George Michael had become known for. By showcasing the jacket engulfed in flames, the video symbolizes the artist's desire to let go of his past identity and emerge anew.

Jameson warns readers about the “death of the subject”(3), refers to a shift in postmodern culture where traditional notions of individuality and personal identity are destabilized or decentered. This concept suggests that in contemporary society, the individual subject becomes increasingly fragmented and deconstructed, unable to maintain a coherent sense of self amidst the complexities of postmodern life. He argues that various cultural and technological developments, such as the rise of mass media, globalization, and digital communication, contribute to the dissolution of the subject. These forces work to erode the boundaries between individual and collective identity, as well as between public and private spheres. As a result, the subject is no longer able to maintain a stable and unified identity but instead becomes fragmented and dispersed across multiple discourses and social contexts. In George Michael's "Freedom! '90" music video, he subverts the notion of the "death of the subject" by reclaiming agency and autonomy over his own identity and artistic expression. Towards the end of the video, the jukebox and guitar previously featured are blown up. These actions can symbolize a radical departure from the artist's past image and musical style. These acts can be seen as symbolic gestures of rebellion against the commodification of music and the constraints of traditional celebrity culture. The jukebox and guitar represent established symbols of music consumption and rock star imagery. By blowing them up, the video rejects the superficiality and commercialism associated with these symbols, challenging the idea that music and art can be reduced to mere commodities for consumption. Instead, it asserts the importance of authenticity and creative freedom in the face of commercial pressures. It can also signify a declaration of independence and a refusal to conform to expectations imposed by others. Additionally, the destruction of these symbols may represent a desire to start anew and redefine oneself creatively. Blowing up the jukebox and guitar in the music video can be interpreted as a symbolic act of liberation and a statement of artistic autonomy, subverting Jameson’s idea of “death of the subject” and challenging established norms and cultural expectations. 

Questions: - How does Grande's use of references to iconic movies contribute to the construction of a hyperreal realm, as discussed by Baudrillard? What insights does this offer into the dynamics of cultural consumption, representation, and the construction of reality in the digital age? - How does Ariana Grande's "thank u, next" music video embody Jameson’s idea of postmodern tendencies, particularly in the video’s engagement with commercialized nostalgia and use of fame? - How does Deleuze's notion of repetition involving non-exchangeable singularities help us understand the significance of this departure from the expected repetition of celebrity presence? How does it contribute to the exploration of authenticity and artistic autonomy in the video?

Works Cited

Deleuze, Giles, "Introduction: Repetition and Difference" (New York, NY, Columbia University Press: 1994).

Baudrillard, Jean, “Simulacra and Simulations” (New York, NY, Pearson Education Limited: 1992).

Jameson, Fredric, ““Postmodernism and Consumer Society”(New York, NY, Pearson Education Limited: 1992).

[tumblydovereviews]

In Defense of Caillou

Growing up, my family was one of the very few who weren't avid members of the Caillou hate wagon. It was, and still is, one of my dad's favorite shows that I watched as a kid, and he was genuinely surprised when I revealed to him all the hate the show has managed to amass. I watched plenty of Caillou as a kid, and I'm happy to report that I came out perfectly normal, if not a bit energetic for my age.

Yes, Caillou is not a perfect show by any means. With the characters having little-to-no personality outside of existing in this hairless child's kingdom, annoying voices, and the infamous tantrum scenes, it's no wonder why this show has become so hated, and still is to this day. But I don't think I'm being too generous when I say that Caillou has some merit to it that I feel is overlooked by the general public.

Contrary to public belief, Caillou isn't actually a lonely cancer patient or an alopecia victim- he is actually based off a French book series that originally depicted him as a baby rather than a toddler. To make sure kids could still recognize him even with the age increase, it was decided that Caillou would remain bald. In my personal opinion, I think the creators made the right call. Young kids are still learning how to recognize differences, and chances are if Caillou did have hair, the sudden change in appearance would be overwhelming. It may be weird to us older people, but to kids, keeping Caillou as recognizable as possible was a serviceable move.

