#and his art implies he has psychological issues with women

[eleccy]

(biggest aai (investigations 2) spoilers possible DON'T read unless you have finished the second game)

god damn it, if paul halique wasn't such a greedy asshole and needed to make a gazillion dollars selling the stupid ultimate cookbook, then he never would've entered the baking contest and tried to rig it, and if he never tried to rig it then he wouldn't have told his son bronco to put simeon saint in that car, and if he hadn't done that then simeon would've been there to help his dad with the taste testing, and if he'd done that then his dad gusto would've felt more confident that he could win and he wouldn't have had to go take pictures of that cookbook, and if he hadn't done that then he never would've killed paul halique, and if paul halique hadn't been killed then the is-7 trial wouldn't have happened, and if the is-7 trial never happened then samson tangaroa never would've been falsely accused and he could've stayed with his daughter judy forever and ever, and ALSO if the is-7 trials never happened, then gregory probably wouldn't have been in court on that day and he wouldn't have taken the elevator and gotten shot and dl-6 never would've happened, and miles would get to grow up with a father and phoenix would never have become a lawyer and if phoenix never became a lawyer, then the whole damn series could've been the adventures of kristoph gavin and apollo justice at gavin law offices and there would be no reason for drew misham or zak gramarye to be killed or for vera misham to ever be poisoned and it would've been GREAT.

so basically, FUCK PAUL HALIQUE WORST SCULPTOR OF ALL TIME

[writing-for-life]

Sandman Meta-Analysis

Literary/Conceptual/Psychological

“Tales in the Sand” in Context of “The Doll’s House”: About Patriarchy, the Madness of Pure Dream and Nada & Morpheus as mirrors of each other

Where the Blood Fell, Red Flowers Grew”: Red Flowers as a Symbol for the Loss of Innocence & Guilt in Tales in the Sand & Brief Lives

Hob Gadling’s Involvement In The Slave Trade Between The Late 16th And Early 19th Century (This is a new, revised and expanded version of this addendum to someone else’s post)

Perspective Requires Being Anchored in Reality—About Holding the Entire Collective Unconscious and Dream’s Struggle with Connection

The Importance of the Dreamstones—The Ruby as Dream’s Essence (and the consequences of locking it away and then receiving it all back)

He Hears the Sound of Her Wings—When Death Equals Solace

“But He Loved, He Should Have Been Forgiven”—About Free Will, Responsibility and Agency: Lucifer and Dream as Foils

When Destiny is Inescapable or: He Truly Is the Worst Older Brother (Based on a fun ask prompt that turned into a serious meta)

The Portrayal of Womanhood in A Game of You

The Sandman Overture and Exiles: Omnia Mutantur, Nihil Interit—Everything Changes, Nothing Is Truly Lost (Not Even Hope)

The Ultimate Character Tag Library

The Mortifying Ordeal Of Being Known (Or: Does Morpheus Really Have Commitment Issues?)

Death’s Wedjat Eye: Deeper Symbolism or Random? (Based on an ask)

The Women of the Sandman: A Collection of Meta-Analyses, Fics and Art

Spun Stories And Hard-Hitting Realities As Bookends To Brief Lives

The Thing About Daniel (is that he is not a palette-swapped Morpheus)

The Sandman Timeline As Published In The Annotated Sandman (timeline with a few meta thoughts)

The Truth Of Mankind Is Also Dream’s (short comics panel/show quote comparison)

The Endless Are Not Their Opposite—They Only Define It

Only Hope (!) Calls You Out Like That (Dream, Desire, Hope And Loneliness),

The Difference Between Daydreams And Desires Or: How Dream And Desire Wouldn’t Have Saved The Universe Without Hope (Based on an ask)

Dream's Relationship To His Emotions & The Differences Between Show!Dream and Comics!Dream (Based on an ask)

About Love As The Catalyst For Change

Morpheus and Calliope: About Inspiration, Personhood and Change (Based on an ask)

What Does Morpheus Like in Women? (Based on an ask)

Dream’s Loss of White Hair as the Loss of Innocence: The Killalla-Situation

Touching Death or: Why Dream is Not Simply Touch-Starved in The Sound of Her Wings (Addendum to someone else’s post)

Keeping Them In Character: Could Morpheus Be Saved? (An exploration of fanfic, but lots of good meta thoughts, so I included it here)

Did Morpheus Want to Die? (Addendum to someone else’s post)

When Desire Stops Being the Villain

When a Story About Stories Can Be Read in More Than One Way, and Why a Story About Change Changes With Us

If It Is Implied Lucien Is Adam, What Does That Make Lucienne?

Sunday Mourning—About Dream Entities and Stars (Why Head-Canons Are Wonderful, But Forcing Them On Creators Isn’t)

Who Is at Fault for Dream’s Death? The Endless as Concepts (Based on an ask—I accidentally deleted the OP 😩, but thankfully, I still had reblogs to link to)

Dream and How He Experiences Love (Or: When the Unreal is at War with the Real, and Finally Understanding Unconditional Love Tightens the Noose Around Your Neck That Has Been There All Along)

Tales In The Sand—Did We Find the Women’s Story? Or: The Rejection Of Dream/Hope As A Concept

How Do You Solve The Orpheus Problem? (an exploration of ideas for fanfics, but too many good meta thoughts not to include it here)

Nuance in (The Sandman) Fandom

To Be Human Means To Die (Even For Morpheus)

Let’s Talk About Thessaly (In The Context of Second and Third Wave Feminism)

The Blood on Morpheus’ Hands (more a processing attempt than a meta)

Why The Order of the Last Three Issues of The Sandman Matters

The Facet is Not The Jewel (old post about the ubiquity of Dreamling)

#sandman meta: Even more metas of all kinds, like those of others I (sometimes quite extensively) participated in.

Sandman Comics Reread & Netflix Sandman Rewatch: All my Sandman Book Club contributions, ordered by issue/episode (we are currently discussing on a weekly schedule, join us!)

Next: Sandman Meta-Analysis Music >

Link to full pinned post

[lady-in-the-lair]

Hii after tld I am trying to read the comics but I don’t know where to start, can you recommend me anything pls:3

Thanks for asking! Here are the most symbrocky of the comics. There are other good Venom comics, but this is where I'd start to fill in everything the movie left out:

“The Hunger” 1996 -- that's where I got my Tumblr banner image from. The most symbrock of any of the comics, in my opinion, even without saying anything outright. It explores the bond between Eddie and Symby and has a uniquely dark, eerie tone without going overboard on the edgelordness. I bought the whole volume it's collected in just for that storyline.

Mike Costa run, starting at issue #5 (the first four issues feature Symby getting abused by its host to the point that it regresses and is unable to speak properly. Eddie only shows up in Issues #5). I'm still unclear on why Eddie asked Liz Allen out other than to no homo a run full of "my love," "my darling," and literally giving birth together...clearly, it did not work.

"First Host" -- the Mike Costa extra featuring the symbrock baby, Sleeper.

Marvel Presents #5 (2019)  -- It's a collection of Marvel stories, one of which features Eddie and Symby getting intimate. I have mixed feelings about choices made in part of the comic, and the art is terrible, but the actual intimacy is great! Also, it's barely PG-13, it's all implied and more psychological than anything else and inspired me to write a fic, it was so validating.

For non-specifically symbrock content after the cut!

David Michelinie wrote some great general Venom stories I recommend checking out. Even without overt symbrock (which is just one aspect of the characters!), and the absence of Symby's voice, you feel like he gets the characters and his writing isn't all doom-and-gloom.

"Venom: Seed of Darkness" (Len Kaminski, who also has good content) -- Not symbrock; this takes place while Eddie is still a reporter, but it shows how and why he'd bond so closely with Symby even without their mutual hatred of Spider-Man. Everyone is afraid of the alien monster he's reporting on; he's fascinated and even sympathetic iir.

Carnage (2015) -- It's dark and spooky and while it features Eddie, he's bonded to a different symbiote and the symbiotes are not the focus of the story. I like it for the Lovecraftian elements and characterization of Eddie, who seems more like himself than in other recent comics--a bit of a himbo, trying to do the right thing, loves kids, and is generally respectful of women (bunch of female characters in this one).

