#also within this particular timeframe

[anhonestdaysworkcomic]

i've done so much research on medieval farming and all it's gotten me is more questions

[threeacttragedy]

Entry 2 – The One About the Likes

As you will soon figure out, I will be bouncing around from topic to topic. It will all be Lukola-related, of course, but the information and speculation I discuss may not be in any particular order. However, I will add in dates of reference to help organize your thoughts.

In my first post, I mentioned our three fan-types. Because this is only my second entry, I will touch on them again.

The Sincerely Ignorant are those that follow blindly. We all know a Sincerely Ignorant. If you’re the type of person who spirals uncontrollably at the hint of bad news, I’m sorry to tell you this, you’re likely a Sincerely Ignorant. But, don’t run! I want to help calm you the fuck down.

The Conscientiously Stupid are the people who push a narrative without considering other evidence being provided to them. We’re all Conscientiously Stupid from time to time, but this category – at least in my blog – is typically reserved for the Jakholes, the A-Holes, the Anti-Lukes, and now apparently the Anti-Nics. That’s not to say Lukolas are not also Conscientiously Stupid. We are human after all.

The Fact Finders are those that collect information and share it. They may speculate on it, but they do not manipulate it. We simply argue our case and provide the evidence in support of our arguments.

Now jumping into what I wanted to discuss today –

The likes.

The motherfucking likes on Instagram.

My disclaimer today: I am only discussing the likes between Nicola and Luke in this post; however, I will use a third party to put things into perspective. This is intentional. The “adjacent” (I hate that word, by the way) likes are a separate post all on their own – but I’ll summarize it for you because, on the surface (speculation aside), it’s quite black and white. Jake likes Nicola’s posts; Nicola likes Jake’s posts; Antonia likes Luke’s posts; Luke likes Antonia’s posts. Let the meltdowns begin.

Done?

Okay. Back to the likes between Nicola and Luke…

It’s the same old song and dance.

Every.

Single.

Time.

Nicola post to her grid.

Jake likes it within a small timeframe.

Luke – maybe he likes it, maybe he doesn’t.

The Conscientiously Stupid attack and the Sincerely Ignorant spiral. And the Fact Finders take a deep breath and prepare themselves to walk the Sincerely Ignorant back on board the USS Lukola. I’m mean, it’s exhausting for everyone.

Do Luke’s likes really matter? No, in most instances, they don’t.

Do Jake’s likes really matter? Same as above! No, in most instances, they don’t.

Let’s take Nicola’s BFF JVN for example. He usually likes Nicola’s posts, right? In fact, some days, he’s just as fast as Jake. And, what about Dylan Brady? Talk about a friend who puts an instant-like on Nicola’s posts! And, another thing – both JVN and Dylan have been known to repost Nicola’s stuff to their own stories. However, no one cares about that or considers any of these “side characters” because they’re not Luke or Jake. I get it. But, let’s consider a few things.

First, JVN has liked most of Nicola’s posts except for the “NY Rats” one [which I will not speculate about right now]. But, let’s use the “NY Rats” post as a reference point. Nicola posted that October 17. Did you know that JVN has posted 14 times on his own grid since then? And, did you know that Nicola has only liked two of those 14? Holy shit, they must despise each other, right? Or, is it more likely that (a) Nicola is busy or (b) so close to JVN she doesn’t feel the need to like every single one of his posts? Now, I want you to answer this question with all honesty: Based on this information, do you have any concerns about Nicola’s relationship with JVN? If you answered yes, why?

Now let’s consider this next part, which is in the same vein as the above. Did you know that Nicola has liked most of Luke’s grid posts? Did you know that out of the last 14 posts made by Nicola to her grid, Luke has only liked eight? That’s barely over half (but, hey, better than Nicola’s average with JVN!). If you go back even further, you’ll find this is Luke’s modus operandi. He doesn’t like every goddamn post Nicola throws up.  Even throughout the World Tour, he wasn’t liking all of Nicola’s posts. Did this bother you then? Is it possible Luke is (a) not that into social media, (b) busy, or (c) so close to Nicola he doesn’t feel the need to like every single one of her posts? Let me ask you the same question I asked above: Based on this information, do you have any concerns about Luke’s relationship with Nicola? If you answered yes, why?

Okay, I’m going to assume some people are bothered by this Luke-Like bit so let’s keep discussing it for a moment.

Did you know that since January 1, 2024, Nicola has made nine IG grid posts that relate to a political viewpoint? Did you know that Luke has only liked one of those nine posts? In fact, I was quite shocked that Luke liked Nicola’s October 15 post of her Time100 speech (if you haven’t watched her speech, it’s on her IG grid). In my opinion, Luke liking this post is far more significant than Luke liking, say, her third grid post about her Time cover. He’s seemingly agreeing with her political stance.

This was a change in modus operandi. A small change, indeed, but interesting.

[birdofcauthon14]

A Fandom Veteran's Take on The Pitt

So I'm not new to Tumblr, or to fandom and/or the drama with which Tumblr is associated. I've been in this particular space since 2013 under various accounts, and I've been in fandom since my Naruto days (which have recently kicked up again!) in 2006.

All of that is to say that I have done the fucking rigors with controversial and hated characters, and been on both sides of it. I'm the person who loves Vriska from Homestuck. I'm the person who loves Ulquiorra from Bleach. I'm also the person who hates Micaiah from Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn with every whole-ass fiber of my being even as other people love her, for reasons related to both her treatment within the narrative and the way I've been treated by her fans. Been there, done that, have my own opinions, don't associate with the drama any more.

So from that perspective, and as a writer myself, may I just say: I fucking love every single major character in The Pitt. Every last one. Santos is an overconfident, pushy asshole hiding a mountain of insecurities, and I love her. Langdon is a callous, unethical prick with a heart of gold and a sympathetic mental illness, and I love him. Robby is broken and rapidly fraying even as he always tries to do the right thing and often snaps instead, and I especially love him.

And god bless Mel she's never done anything wrong in her life I am a fan of Stephen King's Holly books okay and Mel is the same species of megablorbo as Holly and I love her most of all okay

But I do agree with some takes I've seen saying that the show, for all of its intrigue and medical accuracy, desperately could have done with a more stretched-out timeframe. I appreciate everything they've done to balance the medicine with the drama, but they really, really needed time for both if they wanted to land the messy intricacies of certain plots.

But god I love this show. Expect me on the fanfic bandwagon soon, probably.

[theconstitutionisgayculture]

Yeah I'm gonna talk about the Andor rape scene.

First, disclaimer, I don't watch Andor, or any Disney Star Wars show. I did watch Rogue One, and it's probably the best thing Disney Star Wars ever did, which isn't saying much. So if you want to dismiss what I'm saying because I didn't see the scene and don't have the "context" or whatever, go fuck yourself because the only context I need is that there's now a rape scene in Star Wars.