A lot of people tend to forget that Caillou is a four-year-old, which is surprising considering that it is established in the literal first line of the theme song (I'm just a kid whose four.) Being four, Caillou is destined to have tantrums, moments where he acts bratty and less than a saint. The real issue comes with the lack of emphasis on condemning the behavior and instead focusing on solving rather than learning. Caillou's parents are the original permissive parents, and one could compare them to the overly gentle parents that exist on TikTok. They rarely call out their son when he does act out and instead dismiss his behavior to the side. The 2020s revival series does a much better job at balancing gentle fairness with firmness. When Caillou or Rosie misbehave, they are scolded for it while also steered in the right direction in an imaginative way, arguably more creative than Boris or Doris' tactics in the original show ever amounted up to being.

Caillou has surprisingly great representation for a preschool show in the 90s, especially in terms of disability and other medical conditions. The show features episodes spotlighting deafness, Down syndrome, autism, wheelchair usage, and even Type 1 diabetes. The episodes in particular talk mainly about how the chronically ill/disabled character is still able to function perfectly normally, even with the condition they have. As a diabetic myself, the episode Emma's Extra Snacks always stood out to be, even before I was officially diagnosed. Diabetes representation and the stigma surrounding it is an issue that not many pieces of media discuss, and I'm happy that Caillou has the courage to tackle a subject that can and has been botched so easily.

And let's not forget the puppet segments, arguably the best part of Caillou. These puppet segments focused on three of Caillou's furry companions: Gilbert the cat, Rexy the T-Rex, and Teddy the teddy bear as they go on miscellaneous adventures around Caillou's house. My personal favorite of the trio was Gilbert and his 'odes.' The segments, while on the more basic side, provide a good enough distraction from Caillou's escapades, even if only for five minutes, before we were forced to go back to the bald boy's basic ballads.

While writing this post, I came up a post online asking if people would rather have their kids watch Caillou or Skidibl Toilet. If faced with a decision like this in real life, I'd turn on Caillou in an instant. Caillou has done a lot of bad, but deep down, we can't forget that the show's main intention, no matter how botched it ended up turning out, was to teach kids about life. I would much rather live in a world with mildly annoying preschool shows than brain rot which serves no purpose but to gradually disintegrate a person's cognitive functions.

He's just a kid who's four, and each day he grows some more, so I think that we need to start growing on him, just a smidge more.

[bluegekk0]

do you have any advice on designing hollow knight esque characters? i've been trying but i'm struggling a bit,,,,

-bug anon

admittedly i'm probably not the best person to ask this since my designs deviate quite a lot from the game's artstyle, and that's a major component of making a hk-like character - but the main thing about the game's designs is that they're all very simple in nature

i suppose there are some things that are still there in my designs. for example, the simple face designs. regardless of whether you're in the "all characters wear masks" or "only some of them wear masks" camp, the thing that connects the characters is that their face designs are very simple. usually white (or any flat color) with dark eyes and very limited markings. so if you want your character to look hk-esque, this is probably the first thing to do to draw that resemblance. they also have very simple bodies, either one color or with segmenting, though of course that all depends on your inspiration for the design

that's another thing to keep in mind. while i'm very much in the "they're not actually meant to be insects, they're just inspired by bug species" camp, particularly when it comes to my own designs, that is not the most common mindset, and so using real life bugs as inspiration is a very good starting point. if you're willing to go further, then using other similar animals could also work. for example, instead of an earthworm, perhaps you could look at something like a mole lizard? convergent evolution is a very neat concept, and i could see there being other similar cases if you look hard enough. or you can just, make up a design that combines traits of different animals. again, very few of the hk characters resemble their inspiration nearly 1:1, most of them are just weird lil guys that have some bug traits. some of them don't resemble any animal (like, what even is brumm supposed to be? i think he's just a guy). so depending on how close to the game's style you want your character to be, you can go either way

i guess the best advice i can give is: if you really want to have a resemblance to the game, then simplify things. stubby hands and feet, very little details, simple color palettes. that sort of thing. keeping the palette to washed out, colder colors also helps, since that's a very common color in the game. oh, and maybe look at the spirits in the spirits' glade for inspiration. iirc those were designed by people outside of team cherry so i'd say they're a good reference point for what's considered hk-esque

i can't think of anything else since, again, my designs for the characters are quite separated from the originals, and very non-bug like for many of them

[blowflyfag]

the Wrestler: Volume 25, 2009

Q & A 

MISSY HYATTT

(Part 2)

“If I didn’t need money, I’d work in this business for free”

WHO WAS WRESTLING’S original diva? There are credible arguments to be made for Miss Elizabeth, Baby Doll, Sunshine, Tammy Sytch, Sable or any number of pioneering women. But, there is one lady in particular who would make any short list: Missy Hyatt.