I also like the Agent Venom comics, though Eddie only briefly appears and Symby is bonded with Flash Thompson, the soldier who lost his legs in the movie. Those are just generally solid action comics with some character development for Flash.

I do not personally recommend the other pre-Costa 2000s Venom comics, as they mostly feature Eddie and Symby hating each other to various extremes and being generally very OOC. This is the era when Venom got dark and edgy and weird in a bad way, with Eddie going off the rails and Symby having a variety of awful hosts. Some good stuff to cherry pick, like Symby still loving Eddie when it sees him in that Anti-Venom getup, but generally bad, bad, bad imo.

I'm only current as of the beginning of Donny Cates's run, as I didn't like where he was going with it and the Look How Dark and Edgy This Is of it all. He also was disrespectful to fans who shipped symbrock (despite it being canon in the Costa run) and tried to no homo it...by having them co-raise a son and having Symby tell Eddie "I love you." Whatever he intended, he clearly backed away from the symbrock so hard he bumped into himself. All that being said, he does explore what Eddie and Symby mean to each other and packs in some good grieving from Eddie when he loses Symby (....who is a dog at the beginning of the run...)

Still, I'm sure there's a lot to like in there even if his dismissal of fans and worship by dudebros has always left a bad taste in my mouth and I stopped reading relatively soon.

I'd avoid Venom: The Madness, too. Hate that one!

Something to be aware of is that both Eddie and the symbiote are very different in the comics than they are in the movie! It varies from writer to writer, but Symby isn't as vocal and sassy and Eddie is just a different character with certain constants that didn't make it into the movie much--a difficult childhood with a distant father, loves kids, uses big words, Catholic, bodybuilder, generally respectful of women (okay that might just be my opinion after reading a lot of comics and cherry-picking the series I like--do not read Venom: The Madness!), and wants to protect innocents, his defining trait.

[papers4me]

Fruits Basket Manga Review ch (76 & 77)

So, I decided to read the manga mainly in search for a more natural balanced female presentation than the idealistic, shallower, savior depiction of tohru in the anime.

I’m intentionally skipping all the chapters of her as a (mother figure) in yuki’s life & won’t read them or even visit them for comparison with the anime. I love yuki’s growth story & the unique depiction of his platonic relationship with tohru, but if his mother-tohru phase was a drink, then the anime has force fed it to me till it came from my nose! So, for yuki, I’ll be reading his growth past-his mother confession.

I’ve consulted my lovely manga readers friends & thy recommended starting from ch 90 since the content in that chapter was completely cut! but some recommended checking kyoto chapters first since they contain a nice glimpse of the author’s style & artistic vision. Kyoto ep in the anime isn’t focused on “mom-tohru” so, i like the idea! I’ll jump to ch 90 right after ch 77.

- Subtle growth of a woman ( Clash of visions & presentation between the manga’s “ Loosing the wallet with mom’s photo vs the anime’s fractured photo frame):

I really love the underlined connotation of tohru loosing her “mom” unknowingly! In the anime, this scene played without any reference to kyoko & tohru’s attachment to her. We saw tohru the teenage girl confused as she experience romantic love for the first time. Nothing more than that. But the manga says “ Main female MC is way deeper than a (mom-figure) or a (girl in love), In this panel, tohru chases after kyo & unknowingly looses her famous wallet containing her mom’s picture. Here’s what this subtly indicates:

 Normally, tohru would notice right away that her wallet is missing, here she never even notice until kyo suggest they hang out together. Subtly indicating that tohru is moving further & further from her phase of “ an afraid, grieving, abandoned child clinging to her mom”.

Normally, tohru would panic, say “ mom is missing” & everyone around her goes into search mode to make tohru at ease (hiro’s ep). Here once she notices, she says “ my wallet is missing” & kyo relaxed & laughingly gives her her wallet back. While he goes to bring the wallet, tohru instead of thinking “ oh nearly lost mom!” is musing over the fact that “it’s strange that kyo can make me happy or sad with one word only”. Subtly indicating that tohru is replacing her mom with kyo as part of growing up from the child she was to the woman she will be.

Tohru calling kyo “mysterious”, subtly explains that tohru is in the uncertain phase of understanding her feelings as a woman & hence, pave the path for upcoming trauma exploration & psychological depth.

The entire scene in the manga is depicted to convey different layers: romance, upcoming growth, & unexplored traumatic issues of abandonment, grief, & human weakness. “ Accepting human Weakness & change” IS the manga’s vision.

In the anime, the fractured picture worked simply becuz no issues of any traumatic experiences with tohru were ever hinted. Nothing abt tohru being a young woman moving away from a traumatic childhood was ever implied beside the weakly sharply cut & forgotten few scenes of her mysteriously going “ im okay” while remembering her dad’s shrine. Was there ever anything abt replacing her mom with kyo? Nope!. Was there anything abt tohru reluctance of loving kyo? Nope! to fix that, let’s shock the audience with empty photo frame! It’ll make the viewers confused & if we play the climax right & give tohru a tearjerker speech confronting akito, all is good. It worked in the anime as it served the purpose it was created for: shock value & drama. ppl bought it. But in the long run, it cemented tohru as the “savior angel” never the “ weak human”. But not many will have issues with that. Having yuki with his impressive story of growth & kyo with his shocking story of pain is enough to distract from the rest. The director must think: What does the audience want?

a woman who’d save the prince with her motherly care?“ Done!”.

a woman who’d love the monster? “ Done !”. 

a woman who has her own deep story? no one will miss that~ skip!

-Yuki’s next stage of growth: Friends:

I like how smoother the scene played here. Yes, yuki thinks back to his gratitude to tohru, but it plays subtly & more emphasis is on his friendship with kakeru. No added scene of him waving back to tohru after kakeru which brought the focus back to mom-tohru again. No. Here is way less shoved in your throat. Yuki says how he felt in the moment, moved on to the next stage, thought abt his life & choives, moved on to school. Clear lines that makes yuki more dynamic & way less “ living in his head” character.

Side Notes:

The manga’s art is pretty but expressive! I was afraid it’ll have that weird eyes bigger than the moon & too much sparkles & bubbles like the usual old shojo manga art!

Yuki is way more expressive than the anime & less pretty & sparkly! I welcome this with flowers & songs! lol.

Tohru has “low” pigtails instead of the child-like high pigtails! YES! it is crazy that this trivial change adds so much to tohru’s presentation to the viewers’ eyes. In real life no big deal but in an artistic medium such choices send subliminal messages to viewers minds, that’s why artists spend a lot of time choosing their characters default appearance. It means a lot for the character’s overall path & sends messages. High child-like pigtails: make her look like innocent & naive child since viewers usually associate such hair do with children & toddlers. Low pigtails: are cute girly style that we associate with teenagers & young adult women, it’s practical & cute.

Kyo’s looks as youthful & handsome as the anime but less angry, annoyed & more versatile in his expression! It always bothered me that the anime just go with kyo’s default frowned face, hands in pocket looks unless he should express a key emotion. Also, kyo without an undershirt in his uniform! interesting change from the anime.

I missed kyo’s two buddies! T_T. Why they weren’t in the anime’s finale.. could’ve at least put them in the underwhelming graduation ceremony ~

I really appreciate that yuki’s fanclub are one page, less annoying.

That awkward moment when a manga panel drawn by one person can depict a crowded city more than an anime with a huge team. Like the anime didn’t even need to zoom out for a huge wide shot that showcase its weakness in depicting a crowded city. If you can’t draw that, just zoom in to lessen the effect of emptiness. kyoto isn't a deserted area especially not during a school trip!

The teachers checking on the sneaking vs sleeping students scene is a welcoming sight! XDDD

Hana met kakeru before? saw him & tohru together? weird!!

Kakeru is more focused on tohru here.

I really love the photos taken for everybody. It indicates real good time! Hana eating, yuki around girls, arisa annoyed, kyo teased with playing card: did the play “rich man poor man” again? XD

I’m starting to love yuki more in the manga than the anime!