Which is bad. It's stupid and retarded and it changes Star Wars forever for the worse. Star Wars isn't Game of Thrones. It isn't a dark, gritty, realistic portrayal of war and tyranny. It's a space opera, and while some space operas do "go there" with regards to rape and graphic content, it's not required, nor is it the norm. Star Wars was one of the space operas that didn't go there. It never needed to. You understood that the Empire was evil because Darth Vader was torturing people and they blew up an entire planet. The empire were the bad guys and the good guys were defined by standing up to the Empire. And even with that simplistic concept, the movies were still good. No one went to see Star Wars and thought "well, Vietnam just happened so I don't really think I can believe this portrayal of war unless some villages get napalmed and some women get raped". They said "oh wow Luke Skywalker is awesome he blew up the Death Star!" or "laser swords? Awesome!"

The idea that everything needs to reflect reality is such a braindead concept, but I'm not surprised that's the defense the showrunner is going with. Everyone involved with Disney Star Wars at every level has shown that they don't understand Star Wars at all. Not from a storytelling or character standpoint, or a meta, cultural standpoint either. "It's for kids" is never an excuse for bad or lazy writing, but it is a reason why explicit scenes aren't included. For decades, the most explicitly violent thing in Star Wars was Ponda Baba's arm getting cut off in the Mos Eisley cantina. That happened within the first half of the first movie, and the series never felt the need to try and top that because explicit content was never the point of Star Wars. It never needed to resort to cheap emotional ploys to get you to feel for the characters. Which brings me to my next point:

Aside from stories about rape, rape is never necessary in fiction. In fact, I say 95% of the time it's a crutch bad writers use because that's the only way they know to evoke a visceral emotional reaction. It's lazy and uninspired. It lowers the quality of whatever it's in. If you can't get someone to hate your villain without making them a rapist, then you're a bad writer. But this rape scene in particular is actually damaging to the original trilogy (as so much of Disney Star Wars is). Because the explanation is that you can't have a story about war and resistance without rape. Which means that the Empire is now known to have rapists in its ranks. Andor takes place in the same timeframe as the OT, which means that the same Empire that tried to rape that woman is the same empire that had Princess Leia captive on the Death Star for at least a few days. Do you see where I'm going with this? If your assertion is that rape must exist in the Empire to portray war and resistance accurately, then Princess Leia had to have been raped while in captivity, because the same Empire that captured this woman also captured her. But that never happened. We know that never happened because it was never so much as hinted at. She was tortured for information, but she was never raped. No female captive in the entire Star Wars saga, both the real Lucas stories and the fake Disney "canon", was ever raped. So by the directors own reasoning, the only Star Wars property to ever portray a realistic (where "realistic" is seen as good and "unrealistic" is seen as bad) version or war is season 2 of Andor. Which is massively insulting to every other Star Wars movie and show ever made. Even The Acolyte, which is objective trash, doesn't deserve to be implicitly slighted because it didn't depict rape. Star Wars is not about reflecting reality. It's about the fight between good vs evil. It's about family and belonging and standing up for what's right. Universal concepts that anyone can understand even if it's nothing like what you read about in the news everyday. And that's what it should always be.

Goddamn I hate that Star Wars is being ruined like this. I hate it so much.

[kncrowder88]

Okay, so gonna finally post a bit more of my thoughts now it's been some time for people to watch the eps.

First, I'm still working a rough timeline for OC as that show doesn't give us scene cards (we actually get 1 in all of OC and that's in Gimme Shelter part one) and the actual dates verified timeframes I snag are mainly from the SVU crossovers. As I'm not yet at S4 in the rewatch, I can't give a valid "this may be where ep 1/2 is at" .... however having said that ....

The episode does give us some indicators. That primarily being Eli graduating from the academy during the episode- this means the events occurring in the ep are roughly four months post S4. His girlfriend is still pregnant, and as she was starting to show, she is likely now around 8 months along (maybe 7) - they never really told us in S4.

I mainly state this timeline stuff, as based on this and the beard on Elliot's face in the SVU episode we can conclude the SVU ep and the OC eps are not happening at the same point. Having said that .... onto other thoughts .... (this is going to be in no particular order and probably jumbled but just getting it out for now)

1) I really love the way they had Ayanna approach Elliot. It fully established that HE is no longer wanting to do UC work, while also establishing her wanting him when it is a case with trafficking woman. She KNOWS he'd do it, would protect the girls, and would do everything to ensure they are safe. And that man heard that part and basically went "I'm off to see the bad guys" (and this time he brought a bat)

2) I love love love Bunny. The way she's poking into the trucks and then we find out why. The way Elliot walks her home all Mr. Protective and gives a "next time the person may not be as nice as me" lecture. The way she thinks he's stupid because he barters a meal out of her and he's like "sure whatever" because he just wants to make sure she eats something. The way when things hit the fan she IRRITATES HER CAPTOR BY TALKING ABOUT 'HANK' SO MUCH AND ELLIOT FINDS THIS OUT. He was so nice and kid and protective to this child the child turned around and looked the bad guys in the eye and went "oh you gonna make my protector angry, he's gonna come for you" and she was right

2) The girls/woman at the truck site. The way he easily got on their side. And all he had to do was kick in a door when one of them was screaming and stand up for them. They all immediately went "he's good" and response to him after that. So much so that they tell him when Sad Eyes is the one missing. Run to him when Bunny is gone. They TRUSTED him within what ... a day? Two maybe. (Again timelining on this show is hard)

3) Stabler Family - I loved the scenes with them. I loved seeing Bernie cooking and making Randall nearly snap because she is going on about Joe. The way he withdraws and steps away because it's hard, it's so dang hard to watch someone be so adamant and honestly not know. Not know if they are telling the truth when you know they can't always distinguish from past and present anymore. To have to piece the clues of their words and things around them for them to figure it out, it's hard. They do these scenes so well and I greatly appreciate that. I loved seeing the BBQ scene and the party over all, Eli having so many people there (faces we've never scene mixed amongst family) - he has built his own support and system and I love that for him.

4) And now .... episode 2 stuff ..... they did this episode beautifully just... wow. The family, the fading of voices, the lack if sound. The expressions. BERNIE PLEADING with Elliot (twice really). Olivia's entire reaction when he is still unconscious and the Doctor is talking. The "I knew you'd be here" and moving away to give family space only to step back when she sees Randall struggling to explain to Bernie. Ayanna breaking the news to the kids (but like also who told Olivia - is she the emergency contact or is it Ayanna? Because both are just there with no one seeming to have called them?) I could to on but ima chill for a moment and go to 5

5) Bunny should have lived .... no like I know Sad Eyes gets saves but I honestly wish they let Bunny live and this takes me to 6

6) is into the SVU/L&O crossover .... I think this could have been done differently. Same case BUT Maria isn't the victim. Least not the dead one. Could be she is just missing, they find a corpse. Have her boss causing problems during the case (reasonable she's his UC and missing and is that body hers all the doubt, denial, etc playing on - you still get the Olivia "no no can't be her I saved her" stuff). Could turn out she wasn't actually missing but simply deliberately hiding and hiding other girls (could have gone to the location, figured it out and gone into "protect these girls now" mode) .... this would allow for a great scene with Olivia at the end of "why not just come to me?" "I had to protect them. Like you did me" type thing. Plus we could still get other scenes like

7) the bathroom scene. I love this moment and how Olivia is scene texting just before it. We KNOW she reached out, sent the image and alert out the "guy who threaten my kid is witness tampering in court room" text immediately. I firmly believe Fin and Elliot got that text. There is no way she wouldn't let Fin know as well (that man blackmailed for her). But it's Elliot's arrival that tells us that IF HE KNOWS HE WILL ARRIVE AND HANDLE THE THREAT. He showed up and there is two things we can determine from this - he either drove like a terror through Manhattan traffic and ran through that courthouse before doing the calm "I'm a threat" Elliot walk into that bathroom OR he was already at the courthouse playing protective escort, got the text, and went "oh okay, hold my coffee"

Overall, I think these episodes told us a lot of information without actually telling us everything and I am so eager for more and will likely post more later as I continue my rewatches and continue to fill in my timeline.