What has been the key to Hyatt’s success? Her uncanny ability to reinvent herself. Hyatt started out as the self-centered, pampered brat that everyone loved to hate, with every woman wanting to rub her face in the mud and every man wanting to turn her across his knee for a good spanking. She evoked strong emotions during her stints in World Class Championship Wrestling and the Universal Wrestling Federation in the mid-1980s, and often outshined her male counterparts, including “Hollywood” John Tatum and “Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert.

Yet  Vince MCMahon wanted her to give up her naughty ways and join WWF as an affluent hist of the “Missy Manor” interview segment. It turned out that “Missy’‘s Manor” was no “Piper’s Pit,” and the WWF and Hyatt parted ways in a matter of weeks. 

So what’s a girl to do? Hyatt returned to Jim Crockett Promotions, where television producer Dusty Rhodes made her backstage interviewer and an occasional color commentator. She was one of the hottest stars of WCW during the early years of Ted Turner’s ownership, managingThe Steiner Brothers and The Nasty Boys, hosting a highly successful 900-line, and appearing on countless pieces of merchandise. Hyatt ended up suing WCW for what she considered her rightful share of the proceeds and all of it landed in court, where she also filed a sexual harassment claim. 

With nowhere left to go, Hyatt accepted Paul Heyman’s offer to appear in ECW, where she flourished as a sultry sex siren, whose conniving ways seemed to be a natural extension of the spoiled Southern Belle she had portrayed a decade earlier. 

Her out-of-the-ring exploits have embroiled her in controversy. In her 2001 tell-all autobiography, Miss Hyatt: First Lady of Wrestling, she detailed her relationships with John Tatum, Eddie Gilbert, Road Warrior Hawk, Jake Roverts, and Wonder Years star Jason Hervey, among others. Today, Hyatt lives in New York City with her two Jack Russell terriers, Milo and Jake. For fans who want to keep Missy Hyatt under minute-by-minute surveillance, her pay website–missyhyatt247.com–offers a webcam that constantly streams video from her apartment. Hyatt’s house website is missyhyatt.net.

“Missy has revealed so many intimate details about her life in her autobiography and on her websites that I felt as if I already knew her,” said Senior Writer Harry Burkett, who spoke with the self-proclaimed “First Lady Of Wrestling” for 90 minutes. “Her real personality is quite different from the ‘vamp’ persona she tries to project. She has a very sweet ‘girl next door’ quality.”

Q: Despite the fact that you began your career 23 years ago, you’ve never stayed very far from the wrestling business. You still make appearances on the indy circuit. What are you up to these days?

A: I still have my websites, missyhyatt.net and missyhyatt247.com, and, yes, I still work the independents and do autograph sessions. I'm really proud of the work I've done with Women Superstars Uncensored over the past year or so. I do color commentary for WSU DVDs and I also host some “Missy’s Manor” interview segments. 

Q: What is your typical day like? 

A: I work with Jack Russell terriers for an organization called Russell Rescue, not to be confused with Dawn Marie’s Wrestlers Rescue [laughs]. She takes in unwanted and abused wrestlers, and I take in unwanted or abused Jack Russells, so I'm sort of a foster mom. I recently took in a dog named Bruno, who had heartworm, and I kept him until that problem was cleared up and he could go to another family. 

I do behavioral assessments on the dogs when they come to my home. Do they go after someone who’s knocking on the door? Is there anything that seems to upset them? So I document all of that behavioral stuff on the paperwork. I also do home checks to make sure that prospective homes have the proper fencing, things like that. Jack Russells are very smart, but they also have so much energy that some people can’t keep up with them. 

[It was then-boyfriend John Tatum who got Missy Hyatt into the wrestling business back in the mid-’80s. Tatum felt he needed a beautiful blonde valet–and the rest is wrestling history.]

Q: The question is, are you able to keep up with them? 

A: My dogs end up adopting my personality, which means they become lazy and sleep in late. Dory Funk Jr. said that he grew up with a bunch of Russells, which are really handy if you have a working ranch with horses and stables. 

Q: That sounds like enough to keep you busy. DO you have time to watch the current wrestling product, such as WWE and TNA?

