#a narrative of john being super into women

[ibrokeadesktoday]

I love podlock, and their interactions are so charming and actually show that they both like each other. I'm gnawing at the walls over it.

However. I have a feeling, which I hope is wrong, that the narrative is pushing towards an eventual Mariana and John relationship. There's just a little bit too much lingering on pauses between them and a bit too much of a Tone when it comes to their interactions that makes me think that's where the podcast is heading. Don't get me wrong, I love our ms. Hudson, but this has been in the back of my head for the last five or so episodes.

Also, notably, Mariana is pretty close to Mary.

[ardentpoop]

What do you think when people insist Dean is the only one with feminine characteristics or woman-coded, but that sam isn't?

I think you can guess my answer lmfao.

when ppl talk abt dean like that I find it incredibly irritating as it is based on superficial and demeaning ideas of “femininity.” bc truly what the fuck does dean as a character have to do with social expectations of womanhood. his role in the story is Head Of Household which he inherited from john. in terms of samndean’s relationship dean is the partner who calls the shots and who determines when sam should be considered trustworthy/“good” by the audience and by other characters like bobby and cas. he’s the domineering husband (to sam, for most of this story) and the abusive father (very true for jack, also kind of true for ben if you’re paying attention) and he started metamorphosing into his Own father from the very beginning. he makes himself big and rough and mean because that’s what he thinks he’s supposed to do to protect His Family (mostly just sam). he makes decisions abt sam’s body for him bc sam’s body tacitly belongs to dean, no matter how much sam initially fights this reality. he views women as either sex objects (his neverending conquests) or helpless lambs who need protecting (see how he talks abt jo or claire, for example, or even just the female victims he takes a shine to throughout the early seasons). as soon as a female antagonist displeases him she’s a Bitch and a Skank and a Whore whom he’s desperate to stick his knife in.

fyi dean being super misogynistic is delicious to me and very important to the narrative but most people straight-up edit it out which is. wild. you’re pretending THIS MAN isn’t a woman-hater? THIS MAN???

anyway yeah a male character isn’t Mommy-Coded for preparing a meal or tending to his sick partner lmfao. he isn’t One Of The Girls bc he occasionally deigns to pierce the suffocating shell of his toxic masculinity to indulge in shit that he’d call Gay if another man did it around him. you’re being sexist and ignorant when you talk like that lol. people who use that language for sam are more often than not doing so bc his narrative is deeply and painfully relatable to women bc at its core it is abt his lack of agency over his own body and his own life. people who use that language for dean are just being fucking. silly. and I would guess they don’t have strong opinions abt the show’s actual female characters and how it treats them.

[idontwanttospoiltheparty]

Why is May so adamant in denying John was ever queer/bi in your opinion? I kinda understand why Paul does, but not May. Especially since John was being exceptionally open (for his standards) during the Lost Weekend.

I agree that this is a little puzzling (and specifically more puzzling than Paul).

I think I'd jot it down to a few things:

1) biphobia/bi-erasure plain and simple. And I don't mean this to attack May specifically, I think this reaction is probably more period-typical than we sometimes imagine (especially with regard to men, tbh). But she has literally said "how could people think this? he loved women so much" which is lol.

2) iirc she actually is the source for one of the Jesse Ed Davis stories. Specifically the "John starts making out with this guy seemingly unprompted and then suddenly freaks and attacks him, yelling slurs" anecdote. I wouldn't necessarily blame her if she didn't examine that super critically, taking the potential self-destructiveness of internalized homophobia into account.

3) I'm not sure when all the times she talked about this were. But if they post-date 1987, I wouldn't discount that she might be trying to defend John from the general Goldman narrative which unfortunately threw this concept in with a lot of much more nasty stuff. (I think Paul's defensiveness is also partially explained by this)

[emeraldspiral]

So like, one thing that kinda bugged me about Jane Eyre from just knowing the plot from pop-cultural osmosis that the movie doesn't address but the book to some extent does, is that Jane's happy ending is kind of a deus ex machina that falls into her lap without her having to change or make an active choice. Like, Bertha just dies conveniently to remove the one obstacle to Jane and Rochester being together so Jane doesn't have to choose between giving up the love of her life forever or compromising to be with him.

In the book it's clear that Jane actually did go through a character arc. She went from someone who claimed she'd get kicked in the head by a horse to make someone love her and being warned against that by Helen, to someone who resolutely refuses to compromise her morals when tested by the love of her life. In the story's climax, she also rejects St. John Rivers's offer of a loveless marriage, despite the temptation to accept him in the vain hope that maybe someday he might love her after all if she caves and continues to obediently cater to his every whim.

It's also explained in the book and not the movie that the reason Jane is so adamant that she can't be Rochester's mistress isn't just because it would be "sinful" but because she believes that to make such a compromise would make Rochester lose respect for her, which would doom their relationship.

However, even then, the idea is still kind of puritan and leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It's the same thing the guest speakers preaching abstinence only at school would always say. That any man who asks you for sex without putting a ring on it first or wants you to move in before you're married doesn't really love you and will cheat on you and give you STDs and get you pregnant and then abandon you. Even if he thinks he really cares about you, giving in to him will make him see you as a whore he can take or leave on a whim because the lack of a contract makes it easy. But that definitely won't happen if you wait until marriage. Because who would spend all that money on a ring and a wedding and risk a messy divorce and alimony payments to cheat on you? It's not like there are zillions of other reasons why people cheat that have nothing to do with a lack of financial deterrents. No, married men never cheat. Especially not on good Christian women who were virgins when they married. Just ask my mother.

So it does still kinda bug me that Bertha just conveniently dies so Jane can get what she wants. It's a narrative cheat that happens in other stories too. It's like when the writers don't want blood on the hero's hands, so the villain just conveniently falls of a cliff or something. The authors know they've written themselves into a corner where there's no way to protect the hero's secret identity/save the people they care about/prevent the villain from doing more harm/etc... without the villain dying, but they think it would be immoral for the hero to do it. It's not always super egregious. Sometimes it's framed more as an unnecessary tragedy that the villain couldn't be saved. Or like, in ATLA, the only reason the pacifist option worked for Aang was because, like Jane, he had the willpower not to compromise.

But it feels kinda hypocritical because as the author you're essentially god and you've decided that a character can't take a course of action you yourself have decided was necessary. With Jane Eyre though, I think it's like, actually intentional. Like, within the text itself, god is real, god is omnipotent and all-powerful, and god decides when it's time for people to die. God explicitly blinded and maimed Rochester to punish him and then called Jane back to him when he renewed his faith. God created the problem of Rochester and Bertha's marriage that prevented him and Jane from being together in the first place and then god killed Bertha to remove that impediment.

And that's another sketchy aspect of Christianity. The idea that it's not okay to do certain things, but it's okay to pray for god to do it for you. Also, the idea of crediting someone else's misfortune that benefited you to a benevolent god who loves everyone equally. I guess that's where the belief that misfortune is god testing you or punishing you and good fortune is god rewarding you comes in handy.