[7grandmel]

Rip of the week: 11/11/2024

Radical Halation

Season 2 Featured on: Rips of Christmas Past Also on: Now That's What I Call Quality!

Ripped by wheel able, wolfman1405, David Morales Boroff

Birthday Special!

Anniversaries, anniversaries...how they come, how they go. This week in particular is a pretty special anniversary, not just for the release of hit game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, but for the release of ME: My birthday!

It's surreal how vividly I still remember when I wrote Your Silent Reality for my last birthday, covering a SiIvaGunner rip that's sat with me long since I first heard it due to the emotional ties I have to the material it utilizes. I began this entire blog as a way to give me writing practice, and I'd like to think I've grown a fair bit as a writer in the time since; but nevertheless, even a year and a half since the blog's begun, my emotional attachment to Season 2 of SiIvaGunner remains as firm as ever. The channel's output has grown to be more impressive than ever before, and last year's Season 7 in particular has had me in a chokehold with rips like Beautiful Dreamer (late but- happy birthday Minindo!) and The Paragoomba and the Wiggler...and yet, I will always keep coming back to the rips of that second season, to the rips that defined my ride-or-die fixation to the channel, and to the season that more than any other gave me feelings for things I didn't even know I was capable of caring so deeply about. Indeed, in direct contrast to last year's birthday rip, Radical Halation was the kind of gift I never knew I needed, yet one I will never stop treasuring.

Way back when I covered the rip Eterna's Cocoon, I wrote about how special it is to me to know that rippers on the team will continue to champion the works which have long since faded from public consciousness. Sure, SiIvaGunner leverages then-current events for comedy a fair number of times; a previous post on the blog's covered one such example in Lagplane, and one of the channel's most revered events back on Your Best Nightmario only came about as a result of a viral meme from that same timeframe. Yet just as often - if not moreso - the channel operates within its own bubble of time, with no care in the world for relevance or target audiences, a team making rips in huge part just for their own enjoyment. Take, for instance, the 1999 SquareSoft JRPG Chrono Cross; a game that, six years before its remaster in 2022, still existed as nary but a memory to many. Nevertheless, it was a memory treasured by two rippers in particular, a duo who had already impressed me time and time again throughout the channel's first two years. Be it Sog-Gee Ambiance, voiceless, Kass' Theme, or their previous collaborative work on 28 Saves Later, wheel able's stellar touch for arrangement and wolfman1405's unbelievable talents as a jazz performer are both some of the absolute highlights across the channel's early run. When the time came for one of the most important anniversaries relevant to the SiIvaGunner channel, the two took the opportunity to also honor a forgotten classic they both cherished – and in doing so, Radical Halation ironically became one of the first times I ever engaged with Chrono Cross. With the game's anniversary also just two days away, and the rip lying so close to my heart, I see no better time than to reciprocate that passion all these years later.

The sheer quality of Radical Halation should be made evident just a few seconds into listening; this is, as Wolfman1405 in particular specializes in, a ground-up cover and performance of the original Radical Dreamers ~ Unstolen Jewel theme from Chrono Cross. The original theme already had a shockingly acoustic sound to it for its era, really plucking at the emotions just a few chords in; that emotional rawness in the track may well have been the core reason why it was chosen to celebrate this anniversary in particular. Indeed, the anniversary I alluded to beforehand as being one of the channel's most crucial is that of the very song the rip title alludes to, the song that sits at the very emotional core of SiIvaGunner's entire being: Snow Halation from Love Live. I wrote back on Waluigi Pinball (Beta Mix) that the Grand Dad meme is like the beating heart of SiIvaGunner's creative spirit, being the core that created the entire channel; by that same logic, I feel as if Snow Halation is like SiIvaGunner's *emotional* core, its "soul" for lack of a better term. Grand Dad may be the spark that sets new rippers into action even all these years later, but Snow Halation was the first thing that people got EMOTIONALLY attached to on SiIvaGunner – it was the core behind its first story arc of SiIvaGunner: Rebooted, it continues to effectively serve as the "protagonist" to the Christmas Comeback Crisis storyline – and its use throughout the channel continues to feel like a reminder of that same attachment, the one that the channel has to all of us. It's an openly sappy, almost overbearing song, yet one that represents so much about the love of remixing and rearranging that SiIvaGunner continues to focus on all these years later.

You take that emotionally-charged melody, put it in the hands of two stellar arrangers, and inject it into an arrangement of an emotional melody the soundscape of which said aforementioned rippers already appear to hold a close attachment to, and the end result is exactly what Radical Halation shows us. Throughout 2016, throughout the entirety of Season 1 of SiIvaGunner, we as the audience had gone on such an emotional rollercoaster regarding out attachment to the channel, its creatives, and its memes, with Snow Halation at the very center of it all; with the channel returned just in time for the holidays, it also happened to return just in time for Snow Halation's anniversary on December 22nd, ever so coincidentally aligned with the time upon which we were all wholly, earnestly in love with everything the song had come to represent. Many months before Season 3 and beyond would begin feeding irony into the discussion of appreciation for these melodies, right as the Christmas Comeback Crisis was just kicking into gear, and just long enough after the channel's return had occurred to make us truly accept that it was back, Radical Halation's release window struck gold in a way only truly comparable to the rips of the Season 1 finale a la Tupac's Empty House and THANK YOU FOR RIPPING.

I'm of course not aiming to frame Radical Halation as just being "the right thing at the right time"; beyond that emotional attachment, the simple fact of the matter still remains that its a hauntingly beautiful arrangement, even close to 8 years later. Radical Dreamers ~ Unstolen Jewel's beauty sinks in just from the acoustic guitar lead-in, and is only emphasized by the time the rip's true "twist" sets in, of its lead melody being that of a Snow Halation arrangement played on violin. The two halves form an incredible, inseperable whole; not confined by the restrictions of a mashup, the hand-made nature of this arrangement means that both the guitar and violin segments are free to fill in for one another, to emphasize the sounds of Radical Dreamers ~ Unstolen Jewel or the melody of Snow Halation to different degrees on a moment-to-moment basis. I particularly love the section after the Snow Halation melody first plays - at around 0:47, the violin seamlessly leaves the Snow Halation melody and instead takes cues from the source track, yet never stops feeling as if its all from the same arrangement, even upon returning to Snow Halation at 01:10. The rip throughout has the same feeling as the best and most carefully-constructed mashups of today a la Eazystep or Maroonbound whilst in reality being a completely new arrangement and performance.