Kyo having short inner thought abt not being able to tell tohru a girl confessed to him & deciding to say “ none of ur business” is doing wonders to the scene!!! it makes him less mean to tohru & more balanced character. I mean I guessed so in the anime, but what could've prevented making the VA say this short line of inner thought?! Yuki’s VA says essays & essays in nearly every ep abt nearly every character?!.

I liked the way kyo held tohru’s hands when he turned to her, the way he held her hand in the anime is a bit weird. lol. Also, in this scene, tender gentle kyo is so well-done both in the anime & manga. The manga wins for the zoom in & focus on emotions, tho.

Next is chapter 90!

[hawkland]

My (mostly) Destiel Recs, Round-up #6

Well, between working like crazy on my DCBB fic and GISH and injuring my neck last month I haven’t kept up with my rec posts, so this one is going to be LONG and have a LOT and I’m going to try to break it up into sections, from oldies but goodies (some things I found on very old rec lists) to smutty delights to just tasty little bits of fluff, hopefully there’s something or everyone here. Most of these are not super-long, largely in the 10-25k range, though there are a few beyond that. With all the stuff I’ve had going on I haven’t wanted to lose sleep diving into 100k epics (especially when I’m writing my own right now, lol.)

“Oldies” but Goodies:  Here are two great fics written some time way back when but that still definitely slap.

Theodicy by manic_intent (11k) - Probably the most brilliant Godstiel fic I’ve read to date. One of Cas’s first acts as the new god is to make a new archangel. Dean isn’t exactly on board with having his soul re-sculpted into wings he hates on sight (especially as they seem magnetically drawn to Cas), but he isn’t exactly given a choice. He, Sam and Bobby struggle with how to handle their former friend suddenly becoming a vindictive deity - trying to make plans to kill him if they must, which is pretty hard when it seems like Cas is always one step ahead of him. Can Dean hold on to enough of his humanity to provide a conscience to Cas and try to steer him toward good acts instead of destruction? This is one that I can’t say has a perfectly happy ending, but it’s a hopeful and imperfect one that’s just right for how the story plays out. 

My Eyes Are An Ocean by entanglednow (10k) - Season 5 AU where Dean averts the apocalypse through a spell that “powers up” all the angels and he sees Cas’s true form - before being rendered blind. Dean tries to adjust to his blindness, Cas tries to deal with his guilt, and it’s just a lovely little read with an ending that’s... *chef’s kiss*

Lots more recs below the cut:

More great reads from some of my favorite authors I’ve recced before:

The Cabin on the Lake by DeanRH (21k) - This may be my new favorite DeanRH fic...at least for the moment. The year is 2152, Sam and Dean are long gone to Heaven, while Cas - stuck somewhere between mortal and angel - remains on Earth keeping vigil, keeping up the hunt, assuming he’ll never see either Winchester ever again. But when he starts hearing things, and imagining Dean visiting him as an angel himself, he starts losing grip on what is and isn’t real, and whether he can trust anything he sees or believes to be the truth. This is one hell of a psychological rollercoaster that kept me guessing right along with Cas until the very end. It also has some super-creepy horror elements, a novel “monster of the week”, and the hot-as-sin smut scenes I always expect from this author.

X Marks the Scot by DeanRH (15.9k) A fun little romp through history in one of this author’s great not-quite-au fics. Crowley sends Dean and Sam back in history to the Scottish Highlands to stop a monster, and while there they meet a blue-eyed clan chief who makes Dean weak in the knees. There’s something familiar about him, too. a very clever au that ties back to canon for an unexpected fix-it. Also, Cas in a kilt. Enough said.

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon by DeanRH (12k) - Sweet and slightly angsty AU. What if Dean was a gardener in ancient Babylon when a strange dignitary came to warn that the tower under construction was to be destroyed by angels? Lush, romantic and sexy with some wonderful tie-ins to canon characterizations (of Dean, Sam, John and of course Cas).

sufficient for thee by angelfishofthelord (21k) - This is a beautiful Cas angst-fest and character study that reimagines how angel grace works, particularly in regards to healing others. It covers the whole of Cas’s arc from Season 4 through a post-series fix-it, is absolutely stunning and features some great world-building in regards to the angels. (One important TW: those with cutting/self-harm issues may wish to skip or at least proceed with caution). I love that I can always count on angelfishofthelord when I need a good dose of Cas!whump and pain.

And laugh at gilded butterflies by ireallydidthistomyself (13k) - another great Dadstiel fic from this author featuring one of my favorite angsty subjects! I don’t know how I missed reading this one before. An AU where Cas is raising (baby)Jack on his own until the angels find the two of them and prepare to seal Jack away in the Ma’lak box. Cas begs them to let him go with Jack, so at least Jack won’t be alone for eternity. Meanwhile Dean is frantically trying to find what happened to Cas, and he gets some unexpected help from Crowley.  It’s sad and sweet and all the characterizations are great. A+ Crowley use here, too.

what stays (and what fades away) by dothraki_shieldmaiden (64k) - a fabulous read with some great art, too, that started me reading a bunch of fic from this author. Cas goes missing, and when he’s found he seems deep under a spell. When they finally manage to awaken him, he doesn’t remember anything of this life with Dean, Sam and Cas in the bunker. The last thing he knew he was a nurse living with his wonderful husband, Dean, and their two adopted children, Jack and Claire. What I loved about this one was the clever twist as to who was behind Cas’s curse and also how well-developed his AU world/existence was. I’m not generally keen on mundane aus or the one-dimensional way a lot of djinn dream fics tend to go for them, but this one managed to capture a believable version of Dean and Cas living a “normal” life without monsters without making it sugary/too-sweet. 

before knowing remembers by dothraki_shieldmaiden (14k) Post 15x04, a wonderful fic that plays with some meta topics in a clever way. Dean and Sam are happy - they have free will and they’ve won against Chuck, even if they suffered some big losses along the way (including Jack). But Dean can’t help but think he’s forgetting something...or rather, someone. Yet every time he thinks he remembers, the name and face of that someone slips from his mind. 

weights on my ankles by dothraki_shieldmaiden (9k) Post-15x03 where Cas ends up going back to the Gas ‘n Sip and working with Nora after leaving the bunker. A bitter sweet divorce-arc AU and what I love the most is how it ends - not perfect, not tragic, just very real and believable. 

15x18 and Post-canon fix-it fics:

Orbital Velocity Around a Celestial Body by LeverDrift (26k) - An angsty but lovely fix-it fic, one where it gets worse for a while before it gets better. Dean pulls Cas from the Empty, where he’d been living in a fantasy world with a dream!Dean who was giving him everything real!Dean is certain he can’t. Dean has to struggle with wondering if Cas would have been better off with dream!Dean instead of him. This is one that will break your heart before putting it back together again as Dean struggles with his self-worth issues.

so good at crashing in by Wintertree (36k) - Another post-finale fix-it where Cas is back, the world is saved, and things are still...not as easy as it should be for either Dean nor Cas. Monsters are gone, there’s no more hunting to be done, and Cas wants to move out of the bunker somewhere closer to Claire, to move on with a proper human life. Dean thinks he can move there with Cas and stay as “best friends”, even to the extent that Cas encourages him to go out and have sex with others/women. (And wants to hear about it after the fact!) But can Dean figure out what he really wants, and what Cas wants as well? A refreshingly unique take on what a post-series life could have looked like for them.

Delicious smut:

Empty by squirrelofcelestialintent (43k) - Every day this fandom makes me rethink my previous squicks and DNWs in fanfic. Here I find myself enjoying quite a bit more dom/sub elements than I normally ever would! I think because I was absolutely drawn in by the breathtaking first chapter, capturing beautifully the emotions of Cas returning from the Empty in Season 13 if he and Dean had confessed their feelings right then and there. But Dean’s self-worth is all fucked up, he feels there’s no way he can be good enough for Cas, especially when his sexual desires run a little bit...let’s just say outside the vanilla and he’s struggling with shame over doing sex work when he was younger. This was HOT and POOR SAM really gets stuck in the middle of, well, hearing more about his brother’s sex life than he ever needed to.

He's My Mate by Hatsonhamburgers (22k) - This fic manages the delightful combination of humor and extreme hotness perfectly. Dean and Cas catch each other in some questionable masturbation situations. This leads Cas to decide he needs to buy Dean some proper sex toys. He’s just helping his best friend out, right? Sure. As I said, hysterical AND hot as hell. 