[trickstarbrave]

mary sues are i think a real phenomenon but have been misused to the point the term is basically useless.

sues are like. narrative black holes. they take what could be an otherwise interesting story by warping it around a central point of gravity to the point things start to lose coherent sense as everyone's lives revolve around the central character to the point the narrative is a slog to get through

but over the years ppl who have been eager to yell at teenage girls on the internet have tried to codify various traits as "sue traits" with guides on "how to not write mary sues" or immediately dismiss any and all characters as mary sues. girl main character? mary sue. powerful female character? mary sue. female character starts to have any fucking narrative significance? mary sue. female character is sad and depressed? mary sue! female character has no redeeming qualities it seems and is bland as can be? ALSO A MARY SUE.

being a mary sue isn't a fucking personality type for a character. you can write the perfect character via bullet points but if in the narrative they are a black hole that actively makes the story worse and lose coherence, they are a mary sue. likewise you can have the most specialist character ever who is uber powerful and always saves the day and is super beautiful and popular but so long as the narrative has structure, stakes, and is interesting they are not a mary sue.

i suppose it's not really a surprise as over the years stories esp in fandoms have been less about the narrative and more about cutting the story up into bite size easily consumable pieces. therefore people dont wanna be able to look at a narrative as a whole to explain the mary sue phenomenon as that will be a lot more work, effort, and time to rebuild the story from the ground up because ultimately the problem is not the character, it's the narrative either not serving the character properly, or the character not suiting the narrative.

younger people and beginners tend to make mary sues (including male ones) all the time. because they are still getting the hang of narrative structure and stakes and those take time to learn and develop. having a mary sue problem doesn't make you an eternally bad writer also, nor does it make you garbage, nor is shaming someone for doing so going to make them grow on any level. and also ultimately its been about shaming women and girls in particular. massive online bullying campaigns have been born out of "this girl is popular and i dont like her dumb female oc she has to be a mary sue because the oc is interesting and we need to harass the creator and her fans endlessly!!!!" meanwhile men can write the most boring slogs of mary sue stories that i have never even seen a teenage girl in fandom come even CLOSE to being as bad as, and they get pats on the back because their super original do not steal John Everyman (tm) character is super powerful and gets all the bitches and never struggles at anything ever.

and like. no one sets out to write a mary sue. trying to say "dont write mary sues" is stupid. it doesn't tell you how to actually avoid it. because ultimately how you avoid "writing a mary sue" is just by writing and reading a lot and learning how to write longer and more complex stories and building a narrative that works with the story you want to tell. which means ultimately you cannot just "avoid" writing a mary sue. you have to get comfortable first with writing a mary sue.

[lmskitty]

Hi again......If you don't mind, can I ask, what are your top 10 (or top 7) favorite media (can be books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series)? Why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before......Thanks....

Hi!!!

Tricky!

1. Jujutsu Kaisen

2. Gorillaz

3. Sailor Moon

4. Outlast

5. The Last Binding Series by Freya Marske

6. Neon Genesis Evangelion

7. FMA Brotherhood

8. The Magnus Archives

9. Fake (manga series)

10. Digimon

1. It brought me joy and fandom and friendship again and made me feel like myself after a very long time. I know the narrative can be traumatic but it also has these incredible moments that just feel you with awe (like Todo turning up to help Yuji fight or seeing Gojo do hollow purple for the first time) it just reminded me of everything I love about anime.

2. My first real fandom, the first thing I wrote proper fanfiction for. The lore and the music and the animation just amazed me when I saw it when I was 11 and I've not been happy with decisions they've made recently (overpriced merch in a cost of living crisis, NFTs to celebrate Plastic Beach?!?) I'll still always love them and be excited for new content.

3. First anime love, first time seeing a relationship with two women helping me to identify as bi (now I'd say pan) I grew up believing that to be a strong woman you had to disregard femininity and seeing Usagi be the strongest with her bunny drawings and her focus on friendship and love just rewired my brain.

4. I love horror, I was brought up with it but for a very long time nothing has scared me and I found horror media repetitive. Outlast genuinely scared me and I was SO happy and I love reading the character notes and comics.

5. I've talked about this series a bunch but A Marvellous Light was the first book I'd read in years that made me cry and just stayed in my head for ages. Everything I'd loved about harry potter but done properly.

6. I was at a sleepover at a friend's and someone stuck this on and everyone was talking and I was just glued to the screen because what the FUCK WAS THIS?!?!? I've watched it since with my husband and it still hits me so hard every time. It's such a powerful portrayal of depression and nihilism and how relationships can fuck you up. It's beautiful and I think it's one of the best anime's of all time.

7. The opposite of neon Genesis lol. Love and family and forgiveness and what it means to sacrifice for the people you care about. Devoured brotherhood with my husband and we were both in tears by the end of it. I'd also been told I couldn't have kids and we had struggled with a miscarriage and Izumi and Sig just hit me so hard. (I have a bub now tho it came out ok in the end) but the characters still feel so real and there's so many amazing moments.

8. I listened to all of this and played Minecraft with my husband till like 6 am on weekends. We would discuss at length our theories and it just holds a special place in my heart. It's perfect horror and John and Martin's relationship just means a lot to me. I related a LOT to Martin and loved the series and I've super been enjoying the Magnus Protocol too! Also that first fucking recording of Nikola Orsinov?!?!? We both sat still staring at each other genuinely freaked the fuck out and we still quote it at each other! "I mean, you can if you really want to, but you’re not going to like it." CHILLS EVERY FUCKING TIME!!!

9. I read a lot of BL manga with my friends (*old lady voice* back in my day we called it Yaoi!!!) And so many of them had terrible tropes and big hands. This was the first one I ever read that I still adore that had an amazing love story and plot. It was revolutionary to see an LGBTQ story not just about them being gay or coming out but it had real detective cases and murders etc and I still wish we could get a tv show of it.

10. When Gojo talked about Digimon I fell even further in love. It's the fucking best. I wanted to be Mimi so BAD as a kid my mum made me a Halloween costume of her and I thought I was so cool. My next tattoo is gonna be Lilymon. I grew up with it in the dub and it established my sense of humour for better or worse. The Digimon film is still my comfort film of choice. Matt was such a big crush I had when I was little and I wrote little stories about being one of the digidestined.

Those are my top 10!!!!

[screenmaven]

Films I’ve Loved This Year

I have already written reviews on some of them (not seen in this post), that you can already read here. So make sure to also do that.

I’m completely laid out in bed extremely sick, I thought between the delusional fevers, bomb exploding headaches, and literally feeling like I’m dying, I’d share the other films I’ve absolutely enjoyed watching this year.

I started up a separate account via Instagram to just post film, but having multiples is beginning to be too much, so from now on any other film content aside from the blog here will be on @ starrymayx.

