#V. WE ARE NOT THE ONLY UNIVERSE OUT THERE ( UNDETERMINED )

[short-wooloo]

Okay, one complaint I keep seeing about ahsoka (and to an extent the rest of disney SW) that I disagree with is this claim of "lightsabers don't kill anyone anymore"

Or "only Qui-Gon dies from a lightsaber"

Specifically referring to being stabbed by a lightsaber

And let's just examine this shall we?

First, all of the persons who survived a lightsaber stab were stabbed in the stomach/lower abdomen

That's a survivable injury irl

Here's some fiction 101 for ya: when you want to seriously injure a character, like near death injure, but don't want to actually kill them, you go for the lower abdomen

(for example: Weiss, Blake, and Hazel in RWBY)

Actually, a lightsaber stab to the lower abdomen might be more survivable, since lightsabers cauterize wounds

Now, let's take a look at our stab survivors specifically, we have Reva, the Grand Inquisitor, Sabine, and kylo ren

That's 4 characters, hardly "no one can die of a lightsaber anymore"

But why did they survive?

Well, out of universe the explanation is these are major characters, they can't die because that's the narrative

And for these 4 characters who survive, there's numerous minor/background/secondary characters who die from lightsaber stabbing

But let's examine the in universe reasons they survived shall we?

The Grand Inquisitor and Reva are dark siders, it is well established by now that through rage dark siders can cling to life even through worse injuries

But we can also assume from the "text" that Reva and the GI received medical attention rather quickly, the fact that Vader had the GI with him, alive and well, implies he personally intervened to save his life

And Reva was left alone in the Hidden Path base, which was established in Part IV to have a medical facility, she could have easily used it to self administer care

(And regarding her surviving Anakin's mass shooting, well rage keeping her alive still applies, as does medical supplies, but also it's possible that Anakin didn't take the time to make sure all the kids he killed were dead)

More importantly, Kenobi does a tremendous amount of legwork to establish that lightsaber stabbing to the lower abdomen is survivable

It starts by stabbing the Grand Inquisitor, a character who shows up later in the timeline (which everyone ignored for baseless stupid clone/zombie theories)

And when Reva is stabbed at the end of part V, the episode had already established in flashbacks that she had survived this injury before

Now let's cover kyle

He didn't actually survive

Because Rey healed him

Was it stupid that she did that? Yes, but not because it's impossible, it was stupid because why would she do this

And then we have sabine (rip to Rebels sabine, you weren't my favorite, but you weren't unbearable)

This one actually relates to why Qui-Gon couldn't survive

Sabine got medical attention soon after stabbing, Qui-Gon did not

Rewatch Phantom Menace, take note of what happens after Qui-Gon is stabbed

1. Obi-Wan and maul glare at each other through a force field for an undetermined amount of time

2. Obi-Wan and Maul duel for a few minutes

3. Obi-Wan spends an undetermined amount of time hanging over a bottomless pit

4. Obi-Wan defeats Maul

5. Qui-Gon has some last words with Obi-Wan

6. Qui-Gon dies

Maybe if he had received medical attention immediately he would have survived

And ultimately, the reason Qui-Gon dies is the same reason lightsabers are more fatal to minor characters

The narrative, Qui-Gon needs to be gone so Obi-Wan will be the one who trains Anakin, and thus he dies

[ashesincaptivity]

VERSES TAG DUMP -----    FINALLY  FINISHED  !!!!!!!

V. GENIUS  BILLIONAIRE  PLAYBOY  PHILANTHROPIST ( CANON )

ARC. * LIVING THE KINDA CRAZY LIFE ( PRE IRON MAN )

ARC. * I SHOULDN’T BE ALIVE UNLESS IT WAS FOR A REASON ( IRON MAN )

ARC. * I AM IRON MAN ( POST IRON MAN )

ARC. * FROM THE ASHES OF CAPTIVITY ( IRON MAN 2 )

ARC. * ITS ABOUT LEGACY ( POST IRON MAN 2 ) 

ARC. * SUPER SECRET BOY BAND ( THE AVENGERS )

ARC. * NOTHINGS BEEN THE SAME SINCE NEW YORK ( POST AVENGERS )

ARC. * MY NAME IS TONY STARK AND I’M NOT AFRAID OF YOU ( IRON MAN 3 )

ARC. * ONE THING YOU CAN’T TAKE AWAY  I AM IRON MAN ( POST IRON MAN 3 )

ARC. * THERES ONLY ONE PATH TO PEACE ( AGE OF ULTRON ) 

ARC. * REBUILDING THE TEAM ( POST AGE OF ULTRON )

ARC. * YOU JUST STARTED A WAR ( CIVIL WAR )

ARC. * WHEN THE DUST SETTLES   WHAT IS LEFT OF US ? ( POST CIVIL WAR )

ARC. * DEFINITELY DON’T DO ANYTHING I WOULDN’T DO (  SPIDER MAN / HOMECOMING )

ARC. * THE ROAD TO TOMORROW ( POST SPIDER MAN HOMECOMING )

ARC. * THE WAR TO END ALL WARS ( INFINITY WAR )

ARC. * CURSED WITH KNOWLEDGE ( POST INFINITY WAR )

ARC. * NEW  UNKNOWN  PROJECT ( UNDETERMINED )

V. WE ARE NOT THE ONLY UNIVERSE OUT THERE ( UNDETERMINED ) 

[scbines]

WORD okay what up i’m ally, i’m twenty1, i use she/her pronouns, my timezone is est & small disclaimer: i don’t know what the fuck i’m doing, okay!! just keep that in mind when you .. go to read this complete shit storm okay i’m Trying.. anywhen! i may or may not have uhhh copied & pasted the majority of this from the last time i played her but.. that’s neither her nor there, tbh! if u wanna plot, feel free to hmu on discord at [mournful bagpipe music]#2581 or yk use the lil chat thing on tumblr if u aint got discord bhvfjn. MOVING ON..

cw: alcohol, neglect, sex ( & i think that’s it, folks! )

sab’s pinterest: here!

( sofia carson, cisfemale ) did you hear how SABINE VALDEZ is applying to columbia university as a PHILOSOPHY major ?! the TWENTY-ONE year old is living in the WATT HALL. i heard that they got in because they are +MAGNETIC and +INTREPID, but honestly i think SHE can be -FLIGHTY and -VOLATILE. they’re a real CATACLYSM. oh well, only time will tell if the JUNIOR will make it til the end.

imma just dive right in cos idk how else to go about it bgvjn

sabine grew up w/ a single mom in Detroit & they were basically skating the line between lower class and poverty, meaning they had like a proper house, but they were definitely behind on mortgage always and living paycheck to paycheck :// like when they went grocery shopping & sab would put anything but the basics in the cart her mom would look at her like ‘that’s a joke, right?’ and never could afford like birthday/christmas presents or cake or anything rip ( honestly not that sab’s mom gave enough a shit to even notice smh ) ! so everything was always a little .. hectic ig ? her mom couldnt ever relax unless she was blackout drunk so uhh that’s p much that on that sighs

even worse?? when sab was about eleven her mom got injured at work ( dont ask me How cos i have? no idea hibgfnjd i’ll flesh it out at some point.. maybe .. probably not.. ) so she and sab lived on disability checks and whatever small money sab could make helping her neighbors with like yard work/babysitting/shit like that until she was old enough to get a real job smh meaning she’s been working as long as she can remember god im exhausted just typing it

this basically left sab to raise herself, which .. most likely left her better off than if her mom paid her more attention tbh? cos her mom is selfish and doesnt care about anything but the next drink & the next man she’ll be inviting home smh !! the whole thing w/ her mom is that she Never Wanted kids but it wasn’t an option to abort or give sab up for adoption so she was Stuck raising a kid she never wanted .. truly .. rip ..