Generals by nanoochka (9k) - Cas/Dean, Cas/Balthazar/Dean, implied past-Cas/Balthazar. An old LJ fic I found on an ancient rec list that is just scorching hot and a brilliant character study of Cas and Dean. Balthazar decides to invite himself in when he catches Dean and Cas engaging in some frisky business, and it turns into a bit of a power-play between the two soldiers of Heaven. Cas gets DP’ed and it’s all...well. It’s fucking good, read it.

The One With The Preening by HolyFuckingHell (5.5k) Can I do a rec post without including some wing!kink/wing!grooming in it? No, I can’t. (I also really enjoyed some of the other fics in this author’s series including The One With Dean's Horny Movies).

A Single Point of Light by Destina (2.4k) - This is a gorgeous Cas/Dean/Benny Purgatory short! A delicious balance of the two each caring for and caring about Dean in their own, protective ways, definitely a delight for any fans of this threesome.

Short and sweet, fluff to angst:

Snugglebird by almaasi (5.3k) - So, so soft and sweet and snuggly, just like the title. Dean’s things are disappearing from the bunker...and so, suddenly, has Cas. What’s going on? I do love my nesting!Cas fics, so...yeah. If you need a smile this is a good one to read :)

And Cleanse Me From My Sin by thisisapaige (1.6k) - another one for my beloveds who also enjoy wing grooming and sweet Dean-taking-care-of-Cas fluff.

Needle and Thread by Misachan (4k) - Season 5 wing!fic hurt/comfort. Cas’s wings are badly injured, Dean doesn’t quite know what he’s doing, but he’s stitched up Sam and himself enough times. He can do this. If you love caretaker!Dean and vulnerable!Cas don’t overlook this little gem.

Deceptive Preludes by sp8ce (2.7k) - One of those stories that delves into some of the difficulties Cas might have after coming back from the Empty a second time, especially in regards to accepting what’s real or not, understanding Dean, and how both of their communication issues can add to their struggles. Painful but hopeful for the future, felt very believable as I read it.

[tanzmitmirsblog]

About 18th and 19th centuries’ novels in British literature.

One of the most significant art genres in English today is the book. This is due to the fact that it affected key parts of language and is today regarded part of art. The English novel, on the other hand, largely arose in the 18th century. This isn't to say that innovative forms didn't exist prior to this. It simply implies that over this time period, the number of authors and novelists grew. The novel is a straightforward work of art that uses the imagination to delve into people's varied lives via the linked events of a notable person and place. The novel rose in the 18th century, but that doesn't mean it wasn't written until the 18th century. this only shows that the number of writers who wrote novels increased in the 18th century, which greatly influenced English literature. The French Revolution and the Enlightenment in the 18th century greatly influenced literature as well. Slavery and human trafficking were at their height on a wider scale. These revolutions were so significant that they began to confront structures whose departure from the monarchical order threatened to suffocate aristocratic privileges, particularly the mechanisms that fuelled the slave trade. This Age of Reason, often known as the Enlightenment, was also a time when cutting-edge schools of thought flourished. From English intellectuals to French thinkers, and even throughout Europe. These intellectuals began to challenge the customary normalcy with which they were born and had lived their whole lives. The 18th century was the first time that novels were widely published, and a demand for them arose among English readers. People's need to read about everyday occurrences, events that continue to affect the lives and actions of fictitious characters, also contributes to this demand. Robinson Crusoe and Tom Jones, authored by Daniel Defoe and Henry Fielding, respectively, are two early novels. The novel's popularity stemmed from its ability to reach a wider audience, including people who couldn't afford a theatrical ticket. It's also worth noting that drama began to fade in England at this time. Individuals' desire to create something new and unusual may also be credited to the rise of the novel. People want stories that represented their own experiences, stories that were familiar, and the novel was born out of this need. The main reasons for the rise of the novel are the rise of the middle class, the change of society and the printing press. In the 18th century, the emergence of realism had an impact on the novel's development. Reason, reason, and sarcastic spirit were all important aspects of the realism movement, and they were all incorporated into the novel form. The narrative of Robinson Crusoe is presented in the first person, making it incredibly intimate and realistic. It is narrated in the form of a flashback of events that occurred in the life of a young Englishman who is highly daring and sets sail against his parents' desires. Until the 18th century, the term exclusively applied to shorter literary forms depicting love and life in its most natural state, frequently dealing with stories of adventure, laughter, and joy. Samuel Richardson's novel Pamela also had a great impact. Richardson, Sterne, Smollet, and Fielding's novels were about the life of the people, and the life of the upper class was hardly the subject of novels. In the 18th-century novel, the writers turned to realism and focused on the rise of the middle class and used ordinary characters rather than romance. It is based on real-life events rather than fictional events. The main characters were no longer kings, queens and nobles. The authors took care to use the language simply. The general population nearly tripled in the nineteenth century, and at the same time, extensive internal migration, the transformation of villages and towns into large cities, technological advances such as steam engines, class conflict, and industrialization encouraged writers to write more creatively, experimentally, and innovatively. As in the 18th century, the novel was on the rise in the Victorian era of the 19th century. The fame of the novel increased as the number of literate people increased. Interest in the novel grew, thanks to Charles Dickens' portrayal of working-class life, which he wrote “Tales of two cities” about that. Romanticism was now completely replaced by realism. Victorian novelists such as Oscar Wilde and Thomas Hardy like the authors at the turn of the century exploited societal issues as subjects in their novels and created works on them. Sexuality, in addition to societal concerns, has been included as a new subject. Charles, a very realist writer, dealt with the conflict between the human mind and the reality in the world in his work called Great Expectations. Feminism took its place alongside social issues, and successful women writers such as Charlotte Brontë became a light in the 19th century. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, and Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights were intense horror and romance books of the nineteenth century. The adventure genre was popularized by Robert Louis Stevenson's works Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Henry James, in his books Portrait of a Lady, The Spoils of Poynton, and The Ambassadors, published at the close of the nineteenth century, gave the fiction a new viewpoint by making psychological insights.

-Tanzmtmirsblog

[aelaer]

☕ WHY DO YOU THINK TONY DOESN'T LIKE BEING HANDED THINGS (OR IF YOU KNOW THE CANON REASON THAT WOULD BE AWESOME) 👀👀👀

From what I could find, there is no canon reason. And I didn’t have any headcanon for this. So I outsourced and went to the internet to see what they thought. They had interesting answers. Here are all of them. I put my favorite answer at the end. (Copy/pasted rather than screenshotted so I don’t have to worry about screen-readers):

Via Rob Taylor on Quora:

Agent Carter fleshed this out in the final episode. Basically both Howard and Tony have OCD tendencies, most geniuses do. But Tony has a LOT of psychological issues at play.In Howard’s case it was displayed with humor, that his gadgets were not stored right. Tony’s is more to do with avoiding any personal involvement where he can. Being handed things is just one part of it, he beds women and has Pepper eject them, he can’t stand the pendulum and is ALWAYS flippant and inappropriate around authority, in particular Fury. Tony always avoided bonding with people, literally has Rhodey as a friend and Stane as his father figure at the start of the film and Pepper and Happy as his staff, albiet close staff. Since Yinsen’s death he tries to avoid drawing others into his world as they get killed, which is exacerbated by the dangers faced by Pepper, Coulson’s death and Hogan’s near killing in IM3. He is even off with kids in IM3 where he isn’t previously, so he is also quite paranoid.

Via Andrew Hart on Quora:

If you think back to (or go back and watch) Iron Man (the first one), you’ll notice Tony is handed things in the movie and it’s implied he’s handed many other things.

There are two situations that are most notable.

At the party when Christine Everhart comes up to Tony after he got back from Afghanistan, she hands him pictures of terrorists using Stark technology to attack Gulmira (however you spell it), which if you recall, is the place Yinsen says he is from. This hits Tony hard, because it’s HIS weapons being used to terrorise the place of origin of the man who died to save him.