So to start off the list here we go…

These 90s “Noir” films started my whole new movie Escapades, and I’m so glad they did -

Bad Influence, Guilty As Sin, Pacific Heights, Whispers in The Dark, Dream Lover, Untamed Heart, White Palace

Here are the others…

Thrashin - 1986

Starring: Josh Brolin, Pamela Gidley

Brooke McCarter (RIP homie), Sherilyn Fenn, Robert Rusler, & Josh Richman

Anthony Kiedis + RHCP

Tony Hawk, Kevin Staab, Mike McGill, Jimmy Star

What I liked: There was so much awesomeness in this film and a feel good story of triumph. Basically it’s about two skateboarding gangs, having beef, mix in lots of skating, graffiti, punk rock aesthetics, and a love story, and you have yourself a pretty badass film. Plus they overcome their rivalry in the LA Massacre challenge, and there’s even several rat tails. 🤣 Definitely worth a watch!

I really wish I could skateboard. I would have been so rad. To all my skater friends and Bo’s over the years, mad respect. 🤘🏻

The House on Sorority Row - 1983

Director: Mark Rosman

I swear Scream Queens was influenced by this film.

I really liked it. Loved the lighting, still had a seventies type feel, storyline was really good. Definitely a film to check out if you like really good horror, without all the super special effects.

*For any strobe light sensitive people* like myself out there, there is a scene where it’s wild,

Pump Up The Volume ✊🏻 1990

Director Allan Moyle

This movie is 🔥 Definitely a pioneer for all things talk radio but from a non-narrative perspective. Films like this and indie radio programs paved the way for our now podcasts. I loved the way it was written, the development of the characters personal selves, and breaking the rules.

I love me some Christian Slater 💓

The soundtrack is also amazing!

From Richard Hell, Leonard Cohen, Beastie Boys, Ice T, & more! I’ll link the soundtrack in my stories.

*trigger warning: there is a scene that deals with suicide and those scenes always get me. So I wanted to mention that.

Out of Bounds - 1986

Director- Richard Tuggle

Cinematography - Bruce Surtees

Starring: Anthony Michael Hall

Siouxsie and the Banshees 🤘🏻💓

& Meatloaf (in like 3 scenes)

What I liked: The cinematography of downtown LA & Venice Beach California, (actually the whole film is beautifully done). The 80’s colors, Dizz’s home, her style. The fact that Anthony Michael Hall was a badass hero, taking down a heroin drug man with his knife throwing skills. Really good film.

2 Days in The Valley - 1996

Written and Directed by: John Herzfeld.

Starring: James Spader, Eric Stolz & Charlize Theron

Synopsis: 48 hours of intersecting lives and crimes in The Valley of Los Angeles.

Why I liked it: Artsy Cinematography, James Spader obviously, and the correlation of numerous parties all being connected, going through individual stuff but being thrown into the mix of chaos. Plus sunglasses just seem to add viable cred to it. Why are sunglasses so cool yet mysterious?

Shampoo - 1975

Director: Hal Ashby

Starting Julie Christie, Goldie Hawn, & Warren Beatty

I throughly enjoyed this film mainly due to the Jim Morrison/Sharon Tate style vibes it gave off throughout, and all the stylish decor/fashion. The Morrison looking guy played by (Warren Beatty) is basically a lover to many of his women hair clients (he does hair).

I really appreciate the 70’s swank and aesthetic appeal in this film. I’m also obsessed with Julie Christie’s glam Tate starlet look and I wish I could pull off bangs! Goldie Hawn is also in here and a younger Carrie Fisher.

From the 70s eye shadow, purple outfit I want, the main girls style, glamorous hair, river grotto, la house party with body paint and strobe lights (which that part I had to turn away - sensitive), it still rocked.

Based in the LA canyon/hills it’s definitely worth a watch to see the web of desire and aesthetic unfold. Keep your eye out for the creepy art in one of the scenes that just didn’t quite belong. 😳

Additionally there was some dialogue between two parties in the kitchen about questioning the lead male’s (hairstylist) orientation, and the f word was used a couple times. Didn’t like that part.

Really glad we’ve evolved on how we should identify people and what’s right to say and not to. A person can be gay or even not, but using derogatory terminology to hurt them is very low par. If you still do that. Stop.

Chopping Mall - 1986

Director: Jim Wynorski

Mall Location: Sherman Oaks Galleria

I loved this film. For reals.

Nothing better than a mall unleashing new technology security robots, only to go horribly wrong. Which I already knew where it was going as soon as it started 😂

Anyways a group of mall employee friends and two others throw a party in a bedding home store and get freaky - typical 80s horror, which I love. Then basically the robots go crazy and savage, hunting down all of them in a terminator/stranger things vibe kind of way. The aesthetic, 80s style, and scenery are very appealing, all the way down to even the playboy underwear from Miss Virgina Slims herself. Camel ciggs just won’t cut it. 😂

Lots of greats here, and I hope you check them out if you haven’t seen them.

Happy Filming 😘

[skullsobs]

my long and overcomplicated opinion on saw x (spoilers obvs)

1. Ignoring the plot and everything this movie was so pretty. Like the cinematography is so nice and it felt really well edited. It looked like a saw movie still but had a lot more money & time put into it. Especially since I saw it in theaters it looked particularly pretty

2. It stays true to the aesthetic of saw (for the most part :P) and it didn't feel super out of place. The only thing that felt off was John being in the good? Or at least seeming to be a good person by the narrative & how much screentime he got in the beginning.

3. MANDYYYYYYY oh my God Im so happy w how she was written in this movie I love her I'm going to kiss her she means the world to me

4. Epic bad luck

5. I think the overall story for the film works out and is relatively simple while being realistic in saw terms. It's interesting without being outlandish (unlike some other additions)

6. The twist got me of couuurrseee and it felt decently clever this time. Literally was on the edge of my seat during the whole thing. It's saw so you have to suspend your disbelief a little but this time it didn't feel as unrealistic as some of the twists.

7. I'm actually not that upset that hoffman was only in one midcredits scene. Having just John and Amanda in the game in Mexico made it so their interactions were more significant.

8. Fav trap was the eyeball vacuum!!!! While not technically a real trap I liked it the most :3

9. Amanda needs to stop having the most painful relationships with women it is tearing me apart. How she relates to Gabriela but can't let it get to her. She needs to be able to work like John, but her past keeps coming back to her. LET HER LIVE HAPPILY I CANT TAKE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

10. Billy :) that's all I'm just happy to see him again

11. My main critiques of the film are: it's a prequel so some of the tension is kinda lost imo (like whether John and Amanda will make it out alive bcs...they have to lol in order to have saw 2 & 3 happen) and it feels really difficult to try and paint John as a hero or some sort of moral person. That could be misreading the intent of the film, but idk I just can't take it seriously when John & Amanda & Carlos are walking out of the building at the end of the movie like they've Saved The Day meanwhile in the next film chronologically John throws all those people in the gas house y'know? But with that said I kinda see the intention. John isn't a good person, clearly he puts all the con artists in their traps ffs, but I think this film is just trying to define the shakey walls that John works within. He's cruel, but he doesn't kill the innocent.