that said, sab’s mom was .. promiscuous to say the least .. all thru sab’s childhood there were countless nameless men in and out of their lives ranging from a day to a few weeks at most SIGHS anyways this of course led to sab having a seriously warped idea of what a healthy relationship is HELLO hvicnjm it’s super flawed to the point where she thinks the height of healthy relationship goals is to be exclusive for more than a few weeks smfh its wild tbh .. romance? dont know her! love? WHOMST? to sabine, there’s no point in bothering to rely or care for someone else because you’ll just end up disappointed so she ? keeps her distance for the most part.. relying Solely on herself cos thats the only person who wont let her down ( while also suffering from deeply rooted self-hatred? wow .. legends only .. )

anyways !! she Hated detroit like nobody’s business and always wanted nothing more than to Get Away from the toxicity of her home life and the suffocation of being the caregiver for a woman who will hardly get out of her bed gtg !!! so this led to her putting all her focus into after school jobs and making sure she was the top of her class At All Times like .. shes always been super determined and goal oriented but to a fault if that makes sense. she will work her ass off when given reason to, but once she’s accomplished that goal, she feels absolutely aimless sighs

bitch had .. like 3 jobs in hs and applied to a dozen schools, all of them at least 100 miles from detroit like Word ! she applied to columbia on a whim not thinking she’d get in but when she got that acceptance letter you can bet ur ass the bitch was Outta There!!

getting here tho … she isnt sure what to do next ihbvfcnj she never thought as far as majors and actually choosing what to do with the rest of her life so she?????? is undetermined about p much everything hgvifncjd but philosophy seems like the cop out she’s been looking for lmao !!!

anyways she works at a shitty diner not too far from campus like almost every day after classes but on weekends she COUGHS strips across town hibvfncj HA didnt see that coming did ya smh hibfnjd but!! she does it across town cos she lk wants it to stay a secret like she doesnt need to kick a frat boy’s ass for making shitty comments now does she??? but i mean .. its not something she’s ashamed of, she’s just Not Interested in having people she hates talk shit and slut shame ygm??

being so busy all the time, she doesn’t really have time for any school activities but she’s down for a party at any time ( esp if its like themed hbifnjd she loves a costume ) and uhh dtf too lbr shes v in touch w/ her sexuality #freethenipple ( does she even own a single bra?? we just don’t know! )

THAT SAID !! she doesnt correlate sex with like .. emotions?? cos shes never seen them in a situation where they’re mutually exclusive rip :// this led to her thinking people only ever Wanted Something from her be it her body or like a chance to put her down to feel better abt themselves smh ! she isnt a generally violent person but if it’s the latter she’s more likely to throw a few choice words in ur direction hvifcnj

generally, sab’s p much just ur Stressed Out Scholarship Student just trying to graduate so her life isnt a fucking trainwreck like her mom’s! she’s desperate for both human affection and adventure, so offer her one, the other or both and her heart is yours tbh! as much as she’ll pretend its not lmao !!1!1!!!!

anywhomst i cannot for the life of me think of anything else to type her atm since im??? garbage???? but !! mssg me if u wanna plot smthn out fam since uhh sab having friends??? sounds like a pipe dream tbh and im desperate for it lol!

[illuminatcd-arch]

* 𝐤𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲 / 𝑶𝑽𝑬𝑹𝑽𝑰𝑬𝑾

        all things kiran     &&.     interactions                                      visage     &&.     musings                                                                             graphic ©

B A S I C

NAME: kiran mistry. NICKNAMES: kay. FACE CLAIM: dev patel. AGE RANGE: twenty seven (27) to thirty three (33). BIRTHDAY: 15 august. SPECIES: human. GENDER: cis man. PRONOUNS: he/him. HOME FANDOM: unaffiliated oc. AVAILABILITY: open for plotting. more below, subject to change depending on verse.

F A M I L Y

MOTHER: mahika mistry. FATHER: garv mistry. FAMILY: other things may change us but we start and end with family. SIBLINGS: malvika mistry.

P H Y S I C A L    A T T R I B U T E S

RACE/ETHNICITY: gujarati indian NATIONALITY: british. HEIGHT: six feet and two inches (6′2) WEIGHT: irrelevant. BUILD: slim. HAIR: medium. HAIR COLOR: black. EYE COLOR: brown. DOMINANT HAND: left. ANOMALIES: none. SCENT: boss bottled, hugo boss. ACCENT: english. PHYSICAL DISABILITIES: none. LEARNING DISABILITIES: dyslexic. ALLERGIES: pollen. DISORDERS: none. FASHION: smart, takes pride in his appearance. NERVOUS TICS: bounces his leg.

L I F E S T Y L E

HOME ADDRESS: varies, verse dependent. RESIDES: varies, verse dependent. BORN: liverpool, england. RAISED: liverpool, england. VEHICLE: n/a, does not drive. PHONE: the latest samsung galaxy. LAPTOP/COMPUTER: custom built. PETS: tropical aquarium which he takes a lot of pride in.

HIGH SCHOOL EDUCATION: graduated. COLLEGE EDUCATION: attended falmouth university, england. CAREER: graphic designer. EMPLOYER: varies, verse dependent.

POLITICAL AFFILIATION: n/a. RELIGION: hindu. BELIEFS: depends on the day. MISDEMEANORS: none. FELONIES: none. TICKETS AND/OR VIOLATIONS: none. DRUGS: if he does it’s only pot. SMOKES: never. ALCOHOL: prefers not to. DIET: will eat everything in one sitting.

ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: undetermined. SEXUAL ORIENTATION: undetermined. MARTIAL STATUS: single. CHILDREN: none. AVAILABILITY: won’t say no. LOOKING FOR: unsure.

LANGUAGES: english, hindi, some punjabi.

PHOBIAS: being inadequate. HOBBIES: is actually an impressive chess player. TRAITS: creative, generous, enthusiastic, childish, stubborn, arrogant. SOCIAL MEDIA: tweets his whole life.

F A V O U R I T E

LOCATION: gylly beach, falmouth. SPORTS TEAM: liverpool united. GAME: football. MUSIC: 70s disco and won’t hide it. SHOWS: british procedurals. MOVIES: prefers a long documentary. FOOD: his mother’s cooking. BEVERAGE: drinks sparkling lemon water like it’s going to run out. COLOR: burnt umber.

C H A R A C T E R

MORAL ALIGNMENT: neutral good. MBTI: isfp. ENNEAGRAM: type 4 - the original. TEMPERAMENT: phlematic. WESTERN ZODIAC: leo. SONG: move your feet - junior senior.

IDEOLOGIES: be the change you want to see in the world (plagiarised).

[greekowl87]

Fic: False Flags Redux (1/13)

Author’s Note:  Let me start by stating this work was a grand experiment for me. I have never written a mystery or case file before, this the longest thing I have written and completed (besides a 22-page graduate research paper on William Shakespeare), and for the most part, I have this almost completed before I started posting it. This started its life as a drabble written for @txf-prompt-box back in early September. It kept growing and I created a Frankenstein fic. I hold this little creation very close to my heart and I hope you all enjoy it as I have enjoyed writing it.

Lastly, a massive, million thanks to @mulders-boyish-enthousiasm and @scully-loves-ruthie for the constant hand-holding, criticism, feedback, and overall being the awesome of the most awesome people and helping me get through this. Seriously, these two deserve a medal.

Tagging @today-in-fic

Timeline: Season 6. Making me pick episodes? Before ‘How the Ghost Stole Christmas.’ Before they got the X-Files back and before ‘Tithonaeous’. Use your headcanon imagination.

1/13

It was taken from me. Plain and simple. This is a story of revenge. Plain and simple. 