The visuals of the rip are of course just the cherry on top of it all. Viewers are made immediately aware that the rip is going to be something special not just through its audio, but from the cold-open visuals of pitch blackness fading into a view of the ocean from underneath the surface, the logo fading in just as the melody's played its first few notes. These visuals only change once Snow Halation is first quoted in the audio, changing from the undersea depths to the view of a beachside in winter, a quite literal mash-up of Chrono Cross' dreamy seasides and the snow-covered comfort of Snow Halation. None of this visual detail is particularly "necessary", it's not here to further a punchline; rather, in the spirit of rips like i love(d) you, the visuals serve to punctuate the emotional core of the rip. Visuals in any rip are a surprise, an often-time momentous occasion, and Radical Halation combines that knowledge with its purpose of celebrating Snow Halation's first-ever anniversary celebration on the SiIvaGunner channel to create a rip that, even with no ties to Chrono Cross at the time of watching, I just KNEW would be special back in 2016 just three seconds in.

All these years later, and a rip as special, profound and heartfelt as Radical Halation still manages to feel...forgotten about, in many ways, sitting at less than 25K views as of writing. In that sense, Chrono Cross may have been a more apt game to use for this tribute than its rippers initially thought; all these years later, despite its clear emotional core, the passion that went into it and the release of its remaster, the game remains a jewel swept away by the tides of the industry. We're soon nearing nine whole years of the SiIvaGunner channel's run, and with every day I run this blog I'm made all the more aware of how many gems just like Radical Halation continue to slip by the cracks, how much joy and love the channel's team crams into so much of its output despite never having any sort of guarantee that its audience will reciprocate that love.

But, even all those years ago, Radical Halation did reach me. And even so many years before the idea of this blog was even a consideration, before I was knee-deep in thought about the channel's existence and the people involved in its upkeep...I knew that I wanted to thank its creators. I knew that it was a rip that could only have been made out of outpouring love; love for a game years old, love for a channel that was still standing shakily, love for a leitmotif and its impact on an audience...and most of all, the love of creating and performing music outright.

I held onto those thoughts, kept them stashed away in the back of my mind – yet I feel as if subconsciously, they were part of why wolfman1405's arrangement and performance of Sunday Morning, three years later, hit me as hard as it did. The song was different, the subject was different, the context was different, the "joke" was no longer there; and yet it was as if Wolfman1405's creative, emotional spirit, that I'd felt so prominently years past, had never left. Put simply, beyond its inherent qualities that I'll forever applaud wheel able and wolfman1405 for, I feel...indebted to Radical Halation: it may well just be one rip, but its one of the most core pieces I can think of for why my love for the channel continues to this very day.

[bantarleton]

It's both funny and sad seeing online (and in this case anonymous) "journalists" scrambling to get a hold on who "redcoats" are in the wake of a recent inflated faux outrage about a café in Edinburgh. This article in particular is a wild one.

"The uniform was used by British soldiers from the 16th to 19th century in several conquests on behalf of the the British military around the world."

No, unless we're counting some niche Scottish and English retinues in the 16th c. it was used from the 1640s by the English and the 1660s by the Scottish (almost half a century before the Act of Union). Nor did the uniform stop being worn in the 19th century, it only ceased being battlefield dress - it's still ceremonially worn today (by Scottish regiments as well).

"For those unaware (take note, Edinburgh Castle), from 1725 onwards, garrisons manned by government soldiers or "redcoats" sprung up all over the Scottish Highlands, most notably at Fort William and Inverness."

I love the condescending tone of this part, with the anon author totally schooling Historical Environment Scotland for their lack of history knowledge. But no, garrisons didn't suddenly start appearing from 1725 onwards. Prior to 1745 Scotland was not an "occupied" country. The redcoats being talked about were mostly Scottish regiments holding the Scottish garrisons they'd occupied for decades (the basic problem with the premise of this article is people think "redcoat" = "English." Ironically for at least half of the historical timeframe the English were a minority of "redcoats").

"Redcoats took an aggressive hand to Scots across the country who did not support the king and attempted to cling to their national identity."

Which king? The exiled Stuart king? The "Hanoverian" king? This "national identity" stuff is also fabricated hokum, again, there was no effort at repression in Scotland by "redcoats" prior to the 1745 uprising, just the usual service performed by the 18th c. military. Scotland had one of the lowest ratios of soldiers-to-population in Europe during the period! These soldiers were almost all Scottish themselves. The author is just writing what they vaguely think is the case as fact.

"The government army, clad in red, massacred Scots at the Battle of Culloden Moor, marking not only the defeat of the Jacobite movement, but the destruction of clan and Gaelic Highland life. From 1745, Highlanders were forbidden to carry weapons – including the famous broadsword. The playing of the bagpipes was banned. Tartan and highland dress was outlawed."

The clan structure was dying a death before Culloden and the battle didn't mark its final "destruction" (people seem to also think the redcoats were responsible for the Clearances, so at this stage anything's fair game). The bans on the things mentioned as outlawed were barely enforced and largely repealed within a few decades.

"And clansmen who dared to defy? Fines, imprisonment, exile, and death at the hands of... you guessed it, the redcoats. However, as one user wrote, "history is complex", highlighting that Scots wearing redcoats were on the side of the British army on the moor."

They finally managed to mention that "redcoats" aren't just the English. In fact most of the "fines, imprisonment, exile and death" being meted out was by fellow Scots against the Jacobites, who didn't have the support of the majority of the country. And this wasn't just a lowlanders vs highlanders thing, highlanders were behind repressing *other* highlanders, as has been the case throughout history.

The best part of all this is the café has been operating under that name for 32 years without comment, but they've only just noticed so now it's become a thing.

tl;dr

[claypigeonpottery]

sooooo

kiln date on the 17th! pottery should be out by the 19th and ready to ship by next week after I take pictures, glue magnets and clean everything.

y’know, if things survive.

I’m getting into that usual terrified excitement that surrounds kiln time. yay. 🙃

hopefully I’ll have enough space in the kiln but if not I’ll do my best to get everything with dibs finished

if you have dibs on something

I would love it if you’d dm me your full shipping address and email, so I can calculate shipping cost once everything is packed, and send out paypal invoices.

if I can get those before I start the whirlwind of packing pottery, I would really appreciate that, it’ll save me time and effort during The Packing.

if you’re particular about sharing that info here on tumblr, you can email it to me at theclaypigeonpottery@gmail.com -but please include your username and/or the piece you have dibs on so I know who belongs to what

thanks!

also, I’m going to reiterate my dibs policy here

you have no obligation to buy the piece

I have no obligation to re-create the piece if it doesn’t survive the kiln

I will send you pictures of the piece before anyone else

you have up to a week to decide if you want it or not. if you don’t respond within that timeframe, I will send you a message to let you know I’m moving on/posting it to Etsy.

I will hold a piece longer if you communicate that with me, but I need an end date. I can’t hold things indefinitely

and here’s my cat, because she wants attention

grabby paws

[doshmanziari]

Hey, everyone.