12. Also take all of this with a grain of salt I'm still in the post movie bliss where I don't see all the issues yet lol

Tldr; good saw film 👍 8/10

[manuscripts-dontburn]

How to Kill Your Family

Author: Bella Mackie

First published: 2021

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

I went into this expecting something dark and funny. What I got was tedious and pretentious. And I actually felt the basic human pity for those the super awful main character (who thinks she arte all the wisdom, good taste and tragic aura in the world, and she hates every single living being) actually murdered. Not thrilling, not funny, but I guess I stayed with it and finished it so 2 stars it is. May lower the rating later.

Florence and Giles

Author: John Harding

First published: 2010

Rating: ★★★★☆

Excellent step taken into the autumn reading mood, accompanied by some serious gothic vibes

The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland

Author: Jim DeFede

First published: 2002

Rating: ★★★☆☆

With the sad anniversary of 9/11 coming up, I finally picked this book up. 9/11 was a traumatic experience for the whole Western world and reading about how people reacted to it on the other side of the planet felt curiously similar to what I remember feeling (even though I was actually the one on the other side of the world) when I watched the live broadcast of the twin towers falling. And so the first few chapters hit me like a ton of bricks. The heartwarming response of the people of Gander is something I have never heard about before. Unfortunately, the latter half of the book, when the narrative becomes a description of how several passengers made their way out of Gander to their own homes, mostly felt lacking and I kept drifting off. Perhaps because I have experienced being put on 5 different planes and being flown all over Europe because my original flight had been canceled for no reason, and so I did not find the long and tiresome traveling to be particularly interesting - or even essential in the story of the kindness of Gander.

How High We go in the Dark

Author: Sequoia Namagatsu

First published: 2022

Rating: ★★★★☆

A book about a deadly pandemic and a more than bleak vision of how people might react to it, profit from it and even even embrace it as a way of life. What might lie ahead for those who survive? Naturally, this slim novel about an untimely death, and social and climatic upheaval is both tragically sad and utterly terrifying. I must admit that the first three chapters felt like a clear punch into an infected wound, knocking my breath out and leaving me in tears, yet somehow, as the characters in other chapters became more and more numb to the situation, I too felt like in a vacuum of perpetual grief that could no longer shake me. Personally, I was not the biggest fan of the ultimate revelation, but this is definitely an impressive dystopian novel.

The Betrayal of Anne Frank: A Cold Case Investigation

Author: Rosemary Sullivan

First published: 2022

Rating: ★★★☆☆

The book presents an interesting new hypothesis and describes some of the intriguing past suggestions about who betrayed the people in the "back annex", but since no smoking gun has been uncovered a little more humility and certainty in that presentation would have been wise.

You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight

Author: Kalynn Bayron

First published: 2023

Rating: ★★★★☆

Not my usual genre (I rarely read slasher horror and contemporary settings tend to bore me), but I must admit this was pretty great. Fast, no bullshitting around, definitely made me uncomfortable in that "I need to read on" way. The only little complaint I have is the fact that the second half of the last page should not have happened.

Femina

Author: Janina Ramírez

First published: 2022

Rating: ★★★★★

Janina Ramírez asks this: What if the women in the middle ages were not powerless, but instead merely (or intentionally) written out of history? And she gives an answer that is fascinating and more than satisfactory. An excellent book that offers a new view of what, it would seem, were not exactly the dark ages the historians of the 19th century would have had us believe.

A Day of Fallen Night

Author: Samantha Shannon

First published: 2023

Rating: ★★★☆☆

This took an unreasonably long time to get really interesting, even for such a long book with so many characters (out of whom, quite naturally, some are simply more fun to read about than others). But it did have its powerful moments, especially in its latter half and I enjoyed some of the twists and turns that were employed very much. I wish more editing had been done, since way too many chapters are nothing but thinking and talking about traveling, but showing little of the reactions and actions taken "in real time" rather than just retrospect.

Godkiller

Author: Hannah Kaner

First published: 2023

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Gorgeous cover was what made me buy this and I am not ashamed to admit it. The second half is really what gives you your money´s worth. However, up until our characters managed to get themselves into a ruined city full of hungry gods, it all felt very "read that a hundred times over" feeling. Still, if you persevere, this debut fulfills its promise. And pisses you off, because it ends at one of those annoying cliffhangers, that should just not be allowed. Even if a book is a part of a series, it should feel like a complete adventure, IMO.

Tajemství: neskutečný příběh Anežky České

Author: Tereza Dobiášová

First published: 2021

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Kniha má velice chyt��e vymyšlený název: neskutečný příběh. tedy žádná klamavá reklama. A dlouho, dlouho jsem se snažila být otevřená myšlence, že není nutné vykreslovat skutečnou historii. Ve skutečnosti mi byl pokus prodchnout historii mytologií více než sympatický. Ale asi by bylo lepší, kdyby postava, za kterou se hlavní hrdinka v této publikaci obléká, nebyla ve skutečnosti tak fascinující a silná jako Anežka Přemyslovna. Na nějakou dobu jsem dokázala i překousnout, jak naprosto nepochopené je v této knize křesťanství (pro téma Anežky zcela zásadní) a je rozmělněno naším moderním sentimentem o tom, že Bůh je všechno v přírodě (opět - dalo by se s tím pořád pracovat, protože příroda a vše v ní je dílem Božím), ale když pak nastal královský incest a hlavní hrdinka začala obcovat na Petříně s králem bramborových lidí, myslela jsem si, že mi pukne hlava. Autorka má nepochybně literární talent, pro mě osobně bylo však toto příliš rozpačité. Ještě musím dodat, že vstup Anežky do kláštera, omluvený jako útěk před realitou, je políčkem do tváře skutečné Anežce a jejímu odkazu.

The Alice Network

Author: Kate Quinn

First published: 2017

Rating: ★★★☆☆

I thought that for the most part this was a fairly good book, especially since my experience of American women writing about European history has been less than satisfying. Unfortunately, the author made a choice to completely dull out the climax with needless closing chapters. I also believe that making all the main characters as innocent as fallen snow, rather than having them learn to overcome guilt and trauma (or not), made the story less believable and ultimately less interesting.

Lore Olympus: volume one

Author: Rachel Smythe

First published: 2021

Rating:  ★★★☆☆

Cute but ultimately the art style made my eyes hurt with the harsh contrasting colours and I have read way too many great variations of the Greek myths for this to leave a truly lasting impact.

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries

Author: Heather Fawcett

First published: 2023

Rating: ★★★★★

Complete and utter delight, a perfect comfort read for autumn and winter months. Whimsical, funny, and way too relatable for introverts. Also, Wendell Bambleby is the best literary character name since Lucy Honeychurch.

[svartalfhild]

Svar Watches BBC Robin Hood for the First Time - Season 3

Some of you may have seen my reactions to Season 1 and Season 2, well, here's the epic conclusion:

Well I can tell you right off the bat that the production, especially the costumes, have gotten a major glow-up, holy shit.

Damn we're starting off in a dark place. I mean, I guess I expected that, but even so.