You see, I remember everything. Sure, they don’t but I do. They don’t matter. I remember how my heart was ripped out. He stole it and she ripped it out. Stamped it on the ground. Burned it. Neither party is innocent. Both are guilty. I am the judge, jury, and executor. And the kicker? I remember everything. And I am willing to kill to get it back.

The betrayal. The heartbreak. I want revenge. I have been wanting revenge for 135 years. I had it once. I will have it again.

I did not realize how much I wanted it until I saw her again.

I did not realize why I was doing it to begin with. I just felt this need…this anger. I was always angry. I always wanted to lash out. That’s how it started. One girl here. It felt good. Another random guy there. Even better. I had no agenda. Another random person there. I just needed to do it. I did not discriminate or plan. I just did it to do it. Like a smoker smokes a cigarette to smoke. I killed just to kill. I got no physical satisfaction than knowing I did it.

But then they caught me. I saw her.

And then, I remembered everything.

… .

Federal Building Norfolk, Virginia December 12, 1998

It was cold. Not bitterly cold but enough to send a chill to your bone. The sky was overcast; so grey it looked heavy and ready to release some sort of precipitation, and the cold was always snapping, freezing, ready to make any rain turn to snow. The weird thing is that it would never snow. Norfolk, Virginia, was a conundrum. A city steeped in history but unsure where to go between the historic district and the hodge-podge of Victorian, Art Deco, and modern architecture. The weather seemed to fit right in.

On the corner of Charlotte Street and Brambleton Avenue, a four-story building dominated. It was built with a nod to the art deco style, with its boxy shape, antiqued lamps, and boxy fanned out styles. The Walter E. Hoffman courthouse appeared just as much out of place as the rest of the buildings in the city.

Outside art deco courthouse, two FBI agents huddled near each other to try and escape the biting cold. Agent Dana Scully looked pointedly at the sign marked ‘U.S. Marshal Parking Only’ in bright right and white letters and then towards their rental 1997 Chevy Impala. “Mulder,” she mused, “are you sure we can park there?”

Special Agent Fox Mulder blew into his gloved hands and gazed at the parking sign ominously. “We’re FBI. They’re U.S. Marshals,” he shrugged. “We’re both federal agents in law enforcement. What’s the difference?”

Scully licked her chapped lips, choosing not to argue the point. “Can we at least get out of the cold? I want to get this over with.”

“What?” her partner teased. “Looking forward to more background checks?”

“No. And no. I hate the cold. And Kersh’s background cheeks. I just want to get home,” she shivered. “Something about the cold makes me want to become a hermit.”

Mulder rubbed her arms slightly trying to generate heat. “I don’t blame you,” he shrugged. “The Vineyard is way worse. At least it decides if it wants to snow or not.”

“Shut up about the snow. I hate the snow. You know that.”

“You could always move to Miami.” She gave him a withering glance and he smiled lightly. “Then let’s get out of this cold. If you behave, I’ll buy you a lollipop after all this.”

“Shut up, Mulder.”

Even through the thick layers of her suit and heavy wool coat, the pressure of his touched seared itself into her lower back right above her ouroboros tattoo. She straightened her back unconsciously, her back cracking, and stretched her neck. “I wish we could have stayed at the hotel across the street,” she mumbled, nodding to the large 12 story v-shaped hotel across the street. “Looks a lot nicer than where we’re staying at. And closer.”

“Hey, Kersh’s dollars at least gets us a step up from a motel. We’re staying by the airport.”

“There’s nothing by the airport.”

Mulder frowned and teased her. “Well, there’s the beach. The hotel is supposed to be really nice.”

“Virginia Beach,” she specified, “which we aren’t exactly on the oceanfront, are we?”

He gestured eastwards. “The river?”

“Mulder, the ocean and the river are not the same things.” She shook her head slightly in an effort be rid of the chill the creeping into her bone. “Regardless, can we get out of this cold? I really don’t understand why even drove down here, Mulder. We just have to testify at a sentencing hearing.” She held up a finger for dramatic pause. “Sentencing hearing.”

“Well, maybe I don’t want us sitting behind the desk doing background checks?”

She arched an eyebrow and shook her head. “How is that a step up? Okay, okay,” she sighed. “But can we at least get out of this cold? I’m freezing.”

Mulder ushered her into the courthouse through the main entrance on Monticello Avenue. They shed their coats, showed their badges, went through the security checkpoint, took the required elevator, and walked the required amount of steps to courtroom B. They slid in among the shuffling of journalists, cops, lawyers, and other courtroom witnesses. Scully saw the judge enter unceremoniously from the left as the bailiff rose and called for order.

She watched from afar as the male judge looked briefly over the day’s docket and then towards the defendant, the serial killer her and Mulder had caught the year previously

“Well,” the judge sighed, opening. “This should be fairly straightforward. Francis Buckley, rise please.”

The defense lawyer jumped up. “Aren’t you going to hear testimony in defense of my client?”

“Sir,” the judge answered, “I see no one jumping to defend your client for brutally murdering three people. The only people here to testify are the two FBI agents that caught him and I sincerely doubt that will cast any light on your client’s…good grace and he has already been convicted by a court of three murders. How much longer do you want me to drag this through the mud?” The lawyer’s mouth flapped uselessly and the judge looked pointedly at him. “Rise, Mr. Buckley.”

Scully watched as a large man in his mid-thirties rose, dressed in the classic orange jail jumpsuit and chained. She felt something in the air shift and glanced towards Mulder to see if he noticed. The defendant, Francis Buckley, turned to look over his shoulder slightly. He grinned when his brown eyes zeroed in on her. She felt cold, like icicles dropping down her back in sharp pain. She physically jumped and felt Mulder’s hand instantly squeeze her knee in reassurance. She glanced at her partner as his hazel eyes gazed at her quizzically. She nodded quickly before regaining her composure. Buckley smiled, even more, when he noticed Mulder before turning back to the judge.

It was a whirlwind. Before she even knew it, Mulder was gently ushering her out the door with his familiar hand on the small of her back. She could hear him talking. Something about lunch.

“Scully,” he called gently, “are you even listening to me?”

She sucked in a quick breath and blinked as if coming out of a revere. “Yeah.” She blinked a few more times to clear her eyes. “Yeah. Sorry about that, Mulder. Must have of dazed off there for a second.”

He studied her for a moment and nodded. “Well, we don’t have to be back in Washington until tomorrow. You want to play hooky this afternoon in the wonderful city of Norfolk, Virginia? The Chrysler Museum is nearby.”

She nodded again, more quickly than her body would let her. She was eager for the distraction to take her focus away from the building uneasiness that was in the back of her mind.

… .

I saw her today. I was hoping to see her today. And he was there too. This will be so easy.

… .

Norfolk, Virginia February 1, 1862

The young lieutenant pulled his gray kepi down over his ears and buried his face into his own greatcoat bemoaning the cold. Even in the beginning of February, it was bitingly cold. The snow crunched under the wagon’s wheels as it drove slowly among Freemason street. He shifted uncomfortably as he surveyed on what would be his new home for an undetermined amount of time.

Polished and affluent homes combed the streets on either side of him. He felt uneasy being out and about here. He much preferred to be with the other marines at the barracks at the naval yard where they awaited the completion of the navy’s newest ironclad, CSS Virginia, previously known as the USS Merrimac.

Honestly, he never knew why God had intended him to be the butt of some cruel, universal joke. He was an army man, a graduate of Virginia Military Institute. Hell, he was supposed to be a part of blossoming community of military intelligence. But no. He was stuck on a boat and surrounded by navy men. He got seasick easily too.

God, how he had wished his mother had not intervened with his career.