In 2022, I wrote and illustrated a short comic book which I published and sold copies of at that year’s MICE. Entitled Adyton, it was a brief exploration of what I'd very loosely call the close encounter phenomenon, with an emphasis on the abduction aspect. Since then, I’ve wanted to expand on the book; but, as is usual for me, I have to ruminate on something for a long while until embarking on the project feels right. This recently happened, and I’ve decided to entitle what I intend to be my first complete and long-form graphic novel Can You See Behind the Moon? I’m not going to say where the title comes from, and will leave it to those who are more familiar with some of the paranormal literature to recognize its origin.

Over the years, I’ve made sputtering attempts at other graphic novels, but the lack of a clear narrative direction for one doomed it to oblivion (Underbrickers), while the creative momentum of the other seemed bound to a very particular timeframe (Grim Synergy). Differently, I see this project as encompassing ideas which, to varying degrees, are present within my mind every day, or every other day, and I do think it can be sustained by that persistence. If I were forced to speak in very general and perhaps reductive terms about Can You See Behind the Moon?, it is my attempt to explore possibilities implied by close encounters in a way which emphasizes a deep and occulted relationship humanity appears to have with itself, the cosmos, and what one might term the evolutionary impulse.

The first four pages you see here (not counting the cover) are recreations of Adyton’s first six pages. As should be apparent, the narrative is not linear. Like Adyton, the plot sometimes progresses according to visual resonances which can also be interpreted as conceptual resonances. For instance, the as-yet-unnamed young man’s finger-gun gesture becomes the transitional point for a reference to the so-called Kelly-Hopkinsville encounter, wherein guns figured prominently, and unusually.

To be clear, this work has been done very quickly, in the interest of submitting it to relevant publishers as proof-of-concept material, and so that I’m able to maintain a pace of a couple of pages every two or three days (while also producing “fine art” for gallery shows, to say nothing of various other side projects). But I also like the roughness of the drawings, and the color of the newsprint paper… so, the making of these has also carried with it pleasure and occasional surprise at the results. Since I’ve decided to work within a limited palette, I’m relying heavily upon the linework.

For Christmas last year, my partner — somewhat regretfully — got me a comic book about UFOs published the same year by Dark Horse. I write “somewhat regretfully” because she didn’t really like the look of it; and when I received it I had to agree: the art is so simplistic, mundane, and ugly that I don’t think I’ll ever do more than skim some of the pages (the author also seems to have only done the bare minimum of research regarding Betty and Barney Hill’s case). But I’ve used the book as a point of motivation: surely, if something that bland could get green-lit by a fairly well-known comics publisher, then my work stands a chance.

Another one of my particularities is that I tend to get through projects more quickly when I don’t assign their completion an arbitrary date, and also when I don’t make myself beholden to publicizing all of the progress. I don’t intend on making a Kickstarter or anything for this — unless it becomes necessary — so I’m not sure when I’ll be prepared to share more. But, the time will come.

Anyway — even if there’s not much here yet, thanks for looking!

[commsroom]

heres an essay prompt: how do you think hera engages with the passage of time? especially milestones e.g. "in case you've forgotten, i am four" or "happy birthday officer eiffel" . speculation is more than welcome; youre not restricted to canon.

okay!! good question!! there are tons of factors there, so i'm going to try to just... touch on some of them. first, obviously: she's only ever been in goddard labs + space, so she has no real first-hand concept of day/night cycles, seasons, etc. in the way those mark time on earth. their "year" orbiting wolf 359 is only about two and a half months, but obviously they keep track by earth's calendar + they use military time, so... even in smaller ways, she's used to these methods of timekeeping.

there's also the consideration of time as distance ("somewhere, 13.7 light years to the left...") and overlapping time, how she experiences any given length of time simultaneously many times from multiple perspectives, etc. as part of how she might perceive it.

re: milestones in particular, of course the big thing is still going to be... what the writers said, how hera cares about holidays because the people in her life invite her to care about them. she cares about eiffel's birthday because it matters to eiffel, and she cares about him. she feels left out from thanksgiving because she can't participate the way the others can. etc. and i think she might have some complicated feelings about her own birthday, or maybe even want to consider a different day her "birthday." since, unlike most people, she can remember the earliest days of her life, and that's not a pleasant association.

which ties into the next part, "in case you've forgotten, i am four" is one of those lines that frustrates me so much in how i feel people misinterpret it. like, yes, it's important to realize she only has four years of life experience. it's equally important to realize those are four years she has lived as an adult woman with an adult perspective and responsibilities. it can't be dismissed as just "she's an AI" because so much of what hera experiences directly, intentionally parallels the effects of real life trauma. it is extremely common, as a sheltered adult who has recently escaped trauma, especially with the additional limitations of being disabled, or neurodivergent, or trans (all things i think hera either directly, canonically experiences, or can be drawn in close parallel to), to feel that you've only been alive for a few years, that you've been thrust into adult life without the necessary formative experiences to make sense of it. that your peers all have some shared experience or understanding that you missed out on. i hate so much to see her infantilized for that; i don't think a lot of people fully realize how real or how painful that can be.

... which is a bit of a tangent off the point re: time, but i think it's relevant. since she has... both a very limited life experience, but also so much overlap within that timeframe, there's a sense of urgency about it. i think hera has always felt that she's running against the clock to live some type of life, anything at all. she thought she was going to be left alone up there and had a few years at most. and while a lot of sci-fi presents AIs as long-lived... in the context of wolf 359, where they're a product constantly under development, where the timespan between rhea's series and hera's was only a few years... i think the average AI in that universe probably has a much shorter expected lifespan than the average human. and since hera is very much in uncharted territory re: living an autonomous life... maybe that's getting into a different topic, but i do think time is something she thinks about a lot.

[lieutenantselnia]

Davy Jones' Origin

Some time ago I’ve started to wonder if Davy Jones possibly spoke Scottish Gaelic besides English, or if it could even be his actual first language. Although he is never shown speaking it or having a particular connection to his homeland besides speaking with a Scottish accent, I think it would make sense, given Scotland’s history before and during the 18th century. Therefore, I thought this could be an interesting topic to examine. Mind you that I’m not a historian, and not an expert on those topics, I merely love exploring and extending the backstory of one of my favourite characters.

Spoiler: I don’t even get to discuss the initial topic itself in this text, this serves more as a setup where I try to sort my countless thoughts that I have about Davy. I plan to talk about it in another text some time in the future though.

Before looking at the language topic, I think it makes sense to look at Davy’s general background. His origins and his life before he fell in love with Calypso are largely unknown. It can only be estimated for how long he has roamed the seas ever since, but I think it is safe to assume that it has been multiple decades at least, though more likely centuries already.

The official wiki states that he and Calypso met and fell in love at an unknown date – and under unknown circumstances – between 1600 and 1660. It is not known for how long their relationship lasted before Calypso made him captain of the Flying Dutchman and put him in charge of ferrying souls to the afterlife. It could have been mere weeks, but also months or even years. In case of the latter, they probably saw each other on a semi-regular basis, as Davy would visit her during his voyages. All in all, it leaves a lot of room for interpretation (and fanfictions).