A: Yes, there’s a lot that I like about WWE and TNA. When I watch Raw or Smackdown, I just think how I'd like to work a big crowd like that. Back in the NWA and WCW in the late-’80s and early-’90s, we did pay-per-views every couple of months and drew decent crowds, but it was nothing compared to what WWE draws on a nearly nightly basis. I just think, Wow. I’d love to see myself on that big TItanTron. 

I have a dream, and it sounds really corny, but I've always wanted to work one WrestleMania dressed as The Gobbledy Gooker. I’d want Kane to give me a tombstone piledriver and then rip off my turkey costume. Of course, I'd still have the beak and big feet, wearing a fur-kinki, and I'd cluck around the ring and get back inside my egg. Some people dream about dollars or fame, but I've had a much simpler aspiration: to be The Gobbledygooker at WrestleMania!

Q: Maybe you weren’t The Gobbledygooker, but you certainly came a long way. How did you break into the wrestling business?

A: I became involved through my boyfriend: John Tatum. He had been wrestling in Georgia and then went to work for the Crocketts for a while. He met Tully Blanchard and Baby Doll while he was there, and that’s when John decided he had to get him a blonde girl who looked like Baby Doll. So, when he went to Texas, he took me along. [World Class referee] David Manning convinced me that I would make a good valet, and David and another referee, Rick Hazzard helped me with that.

Q: What were you doing when John met you? A: I was working as a cocktail waitress at a bar, the Hyatt Hotel–as a matter of fact–in downtown Atlanta. I also worked at the pool bar during the summer there. 

Q: Where did you grow up?

A: Tallahassee, Florida.

Q: Had John been in the wrestling business very long when you met him?

A: No, no. He was from Pensacola, Florida, and he’d been in the business for only about six months, if that. He worked in Georgia and then the Caroolinas for about 10 months. Then we went to Texas in ‘85.

[Although Missy Hyatt and Sunshine were in-ring rivals in World Class Championship Wrestling (above), they were good friends outside the ring (right). Hyatt says Sunshine was a patient mentor during her early days. 

“When I first started working, I was really nervous and scared. The first big thing I did was a catfight with Sunshine where we pulled hair and rolled around the thing, and I couldn't help laughing. When we got in the back, Sunshine yelled at me, “You can't laugh out there!”]

Q: Had John always been a wrestling fan, or did he fall into it some other way?

A: John and Michael Hayes are cousins. Michael is from Pensacola, too. As for me, I fell in love with wrestling when I was 17. I was over at my parents’ house, and I was upstairs with my dad, who was flipping channels. I saw Michael Hayes and Buddy Roberts putting a baby bonnet on Terry Gordy’s head and a pacifier in his mouth, and they were all running around the ring. It was Georgia Championship Wrestling. I was amazed by what I was watching. What was this? I thought it was the coolest thing. I knew I didn't want to wrestle, but it seemed like a real hoot and something I wanted to do. 

Q: Wow, that must have been when The Freebirds were feuding amongst each other. What was the first challenge you had to face as a valet in Texas?

A: Trying to figure out what my name would be! My last name is “Hiatt” with an “i,” so I changed it to “Hyatt” with a “y.” Also, my first name is Melissa, but my parents called me “Missy” and John caught on to that. That’s how I became “Missy Hyatt.”

When I first started working, I was really nervous and scared. The first big thing I did was a catfight with Sunshine where we pulled hair and rolled around the ring, and I couldn't help laughing. When we got in the back, Sunshine yelled at me, “You can't laugh out there!” But I was having so much fun. During my career, I've been paid a lot of money for what I love to do. If I didn't need money, I'd work in this business for free. 

Q: I suppose World Class was ahead of its time as far as divas are concerned.

A: Let me tell you, we sure were! Looking back on it, I'm surprised that I got paid the same as the guys. They didn't just look at me as a female, but someone who helped draw people to the shows. My pay depended on where I was on the card and how many people were there. So I was paid extremely well, even though I was a woman. I think of all the people who helped me–Fritz Von Erich, David Manning, Bronco Lubich–and realize it was a great time. If Texas had been the only place where I had worked, and John and I had gone back to Florida right afterward, i’d still consider it the highlight of my life. 