In this same conversation, Christine accuses Tony of signing off to allow for Stark weapons to be given to those terrorists, which Tony is immediately upset by. It’s one of the few times when Tony doesn’t have a ‘smart comeback’, but is shown to be upset and disturbed by this information. This makes Tony wonder “What has he been signing? Could he have signed off for these weapons to be used without even knowing it?”

As CEO, he signs a lot of stuff, and he is responsible for everything Stark Industries does. Tony assumes the worst, that he signed off for the weapons to be used and didn’t notice it. He assumes it was just one of the random things people kept handing to him to sign.

So in this one conversation, we have Tony being handed images that deeply trouble him, and then being accused of signing paperwork that was handed to him to allow for these images to exist.

Basically this one conversation leads to Tony having a peeve about being handed things. Understandably.

Via KCreep on Reddit:

It hasn’t been outright explained. However my interpretation is this.

Ultra, rich, weathy, men have a tendency to have weird eccentric quirks. Think of Howard Hughes and him collecting his own urine in jars.  You don’t get super weathly without being a bit gifted and more importantly being right more often than not. So over time, they’d settle into the concept that everything they do is right.

My line of thinking is that Tony Stark is so cocky and sure of himself, that the entire concept of being handed anything means that he’s not in control of the current situation.

As in if someone hands him a file to look at. He might think that he’s the genius in this room, no one needs to tell him when he needs to get to work. And the act of handing a file to him would be offensive.  So while he may be too polite to just call it out for the way he thinks about it. He defaults to not liking being handed things.

Of course it’s just my insight, I could be overthinking it.

**edit then I just ran your question by my girlfriend and her immediate response was… He’s a germaphobe.  She brought up Jarvis handling things in his workshop, how his cars were all kept prestine, and how Pepper would be the one to hand things to him, someone he’d trust to be clean.  So you got two theories there.

Via Sarah Stodola on Quora:

I don’t think we have an official, worded answer from Marvel; they haven’t spelled it out. The following is my own observation and theorizing, after multiple viewings of most of the MCU films.

I think the core reason has to do with trauma and trust.

It’s not something he’s had or done all along. The trait didn’t actually seem to exist at the beginning of IM1 - he interacted with women and a pressing crowd at the casino, without issue. We also got the picture that he was a partier (crowds, booze, noise, sex) on a regular basis. We first see the hints of it later in IM1 (he’s uncomfortable with Obadiah, an old friend but also a very dominating personality, putting an arm around him - well before he knew of the betrayal), and then we have it pointed out very obviously in IM2. What changed?

Tony was held captive and tortured. Both people in his world and a lot of fans seem to forget that. Not just slapped around, but beaten, half-drowned, and electrocuted by people who seemed to take some pleasure in their “art” - all while having just undergone major wounding and open-chest surgery. He’s lucky he’s alive. He’s certainly not unaffected.

It doesn’t just show in not liking to be handed things; the issue is broader than that. That’s the piece he vocalizes, and he seems to play off it purposefully, obnoxiously even, as being difficult or quirky - better to be seen as annoying than vulnerable. But from IM2 on we also see that he doesn’t like crowds anymore - he will push through them if need be, but he goes visibly physically tense and does it quickly. He also startles quite noticeably when touched without warning on several occasions through the subsequent films - he downright jumps and half-turns if it’s from behind. It’s not just that he doesn’t like it. It actually spooks him; his eyes widen. His more dramatic anxiety/PTSD after “Avengers” seems to make most people he interacts with not look any deeper, but the older issues are still there.

He’s continually on some level of physical awareness; he holds himself very precisely. Even when dealing with the other Avengers he tends to circle - subtly - just out of reach, usually chattering steadily or joking to make it less obvious, and making conscious decisions to occasionally move in to do something like give or allow a brief shoulder grip. But it is obvious once you know to look for it. His body language downright shouts. The only times he seems to forget about it are when he’s angry (then he’ll get aggressive and up in people’s faces) or in an emergency (adrenaline, total focus on what needs to be done).

The only times he completely goes loose-muscled and unguarded are when locked in his basement hideaway (safe place), or under Pepper’s touch. The only times he moves comfortably in strangers’ close proximity are in the armor.

I suspect “don’t hand me things” is simply an excuse he can get away with to not to get within arm’s reach of most people - one fewer reason to end up in close quarters with another human being. The only regular exceptions to the rule are also the only people he’s shown to be actually comfortable being in physical contact with - Pepper of course, Rhodey, Happy, and oddly enough, apparently Bruce Banner. (And yes, Peter later on, I was reminded. Tony shows some stiffness for awhile with him too, but seems to relax gradually.)

Really, when you look at all the little things unspoken but added up to a clear picture, it’s hard not to realize just what an amazing actor RDJ really can be. To express so much about a character’s state of mind without using words at all - except the occasional snarky “I don’t like to be handed things.”

**

The above of course is all about Tony Stark in the MCU. I saw from another answer that this trait has also been carried into the comics. I can only surmise that either 1.) it would come from a similar history and mental state in the comic character, or that 2.) the writers carried over the trait from the films without looking into why it existed there, in which case it could end up a lot shallower of a reasoning.

I think Sarah hit the nail on the head and that’s the reason I like the most. Feel free to choose as you like. That’s the beauty of headcanons.

[arecomicsevengood]

Self-Released Comics from 2020

A bunch of zines came out this year that I liked but haven’t written anything about because I’ve been working under the assumption that my liking the artists involved is unsurprising. But I might as well, I like them more than much of what’s offered by larger publishers and they’re probably doomed to some degree of obscurity. I should excerpt images but don’t feel like doing that. All of these would be in consideration for a theoretical “best of the year” list, but I generally get conservative with those and limit it to five books that are widely available as a concession to an imagined general audience.

Gonzales, by Matthew Thurber and Ric Royer, available through Matthew’s online shop

The parties involved in this comic’s creation would probably prefer I not mention that Ric, the writer, was “cancelled” and made a pariah in Baltimore (and I believe Providence too) due to his behavior in relationships, which had a marked pattern of manipulation and psychological abuse. I don’t know how many people outside these places, in the broader comics community, are aware of such things, but certainly some people are probably buying this comic not knowing anything about it who would be uncomfortable with the concept if they knew. I support Matthew’s willingness to support his friend as an artist by collaborating with him in a context where it’s unlikely women would come into his orbit (this isn’t to imply there aren’t women in comics, only that there aren’t festivals happening right now) but not so much so I can look the other way entirely. If I had to have hand-wringing conversations with Baltimore friends, you have to have them in your head: Heads up for those who don’t like it when authors are creeps.

The comic itself is pretty good! It’s a satire about the Satanic Panic of the 1980s that basically works as a kid’s comic, where a superhero named Gonzales teaches kids to overcome their parents’ fears. Thurber’s a great cartoonist, and I don’t think he loses too much working from a script here. There’s less improvisatory surrealism and more general storytelling economy.

Everglide by Carlos Gonzalez, available through Wasp Video Roadhouse

This kinda feels like Carlos’ eXistenZ, by which I mean it’s about humans “jacking in” to video game worlds where they can run around. Also I think eXistenZ is the best Cronenberg movie, and who knows how good this comic will turn out? I like the serialized minicomic format. I do feel like the ideal format for this would be typical comic proportions, sold in retail stores monthly, and Carlos’ thin line that delineates the shape of a figure but none of its weight or texture could confront readers with its seeming amateurism. But alas! No one can afford to put out black and white genre comics in stores regularly these days. As a minicomic with so many pages in each issue, the focus on the narrative, and each issue feels satisfying on those grounds, building out its world.

Detective Double Digest by Drew Lerman and Pete Faecke, available at The Stink Hole

Drew Lerman takes his Snake Creek characters out for a detective caper with gags about pissing and a plot about cryogenic freezing. Pete Faecke, who I’m unfamiliar with, but is in the new Bubbles writing about the horse sequence in Jimbo Adventures In Paradise, does a comic where multiple people huff gasoline. It’s great. There’s plenty of jokes, an interesting tone, but also a good deal of narrative space being covered in a short amount of pages. The contrast between art styles works to the advantage of each, with Faecke sort of approximating a stiff “golden age” style while Lerman works in a scribblier cartoonier form, closer to a comic strip like Barney Google. Faecke also did a similar format split with A.T. Pratt of western comics that looks pretty good too.