It's been 5 minutes and I already miss Will and Djaq.

Guy is so unhinged now and it hurts my heart, but it's so interesting to watch. Also, the costuming glow-up and Armitage doing his thing means that Guy is now, in some respects, even hotter than before. For this to really get out of hand for me, though, he has to get a good redemption arc. That would just be top👌tier👌shit👌. I have no goddamn clue how that could happen at this point, though. Won't hold my breath.

So now that Marian is fucking dead and Djaq is off having her happily ever after with Will, I'm guessing Tuck is going to be the new voice of reason.

Ohoho Guy going Fuck Everything Actually But Especially The Sheriff And Also My Life with maximum emo is fucking zesty.

I like Kate. Her being a love interest for Much is a bit out of left field, but I could be into it if the narrative does the work to sell it.

Man, the real villain in this show is toxic masculinity.

I love how every time a recurring female character is grieving, Little John is like "hello, I'm your emotional support giant".

Lara Pulver???? Fuck yeah!

Holy shit she's Guy's sister????? And she's Robin's new love interest???? That's a spicy meatball.

Gotta say, Guy, being shitty to your sister is rapidly losing you attractiveness points.

OH MY GOD GUY ACTUALLY GOT TO STAB THE SHERIFF I AM LIVING YES BITCH KILL YOUR ABUSER!!!!

Aw dunk he's still alive. Boo. Well, either way, Guy has fallen out of the hands of one abuser into another, who has even more power.

Toby Stephens as Prince John is brilliant. He's so flighty and detestable. And pathetic in the way that only rich men are. This is reminding me of the tantrums of the bird app destroyer.

So I see from Isabella's behaviour with Robin that getting overly attached to the first person who's nice to them is a Gisborne family trait. Also going all super backstabby survival mode when they get put in a tight spot.

Meg is fucking great and I am so here for the women-supporting-women of her introduction. I want her to be besties with Isabella, even though Isabella is duplicitous af (albeit kinda understandably so).

So, uh, fuck Thornton. It was bad enough hearing from Isabella that he's awful, but now that we get to see him, I am absolutely revolted.

Oh, oh, I love watching Meg call Guy the fuck out for his, well, everything, and he just has to sit there and take it cause they're in prison. Get his ass, girl.

Wait...oh my god...oh my god IS GUY ACTUALLY GONNA HAVE A REDEMPTION ARC???? YOU'RE KIDDING HOLY SHIT POP ALL THE BOTTLES LADS

Aw...aw, Meg. I'm crying with you, Guy. T_T

The way Isabella started this season with "I'm nothing like my brother; there's nothing about him that I want to be" and then she proceeded to become exactly like her brother.

God, the cinematic parallels between Guy and Isabella are so strong and so tragic. Both abused, both prone to thinking in extremes, both trying so desperately to protect themselves and making all the wrong choices. But it's interesting how Isabella is descending into evil the same way Guy did the moment she's given a crumb of power by an evil man, while Guy is trying to be better after hitting rock bottom and getting told what's what by a mouthy peasant girl.

Kate turning out to actually be Robin's love interest is honestly a bit boring, but predictable, I suppose.

Damn, that Backstory™ episode was wild and soapy as fuck but it sure did some heavy lifting with the plot to get Robin and Guy united at last. A fucking half-brother between them named Archer. Jesus christ.

Guy's father being a leper kinda brings new context to the Sheriff derisively calling Marian a leper all of the time. Must have been a real twist in the gut every time Guy heard it.

Robin and Guy going to rescue Archer is giving Thor and Loki "get help" energy and I love it so much. More of this please.

So I see being a tricky little bastard and a romantic is something Archer shares with his siblings.

Oh my god the symbolism of Guy riding a white horse now.

Aw, Allan. T_T So it's a Boromir end for you, huh.

I'm scared to watch the finale because I just know it's going to hurt my heart somehow. Let Guy stab the Sheriff again, please?

GUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUYYYYYY *INCOHERENT SCREAMING AND CRYING*

"I lived in shame, but because of you, I die proud and free." I WILL NEVER BE OKAY AGAIN!!!!!!!! T_T

Yes, blow everything the fuck up. Die, assholes.

And there goes Robin too. God, I'll just be sobbing for the next several minutes, thanks.

Thank you for coming on this journey with me. I hope you enjoyed my screaming and crying. I hope you went "ohohoho just you wait girl" every time I saw or didn't see a twist coming.

[thej320]

Week 2: The Work of Representation/Interpreting Media

How a sign can be interpreted differently in media

Signs are not a part of a fixed system; they are not defined universally. Everyone can interpret a sign or a gesture differently. Usually, this difference is constructed as cultures, language and norms vary. A pattern we will see is how social and cultural backgrounds shape the interpretation of an event and why the role of the viewer is so critical. A recent example of this is the double standard surrounding Iowa's Caitlin Clark and LSU's Angel Reese. During this year’s March Madness, these two players went viral for using the gesture “You can’t see me.” Caitlin Clark initially made this gesture after she made her sixth three-pointer of the night against Louisville (Henderson). Overall, the gesture was well-received, and she even got a congratulations from John Cena (the originator of the gesture) after the game.

The narrative began to shift as Angel Reese recreated this gesture during the women’s NCAA tournament. Although the gesture was the same, the media interpreted it much differently. Angel Reese got criticized for “taunting” Caitlin Clark and being “classless.” Many viewers felt that Reese displayed “ugly sportsmanship” and this was a reflection of LSU’s head coach, Kim Mulkey (Salvador). The narrative quickly received Clark as a hero and Reese as a villain. However, some viewers noticed the double standard being formed and encouraged people to see the bias behind it. What were people’s reaction saying about their individual backgrounds? Meg Linehan says, “If you celebrated Clark for doing this but not Angel Reese you got to take a long, long look in the mirror.” Linehan is referring to the racial bias that is being revealed through people’s reaction and the common stereotype of black women as “aggressive” or “angry.” Angel Reese shares “I don’t fit in the box that you all want me to be in. I’m too hood, I’m too ghetto. You told me that all year. But when other people do it, y’all don’t say nothing.” Reese herself criticizes the narrative that has been surrounding her. Overall, signs can be interpreted in many ways. In this case, the gesture was interpreted as “competitive” or “classless.” Many have pinpointed this difference as a reflection of racial bias and individual background. 

PART 2:

How the NCAA's Women's basketball tournaments created a discourse that reconditioned our regimes of truth

Growing up, I watched a lot of basketball. More specifically, I watched a lot of march madness. In my house, it was the busiest month of the year. My dad worked for the NBA draft and year after year I sat on the couch with him watching these pivotal games. I never once watched a women’s basketball game. 

Men’s basketball was dominant and in the world of basketball, women were often discredited. Forbes reports that in 2020, the average NBA player made five million dollars, whereas the average WNBA player made 120k. This pays difference reflects the lower ticket sales, lower attendance, and lower viewership in the WBNA. It was the reality and “regime of truth” that the NBA was more successful and entertaining. 