As the carriage trotted down the cobbled road, he spied an old man, wearing the insignia of a navy captain, and a woman, who was much too young to be his wife, wearing a pale green dress and a black overcoat, holding the captain’s arm weakly as they stood at the doorway of one of the polished homes. She looked bored. She glanced at her husband as he talked fondly to a man standing inside and let her eyes wander from place to place on the street.

Somehow, they caught each other’s gazes.

The first thing that he noticed was her blue eyes. Then the small smattering of freckles across her face. And her red hair peeking out beneath the bonnet. He felt warm to his soul like he finally belonged somewhere after searching a lifetime. She seemed just as taken with him and their gazes lingered as his carriage continued on its way and until she faded from sight.

… .

Holiday Inn by the Airport Norfolk,Virginia December 13, 1998

3:08 AM.

Scully rubbed her face in a weak effort to erase the fatigue that she had. Her eyes were tired. Her body felt heavy. Everything just felt off. It had ever since that morning in the courtroom. She lay beneath the white, artificial sheets and quilt (only a few steps up from creepy, crappy by the hour motel sheets) and absently clicked the television remote, the changing the flickering screen repeatedly. She heard a quick knock on the door joining her and Mulder’s rooms. He opened it slightly and gave a weak smile. “I thought I heard the TV,” he said softly.

She sighed and cast the remote aside. Sitting up in bed taller, she turned on the nightstand lamp. “No,” she admitted with a shrug. “I tossed and turned a bit. There’s nothing on TV.”

“There never is. Want some company?”

“Do you ever sleep, Mulder?” she teased, patting the bed beside her.

“Once in awhile.”

Her partner shut the door and sat on the edge of the bed, taking a moment to examine Scully. “You look…distracted. You okay, Scully?” She shrugged, rolling her neck as she did, hearing a distinct pop. “Oh, I heard that one. Turn around.”

“Mulder,” she admonished. “I’m fine.”

“Just…turn around, Scully,” he instructed with a small smile.

She shook her head, a small smile playing on her lips.

She loved his rare shoulder massages. Although she would tell him repeatedly she was okay, he would always ignore her. It was all professionally platonic, of course. Scully turned slightly and rolled her shoulder. “You don’t have to.”

“I know,” he said. He squeezed her shoulders tentatively. God, she was tense. He felt the knotted muscles beneath her silken green pajama set. “I’ve been worried since this morning.”

“How so?” she grunted, instantly straightening her spine, feeling the pressure of Mulder’s thumbs.

“I could say you’re distracted but that is just stating the obvious. Even at the museum today this afternoon, you were distant. Every since Buckley noticed you this morning,” he said thoughtfully. “You weren’t like that during the case.”

“I don’t know,” she confessed absently, sitting up straighter as his hands centered in on her spine. Her back cracked more. “Did you see the way he looked at us? At me?”

“Hm. What about it?”

“I don’t know, Mulder,” she whispered. “He smiled at me. Like, just me. Mulder, it creeped me out.”

He paused. “How so, Scully?”

She shook her hand, unconsciously rubbing her left arm. “Not that bad. I’m fine,” she answered quickly. She felt vulnerable. He already knew where his mind was going towards. “Not Pfaster or the abduction bad. It was probably nothing.”

“Then what?”

She paused, wishing he could hug her in this moment of vulnerability, but of course, she would never admit that out loud. “I didn’t feel like myself,” she replied after a long moment. “Like I was me, and someone else, but at the same time. I don’t know. Maybe I’m losing my mind.”

“Out of place, out of time?”

“Something like that.”

Scully shook her head and her entire body followed, shrugging out of Mulder’s grasp. He hesitated before gently grasping her hand that had been repeatedly trying to console herself. “Easy, Scully. I gotcha.”

She closed her eyes and tried to center herself. “What was it like?” she asked after a long moment. “In Tennessee?”

He was silent, his hand instinctively seeking out the small of her back, his place. He drew in a deep breath. “How else would you explain it?”

“You’ll think I’m crazy.”

“Try me.”

Scully hugged herself tightly and faced him. Mulder wished that he could just take her in his arms and make all right with the world but simply settled for squeezing her hand again.  “I had a strange dream tonight,” she started reluctantly. She pointed towards the floor loosely. “Here. In Norfolk.” She closed her eyes again. “Snow. Cold. Like this morning It needed to snow but hadn’t recently.”

“How do you know it was here?”

Her right hand flung wildly in a circle. “I just…know.” She took a deep breath, steadying herself. “It wasn’t this time–older. Mulder, I don’t know.” She buried her face in her hands. “This is stupid. Just ignore it.”

He grasped her other hand tightly. “Scully, come on. Stop thinking.”

Her head was spinning. She remembered the gaze from the dream. His gaze. She could not remember his face but she could feel his staring. “Mulder,” she murmured, squeezing his hands. “I think I need a vacation.”

He let out a hoarse laugh. “We both do.”

She brought her knees close, crossing them under her. “Mulder, I’ve never felt like this before. I have never felt so out of time and out of space. This isn’t like the abduction. This isn’t missing time. I feel like I’m experiencing something I forgot long ago. It scares me.”

He pushed a stray piece of hair behind her ear. “I know,” he whispered. Was she experiencing a past life? Who knew. But he was curious. “If you want to talk…”

She shrugged noncommittally as his cell phone rang. She raised an eyebrow as he mouthed ‘Sorry.’ “Mulder,” he answered crisply.

While he had freed one hand to answer his cell, his other hand still clasped hers. He was quiet as he finished the call and put it away. There was trouble in his eyes. “That was the sheriff. Buckley mentioned he wanted to talk to Starbuck.” He felt her stiffen. “Then he mentioned your name.”

“Do you think,” she paused. “This could be like Boggs?”

He never let go of her hand. “I don’t know. Maybe.” He looked down at the bed, surprised that she was even entertaining such ideas. “Good thing we have nowhere to be, right?”

[neuronium]

The Singularities of Infinity Stones

"Before creation itself, there were six singularities. Then the universe exploded into existence, and the remnants of these systems were forged into concentrated ingots... Infinity Stones."

The Infinity Stones, originally referred to as Infinity Gems or Soul Gems, are six immensely powerful fictional gems appearing in Marvel comic books and their screen adaptation, the Marvel Cinematic Universe. They were described as six different singularities existing before the beginning of the universe. They were scattered all over the universe once it was created.

The infinity stones itself may be pure fiction, but Marvel Comics might have done their research before constructing a background story of preexisting singularities upon the creation of the universe. In reality, the initial state of the universe we live in, at the beginning of the Big Bang, was once argued by physicists to have been a singularity.

What Are Singularities?

In mathematics, a singularity of a function is a limit at which the function is ill-defined — typically because of a discontinuity or infinity enters the equation. For example, the function f=1/x is singular at x = 0. The problem was raised from the fact that we could have singularities in mathematical equations of one of the fundamental forces that govern our universe. 

General relativity, Einstein's theory of space, time, and gravity, allows the existence of singularities. The theory of  general relativity characterizes gravity by the curvature of spacetime, as expressed by the metric tensor. The values of this tensor are given by the Einstein field equations, and solutions to these equations can be singular. They are known as gravitational singularities or spacetime singularities. 

In the context of spacetime theory, gravitational singularities or spacetime singularities are limits (or, loosely speaking, "regions") in which the Einstein field equations break down. This happens when mathematical value of a property (eg. the density) of a region in space reaches an infinite number. Because these equations are taken to be a fundamental description of spacetime itself, this is often taken to imply that these limits indicate an end, or "edge," of space and time. 

The reactions to the discovery of singular solutions to Einstein field equations was quite striking. In the period 1938-39, Oppenheimer and his students Snyder and Volkoff investigated what would happen in general relativity to a massive star that collapsed, and discovered what we now would call a ’black hole’ solution to the mathematical equations. Under certain conditions, Einstein field equation gives us two characterizations of a spacetime singularity:

(1) Curvature singularity, for which spacetime curvature grows beyond all bounds ("blows up"); which only happens in curvature singularity, and

(2) Non-curvature singularity, a singularity that cannot be removed by any choice of coordinates (e.g. conical singularity).