Whisnant by Max Huffman, available at Motion Goods

I loved reading this comic as pages would pop up on Max’s social media feed. Honestly considered buying a page of the original art to finance the printing of the minicomic version. Improvised goofball comedy, tells a story, interrupts that story, then comes back to it, the way the gags and callbacks work is insane in this. I kinda hope he continues with it but maybe it won’t work if it attempted to function like an ongoing comic and not just a stream of consciousness thing that’s disinterested in resolution. On any given page, it feels either like Huffman is going for some weird gag or he’s exploring the form and abstracted geometry of page layout and shape. The amount of panels per page is generally pretty low, so it makes for a breezy minicomic, but reading it online a page at a time I always imagined it at classic comic book size, feeling like part of the point was the subversion of expectations of a classic “teen” comic like Archie.

Hubert by Elijah Brubaker, available at his Patreon

Elijah put up a few issues of this for free as PDFs somewhere but that might’ve been a limited time thing, and it’s worth tossing him some small amount of money to get these. They’re comedies about being an obnoxious dumbass who’s dumb and horny, sorta sitcom-y, sorta weird indie movie vibe, but with a cartoon’s sense of freedom from consequences. Strange and likable, uncontrived, honest to its world of slackers. Would be a good alt-comic in the tradition of Hate or any number of forgotten Slave Labor comics. Hubert the character’s abstracted cartoon shape is kinda like Ben Jones’ Alfe but he ends up in a house full of women and there’s a flirtatious chemistry in his interactions as opposed to Jones’ sexless goofball shenanigans. Since Brubaker’s I think most known for his Wilhelm Reich bio-comic and is currently working on a Charles Manson thing, this feels more “accessible” to a certain alienated pandemic brain looking to live vicariously through fiction while maybe the other stuff is more saleable to libraries. That may sound more cynical than I intend, I mean this comic is fun and it would be nice to encounter it on someone’s coffee table when you’re at the house getting drunk and stoned in a different era. The artist is unemployed and currently only making money from his Patreon, he deserves people kicking in donations for this thing.

Dog Biscuits by Alex Graham, viewable at Instagram for the time being

For a fictionalized document of the pandemic times we’re living in, currently being serialized on Instagram, running in sequences of panels you click through, I like this better than Crisis Zone. It seems close to wrapping up, at which point Alex will collect it into a self-published book I think will make a worthwhile purchase. As time has gone on, and the strip’s moved away from discussing protests and the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone overtly, settling in with the romantic drama of its small cast as they try to find their way in a world where it feels like every stupid asshole might have exposed themselves to COVID already and now thinks nothing of exposing you as well feels fraught as any editorial cartooning, a sense of desperation to find joy underlies a multipage XXX sequence of characters boning. The Instagram comments are lit up with people seemingly familiar with only reading YA getting really emotionally invested and being extremely judgmental of the characters, with maybe the weirdest moment from my vantage point was someone asking the author what a character’s astrological breakdown was. These reactions do bring home how thought out, alive, and well-observed these characters feel.

[meditativeyoga]

Supporting Emotional Life in Boys Through Yoga

When I started educating Color Me Yoga ® for Kid in 1999, many of my youngsters's yoga classes were primarily populated by ladies. Every now and then, we 'd have a child or two join the group, however it was unusual. Over the years, both in my mentor and in the trainings I conduct, I have actually noticed that when kids do participate in classes, they start to drop off around age 9, partially because the yoga courses draw more women, leaving boys at that age unpleasant with a course with no various other male peers, the yoga instructor is a woman, or because lots of children around 9 begin to get included a lot more actively in competitive sporting activities, or various other after-school activities. Yoga behaved however there are various other ways to be active.

Then along come the experts. The majority of the diagnoses of ADD (interest deficiency problem) as well as ADHD (focus deficit hyper disorder) are for kids. Generally, since boys require to removal and also articulate their presence physically, they are the ones that get singled out as not listening during college, or having "problems" with listening, cooperating, as well as aggressiveness. While I can't spend an entire write-up analyzing the neuro-endocrine system or the condition of public colleges in The U.S.A., I can state that the real path of yoga exercise( which poses and also breathing are a really little component) has everything to do with sustaining and commemorating the physical, spiritual, psychological and EMOTIONAL life of boys.

It's a bit of a set up for children. Their natural inclinations can appear turbulent, at least in the system we have actually produced for them. They are asked to rest still a lot, as well as are commonly reprimanded when all-natural tendencies arise. There is still a great deal of stress to behave a particular method amongst their peers, which consists of the code of silence (not ratting), being patient, and being difficult. Children have their own distinct culture that includes not being a phony, teasing- the "infraction is defense strategy", standing up for pals, even if it implies losing another buddy, size equals respect, the constant reward to win whatsoever costs, and competition, which breeds it own sort of friendship which can sometimes be very isolating.

When boys behave tenderly, kindly, compassionately, are they recognized enough? Or is their overriding physicality the emphasis (as in- an issue) Regarding I can tell, psychological life in kids is an afterthought. Simply most likely to the youngsters's section of any kind of publication store. There are many books for women concerning self- esteem, the best ways to be a friend, lady power, and so on. In a much edge you might locate a couple of books concerning children. Don't kids are worthy of to have their self- esteem built as much as girls?

Even Yoga Is Not Immune

Boys need psychologically aware and also type male function designs, not simply sports heroes with doubtful personal lives and Uber- personalities from video games. We need more male yoga exercise educators who have actually developed those abilities of emotional knowledge to design and also show yoga exercise to boys.

Yet, our social conditioning commonly antagonizes us, also when it concerns instructing yoga exercise to children. One guy, who took my kids's yoga exercise training years earlier was extremely worried concerning exactly how he could immediately be on trial as a killer. Would he have had the same concern if he was a train, mentor affordable sports? Another kids's yoga educator made the unconditionally declared that kids are less adaptable compared to ladies, regardless of that versatility differs extremely within each gender.

If we condition our mind to decide exactly how a child will certainly behave in yoga exercise course or any field, or exactly what his capacities are( or not), then just how are we actually practicing, not to mention mentor, fundamental possibility or caring equanimity?

The true structure of Yoga is the auspiciousness of Ahimsa (or non-violence). The results of practicing Ahimsa in the direction of self and others brings about being: communicative, cooperative, part of a team( Group Yoga exercise!) with a typical function, daring, accountable, straightforward with generosity, charitable, thoughtful, imaginative, positive, understanding, seeing as well as matching the finest in everybody, self-care, non-attached, moderate, caring. Why not uphold young boys in this light? Any type of inconsistency is just a forgetting of who they really already are.

Yoga to the Rescue

Teaching young boys ways to attach to and confidently express the sensations in their hearts leads to psychological intelligence. Research study sponsored by HeartMath, a worldwide leader in the research of the heart as a physical, emotional as well as spiritual warehouse for the body's sense of Self, has actually shown that the heart is actually the director of the Self. The heart talk with the mind much extra compared to the various other way around. HeartMath talks about two sorts of signals that affect the brain and consequently the body. A mute heart is a heart, which is essentially from rhythm with the body and mind. The mute heart experiences disagreeable emotions. The coherent heart, on the various other hand, is one that remains in rhythm with the body and mind, as well as experiences reasonable emotions.

Yoga is a practice that straight impacts the ability of the youngster to recognize, listen and recognize the sensation of the inner heart. Given that yoga straight affects and perks up the parasympathetic worried system, the youngster is a lot more responsive and steadly receptive to his very own mood. Without the right tools to understand himself, exactly how can a young boy distinguish between the mute as well as coherent emotions?

A study report by Catherine Weinberger, scholar at the College of The golden state, discovered that young boys had a much tougher time self calming in the initial couple of months of life compared to ladies did. They were, it appeared, much more vulnerable, needing more loving nurturing touch. They were, actually, much less self-dependent.

A smart and experienced yoga exercise teacher will certainly be delicate to this fundamental fact.