However, it is known that as Davy felt betrayed by Calypso when she didn’t show up to meet him, after he had fulfilled his duty loyally for ten years, he convinced the newly formed Brethren Court to bind her in human form. For some reason, the German PotC wiki states that the First Brethren Court convened presumably around 1640. Although there are no sources cited to back up this claim, there is no explicit contradiction to be found either. Assuming it is true – after all, it would be within the given timeframe – , Davy would have taken up his duty around the year 1630. By the time the movies take place, he would therefore have captained the Dutchman for around 100 years.

In a few instances of the official wiki, Davy is described as a “young sailor” when he meets Calypso. In other instances, no indication on his age is given. “Young” could supposedly mean he was in his 20s or 30s, which would therefore set his birth date around 1600.

On the other hand, he already looks significantly older when Calypso reveals his human form (the actor Bill Nighy was in his late 50s at the time the movies were produced). Of course he could simply have aged, however – though this is just my personal opinion – I like to think that he was already on the more mature side when he became cursed – possibly somewhere between the age of 40 and 60 – and that the curse either stops or at least alters the natural aging process of any person affected.

There is barely any specific canon information on this, but as shown in the movies, both Davy and the rest of the crew have maintained excellent physical strength and agility (in fact, it’s even enhanced compared to regular humans). This makes me assume that the curse either just stops their aging process and they stay at the same level of physical fitness that they had when they first fell under the curse, or that their transformation into sea creatures somehow slows down or alters the process, for example by balancing out their age-related physical decay by adopting more and more features from animals or other marine life.

Assuming he was already a middle-aged man, possibly around age 50, Davy would have been born in the late 1500s. On a personal note, I could also imagine that the story as a whole took place even earlier, and that Davy could have been born anytime during the 1500s or even the late 1400s. As the whole story around Davy Jones and Calypso is held very vaguely and even treated as a legend, there aren’t many concrete contradictions. However, as the First Brethren Court and Calypso’s capture are said to herald the start of the Golden Age of Piracy – which historically took place roughly between 1650 and 1730 – , it makes sense for those events to take place at a later date to connect everything (somewhat) logically.

To conclude this little examination and sum up the numbers: Davy Jones was presumably born in the second half of the 16th century. He and Calypso met before or around the year 1630, and around another ten years later, after their mutual betrayal and Davy abandoning his duty as a result, the curse started to take effect. Up until the events of Dead Man’s Chest, he has already captained the Flying Dutchman for almost a century, and reached an age of about 150 years – although due to the curse, this number doesn’t have a particular meaning in relation to his health or physical condition.

Of course, in the end this all is just my interpretation based on the rather sparse information that the official canon gives us. But it was certainly fun to finally bring some of my countless thoughts about Davy onto paper (trust me, there are a lot of those whirring around in my mind, but it’s not always easy to get hold of them). I haven’t even touched on the topic I actually wanted to talk about – that being Davy Jones’ relation to the Gaelic language and his homeland Scotland, but I really hope to do so in another essay.

Sources: https://pirates.fandom.com/wiki/Timeline_of_Pirates_of_the_Caribbean_series https://fluch-der-karibik.fandom.com/wiki/Zeitlinie_Fluch_der_Karibik

[the-final-sif]

yeah agree with your opinion all the way also it is really weird how it came out days after Dream said they are friends. Like this is just the perfect opportunity to “show” that Dream is “delusional” about the friendships and make fans sceptic about who else could be a “backstabber”

Oh 100%, the timing is not accidental. Also, you'll note that all the screenshots except the Paris one are marked as "Today" implying that for some reason over a 24 hour span, Karl was talking about one of Dream's singing tiktoks, quitting banter, Tales of the SMP somehow being Dream's fault because of the face reveal??? Despite the fact that Dream wasn't even really involved in Tales aside from playing XD? And then also doing damage control for things mods were going leaked that day, like, earlier that day? All supposedly in one day? Like he just woke up and decide he wanted to talk shit and this was the most damning stuff the person could get out of it? And then within that timeframe, he decided not to remove that mod and not to do anything to deal with the issue?

The alternative would be that this person was taking screenshots the moment that Karl said something they thought they could use to smear him, and compiled whatever they had to make this smear, which honestly isn't even a great smear? I don't trust that person to be honest even if the screenshots are real. They're filtering everything through a very particular perspective, and they aren't actually trying to do anyone any good. They're trying to smear someone for whatever reason.

Also, again, even pretending for a moment that the screenshots are real, context is completely omitted, both temporally and even just a broader context of the conversation. There's no way to read tone, there's no way to tell how private the convo is meant to be, etc.

Like, again, if someone took discord screenshots of things I've said out of context, they could make me look like a terrible person. They could make it look like I hate close friends or any number of things. It's very easy to do when you cherry pick things out of context that were meant to be said in private to people you trust. And again, that is making the huge assumption that these screenshots are real, and not just faked which is still entirely possible.

[photon-bytez]

I dunno about you guys, but with this year possibly being a big one for paleomedia as a whole (A new Jurassic World movie, ON TOP of two big budget paleodocs being the main examples), perhaps we could FINALLY see PHP return for a third season. While I'm not gonna go ramble on about how I think this hypothetical Season 3 will be the last one to close out the series (along with cementing a trilogy in the same vein as Planet Earth), I am gonna bring up a little thought experiment that me and some of my Discord buddies came up with and discussed.

I've heard quite a few folks say that they want PHP to move away from the Maastrichtian epoch from the end of the Cretaceous, but I've also seen people mention how this particular chunk of geologic time still has plenty of usable taxa to put in the show, even after 2 entire seasons' worth of species. Not only are many dinosaurs still left on the table, so are many non-dinosaur animals as well; Pterosaurs, marine reptiles, mammals, fish, birds, etc. This is just a quick lil' list to point out the candidates that could appear in future episodes, as a huge part of me feels like the show is gonna remain within the Maastrichtian for the time being. And for a funny coincidence, the amount of animals that I was able to put together between my own research and suggestions from?

SIXTY. SIX.

As in, the geologic time that the entire show takes place in ("Planet Earth, 66 million years ago" and all that). You can imagine the surprise that I had when I accidently reached that number.

Anyhoo, let's hop to it

Ankylosaurus

Gallimimus

Dryptosaurus

Ocepechelon

Arambourgiania

Denversaurus

Thescelosaurus

Rhabdodon

Shantungosaurus

Coahuilaceratops

Leptoceratops

Regaliceratops

Alaskacephale

Ampelosaurus

Noasaurus

Alioramus

Falcatakely

Torosaurus

Patagonykus

Epapatelo

Mahajangasuchus

Zarafasaura

Gavialimimus

Champosaurus

Habrosaurus

Didelphodon

Bharattherium

Purgatorius

Cretalamna

Stratodus

Pycnonemosaurus

Maip

Stegorous

Thalassotitan

Ajnabia

T. mcraeensis (As in, the new Tyrannosaurus species described in 2023)

Khinjaria

Eoneophron

Patagomaia

Augustynolophus

Plotosaurus

Pleisotylosaurus

Tylosaurus

Hydrotherosaurus

Morenosaurus

Anzu

Bonnerichthys

Sinoceratops

Zhuchengtyrannus

Acheroraptor

Saurolophus

Thoracosaurus

Borealosuchus

Armadillosuchus

Saltasaurus

Palaeosaniwa

Avisaurus

Potamornis

Brachychampsa

Enchodus

Alphadon

Adocus

Serpentisuchops 

Charonosaurus

Asteronis

Sahonachelys

Like I said; 66 different species just WAITING for their time to shine. And given how it's almost been 3 years since the show originally came out, the same timeframe that S1 had between 2019 and 2022 could also apply to this hypothetical third season (and this theory is helped even more by the idea that S2 was originally material that was scrapped by S1).