[Was it Hyatt and Hot Stuff International or vice versa? Either way, Hyatt and Eddie Gilbert made an effective and entertaining team in the Ultimate Wrestling Federation.]

Q: Did it occur to you that women could add a whole new dimension to wrestling?

A: Sex and violence sell in movies and on TV, so why not wrestling? Even ultimate fighting has the octagon babes and boxing has the ring card girls in their little outfits.

Q: Your catfights with Sunshine must have gotten a huge response, considering the audience was definitely male-dominated at the time.

A: Because we did the same buildings each week, we had to come up with something new each week. For over a year, I'd do bad stuff to her on TV and then she’d beat my fanny all week at the house shows. I’d lie, or come up with a new way to insult her, and she’d be ready to tear into me again. It was so easy–and so fun to get a reaction. We nearly started a riot in Abilene, Texas.

Q: What was the road schedule like for World Class?

A: We did TV tapings every Friday night in Dallas and then we’d run a show on Monday night in Fort Worth. Every three weeks, we’d go to the outskirts, such as Lubbock, Amarillo, and El Paso. For the most part, though, most of the shows were in smaller towns within a couple hours of Dallas-Fort Worth. Football was really big in Texas, so there were plenty of large high school stadiums where we drew a lot of people–usually within 60 miles of Dallas.

Wrestlers and divas are so much like movie stars now because there’s so much glamor. The outfits are so fancy and everybody’s so polished. That’s a big difference between now and the territorial days. Even WCW was much glitzier toward the end of my time there.

Q: Was Sunshine helpful when you first went to World Class?

A: She was the best. She taught me everything. And, trust me, I was a handful. You may remember that World Class had a two-hour show on Christian network for a while. 

Q: Yes, the Christian Broadcasting Network.

A: That’s  right. [World Classbooker] Ken Mantell gave me a line to use against Sunshine. It went something like, “Sunshine’s butt is so big that when she has to haul ass, she’s got to make 10 trips.” I said it verbatim. When I got backstage, poor Ken looked like he was having a heart attack, red in the face with his blood pressure going up. He told me that I shouldn't have said the word “ass.” I said, “Yeah, but you told me to say that.” I was so young at the time. I was surprised that CBN didn’t even bleep it out. 

[“Sex and violence sell in movies and on TV, so why not wrestling? Even ultimate fighting has the octagon babes and boxing has the ring card girls in their little outfits.”]

Q: Well, the word “ass” was used in the Bible.

A: That’s true. I felt sorry for Ken because he had to deal with these girls all of a sudden. But Sunshine and I were good friends. I’d have friends over at my apartment, and Sunshine would have to sneak through a window. Back in the kayfabe days, I couldn’t party with the babyfaces, you know.

Q: Was there anybody else you looked up to? Or were you and Sunshine the only women around at that time?

A: There was Baby Doll with the Crocketts, and Miss Elizabeth had just started in the WWF. Here’s one funny story: George Scott, who worked for Vince McMahon, had heard about Baby Doll at about the same time I sent pictures to the WWF. He contacted World Class, thinking I was Baby Doll. That’s why David Manning and Fritz Von Erich wanted to keep John and me there. I’m glad John and I had that run in World Class, because I think we were great working together. 

[While working in the UWF, Hyatt often interacted with a young Jim Ross. According to Missy, nobody can match Good Ol’ J.R. on the microphone.]

Q: I thought so, too. How did you meet Eddie Gilbert?

A: I met him when we went to the UWF.

Q: When you first met him, did you think you’d ever marry the guy?

A: No! It was another case of life imitating art. That time was wild. We did the Hot Stuff & Hyatt International angle, and Ken Mantell was there … it was such a blur because we were traveling so much. I enjoyed that time very much. 

Q: You mentioned that life imitates art. As we know, you left John and eventually married Eddie. Leading into that, John and Eddie were vying for your affections on UWF TV, with Eddie outsmarting John each week. The vignettes from that time were very funny. I remember a limousine pulling up to take you and John to lunch, and somehow Eddie elbowed his way into the limo so he could sit beside you. It was really funny stuff. 

A: I remember that! Jim Ross was interviewing John, who was waiting for me to arrive in the limo. Eddie came out, noticed there was a TV in the limo, and squeezed himself into the car between John and me. I think we left Jim Rossjust standing there. At that time, Eddie and I liked each other, so I guess it was happening and I didnt realize it. 