While these criteria work for black holes, however, they are not sufficient to capture all spacetime singularities. The standard characterization of a spacetime singularity had to be more general, and rely on the notion of the geodesics of a spacetime.

Geodesics are the "straightest-possible" lines of a space-time. They are the paths that an object in free-fall (i.e., not subjected to any non-gravitational forces, like the thrust of a rocket engine, or a pull of a rope) will follow. For any geodesic, we can ask whether it is possible to extend it without limit. If this is not possible, then the geodesic path comes to an end in some finite distance. 

Spacetime singularity was therefore defined as "geodesic incompleteness". In other words, a spacetime is singular if it contains geodesics that cannot be extended to infinity. In such cases, it seems that there is an "edge" or and "end" to spacetime, which lies some at some finite distance.

curved singularity in the center of a black hole

Nevertheless, Einstein himself rejected the idea that singularities exist in nature. He thought of it as an abomination, and adopted the attitude that nature would never allow such a thing. Einstein felt that it has to be assumed that general relativity itself, as a theory, would either:

(i) break down in the region of a singularity, and that some more advanced theory would rule out such singularities; or  (ii) that some as yet undetermined principle in GR would forbid such singularities. 

The authority of Einstein meant that few people spent any time investigating singular solutions to GR for some 20 years thereafter. However the situation changed dramatically in the 1960’s. Substantial progress was made when Hawking, Penrose, and Geroch proved several singularity theorems (The Penrose–Hawking singularity theorems).

Hawking and Penrose’s theorem implies that not only were the singular solutions legitimate solutions of the GR equations, they were almost inevitable if certain reasonable premises were satisfied. A singularity in solutions of the Einstein field equations is one of two things:

(1) space-like singularity: a situation where matter is forced to be compressed to a point (2) time-like singularity: a situation where certain light rays come from a region with infinite curvature

Space-like singularities are a feature of non-rotating uncharged black-holes, while time-like singularities are those that occur in charged or rotating black hole. Both of them have the property of geodesic incompleteness, in which either some light-path or some particle-path cannot be extended beyond a certain proper-time or affine-parameter (affine-parameter being the null analog of proper-time).

The theorem applies if the following four physical assumptions are made:

(i) Einstein's equations hold (with zero or negative cosmological constant). (ii) The energy density is nowhere less than minus each principal pressure nor less than minus the sum of the three principal pressures (the 'energy condition'). (iii)There are no closed timelike curves. (iv) Every timelike or null geodesic enters a region where the curvature is not specially alined with the geodesic. (This last condition would hold in any sufficiently general physically realistic model).

In common with earlier results, timelike or null geodesic incompleteness is used here as the indication of the presence of space-time singularities. 

The Penrose theorem guarantees that some sort of geodesic incompleteness occurs inside any black hole whenever matter satisfies reasonable energy conditions (It does not hold for matter described by a super-field, i.e., the Dirac field). The energy condition required for the black-hole singularity theorem is weak: it says that light rays are always focused together by gravity, never drawn apart, and this holds whenever the energy of matter is non-negative.

Hawking's singularity theorem is for the whole universe, and works backwards in time: in Hawking's original formulation, it guaranteed that the Big Bang has infinite density (Hawking later revised his position in 1988).

These theorems indicate that our universe began with an initial singularity, the "Big Bang." They also indicate that in certain circumstances, collapsing matter will form a black hole with a central singularity. This purely theoretical work coincided roughly with several other developments, all in the 1960’s, including the discovery of the microwave background, quasar (quasi-stellar objects), and pulsar.

It is now established that supermassive black holes, which contain what is predicted to be singularities at the center of these black holes, are at the centers of almost all galaxies, and that scattered throughout these galaxies are much smaller black holes left over from massive supernova explosions. Far from being a mathematical pathology, as Einstein thought, singularities may be a crucial part of our universe, probably ever since the very beginning of time and space. 

The Origin of The Universe - Before Creation Itself  

Big Bang Theory and Cosmic Inflation

We live in a finite expanding universe which has not existed forever, and that all the matter, energy and space in the universe was once squeezed into an infinitesimally small volume, which erupted in a cataclysmic "explosion" which has become known as the Big Bang. Current best estimates are that this occurred some 13.7 billion years ago.

The Big Bang theory describes the origin of the Universe, starting from a big initial explosion, from which Space and Time came to existence, followed by the first particles, first atoms, and in the end, planets, stars and galaxies. The theory was proposed the first time in 1927 by the Belgian priest and astronomer Georges Lemaître. He proposed that at the beginning of all things, there was an Initial Singularity, a point of infinite density and temperature thought to have contained all of the mass and space-time of the universe before it exploded and rapidly expand in the Big Bang and subsequent inflation, creating the present-day Universe. The initial singularity is part of the Planck epoch, the earliest period of time in the history of the universe. Observations seem to confirm this theory and its theoretical features. 

An absolute relevant evidence about the expansion of the Universe from an initial singularity is the famous Hubble's Law: even though it is related to the astronomer Edwin Hubble (because he confirmed the law itself), this mathematical relation was discovered by Lemaître himself, from the equations of General Relativity; it consists in the proportionality between the distance d and the recessional velocity v of distant galaxies:

where H0 is the so called Hubble constant". Because we talk about recessional velocity, it means that in a distant past (13.7 billion years ago, according to current measurement), all galaxies were closer from each others and, therefore, going back in time, all the matter of the Universe had to be contained in a single point of space.

In the late 1960s, substantial progress was made when some remarkable mathematical work by R Penrose, later extended by Penrose and Hawking, established that not only were the singular solutions legitimate solutions of the GR equations, but they were almost inevitable. To put this another way - no matter what kind of universe one had, there had to be singularities in it somewhere. 

These results indicated that singularities might be actual features of our universe, and this meant that their investigation was more than a theoretical exercise. It is worth noting that at the time, Lemaître, Prenrose, and Hawking, as well as all the other physicists, used only General relativity to arrive at the conclusion that at the beginning of the Universe, a body containing all mass, energy, and spacetime in the Universe was compressed to an infinitely dense point, an initial singularity. 

An evolutionary scenario, developed in the 1980s, called Inflation (or Cosmic Inflation), that implies an extremely exponential expansion in first instants of the Universe, due to an unknown particle or force: according to this theory, inflation started 10^-36 s after the Big Bang, and it lasted 10^-34 s, an infinitesimally short time in which the Universe expanded from a subatomic scale (10^-28 m), to a macroscopic scale (10^16 m ~ 1 light-year).

Over the last few decades, the use of only general relativity to predict what happened in the beginnings of the Universe has been heavily criticized. It is known that Einstein's equations are only a partial description of reality. The notion of a singularity, infinite density in an infinitely small volume, is anathema to physicists; physicists detest infinities. Infinities in an equation are always a sign that something is wrong. 

While singularities might be unavoidable in classical context, there are some reasons to suspect that quantum processes might prevent true singularities from developing. For example, the above-mentioned positive energy condition (one of the premises that have to be satisfied in Hawking’s singularity theorems proposed in 1973) can be violated by quantum fields, which means that the premises of the singularity theorems are not secure. Quantum mechanics becomes a significant factor in the high-energy environment of the earliest universe, and general relativity on its own fails to make accurate predictions. 

In 1988, Hawking revised his position in his book “A Brief History of Time,” where he stated that "there was in fact no singularity at the beginning of the universe" (p. 50). This revision followed from quantum mechanics, in which general relativity must break down at times less than the Planck time. Hence general relativity cannot be used to show a singularity.