We've got a full year to wait and see if we get anything new with this show, so we've got plenty of time to speculate before we find out anything.

Many thanks to my Discord peeps for coming along for this fun thought experiment. You guys rock!

[addictedtostorytelling]

I've been thinking about starting Vikings after seeing some of your gifs/reblogs and was wondering if you could say a few words on why you enjoy the series? I really enjoyed your analysis and writing on CSI, especially on GSR, Sara and Catherine!

hi, anon! thank you for your kind words! i’m so glad you enjoy my csi writings.

as for vikings: vikings isn’t a perfect show—the quality of the writing is inconsistent, particularly in the later seasons—but it is highly entertaining and does a couple of things really, really well. one of the show’s greatest strengths is how much “humans have always been humans” serves as its unspoken thesis statement. while vikings is definitely not always 100% historically accurate—not only does it fudge with everything from costumery choices to timelines, but it also often veers off into the territory of myth and legend, going more for magical realism than realism straight up—it does still depict a world vastly culturally different from the modern one.

more on that point below. still, within this “vastly different world,” so much remains intimately familiar, from the intricate interpersonal relationships to human conditions such as addiction, jealousy, mental illness, infertility, divorce, estrangement, sibling rivalry, infidelity, trauma response, heartbreak, faith crises, grieving, etc. this commitment to showing the relatable humanity of the characters feeds in to another one of the show’s strengths, which is how delightfully complex the characters themselves are. each one of them has their own motivations, biases, and flaws, and because of the nature of the show’s timeline—which spans decades/generations—their character arcs tend to take place across multiple seasons, sometimes building for years in-universe before their eventual culminations. among the main characters, they each have their own rich interior lives, with thoughts and feelings and impulses which come across very clearly to us as viewers whether they are explicitly expressed or else only telegraphed by actions. every one of the main ensemble members has something they desperately want but most often cannot have or at least cannot have easily. every one at some point hamstrings themselves (oftentimes more than once). they are frequently at cross-purposes with one another. they are also frequently forced into strange alliances with one another by virtue of common interests. again, due to the timeframe of the show, the cycles they are caught up in play out over the course of generations. while not all of the characters are likable, even the unlikable ones tend to be interesting because they are always in some kind of narrative motion, machinating and making moves even when they’re not visible on screen. in particular, ragnar lothbrok makes for a fascinating original protagonist because, in addition to being a great warrior, he is so thoroughly cerebral. it's obvious there is always much more going on inside of his head than he ever fully speaks aloud. he has charisma in spades, but he also has some extremely self-sabotaging tendencies. he's mythic, but he’s also human. he makes for a highly intriguing watch.

yet another (related) thing the show does well is its approach to depicting premodern worldviews. while, as stated, the show is not without its anachronisms and inaccuracies, it does a fantastic job of showing the way its characters—being from the time periods, cultures, geographic locations, religious backgrounds, etc. they are—would think. so often, historical fiction will get its aesthetics right but the basic mindsets of its characters wrong, and especially in the way where it will impose modern (and more particularly “modern western christian”) morals and ethics onto characters who never would or could even conduct themselves by those standards, to the point where all of a sudden you have a greek hero from the epic cycle or a han period imperial soldier acting as if he had been raised in the american suburbs, attending protestant sunday school, receiving an extensive liberal arts education steeped in western post-enlightenment philosophy, going regularly to therapy, participating in capitalism, being terminally online on his iphone, etc. not so with vikings. despite the timeless humanity the show depicts, its characters are not modern people simply “dressed up” in ancient clothing; they feel legitimately premodern in their cognition, with base assumptions, daily experiences, knowledge sets, and ethics wholly dissimilar to any which might be familiar to us in the twenty-first century. unlike sometimes is the case on other historical fiction shows, the characters don’t get to magically invent medical treatments still hundreds of years off from them! they die of common and/or minor illnesses, injuries, and even allergies which would be imminently treatable for us, no matter how resourceful or powerful they may be as characters otherwise. if they’re from illiterate/oral language learning cultures, then their communication reflects as much. they pass along information through storytelling and folk sayings (and often use speech peppered with kennings and epithets, appropriate to the norse spoken poetic traditions of which they are a part), having no expectation their knowledge can outlast the moment unless they verbally transmit it to others. they ignore written documents they may encounter while interacting with literate cultures and peoples. the show also, fwiw, tries to depict language differences where possible—so, for example, the viking characters don’t all just automatically understand west saxon dialect old english when they travel to england for the first time; there is an actual learning curve for ragnar to pick up some vocabulary (and then another one for him to learn grammar and develop conversational fluency), and for a while, he is the only viking who is able to communicate with the enemy at all. the show will also occasionally have the characters speak medieval languages, as well, so you will hear examples of old norse, old english, old low franconian, vulgar latin, etc. blended in alongside the otherwise modern english dialogue, which is eminently cool.

if the characters aren’t christians, then they don’t behave like they are. the concept of sin is unknown to them, as is the idea of a centralized religious authority. they are concerned with destiny, seek seer’s prophecies to predict their futures, see the hands of the gods in their daily experiences, view magic as a matter of fact and prime force in their lives, conceptualize their world based on myth and legends, and devotedly participate in their own rites and rituals (including human sacrifice), etc. they don’t balk at some forms of violence in the same way christians might do. they also don’t view their relationships with others in the same ways, either. and even those who are christians—hello, athelstan!—are medieval christians, who don’t adhere to many of the same philosophical beliefs as post-enlightenment christians. overall, the show does a very nice job showing not only is the past “another country,” but it’s also an entirely different mindset. the show also has just some really standout individual scenes and episodes over its run, of the type that have permanently burned themselves into my brain (in a good way).