[Life  imitates art. To John Tatum’s chagrin, a UWF storyline romance between Hyatt and Gilbert evolved into an off-screen attraction and eventually marriage.]

Q: Wrestling is weird in that way, as far as life imitating art. It seems that every man and woman that are put together in a storyline end up as a couple in real life. 

A: It may be terrible to mention this, but look at what happened to Chris and Nancy Benoit. There was also Steve Austin and Jeannie Clarke, and Steve and Debra McMichael.

Q: So you would say that love triangle among you, John, and Eddie mirrored reality?

A: On TV, Eddie and I always said it was “strictly business.” But there was a lot of playing around and joking. Once when we were at the hotel in Tulsa, John had left with Jack [Victory], and Eddie got really drunk. Eddie came in from the pool, down the hallway, and passed out in my hotel room. I had to get Carl Fergie to get him out of there. The next day, I teased him all day. Something just sparked, I guess.

Q: You certainly demonstrated a sexual tension on TV. I remember that Eddie would refer to your group as “Hot Stuff & Hyatt International,” but you would always refer to it as “Hyatt & Hot Stuff International.”

A: Right. Bruce Prochard worked out of the Houston office at the time, and he had blue satin jackets made. Mine said “Hyatt & Hot Stuff” and Eddie’s said “Hot Stuff & Hyatt.” I don’t know what happened to that jacket, but I wish I still had it. It would bring back good memories.

Q: Eddie was often credited for having a great wrestling mind. Did you learn things from him that you didn’t learn from John or anyone else?

A: I learned more about wrestling as a business, from how it works to how to handle money. I learned what worked with a wrestling crowd and what did not. Eddie loved wrestling since he was a boy. His mom showed me how he would make up characters, book matches, lay out TV shows, and create whole storlines in his black-and-white composition books. He was really elaborate. He was the Anges Dixon of wrestling.

Q: No wonder the CWF seemed like All my Children! Seriously, though, I know Eddie wrote for some fanzines and magazines in the late-1970s.

A: And he took pictures! He showed me a tape of a match where he and Jim Cornette were at ringside taking pictures.

Q: Cornette, Paul Heyman, and even Tammy Stych got their start by taking pictures and sending them to our magazines. You never took pictures for us, but you sure posed for a lot. Tell me, how was the UWF different from World Class?

A: The traveling. I think they would sit there with a map of the United States and then throw darts to see how far they could make us drive. We’d be in Tulsa one night, and then have to drive to New Orleans, and then drive to Houston, and then to Memphi. It never made sense. We’d leave at 2:00 in the afternoon and not get back until 4:00 in the morning.

[“You could see how hot and intense the crowd was on UWF TV shows. It was like a fever. The craziness was contagious. To me, it was more exciting in those days.”

Q: I think the most common complaint I've heard about the UWF, or the Mid-South promotion that preceded it, was that it was  really big territory.

A: That’s for sure. But you also made a lot of friendships when you’re traveling together so much. I remember we’d all be in a can with One Man Gang driving–just a lot of camaraderie because we were working together every night. We were more like a family. 

Q: At the time, the WWF was expanding nation-wide. Frit Von Erich and Bill Watts certainly entertained the thought of challenging Vince McMahon. Did World Class or the UWF have a chance?

A: If either World Class or the UWF had gotten a better foothold on cable, maybe so. The UWF was the hottest wrestling show on TV at the time, in terms of pure action. THe show had enormous talent, in addition to Jim Ross as the announcer. And nobody can compare to Jim Ross as an announcer before or since. When we would tape shows in Tulsa, everything would break down at the end of the episode, so fans always wanted more. We didn’t give away main events in those days. 

Q: That’s what I hated about the UWF! Hacksaw Duggan wouldn’t tear into One Man Gang until one minute before the show went off the air. I would be screaming at the TV!

A: Yes, Jim Ross would be yelling, “We’ve got to go!” The whole idea was to get people to buy tickets. We didn’t have pay-per-view yet, so the TV show was like an ad to sell tickets to the arena. We would do the TV tapings in Tulsa every two weeks. We never had to give away tickets for free because the arena was always packed. You could see how hot and intense the crowd was on  UWF TV shows. It was like a fever. The craziness was contagious. To me, it was more exciting in those days. 