In his more recent book, "The Grand Design," published in 2010, Hawking wrote the following about the Big Bang, where there are also calculations resulting in "singularities":

"Measurements of helium abundance and the CMBR [Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation] provided convincing evidence in favor of the big bang picture of the very early universe, but although one can think of the big bang picture as a valid description of early times, it is wrong to take the big bang literally, that is, to think of Einstein’s theory as providing a true picture of the origin of the universe. That is because general relativity predicts there to be a point in time at which the temperature, density, and curvature of the universe are all infinite, a situation mathematicians call a singularity. To a physicist this means that Einstein’s theory breaks down at that point and therefore cannot be used to predict how the universe began, only how it evolved afterward. So although we can employ the equations of general relativity and our observations of the heavens to learn about the universe at a very young age, it is not correct to carry the big bang picture all the way back to the beginning.

In other words, the fact that singularities are mathematically illogical cannot be used to claim that black holes (or the Big Bang) are existentially illogical. Black holes (and the Big Bang) are confirmed by massive amounts of information which does not include singularities. Singularities are simply mathematical results that show that something is missing or unknown in the mathematical equations. 

In response to the inaccuracy of considering only general relativity, a way to avoid infinities is to adopt a different theory of space and time. What is lacking to the picture of the origin of the universe is a theory that integrates gravity with quantum mechanics. On this matter, alternative theoretical formulations for the beginning of the Universe have been proposed.

One such theory is loop quantum gravity which says that there is a minimum unit of space and a minimum unit of time. Once a minimum unit of space is filled, nothing more can be crammed into it. If anything more is to be added, it has to fit into the next minimum unit of space. Hence, no infinities and no singularities.

Another theory proposed to reconcile gravity with quantum mechanics to explain the beginning of the universe is a string theory-based model in which two branes, enormous membranes much larger than the Universe, collided, creating mass and energy.

To return to the topics of the infinity stones by Marvel Comics, the story of their origin added a thin layer of science into an elaborate fiction. Released in 1972, Marvel Premiere Vol. 1 #1 introduced the green Soul Gem, the first of six such Gems identified in Avengers Annual #7. At the time, Lemaître’s theory of the big bang with preexisting initial singularity was the accepted theory to explain the beginning of the universe, not to mention Penrose’s and Hawking’s breakthrough that supported it then. Describing the origin of the infinity stones as singularities was a brilliant way to present their significance to the readers by employing scientific theories.

Source : Boston University | Max Planck Institute

Hawking, S., & Penrose, R. (1970). The Singularities of Gravitational Collapse and Cosmology. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences, 314(1519), 529-548. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/2416467

Penrose, Roger (2014).  Spacetime Singularities: The Story of Black Holes. University of Oxford. Retrieved from  http://pitp.physics.ubc.ca/quant_lect/2014/GR100/Spacetime+Gravity_B-BHoles.pdf

gifs : Infinity Stones @avengers-of-the-galaxy | Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey 

[vuulpecula]

VUULPECULA’S VERSE MASTERLIST. 

      Below the cut are all the current verses available for rp. Just a heads up, there are a lot of them! By no means is this list all that there are, more will be added, some will be removed, it is ever changing. If you see one on here you’d like to explore, please don’t hesitate to let me know! Thank you and have a good one! xo. 

UPDATE 07/25/2017. It’s very unfortunate that I have to add this, but I do. Please do not steal verse names. Now, I understand, I did not come up with these quotes and lyrics ( there are a few that I did, however ), but I did take a great chunk of my time searching and perfecting these. I also understand that there are a few on here that are already very popular, such as the hamilton or hozier lyrics! Honestly, if we have one verse that is named the same, whatever, but I’ve seen a few people now with MULTIPLE ( up to 4 - 6 ) and it’s just made me very uncomfortable. There was even an instance where someone copied the below text, word for word, now they deleted their blog before I really had the guts to say something, but it’s just so out of hand. It’s more of a polite thing, y’know? Like be original, find your own things, if you see a verse of mine and you just love the name, let me know! 10/10 I’m probably gonna be like oh yeah use it! Because I’d rather know than to stumble across it and feel very idk violated? So yeah, that’s all, now get on to those verses! Sorry again that I had to add this! xo. 

UNCATEGORIZED.

x | v. undetermined. - for the verses that i have yet to place in a verse or for those i have forgotten which verse they belong in. 

MODERN.

x | v. it was so easy once ( MODERN ONE. ) - basic modern verses, applies to any age & any setting. 

x | v. she waits seething; blooming ( MODERN TWO. ) - high school ages and verses. 

x | v. too young for a heart so heavy ( MODERN THREE. ) - kid!verses.

x | v. ask me no questions and i’ll tell you no lies ( MODERN FOUR. ) - verse in which fox pursues a career in therapy. 

x | v. нет прошлого нет будущего ( MODERN FIVE. ) - deeply rooted russian threads. 

x | v. we can only know that we know nothing ( MODERN SIX. ) - college based verses. 

x | v. i don’t sleep i just dream ( MODERN SEVEN. ) - southern gothic / au in which fox grows up mainly in the deep south instead of russia.

x | v. near to the end of a very long adventure ( MODERN EIGHT. ) - old lady fox.

x | v. you fix others because you can’t fix yourself ( MODERN NINE. ) - nurse / doctor fox.  

TELEVISION / FILM / GAMES / NOVELS.

x | v. our backs tell stories no books have the spine to carry ( ASOIAF ONE. ) - following fox’s original timeline within the asoiaf/got world. 

x | v. the soup is warm and full of vegetables ( ASOIAF TWO. ) - serving girl fox. 

x | v. the first casualty of war is innocence ( ASOIAF THREE. ) - all threads set during any time of war. 

x | v. a single day of freedom is worth more than a lifetime of chains ( ASOIAF FOUR. ) - threads in which fox is from Essos. 

x | v. i feel thin sort of stretched like butter scraped over too much bread ( TOLKIEN ONE. ) - used for all threads set within the LOTR & Tolkien fandoms. 

x | v. we can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark ( HARRY POTTER ONE. ) - all threads set within the harry potter universe. including fantastic beasts.

x | v. mankind has always feared what it doesn’t understand ( MARVEL ONE. ) - mutant verses. 

x | v. atom bomb baby ( FALLOUT ONE. ) - basic fallout threads. 

x | v. every day you fight like you’re running out of time ( DRAGON AGE ONE. ) - set during the blight, usually warden!fox. 

x | v. you have no control who lives who dies who tells your story ( DRAGON AGE TWO. ) - set during the inquisition. usually with inquisitor fox, but applicable with any sort of au of that. 

x | v. one choice can transform you ( DIVERGENT ONE. ) - base divergent verses. 

x | v. fear doesn’t shut you down; it wakes you up ( DIVERGENT TWO. ) - usually dauntless based.

x | v. it’s strange what desire will make foolish people do ( UNCHARTED ONE. ) - anything set in the uncharted universe. 

x | v. i’m not scared of dying i’m scared of living like this; the constant pain ( AHS ONE. ) - any threads set within the ahs  universe or when dealing with witches.

x | v. dude that’s complex ( ORPHAN BLACK ONE. ) - geneticist fox! 

x | v. i’m the one with the keys ( ORPHAN BLACK TWO. ) - clone!fox. 

x | v. sometimes someone hurts you so bad it stops hurting at all ( ORPHAN BLACK THREE. ) - orphan black au with a very helena-esque upbringing, fitting more with her original Russian storyline. 

x | v. the saddest people smile the brightest ( LIFE IS STRANGE ONE. ) - just your basic life is strange au. 

x | v. ruthless gravity ( JAMES BOND ONE. ) - really any spy au tbh. 

x | v. size ten chaos ( SNOWPIERCER ONE. ) - literally just snowpiercer. if you give me this i will love you forever. 

x | v. things are only impossible until they’re not ( STAR TREK ONE. ) - for all your basic star trek needs. 

x | v. always remember your focus determines your reality ( STAR WARS ONE. ) - basic star wars verse, mainly plays onto the rebellion side. 

x | v. i want to believe ( X-FILES ONE. ) - literally just the x-files all day every day. 

x | v. war is peace; freedom is slavery; ignorance is strength ( 1984 ONE. ) - give me 1984 aus and i will love you for freaking 5ever. 