This was until this year’s March Madness and the discourse surrounding it. For the first time, the Women’s title game received more viewers than the men’s (Porter). The women’s tournaments more than doubled its viewership. Many credit this to Caitlin Clark and her rise to super star status. The media coverage on her has been outstanding and she has taken over popularity on all platforms. Even if people started watching because of their interest in her, they learn more about the game and the other dominant players that are leading women’s basketball right now. Caitlin Clark has announced that she is declaring for the WNBA draft. This is monumental and means so many great things to come for the sport. She has left a lasting legacy and a promising future for the NCAA tournaments, but is going to bring her determination and skill into the WNBA which will hopefully cut some of these disparities. Men’s basketball may have sustained their dominance, but the future is promising, and change is on the way. For most, that change is Caitlin Clark. 

References:

[cuetzpalin1234]

Chicano report back on International Day Against Police Brutality

Today is Friday March 15, 2024. It is International Day Against Police Brutality. Yesterday on Thursday March 14th, I decided to write this piece since there are several things going on this month. March marks Women’s Herstory Month, Social Work Month, the Cesear Chavez March, the historic Chicano blowouts, and so much more. This day also marks the 2-year anniversary of the murder of Kevin Johnson by police. It happened in March of 2022. If you are new to the story, you can find out the details here: Man killed by SAPD officers shot 12 times, including 8 times in the back, autopsy shows (ksat.com). However, I must say that the capitalist media has never been the greatest source of information. If you are familiar with Malcolm X you can remember he was quoted saying, “If you’re not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.”

What happened to Kevin Johnson is a case and point. We can see another case and point currently going on right now with Palestine. They are portraying the colonized Palestinians who are the oppressed as the villain or terrorist and the Israeli Zionist colonizers who are the oppressor as the hero and victim.

Since we have been conditioned for some time now by the capitalist system, their narrative almost always goes unquestioned because people believe the working poor (working class) and “criminal” class (lumpen proletariat) are elements that should be looked down upon society. Whether it is within or without those classes, there are people out there who willingly advance reactionary ideas that were developed by the capitalist system to criminalize those very two classes.

According to Romero (2001), “Characterization of this population as super predators is socially constructed through a racial lens-the lens that reflects the images of White middle-class youth as “our” children and Indigenous/Latino (& African) adolescent males as violent, inherently dangerous and endangering” (p. 1084). Based on my research I found that John DiLulio was the “academic” proponent behind calling inner city youth “super-predators” and he described those very same youth as “growing up surrounded by deviant, delinquent, and criminal adults in chaotic, dysfunctional, fatherless, Godless, and jobless settings” (Romero, 2001). Is it any wonder why the following people who were also murdered by the police were portrayed the same way to the public? Marquise Jones, Charles Roundtree, Andre Hernandez, Norman Cooper, Jesse Aguirre, Darryl Zemault, Eric Mejia, Damian Daniels, Antronie Scott, and the list goes on unfortunately.

All this capitalist propaganda and/or "Copaganda" we see when something like this happens is designed to keep us from the truth and justice. The truth is the masses of working African and Indigenous people or even so-called gangs or street organizations are not the main problems that we face. Of course, everyone bears responsibility for keeping these reactionary ideas going, which is why I am involved in an organization working for justice to see that these ideas are checked. We should be directing our attention to the African and Indigenous/Latino/Hispanic petit bourgeoisie. The majority in that class who were not involved in the struggle benefit from the sacrifices made by people involved in social movements struggling for liberation. They don’t want us to focus on how they got to those positions off the backs of the masses of people, those two classes mentioned before. They don’t want us to focus on how it was the masses who pushed the capitalist system to allow programs to be created to have an African and Indigenous petit bourgeoise, which for the system meant protecting its interests and keeping the masses in check.

You can see this play out in the case of Kevin Johnson. After the day Kevin was killed by police there were news reports following the reaction from the police and the community. If you pay attention, you can see that the strategy of pacification was implemented. Just like how Malcolm X described the difference between the field slave and the house slave on the plantation. The slave master would use the house slave to keep the masses of field slaves in check when they would rebel. Just like when the community righteously rebelled against those officers for killing their family member, their brother, their friend. The capitalist media busts out the house slave, but this time it's the Black over seer. Former San Antonio law enforcement officer looks to bridge relations between police and community (ksat.com) This ex-police officer stated, "The community has gotten afraid of the police and, I believe the police became afraid of the community". When cops are not blatantly using their brute force under the "Iron Fist" approach, they are using community policing model as another tool under the guise of the "Velvet Glove" approach to infiltrate our communities to keep us from becoming militant.

Please don't take this out of context. The masses wanted us to gain knowledge and skills that would benefit our movement for justice. So, we must not avoid attending college, but we must become more conscious about our situation here in the US because it affects us politically, socially, culturally, and economically. For more context and background just look up the Kerner Commission report: 1968 Kerner Commission Report | Othering & Belonging Institute (berkeley.edu)

It is time to start challenging the dominant narrative and creating our own platforms to share our narrative so we can tell our own side of the story without it being coopted or watered down. The problem is too many people do not want to get involved in an organization working for justice for whatever reason they may have. I am always down to meet people where they are at, but we must challenge those reactionary ideas when they come up in our work. Most working-class people today are not class conscious. Instead of uniting together to defeat the capitalists to build a better society they want to be involved in that system and milk it as much as possible.  The criminal class whether it be from the African or Indigenous community is designed to exploit the people instead of uniting with the masses of their people to try and find collective solutions to the problems which come from the system that sets them up to be outlaws. If you understand how capitalism works you understand these paradoxes because the masses of people are propagandized in a certain way to see how the world operates and appears to be. This means we cannot hold our people in contempt. We must hold the capitalist system in contempt. We have to go beyond just being anti-racist. We must be anti-capitalist, anti-patriarchal, and anti-colonial. Why does this system allow a criminal class to exist in the first place? To keep us from organizing and fighting back against it. It serves the adversaries of the masses of our people. Just look at all the drugs coming into the community, for example. Just look at who makes up the masses of people who are incarcerated. That is why the so-called criminal justice system makes sure to keep crime going among our people. We tend to leave the system of capitalism outside of the analysis, thus always placing blame on the very same people who are being held in the grip of that system. Take for example, the 1033 program that is being implemented as we speak or the Project Safe Neighborhoods program. Did you know that these programs even existed? Do you know anything about them? If you do your research, you will understand that the situations people are put into like those mentioned above are not random. People are being systematically targeted. Particularly, the African and Indigenous community.

Thinking about brother Malcom’s words I thought to myself if people here are consuming news or information that is providing a narrative that is bought and paid for by big multi-national corporations then that must mean why so many people are so miss informed about so many things that are and should be important to us. This is why so many people must hear what reactionary entertainers have to say about our problems, or even your local/national news giving only a tip of the iceberg level of analysis if any instead of asking the hard questions and looking at the root of the problem. Fear is used to control us. It makes the masses afraid and portrays actual revolutionaries and revolutionary organizations on the frontlines bringing you information based on truth and justice as violent and loveless. This is how the system keeps us divided and dependent. It is love that guides us revolutionaries not hate. Join an organization working for justice today!