Q: I suppose that’s the price you pay when wrestling goes mainstream. Nowadays, you get more of a mainstream crowd, the same people who would come out to see the Harlem Globetrotters if they came to town. 

The UWF must have had wide syndications back then, because I remember the UWF running its TV show in my home state of Maryland. That was a long way from Tulsa. 

A: The UWF had really good syndication, but World Class was even more impressive. If I remember correctly, World Class had 223 stations–including stations in the Middle East–while the WWF had only 30 stations here in the United States.

Q: World Class even tried to run house shows in Massachusetts. 

A: As well as Georgia and California while it was expanding toward the end. You knew one of these companies was going to become a true national company, but you didn't know which one would get there first. 

Q: Who contacted you about going to the WWF?

A: Eddie and I just mailed in some pictures, and Vince called.

Q: Did he call for both of you?

A: Yes. It was a complicated time. There were rumors that Crockett was going to buy the UWF. We didn’t know whether Crockett was going to swallow up the UWF or keep it separate. Some said he would honor the UWF contracts and others said he wouldn't. Eddie sent out stuff to the WWF just as back-up. But I wanted to go to the WWF because I wanted to be a big star and get me a doll. It still hasn’t happened. 

[After a short stint with the WWF and some indy appearances, Hyatt made a move to WCW, where she made her name as a ring announcer (left), color commentator (above), and valet.]

Q: Did Eddie ever wrestle for the WWF in the late-’80s?

A: He had first gone to the WWF in ‘81, but he didn’t go in the late-’80s. He was helping Ken Mantell book for the UWF. When the buyout came, Crockett wanted Eddie to do all the booking for the UWF and Ken left. Eddie told Vince that he’d rather book for the UWF than just wrestle for the WWF. I was very pigheaded, though, and I wanted to go to the WWF and become a superstar. 

Q: I remember “Miss Manor.”

A: Oh, gosh. 

[deusexlachina]

Wannabe Warden Part 1: Idolize the worst woman in Thedas because she's unkillable

In which I set the most dubious transition goals anyone in Thedas has ever had, and am repeatedly TPKed in the tutorial for my hubris.

Before I even touch Dragon Age 2, I drown it in mods, like a kid who soaks most rice dishes in soy sauce. Or a fully grown adult who still soaks most of her rice dishes in soy sauce. In the interests of getting right into things, I'll bring these up gradually rather than all at once.

The real start of the game is the character creator. I'm tempted to make yet another horrible goth girl, but I stop myself. This is a character creator. I can be whoever I want (provided whoever I want to be is an abled, straight-haired, thin human noble with a gender-role-appropriate voice who can and will solve most problems with violence).

Following my better instincts, I go for a fresh look I make up on the spot instead of edgy goth stuff. This isn't a goth girl. This is an ordinary, upstanding citizen of Ferelden. Okay I did give her white hair and orange eyes and a mod that gives Aveline her hair in the Trespasser epilogue slides that I put into the character creator, BUT. At least she is not goth. That took incredible restraint. While I'm copying Aveline's hair, I decide I might as well copy her name as well.

This Hawke really looked up to Aveline, because she bravely fought by their side against the darkspawn at Ostagar, which makes her sort of like a Grey Warden. "Aveline is transition goals," I think to myself while planning this out, a statement that could only possibly be uttered in-character. Aveline probably died horribly like most of the army, but I will carry her flame. As I run away from the darkspawn.

Speaking of running away from the darkspawn, let me introduce a second mod: Nightmare Ultra difficulty, for people arrogant enough to think that Nightmare isn't enough of a challenge. It makes enemies tougher and more dangerous, which is surely welcome, because a mid-level understanding of the mechanics makes Dragon Age 2 a cakewalk.

Anyway, here's how the very first fight goes:

The Dragon Age 2 UI is a little different from Origins, so let me explain a few features. The minimap on the top right shows several red circles, each of which are darkspawn, any two of which are more than a match for me. Towards the bottom left, you'll see two red squares. Those are my brother and sister, who are collapsed and bleeding out on the ground. The dog symbol on the bottom middle is my dog, which is treated in this game as a summon. That grey segment is its cooldown, because the dog keeps getting beaten too badly to keep fighting.

I run for my life from one end of this area to the other, inches away from slavering darkspawn. My mom is there, too, but she's content to stand back and let her children take the heat. Which is just as well, because if she did fight she'd just be another red square.