HISTORIC / SCIFI. 

x | v. there is no love in war ( HISTORIC ONE. ) - WWII threads. 

x | v. we just sell different parts of ourselves ( HISTORIC TWO. ) - WWI threads. 

x | v. my funny valentine ( HISTORIC THREE. ) - 1930s - 1950s threads. 

x | v. gods smile at brave women ( HISTORIC FOUR. ) - viking era threads.

x | v. all i kept thinking about over and over was ‘you can’t live forever you can’t live forever’ ( HISTORIC FIVE. ) - 1920s threads. 

x | v. my innocence is gone forever ( HISTORIC SIX. ) - victorian era threads. 

x | v. so it goes ( SCIFI ONE. ) - anything basically set in the future. loosely based on Slaughter-House Five. 

[charlielongclo-blog]

‘Musical Schemas in Capoeira Music - an Analysis of Mestre Pernalonga’s Performance of ‘Parana ê/A Manteiga Derramou’  - PART 2

‘A Manteiga Derramou’

The corrido ‘A Manteiga Derramou’ is the second corrido of the performance. The four bar chorus response melody is fixed and can be seen below, alongside the chorus in Pernalonga’s performance which once again features a strong upper third harmony:

Transcription 10.

When analysing the verses I have chosen to look at a recent recording made by Mestre Suassuna, alongside a very old recording by the founder of one of the three branches of capoeira, Mestre Bimba. In Mestre Suassuna’s performance very different melodic contours are used with the text. The first is on the beat and each phrase clearly passing through the next barline and is centred around the 5th, 3rd and tonic of the pentatonic scale.

Transcription 11.

The second however is more syncopated and uses the first three degrees of the scale only.

Transcription 12.

We can compare this to Mestre Bimba’s performance which is much lower, centring on the 3rd and 5th (or 6th) notes of the scale:

Transcription 13.

It is also interesting to note at this point that all three reductions start the phrase on a different degree of the scale (the 5th, tonic, then 3rd).

A reduction of Pernalonga’s melodies only reinforces this point as we see below that he favours starting on the 6th degree of the scale:

Transcription 14.

We see here that the notes used are not a fixed schema, however the phrase length and overarching descending shape are constants seen across all examples. Mestre Bimba’s performance, while favouring a smaller range of notes lower down on the pentatonic scale, also features much more rhythmic variation than that of Mestre Suassuna:

Transcription 15.

In this much earlier recording of Mestre Bimba he is frequently swapping between simple and compound time which is a clear link to an older more African derived style of playing; as Charry describes a typical feature of West African music as subtle changes between binary and ternary divisions of the beat (Charry. 2000).

Mestre Pernalonga’s most used rhythmic variations show a move to triplets at the beginning of the phrase then returning to simple time. When paired with his much higher starting notes we can see that he is both experimenting with his choice of pitch, yet also adding a more traditional African feel through triplet variations.

Coda.

The final section is an instrumental ending to the performance in which greater variations of rhythm are heard in the medium and viola berimbau parts

Conclusions

This analysis shows sections within a capoeira musical performance have different schemas and therefore different expectations. Structure, phrase length, descending melodic contour and chorus responses are fixed whereas pitch (within the pentatonic scale) and rhythm allow for variation. This creates musical tension as some of these elements are set off in relief from the schema (Tenzer. 2006).

Mestre Pernalonga retains the reputation as a skilled musician through his navigation of elements to leave and others to change. We see him using his upper vocal register creating new melodies often, offsetting this with a more traditional style of compound time rhythmic variations harking back to Mestre Bimba’s original recordings. However he does this within established fixed schemas.

The spectators around the roda and capoeiristas inside it all intact learned behaviours in relation to the Ladainha, Louvação and Corridos. The schemas identified in each of these sections are important for listeners as they allow them to form an understanding of what has been heard (Widdess. 2013.) In capoeira it also affects physical movements in the roda, and as the schematic structure of the music unfolds, all participants are therefore involved in an interactive process of musical communication (Widdess. 2013) which in turn passes on the music and these schemas to the future generation of capoeiristas.

Appendix.

Structure diagram: This shows a left to right (landscape) visual of the piece with each block representing a section. Time codes, section names and some stand out details are included. This gives an overview of the piece in its entirety.

Transcriptions:

1: Mestre Pernalonga’s Ladainha. Brackets show phrasing. The opening shout is notated in the beginning before the barline. This reduction is shown in a free time as the rhythms are not the focus of the transcription, it is the melody and contour.

2: Three rhythmic variations are shown. A two line percussion stave has been used to show the two pitched notes of the berimbau, higher and lower, with the percussive sound of the hand held stone muting the wire string notated with a crossed note head.

3: The pandeiro and atabaque are shown respectively on a one line percussion stave. The letter B marks a bass tone and S a slap tone. Crossed note heads with arrows underneath show directional movement of the pandeiro to make the metal disks rattle and the higher slap is notated with a crossed note head to show its force - but written above the stave to differentiate it from the metal disk rattles.

4: Call and response recorded by Mestre Pastinha. The note labeled 1 gives A as the root and further numbers indicate the degrees of the scale to aid analysis of this reduction.

5: Three variations are shown in a reduced form. The first Bb is given in brackets as a root note reference point. The descending line coming out of the 5th degree note in the third bar marks a bending of pitch on this note, falling to an undetermined lower pitch.

6: Two variations marked 1 and 2. Notes are numbered to clarify their degree of the scale, with lines stretching where the note degree stays the same.

7: Mestre Pernalonga’s version, with harmony line added in an upper part with ascending note stems.

8: Roman numerals mark implied harmony. In this reduction diagonal lines are used between note heads to reinforce the direction of the melodic contour. The blue markings show where a harmonic difference of a 3rd is present.

9: Asterisk markings over the bracketed final two bars of the first two variations show that these two sections are often interchanged.

10: Two notes in bar three with upper facing stems show a harmony part that is often performed.

11: Marked 1 for part 1 and R1. for ‘Reduction of 1’. Diagonal lines outline the bar crossing contour and degrees of the scale are numbered.

12: The reduction shows that lower degrees of the scale are used in this version and without regular bar crossing contours.

13: This reduction shows contours using diagonal lines to link the note heads. 5/6 and 6/5 show that these are the options most used and are swapped frequently by Bimba. This has been written as a reduction down to melody and pitch rather than rhythmic placement of each note in the bar as Bimba’s performance is very irregular and in an almost spoken form. The observation of the contour and pitches are more important here.

14: Here the barlines divide each phrase to show them separately, rather than dividing a set unit of measurements.

15: Three variations are shown each marked numerically 1-3. This is shown on a single percussion stave.

References:

Brown, S. Jordania, J. (2011) Universals in the Worlds Musics. Psychology of Music.

Capoeira, N. (2006) A Street-Smart Song: Capoeira Philosophy and Inner Life. Blue Snake Books.

Capoeira, N. (2002) Capoeira: Roots of the Dance Fight Game. Blue Snake Books.

Capoeira, N. (2003) The Little Capoeira Book. North Atlantic Books.

Charry, E. (2000) Traditional and Modern Music of the Maninka and Mandinka of West Africa. University of Chicago Press.