[maiaszecket-grad604-2023]

W8 - AGI Open 2023

On Monday I had the privilege of attending the Alliance Graphique Internationale with a free ticket from AUT! This was a super exciting opportunity and I walked away from it with lots of insights and ideas (and freebies). Below are the notes I made for (most) speakers, a well as some highlights which I will expand on further:

Day 1 - 18/09/23

Taku Satoh

Hodo hodo - just enough

Balance and elegance when just right

Furoshiki

Everything in moderation

Knowing when to stop

Leave room for things to resonate

Water-based glue

Changing the rep of chewing gum so packaging design cannot look like gum

Astrid Stavro

Leap before you look

Curiosity and doubt

Eli wiesel

Interview magazine

Penguin education - type as image

Grid notepads

Fear and making mistakes

Dont work for money

Azimuth festival - saudi arabi

Keep it simple stupid

Starting over

Irene Pereyra

Anton & irene ux

To seel something new, make it familiar and to sell something familiar, make it new

M+ museum - hong kong

We judge usability by its beauty and aesthetics

Atm interface study

Aesthetic usability effect

We dont mind making the effort

Shantelle martin

Henrik Kubel

Important to have a clear brief in kahoots with client

Paul Garbett

Seeing things book

We create whatever we observe

Paredolia - seeing faces in things, seeing meaninful images in objects and patterns

Presence - paying attention with intention

The act of observation is an act of creativity

Dean Poole

Nz’s elemental nature

Raw sophistication

Humanism

Culturistic rituals

Meaning in materials

Doesnt have to be loud

Design is about making decisions

Diecut leaves

Tracing shapes in landscape photography

Southern hemisphere snowman

Good shit soda

Ahn Sang-soo

Gaphis magazine

Anthropocene

PATI - students are taught to design their own lives and let their lives be completed by design

Pur ideas should stem from our hands

Elongate design by bodily experience

Just play!

A flower flourishes, spring comes

Alejandro Paul

Roma cafe in buenos aires

Balneario

Inspiration - travel - photography

Varietta

Rigatoni - bodoni

Sudtipos design agency

Paul Boudens

Fun is fundamental

Eddie Opara

The landcape, origin, history, life around really is what egins a bespoke desing process

Rectilinnear

The Joslyn, scott Pavilliam, hawks

Each building only uses the typeface desinged for it

Also desinging glyphs for omaha-ponca - native american language of the region

Animations

Regenerative narratives

Book Showcase

James Goggin

Ubi sunt

Titus kphar ted talk

Redaction.us - free typeface

Irony of this typeface being used in the legal system - unauthorised

Book is soft-bound bc hardcover still considered contraband in prisons

Cold glue vs hot glue

Minmin Qu + Qian Jiang

Stuart Geddes

Need to take advantage of books that are thick enough to write sideways on the spine

Jumping He

Carpets from art

Designing the life cycle of a book - another reading

Arch MacDonnell

Inhouse design

Books with john reynolds - “cloud of new zealand language”

Climate change - apocalypse o’clock

I want you to panic

Nikki Gonnissen

Thonik

Phil bloom - first naked woman on int. Tv

Inspirational women

Day 2 - 19/09/23

Paula Scher

marking something recognised + understood

silk-screen theatre posters

Public Theatre

page of scribbles - type made from scribbles

'banal'

digital, moving billboards

dingbat/scribble 'library' to use in system

find something and run with it

Stefan Sagmeister

the critic with bad news is seen as smarter than the critic with good news

embedding blocks of statistics in old paintings

mosaic insects on bike path

kids' hospital tunnels - Toronto

Now is Better - book

design should have a function

Lars Müller

Super Normal - book

sensations of the normal

Thomas Widdershoven

Thonik

the power of design

social

strategic

experimental

best iconic building award for their studio

Yah-Leng Yu

how do you get people to come into your museum?

look at the city - what do people like doing?

drawing the people of Singapore like to shop, so give them something they can shop for

what makes something look childish?

Kris Sowersby

Matarongo typeface with Johnson Witehira

Tatai Kapu Toi = typography

type is so subtle

distilling the essence of a rich culture and history into type

glyphs = wh, ng in cap-cap, cap-lower, lower-lower

Jonathan-Castro Alejos

Peru -> Netherlands

Panel

nomads set free + being a tourist

taking on international clients

cultural sensitivity

global climate

global market

country's politics

country's history

balance between corporate/client projects and projects that we do for ourselves

making money vs making things that make you happy

student = authenticity, purity

graduating = getting corrupted

how to stay relevant

where would you go first upon landing in a country where you don't know anyone and you don't speak the language?

Kenya Hara

'un-know the world'

using squares + circles to make sense of the universe

Re Design - daily products of the 21st century

long-life design

becoming

visualise + awaken

rhetorical figures

fruits disguised as other fruits

make things unknown and visualise it

muji

"frugal, but not feeling inferior to luxury"

muji 'concept' applied to other things

humans + cleaning

global vs local

"architecture must be the interpreter of the richness of the land"

cream knit turtleneck with yellow edges -> like working military gloves

mango (clothing brand) book

Stanley Wong

AnotherMountainMan

MTR: 'there are some things in life you can always count on'

Asaba's Diary - posters!

self-talking

"time will tell" - Einstein

creativity x values x time

Ariane Spanier

known knowns

known unknowns

unknown knowns

the free brief

feelings mixer app - Heavy Mental

colour

Fukt magazine

having facial blindness and drawing portraits

Highlights

It was really neat to see how real designers are always using what they know and what they are good at to influence their design process, no matter if it is a commercial or personal project. It was comforting to me to see that there doesn't always have to be this immense pressure to try something that you don't know anything about, or that you aren't good at, just for the sake of going out of your comfort zone. Although this is useful and can really expand a designer's horizons, it is not always necessary to be uncomfortable at all stages of a design process. Drawing on your interests and strengths is also a good way to create a successful outcome.

The calibre of presentations were top tier - they were engaging and 'guided your eye', and embodied all the tips we go over in class, such as limiting the number of words on a slide.

I was pleased at how this international conference still allowed for freedom of the hosting country to incorporate any necessary traditions or honours that are encouraged in that country. The conference opened with a Mihi and Waiata, which communicated to me that it was important for Alt Group and AGI to create a safe Māori space.

Kris Sowersby's talk was a huge highlight of mine. He broke down a new typeface that his is collaborating on with Johnson Witehira, called Matarongo. It was fascinating to see their process (iteration on iteration on iteration), right from the deep, rich research they did through to the varied typefaces that were created. So many things were considered - lower/upper case, sans/serif, extra glyphs, etc. I found that I gained a whole new appreciation for typography through watching his talk.

[ramrodd]

Voting rights attorney: Trump is 'simply not eligible for the ballot in ...