Essential yoga exercise for children includes supporting real nature of yoga as a body, mind AND ALSO spirit method. Yoga exercise not just assists steady the mind. It brings about recognizing the self which includes paying attention to the body and emotions, and creating the intuitive/spiritual self. Yoga exercise helps kids shift well, discovering exactly how to take care of impulses with poise and concern. Yoga expands and motivates a young boy's capacity of the heart by focusing on the Yogic global concept of Oneness.

Marsha Therese Danzig is the founder of Shade Me Yoga © for Children, which has actually been training individuals in the great art of yoga for kids since 2002. She is a regular contributor to yoga exercise magazines. Her site is www.colormeyoga.com. She takes into consideration everyday a gift.

[scriptsandlattes]

Sherlock Holmes and Fanfiction: A Study in the Development of Humanity

August 17, 2019

           Along with having a Zygoma that would make a cheese knife jealous, Benedict Cumberbatch marvelously portrays the fictitious, and often socially blind, detective created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and is brought up as one of the many iterations of Sherlock Holmes. Whether you prefer the serious only-time-for-fun-when-I-drank-to-much, Cumberbatch and Freeman as Sherlock and Watson respectively, or favor Robert Downey Jr. and his Watson, Jude Law’s more comical approach, you have seen at least one version of the duo represented on-screen that is different from their literary counterparts; Which is anything but surprising, as it is a series of shorts that were written in the 1880s. Some laugh at the idea that fan-made fiction is an artifact of pop culture, but every story is inspired by another story. Even the original stories are often based loosely, stiffly, or satirically around witnessed events. Fanfiction is a study in humanity, and it's social and historical developments. It also brings out creative thinking, individually and collectively.

What makes writing stories using Sir Arthur Doyle’s characters on a platform such as Wattpad (or Tumblr) less accepted than a BBC or Hollywood production? It does not matter where the source material comes from; the original idea will be spun into someone's inspiration. The amount of research and work that goes into a good fanfiction should be commended as well, as writers can spend hours researching methods or mental incapacities. Then again, "good" is a subjective term, and you can often tell when something isn’t thoroughly researched. Even with films, tv shows, and big, commercially marketed books, there is an argument over whether the story is good or bad. While some consider fan-written fiction lower than kitsch, being a mimic is a skill. Yes, some of the characters are already established, but the writer still created an original character- or characters- and plot ideas, which means the story already has a new element added and they now must create interactions with the pre-established characters without disrespecting the constitution of the original characters or their creator. Whether the original creator would accept the fans version of the story matters little, as both versions are the author’s head canon. As with any form of art, kitsch or not, it will enviably cause controversy.

Cumberbatch's portrayal of Sherlock Holmes is the updated inspiration presented by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat. To be more relatable to a broader audience, Holmes, Watson, and Moriarty are younger, and electronically inclined but still clever enough to keep the “old-timers” interested. As times change, more ideas are allowed. The mental health of it all has developed as well; the more scientists learn about mental wellness and the human psyche, the more we can be algorithmic with how characters will or won’t react to different disorders. Sally Donovan calls Sherlock a freak, John Watson rolls with it, and Detective Lestrade sees Sherlock’s potential.

While there is little exploration as to why Downey Jr’s Sherlock Holmes is the way he is, looking at it from a psychological point of view, we can identify the adolescent issues that caused Cumberbatch’s Sherlock to have grown into the man he is. Nothing sums up young Sherlock’s development more than “the mind is inherently designed to understand life as a narrative.” (Borges, 1962) Even Sigmund Freud agrees that the psyche reshapes the conflicts revisited in narratives as a way to cope (Danesi, 2019). In Gatiss’ version, the Holmes brothers have a younger sister. She was closer to Sherlock’s age and began to feel ignored and jealous of Sherlock’s relationship with his best friend Victor, so she shoved Victor down a well and refused to tell them where he was. It is not until after she burned down the family home and is sent away that Sherlock rewrites his memories, forgetting his younger sister and making his childhood friend his childhood dog, (that never existed), Redbeard. At one-point, Mycroft tells Sherlock he is the man he is because of the memory of his sister.

The same events also lay the foundation for understanding Mycroft as well. The human psyche is a precious thing. Where Sherlock forgot his trauma, and his brain seems to have rewritten the way he reacts completely, Mycroft lives with the guilt of knowing what he did. He knew the Eurus was locked away and did not die in the house fire she set, as he told his family. Perhaps his internalization of emotions is how he lives with the guilt, like a self-inflicted punishment. The more you pay attention to Gatiss as Mycroft, the more you can tell he truly cares about his little brother, but he is afraid to look weak, so he instead acts like he does not and allows the hostility.

Inspirations grow with the times. More ideas are accepted, and technology is upgraded. While Cumberbatch’s Sherlock Holmes occasionally falls back into archaic tendencies, he uses modern technology such as keeping a blog and texting. Downey Jr. offers us the closer to the original version with telegram communications. Setting aside the Abominable Bride episode which is meant to take place in 1895- it is likely that if the two versions were to switch places, they would not be able to do their job as efficiently, if at all. They wouldn’t have the technology they know how to use; one would have the advanced tech while the other would think waiting for, or writing, a telegram is tedious.

When studying Pop Culture, we must recognize that linguistics and logistics have changed to sate modern speech and society. “The game is afoot” becomes “the game is on.” Texting and calling someone on their mobile phone became the new telegram and messenger correspondence. Phrases like “brother mine” and “blud” are granted between the Holmes brothers to show affection, even if it is sarcastic. There is a scene between Detective Inspector Lestrade and John Watson where Lestrade tells John that Sherlock is a great man and that maybe one day he will be a good one. (Moffat et al. 2010) Which implies that Sherlock is good at what he does, but not the kindest person. It is this scene that tells the viewers that if Sherlock were less talented but compassionate, he would be a good person.

The good man speech is alluded to in the third episode in the fourth series when Sherlock shows genuine concern for his brother and even addresses Lestrade by his correct first name, indicating character growth. That humanizing character growth is what gives Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock an appeal that Robert Downey Jr.’s version does not have. It also suggests that Cumberbatch’s Sherlock pays attention but chooses to goad their disdain deliberately, thereby making moments like that more precious.

What was it Carl Jung said about mischief? “In every person, there exists a predilection for puerile mischief.” (Dansei, 2019) So In a way, this incarnation of Sherlock Holmes is The Hero and The Trickster. He also has more than one form of the shadow he is dealing with- the shadow within himself, and the shadow that takes the form of cases and enemies. When considering Sherlock, a “trickster,” we must look past the usual villainy that is partnered with the mythology. His trickery comes from his lack or denial of social skills. In the second episode of the first series, The Blind Banker, Sherlock allows himself to be contradicted to move his case along. He also tends to use physically harmless manipulation when a case is involved. In that same episode, there is a scene with Molly Hooper that illustrates this action. Though non-cannon to Sir Conan Doyle’s original work, she is a specialist registrar, (intern), in the morgue at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital that Sherlock flirts with Molly to gain access to bodies in the morgue without having to go through official channels. He recognizes her affection for him and manipulates that. However, he has never intentionally been cruel to his tolerable affiliates. That is where he differs from the usual trickster mythologies.

When Mark Gatiss and Stephen Moffat created their version of Sherlock Holmes, it was not your twelve-year-old-girl-who-doesn’t-understand-the-dimensions-of-the-characters, fantasy. They cared about the characters and enjoyed the adventures of the detective so much growing up they wanted to create their own version., and that admiration demanded the creation of a beautifully magical world that transcends the archaic and challenges the archetypes. There are even liberties taken with John’s wife, Mary. As she does not have a detailed back story in the original work, she is probably the most natural character to build around. She could have been a ‘villain’ or ‘the wise old Oak’ that helps John in ways Sherlock can’t. Which takes us back to the role’s women play throughout history and anthropology.

Pop Culture can be considered an experiment and expression of postmodern democracy, and as with any other viewpoint, it is not shared universally (Dansei, 2019). This democracy and societal growth are evident in the way BBC’s Sherlock portrays Mary Watson as a strong, independent, and charismatic woman who enjoys the eccentricities of Sherlock Holmes. She even understood why he faked his death. Since the beginning, she has been in his corner and pushed the relationship between John and Sherlock to stay the same. It was not until later in the series that we find out why she is so accommodating. Where Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes shows us Mary Watson as ‘John’s soon-to-be-wife, who happens to be a governess,’ Sherlock shoves the progression in our faces.