not only is it visually/aesthetically gorgeous, but it also doesn’t shy away from depicting raw emotion or making grand metaphorical gestures, which makes for some truly stunning images and wonderful character turns over the years. there are epic battles, breathtaking deaths, gut-wrenching character moments, and impressive instances of storytelling spread across the six seasons. while, like i said, there is also sometimes dreck, particularly after s3—including, on occasion, some really head-scratchingly “why the hell would the writers do that?” bad character beats, plus some fairly racist and sexist treatments of certain characters and cultures from the show’s writers (outside of the period-accurate racism and sexism of the times)—there is a lot of good and even great stuff in-between/throughout. i first started watching the show myself because i randomly channel-flipped onto a scene which, even though i lacked any wider narrative context for it, absolutely knocked me over with the tenderness and intimacy it depicted between two old friends parting for perhaps the last time. that scene stayed in my head (and heart) for years until i finally picked up the series myself, at which point i was able to confirm it was even more deeply affecting with the narrative context in place. there are, happily, many more equally impactful scenes/episodes from throughout the course of the series. there's also just a lot of stuff that checks particular storytelling boxes that really appeal to me personally. fate vs. free will themes? ✔ awesome callback scenes and narrative echoes (sometimes years after the fact)? ✔ raw declarations of all kinds of love: romantic, familial, friendly, religious, etc.? ✔ many different flavors of womanhood among the female characters (and even within individual characters themselves)? ✔ explorations of grief? ✔ fierce found family loyalties? ✔ complicated, intense parent-child dynamics? ✔ this ↓ exact trope done to heart-twisting perfection? ✔

also, just the entire character of lagertha, who interests me in about a thousand different ways. now, all of the above said, i should probably close out by offering a few warnings, should you require them. if you are at all squeamish, you should know vikings is incredibly violent—much more so than csi—and frequently depicts heinous injuries and deaths on screen, including acts of torture. it also does not shy away from showing sexual assault and domestic abuse, both perpetrated against main characters and by them. major character death is a fairly frequent occurrence, as is child character death, including by infanticide. you should also know the show probably won’t appeal to you if you prefer protagonists to be “morally pure” (particularly by modern standards), as nearly all of the main characters are murderers, rapists, and slavers. you should also know—as mentioned above—the show does shit the bed on how it depicts almost all nonwhite, nonwestern cultures the vikings come into contact with. the anglo-saxons and the franks they handle fine enough, but when it comes to the handful of chinese, arab, and mi’kmaq people the main characters encounter, the writers, on a doylist level, resort to a lot of orientalist and otherwise racist tropes and stereotypes. should you require any additional information or want specific trigger warnings for anything, please let me know, and i'll be happy to provide more details. anyway. long story long, i guess my final thoughts on vikings are these: the show definitely won’t be for everyone, and, like i said, it most definitely isn’t without its flaws, but i personally find a lot of it very enjoyable and recommend it to you if you have an interest in seeing fascinating, complicated, messy human stories play out in a well-rendered (though not necessarily historically accurate) middle ages norse setting.

[beaumontmanor]

Progress Update #1 - Character Sprites!

Hello everyone, I’m here to give you the first update on the development of The Mystery of Beaumont Manor! Over the past two weeks, I've made significant strides in several areas. I've been working diligently on drafting sprites for each character, which has been both challenging and rewarding. Simultaneously, I've been fleshing out the storyline, adding depth and intricacy to the plot. To keep everything organized, I've set up a dedicated Google Drive folder for the project, which has greatly improved my workflow. I'm pleased to introduce you to some of the key characters that will feature in the story. The main character is Lyra, a curious and clever individual who finds herself at the center of our mystery. Supporting characters include Dominic, a stoic bull butler; Sylvie, a charming moth maid; Barry, a diligent beetle groundskeeper; and Mavis, a secretive blue anole researcher. Each character brings their own unique perspective and backstory to the narrative. Looking ahead to the next two weeks, my focus will be on developing expressions for each of the characters. This process is crucial for bringing their personalities to life and conveying emotions effectively throughout the story. I'll also be revisiting and revising certain aspects of the storyline to ensure coherence and engagement. My goal is to complete all the character expressions within this timeframe, which will allow me to transition to working on backgrounds and in-game items in the near future. The development process has not been without its challenges. Barry's design, in particular, proved to be quite difficult. Creating an anthropomorphic insect character while maintaining believability and appeal required numerous iterations. Additionally, I've encountered some ongoing difficulties with anatomical accuracy across various character designs. However, these challenges have provided valuable learning experiences and opportunities for improvement. In terms of my project timeline, I acknowledge that there is still a substantial amount of work ahead. Nevertheless, I'm pleased with the current pace of progress. If I can maintain this level of productivity, I believe I will remain on schedule for my projected completion date.

[darkmaga-returns]

The Bogus Iranian Assassination Plot and My Conversation With Tom Luongo

14 November 2024 by Larry C. Johnson 29 Comments

My chat with Tom Luongo, author of Gold, Goats N’ Guns, is posted at the end of this piece and is sparking some controversy and anger over a brief comment Tom made with respect to the Palestinians and Iran. While I don’t agree with him, I still find him a very smart, contrarian analyst. Some of the folks commenting on YouTube are losing their minds. They are judging an 80-minute conversation based on just five minutes. I don’t want a world in which I only talk to people who agree with me or think like I do. Part of my intent is to demonstrate that two adults can have a civil conversation and disagree without accusing the other of sexual activities with one’s mother.

Which brings me to the alleged Iranian plot to kill Donald Trump. This thing stinks to high heaven. It sounds like something the FBI cooked up to create a meme prior to Trump’s election, with the goal of portraying Iran as the ultimate empire of evil. In my opinion, if you buy into this, you’re being played for a chump.

I’ve pulled three key paragraphs from the Department of Justice press release on the plot:

Farhad Shakeri, 51, of Iran; Carlisle Rivera, also known as Pop, 49, of Brooklyn, New York; and Jonathon Loadholt, 36, of Staten Island, New York, were charged today in a criminal complaint in connection with their alleged involvement in a plot to murder a U.S. citizen of Iranian origin in New York. Rivera was arrested in Brooklyn, New York, and Loadholt was arrested in Staten Island, New York, yesterday. Shakeri remains at large and is believed to reside in Iran. Rivera and Loadholt made their initial appearance in the Southern District of New York yesterday and were ordered detained pending trial. . . . Shakeri is an IRGC asset residing in Tehran, Iran. Shakeri immigrated to the United States as a child and was deported in or about 2008 after serving 14 years in prison for a robbery conviction. In recent months, Shakeri has used a network of criminal associates he met in prison in the United States to supply the IRGC with operatives to conduct surveillance and assassinations of IRGC targets. Two members of Shakeri’s network are his co-defendants, Loadholt and Rivera. At Shakeri’s instruction, Loadholt and Rivera have spent months surveilling a U.S. citizen of Iranian origin residing in the United States (Victim-1). Victim-1 is an outspoken critic of the Iranian regime and has been the target of multiple prior plots for kidnapping and/or murder directed by the Government of Iran. In exchange for Shakeri’s promise of $100,000, Rivera and Loadholt repeatedly sought to locate Victim-1 for murder. . . . In addition, according to statements made by Shakeri in recorded interviews with law enforcement agents, the IRGC has also tasked Shakeri with carrying out other assassinations against U.S. and Israeli citizens located in the United States. In particular, Shakeri has informed law enforcement that he was tasked on Oct. 7, 2024, with providing a plan to kill President-elect Donald J. Trump. During the interview, Shakeri claimed he did not intend to propose a plan to kill Trump within the timeframe set by the IRGC. He also stated he was tasked with surveilling two Jewish American citizens residing in New York City and offered $500,000 by an IRGC official for the murder of either victim. He was also tasked with targeting Israeli tourists in Sri Lanka.