COMMENTARY:

This is exactly correct. Trump created treason to get elected in 2016. He continued to conduct that agenda throughout his administration , with the intent of overthrowing the US Constitution and becoming the objective of the John Birch Society since 1960, the clone of Joe McCarthy who would become dictator. Moscow Mitch prevented the exact nature of Grump's relationship to the Russians who hacked Clinton's campaign analytics he used to game the Electoral College. He admitted this live on camera within 48 hors of the election, It was a Billy Bush moment for Trump without Billy Buch.

Before January 6, Trump's unilateral and spontaneous surrender to the Taliban struck me as a particularly cynical reelection strategy. Since January 6, the betrayal of Afghan women is merely collateral damage Trump intended to create as a pretext for pulling out of NATO on John Bolton's recommendation.

This treason is what the "Pee" tapes of the Steele Dossier is all about. British Intelligence knew that Trump had been compromised by someone Russian, but it wasn't clear who that was. The conventional wisdom of the Hillary Clinton Russian narrative, which is re-heated Cold War disinformation favored by the Ivy League Socialism of the John Birch Society. Until the  Mueller Report, it was assumed Putin has Trump by the balls. but not so. It is Trump's Moscow partners in the 2013 Miss Universe Pageant, which includes Merrill Lynch, as legacy of the Wall Sstreet scam Donald T. Regan was setting up at Treasury and in the Oval Office until Nancy fired his ass.

This treason goes back to William F. Buckley and spread like a toxic oil leak into the main stream of the American university system as the Nazification of the Goldwater Conservatives on campus who became members of the Young Americans for Freedom and began to watch Firing Line for Buckley's seminar on winning campus debate with Fascist sophistry. As an example of Fascist sophistsry, everything that was done and said at the GOP debate is the Jerry Springer Show for the Ivy League Socialism of the John Birch Society. Vivek Ramaswamy was the clear winner and the only difference between him and George Santos is that Vivek is an authentic immigrant. All these guys are attached to Trump's treason and Vivek is surfing the emotional wave that begins every time "God Bless the USA" is played at a Pro-Life Fascist prayer meeting.

The Pro-Life Fascism is a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Everything connected with Pat Robertson and DBN  has been an instrument of the anti-Christ. Pat Robertson was using very dangerous witch craft that makes Sainteria little more than using the Ouija board for strip poker. His Death as unleased a toxic spiritual spill of gigantic proportions which CBN is broadcasting all over the world, especially in the American Bible Belt currently under a dangerous heat advisory which is a direct result of the Spirit of the Lord being attracted to the hate and fear and evil of all things Trump.

The Spirit of the Lord actually exists and we can measure it with Paul Krugman's dynamical modeling in Peddling Prosperty. The Spirt of God is a basis for the ontology of Cornelius, universally. The "Why" of the Spirit of the Lord is moot. The Spirit of God IS. Where ever it came from, it is there now and Jesus came into History in order to demonstrate how the Holy Spirit can be employed to  benefit mankind.

Cornelius new Jesus had access to super powers which could be useful in a gun fight. The Gospel of Mark is a record of the method Jesus was using to train his Disciple how to use these powers as servant leaders in the Born Again Law of Moses. Only, He discovered that The Satan was right and the only way to transform human consciousness was to freed the masses, do a death defying stunt and create a new religion, which he handed off to the Romans with the baton of the Talking Cross to bring forward in hisory to the office of the Command Sergeant Major of the Army. The Eucharist is just a literary device to bring the LOGOS forward for the whole world to see. It's the theme of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

But the January 6 Rebellion needs to be seen for the treason it is and the constitutional necessity of impeaching and convicting  by removal Clarence Thomas from SCOTUS. Treason is Treason no matter who it touches.

[longlistshort]

Currently at Paula Cooper Gallery in NYC is Ja’Tovia Gary’s You Smell Like Outside..., an exhibition that centers around her 2023 film, Quiet As It’s Kept, and includes two new sculptures.

From the press release-

The artist continues her practice of interrogating and re-contextualizing multiple archives, concerning herself with the power and responsibility of language and the radical possibilities of narrative. The exhibition title You Smell Like Outside… is a Black Southern phrase that foregrounds the artist’s specific cultural origins with discursive traditions that invoke an interior knowledge. Inspired by Toni Morrison’s 1993 Nobel Laureate lecture, Gary attempts to heighten the contradictions between a living and a dead language. Notions of domesticity, interior and exterior, and the conflict between perception and being perceived are explored in the show.

With a filmic and sculptural language uniquely her own, Gary eloquently intervenes into foundational renderings of Black life to expand the conversation and the possibilities of being. The artist considers what is destabilized when we include the cinematic within the category of language, asserting: “if we are to ensure the future efficacy of storytelling, we must boldly and audaciously insist upon new narrative forms.” Quiet As It’s Kept (2023) is a contemporary response to The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison’s first novel published in 1970. Set in Ohio in 1941, the book is an evocative illustration of the everyday particulars of colorism and its ravaging effects on the intramural. Themes of embodiment, psychoanalysis, and beauty are explored in both the source text and the answering film. Instinctual and eviscerating, the film encourages viewers to make meaning that is rooted in the subjective and examine their position within looking relations.

Following Gary’s critically acclaimed films THE GIVERNY DOCUMENT (2019) and An Ecstatic Experience (2015), Quiet As It’s Kept (2023) is an intimate bricolage of vintage Hollywood, direct animation, original super 8 and 16mm film footage, and documentary conventions. Mediating on the gaze and Black women’s particular embodied realities, Gary also re-contextualizes contemporary social media footage. Creating conceptual links for each viral clip to a character, event, or thematic element from Morrison’s story, the film emphasizes questions around the book’s themes of internalized and externalized anti-blackness in contemporary culture. Situated within an immersive installation with domestic elements, the film asks the viewer to employ an oppositional gaze that allows for narrative structures that run counter to those of the mainstream.

High John de Conquer came to be a man, and a mighty man at that. But he was not a natural man in the beginning. First off, he was a whisper, a will to hope, a wish to find something worthy of laughter and song. Then the whisper put on flesh. [1]

The sculptures in Gary’s Citational Ethics series illuminate the words of Black women through the medium of neon, with the title of each work serving as a citation for the quote. Citational Ethics (Zora Neale Hurston, 1943) cites Zora Neale Hurston’s 1943 essay on High John de Conquer, a Southern folk trickster figure who brought joy, laughter, and strength to enslaved people while continuously evading capture. The sculpture is a vanity mirror set which gestures towards a speculative future past. Comprising a desk, stool, and fan-shaped obsidian mirror, the object invokes the Harlem Renaissance, Art Deco, and southern Black Hoodoo lore. A departure from the previous works in the series, the quote is etched into the highly polished black stone said to bring about visions through gazing, while the furniture is rendered in neon. Drawing the viewer in to read the words written in the mirror while bathed in red light, the sculpture summons an intimate encounter with the self and spirit.

[1] Zora Neale Hurston, “High John de Conquer,” in The American Mercury, October 1943, pp. 450-458

This exhibition closes 3/11/23