After several minutes of this gruelling fight, which to reiterate is the very first fight in the game, it's time to move on. To another gruelling fight. Thankfully, the first one lets Aveline level up and grab Mighty Blow, a powerful attack that knocks enemies down in a (very very small) AOE. I switch to my greatsword and smack the darkspawn to the ground, in a catharsis that lasts about two minutes before the next fight. And then I see a dreadful sight.

AVELINE.

FUCK. SHE IS STILL ALIVE AND SHE'S RIGHT HERE.

Oh, also, there's a small army of darkspawn to massacre my family again. But that's just par for the course at this point.

There are far more darkspawn than my party can take on alone, but now we get to see why I idolize Other Aveline so much: When she's protecting her husband, she is invincible.

So...she won't mind if she handles most of the darkspawn for me, right? I mean, we'd die horribly. But she can take hits forever. Thanks, Other Aveline!

The rest of my family avoided my orange eyes and white hair - no, no, that's all you, Aveline. Unfortunately, their hair is a lot less cool because they're based on the presets you started character creation with and I forgot I was on the preset with a bob. Sorry Bethany. There was a mod that gives her a really edgy death-metal look with a shaved head, but that's a full morph, so it makes her the token white girl in the Hawke family. Not that I know that from experience and had to reset the game. As a consolation prize for her bad hair, I let her be slightly rounder and a lot better at hiding that she's a fucking wizard like she says she's doing. (Like Dalish in DAI, she's wielding a "bow"). This helps her look more like a person and less like Generic NPC #32, but honestly I'm still butthurt about no Dethany.

To help me pretend that Dragon Age 2 has replay value, I've modded every single member of the party. Well. Everyone who makes it to Kirkwall. Sorry Carver.

An ogre kills Carver in a cutscene, and then kills the rest of us in the actual gameplay. Actually, it's not so much the ogre, who is designed to be kited - unlike the numerous other darkspawn I've been kiting so far. It's his buddies, the little guys. There's a lot of them, and more than three of them at once is a death sentence. You know the intro, where Hawke can mow down darkspawn by the dozen because Varric's exaggerating? That's what the base game is like compared to this. I die again and again, in what the framing device would suggest represents Varric telling lots of versions in which Hawke could've died while Cassandra represses the urge to rip this dwarf's head off his little hairy body.

I look for a guide, and the guides all reassure me that this fight is easy and does not require any special build. High-fiving drowning woman.jpeg. I am forced to come up with my own strategy for this fight, which isn't even the end of the prologue. I keep up the Hawke tradition of running for my miserable life from the darkspawn horde. It turns out that if you immediately book it from the ogre, only the initial enemies will follow you - he won't get reinforcements until the fight's underway and you're on the usual platform. This makes a much more manageable fight of one ogre and two minions, which I beat with no trouble at all.

Mom yells at Carver to wake up, which makes sense because he recovered the last dozen or so times he was pounded into the dirt. Tragically, this time he's dead for real. The darkspawn have taken not only my home and my pride, but my brother. I must have vengeance!

At the sight of this heartwrenching cutscene, I exult in triumph and am then immediately killed, because this cutscene leads straight into another darkspawn encounter that's even bigger and nastier. I have to do the whole thing over again.

On a subsequent try, I find a very small window where - if you pause right as the ogre dies - you're out of combat but the cutscene hasn't started yet. You can save there. You're not meant to, because the devs didn't anticipate this part being at all difficult, because it is the prologue. It saves me a lot of stress, and eventually I...nearly die again. But Flemeth swoops in to save me! She's too late to save Carver, though. Worse, Other Aveline's husband is dying of the taint, a disease Flemeth says can only be cured by becoming a Grey Warden.

HELL YES IS THIS MILF WITH THE WARDENS??

Regrettably, she is not with the Wardens and in any case doesn't have archdemon blood. I will have to wait to seek my vengeance on the darkspawn. Worse, there's no available cure, so we must immediately euthanize Other Aveline's husband. It's a cultural norm in Ferelden that anything worse than a tummyache that doesn't immediately kill you can only be solved with euthanasia.

Flemeth is intrigued by me because I somehow felled an ogre. How did a humble babytrans with horrible transition goals and worse stats manage such a feat? Was it fate, or chance?

I'm wondering that too, lady.