Stock, J. (1993) The Application of Schenkerian Analysis to Ethnomusicology: Problems and Possibilities. Musical Analysis Journal.

Tenzer, M. Analysis, (2006) Analytical Studies in World Music: Categorisation and Theory of Musics in the World. Oxford University Press.

Widdess, R. (2013) ‘Schemas and Improvisation in Indian Music.’  In: Kempson, Ruth and Howes, Christine and Orwin, Martin, (eds.), Language, Music and Interaction. London: College Publications

Zadeh, C. (2012) Formulas and the Building Blocks of Thumrí Style - A Study in Improvised Music. Analytical Approaches to World Music

Audio:

Mestre Pernalonga (2017) CD. Capoeira Musica. N/A, self published and produced.

Track 2: ‘Parana ê/A Manteiga Derramou’

[Available online at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px3es0z1uDs] [Accessed, 30, March. 2018] Image 1.

Mestre Jogo de Dentro ‘Parana ê’

[Accessed online at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8z8YkfMDr4] [Accessed 30, March 2018]

Mestre Suassuna. ‘A Manteiga Derramou’

[Accessed online at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdjAH4Qbhss] [Accessed 29, March 2018]

Mestre Bimba. ‘A Manteiga Derramou’

[Accessed online at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usf5TCDTMU4] [Accessed 29, March 2018]

Mestre Pastinha: ‘A Manteiga Derramou’

[Accessed online at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UY0vyB7HNE] [Accessed 28, March 2018]

Grupo Muzenza de Capoeira: ‘Parana ê’

[Accessed online at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3GLBvmEv7s] [Accessed 28, March 2018]

Images:

Image 1: Mestre Pernalonga (2017) CD. Capoeira Musica. N/A, self published and produced.

[kickstarter-promotion]

Another Amazing Kickstarter (Loopers by Dave Jackson —Kickstarter) has been published on https://crowdmonsters.com/new-kickstarters/loopers-by-dave-jackson-kickstarter/

A NEW KICKSTARTER IS LAUNCHED:

LOOPERS…professional caddying just got a little bit...loopier!

BACKGROUND 

A semi-retired broadcast journalist (Dave Jackson), a stone mason (Duane Miller) and an event manager (Dan Desveaux) meet in the caddy shack during a rain delay at the 2016 Freedom 55 Financial Open in Vancouver. An immediate bond is forged and the three talk all things golf, especially the near-volunteer aspect of caddying for golf pros on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada¹. After conclusion of the Freedom 55 Financial Open they agree to try and get on the road together and caddie the next two BC legs of the tour – Victoria and Kelowna. 13 episodes (1 Introductory Pilot Episode; 12 On-Tour Episodes): Meet the Loopers! (Introductory Pilot Episode) Dave Jackson: 55. Filmmaker. Broadcast / video journalist. Advertising copywriter. Voiceover actor. Communications Specialist. Entrepreneur. Husband. Father of two young girls. Via an unsolicited email, he decides on a lark to apply to caddie for the 2016 Freedom 55 Financial Open in Vancouver BC. It’s been nearly 40 years since he’s last looped as a teenager in suburban Toronto at the Islington G&CC. He has a bit of time on his hands, loves the game, could use a few bucks, and maybe make some new friends. Plus, experience high-level, professional golf up close and personal! Extroverted, opinionated, witty, and inquisitive with a commanding personality, Dave is the group’s natural leader. The ‘Moe’ of The Three Stooges, if you will. ☺ Demo reel (Television): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9vrqNdwajI

Duane Miller: 50. A ‘between jobs’ stone mason and construction worker, but with a degree in Early Childhood Education. As Duane writes, “At 30 I came out to Vancouver and with a new job and new friends. I was asked by the new boss if I like to learn how to play golf…It is there I fell in love with the game. Wanting more I began to caddie for family and friends then the tour; a first time experience and one I fell more in love with.” Duane has some prior limited caddying experience on the Vancouver Golf Tour and the men’s club final University Golf Club. A true ‘character’, he’s an abstract thinker, nutty, carefree, and has a heart of gold. Duane is The ‘Curly’ of The Three Stooges, if you will. ☺  

Dan Desveaux: 52. Special Events Manager. Disc Jockey. Former Regional Sales Director for GolfLogix Inc. After two near-death battles with cancer and, later, an undetermined viral infection that left him with only 20% of his large intestine, Dan is the ultimate survivor. Despite the physical hardships he’s encountered, he’s become a competitive long-distance runner and an example of perseverance and positivity. Happy-go-lucky with a sunny disposition and kooky sense of humour, Dan is ‘Larry’ of The Three Stooges. 

THE LOOK

I envision a wacky, fun-filled, and probably dysfunctional on-the-road ‘Hybrid Follow-Doc’ concept focusing on the interplay between three middle-aged guys reliving, in many ways, their days of youth. I met many TV-friendly, oddball characters over the course of three weeks on tour which I have journaled.  

FIRST-PERSON NARRATION 

This may, or may not, be a different approach to producing reality TV. Because I came up with the initial idea to take the caddie on-the-road concept to the creative level, I feel a direct connection to the process. I have extensive broadcasting and voice acting experience and consider my television writing skills to be first rate. This doesn’t mean that I need to be in creative control. I am admittedly new to this genre and will need to learn quickly how to make it work. And, of course, the ‘three-for-the-price-of-one’ offer is also a real money saver! ☺  

THIS IS NOT A SHOW JUST ABOUT GOLF! IT IS A SHOW ABOUT LOSS AND REDEMPTION.

This is a Self-Contained Hybrid Production – a neatly compartmentalized, 12 episode production (plus, possibly, 1 introductory pilot) that chronologically follows all 12 tour stops on the 2017 Vancouver Golf Tour – a simple tournament-to-tournament order and with full cooperation from The Tour. It is not designed to be arced or serialized. It’s not really about golf; it’s about day-to-day human struggle, a metaphor for the ups & downs of making it through life – through the camera lens; shooting both the travails of the caddies and their pros. It’s a grind. It’s real life survival. It’s the classic Don Quixote against-all-odds, uphill climb – an improbable, but always possible, reach for the stars. The fact that this is the ‘minor leagues of pro golf’ makes the aspect of their scrappy, daily existence easier to capture. The mental errors (ie. goofy mistakes ☺) made by inexperienced caddies and the unique relationship between caddie and pro is one of the show’s primary focal points (caddies will most likely switch pros from week to week, as it was for us during the three B.C. tour stops). I envision a small 3 – 4 person AV and sound crew with one or two on-location producers to keep production costs down. Because all of the tournament locations are pre-determined, no location scouting is required; keeping the episodic budgets low. And because there are upwards of 30 different men’s and women’s professional global golf tours and satellite tours, syndication is a viable opportunity.  

WHY DO WE CARE? WHY DO WE WATCH?  

Conflict: Almost hourly. And it’s because of the competition. Between the professionals and their caddies. Between the caddies and each other. Between many of the pro golfers. And, between the three caddies having to cohabitate on the road in cramped quarters with little money. It’s going to get edgy. It’s going to get smelly. ☺ Characters: Not just the three protagonists, but the other caddies, the players, their family, and the fans. It’s crazy and dysfunctional out there on a minor league golf tour. I know. I lived it for a month! Charisma: The three protagonists all bring their unique personalities to the screen. Duane is big-hearted, philosophical and sees things from a slightly different angle than most. Dan is the positive, constant joke-cracking chatterbox. Me? A little bit of a Type A personality, the problem-solver, snarkier sense of humor than the other two, and a little bit of a control ‘enthusiast’! ☺

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❛   i  can  chat  with  ya  baby,    flirt  a  little  maybe  ❜    // @narrativecrime + sc.