Historically, women have been submissive; to be seen and not heard. 2009’s Sherlock Holmes movies played by Robert Downey Jr, there is the implication that women are second-class citizens and not often taken seriously, which allows the deception between Ms. Adler and Mr. Holmes. While she was using him for information, he was using her for creature comforts. It was not proper to openly discuss sexuality or lack thereof. The audience doesn’t even know how or when Sherlock Holmes met Irene Adler in this ideation. However, Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat challenge their audiences with a polar opposite character in their version of Irene Adler. She is an open and marketed Dominatrix, which accepts that women can take charge of their own life. In the wake of movements like #HeforShe and #Mettoo, Laura Pulver gives us the power to challenge inequality and harassment.

As previously mentioned, Molly Hooper is a character of merit in the BBC world of Sherlock Holmes. However, there is no place for her in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s works. The idea of women being in a power position like that was outside of comprehension in the 1880s. There is some subjugation with Molly accepting the way Sherlock treats her, but she is smart and influential and respected. Her education in the medical field illustrates how society has grown.  Women can study more than the necessities for being “Susie Homemaker.” Molly is Sherlock’s access point to bodies and labs in the hospital. Her allowing him access to the hospital helps him solve the crimes without breaking more laws himself by breaking into the morgue. He will never admit it, but she helps keep him human and occasionally inspires ideas with her medical perspective. It also helps that she is not “a complete idiot.”  

While the drug use seems to be a staple in the Sherlock Holmes lore, Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock doesn’t drink eye drops to get high when he can’t find substance. He also isn’t trapping flies under a glass container and plucking the violin to observe their reactions. This version of Sherlock Holmes also portrays scientific advancement outside of women now contributing. It is mentioned in the show the Sherlock is a graduate chemist, and he is often seen appropriately using a microscope and slides when testing drops of blood and chemical compositions. There will always be new scientific methods and discoveries. The microscope and sterile slides are scientific improvements that were needed to help science move forward. The best science starts with a sterile environment. Sherlock even enjoys experiments with microwaves and refrigeration, implying that he is monitoring the viability of a subject in various temperatures, and the bacterial reactions as well. Though there were refrigeration units, the microwave experiments would not exist unless he was to first invent a unit to conduct and control microwaves.

Some of the experiments are used to solve current cases, while others are entertainment because he is bored. He is meticulous with his work and can even identify 140 different types of tobacco ash. Another thing that has grown with over the years is the knowledge of chemical reactions. The scientific advancements shown to audiences with any Sherlock Holmes variation seem to live with the memories of Sir Conan Doyle’s own growing up in the era of scientific change. Some, such as BBC’s version, highlight the advancements, some stay stagnant, but the impact is still there, whether it is a history in science lesson or scientific progress that inspires new ideas. Each version of Sherlock Holmes has a certain cleverness to it. New ideas in science, intelligent women, even annoyingly clever criminals. Every release is another piece of the puzzle, a collaborative art form that feeds on societal growth, innovation, and invention while somehow keeping our history present.

In general, Sherlock on the BBC gives more humanity and dimensions to the characters. Character building is a skill that many take for granted. World-building is two steps beyond that. But to take old-fashioned characters and throw them forward in history is taking that challenge and upping the ante. Both versions illustrate how much humankind has changed over the years, but also how we stayed the same. We’ve always been creative beings, and while Robert Downey Jr. was not afraid to don a dress and bonnet (which offered him anonymity as a woman), Cumberbatch takes a different approach to the “hide in plain sight” idea. Creative difference, but just as effective. Whether our creativity comes from something manmade or our own ingenuity, we never grow out of it, just develop it.

[questionsonislam]

Does Sexual Life exist in Paradise?

Beyond doubt, along with every enjoyment in Jannah (Paradise), sexual intercourse exists, too. The verses that mention spouses and Houris have thus referred to such pleasures.

Numbers such as 40, 70 in Arabic literature describe plenitude, an allusion for abundance. In the hadith, sexual strength is used in order to express that the sexual intercourse in Jannah is zestier than the intercourse of this world. The expression of Abdullah b. Abbas, “No any felicities of Jannah resemble the ones that exist in the world; but, there is only a resemblance of name” is also valid for the felicity of marriage. In an eternal life, the degree of pleasures which were prepared only for the folk of Jannah is beyond and above any of human expression. As it is described in the hadith, the beauties within Jannah have “never been seen by an eye, nor heard by an ear, or (even) imagined by a human being”.

Some questions can come into our mind as a result of our inadequate understanding of Jannah.

In Paradise:

1- A human being will be able to be present in many places at the same time.

2- Places as large as a world with full of vineyards and palaces will be given to every human

3- Every kind of human desires will take place, but nothing will happen unless human wants.

4- It is impossible to comprehend Jannah with the criteria of this world. A baby in the mother’s womb cannot comprehend what is told about this life; similarly, the world is just like a womb for us when compared with Jannah. It is impossible for us to comprehend it. That is why a baby, who is nourished with the umbilical cord in the womb, starts to benefit from life with his/her eyes, ears, mouth and many other organs.

Sexual Pleasures in Jannah

“Verily the Companions of the Garden shall that Day have joy in all that they do.” (36/Ya Seen,55)

“In them will be (Maidens), chaste, restraining their glances, whom no man or Jinn before them has touched.” (55/Al-Rahman,56)

“Like unto rubies and coral.”(55/Rahman, 58)

Beyond any doubt, sex has an important place in human’s life. As it is emphasized in the Quran (30/Ar-Room, 21) by marriage, both sexes have satisfaction both spiritually and physically. The continuation of the same satisfaction is certainly natural. According to the description of some verses and hadiths about Paradise, there will be both world women and Houris in Paradise.

The expression stated as “with companions pure (and holy)” in the verses (2/Al-Baqara, 25; 3/Aal-e-Imran 15) imply both the Houris and women of the world.

“To them will be passed round, dishes and goblets of gold: there will be there all that the souls could desire all that the eyes could delight in: and ye shall abide therein (for aye).” (Az-Zukhruf: 43/71)

Sexuality is among the things that the souls desire. Thus, the verse implies the existence of sexual life in Paradise. It is understood that the physiological defects and the spiritual depressions that have a negative effect on the sexual lives of women will be solved before entering Paradise as a result of the physical and spiritual purification process that will be applied to believers.

There are lively depictions about the beauty, dressiness and attractiveness of Paradise women in some verses and hadiths. In a narrative, it is told that while houris talk about their differences, women of the world in Paradise would silence them by expressing their superiority because of their good deeds that they did in the world.

Although there are various views regarding how many women especially world women a man will have, the sound narration regarding the issue is the sound hadith in Bukhari and Muslim. According to that hadith, every man in Paradise will be given two “grace wives with transparent skins” and nobody will be left unmarried there (Bukhari, Badul-khalq 8; Muslim, Jannah 14). It is possible that both women are houris or world women, or one is houri and the other is a world woman.

There may be objections stating that in the descriptions related to sexual life in Paradise, the qualities like beauty, attractiveness are attributed to women, but the encouraging results and advantages are usually mentioned for men; thus women are shown kind of means of satisfying the pleasures of men. It is known that when a group of women and men are addressed together or when explanations regarding both women and men are made in Arabic, the masculine gender is used. Besides, in the art and literature of all societies, the woman is accepted as the focal point of grace and attractiveness; she has been the theme of romantic poems and other artistic works; the woman has usually been in the position of being demanded not demanding.

It is understood that the same style and approach is valid in the description of sexual life in Paradise. The fact that a man will be given at least two wives – one world woman and one houri – in Paradise, where no one will be left unmarried, should be related to the same theme. Indeed, the researches carried out on women psychology in the world life show that she is monogamic and she leaves place for only one man in her heart and imagination. Besides, this is necessary in order to protect the mother’s womb, which ensures the continuation of human beings, hence the determination of the father and the continuation of the generation.

The aim is not the bounties of Paradise that give bodily pleasures but the consent of Allah

In fact, the bounties of Paradise that meet the bodily needs and give bodily pleasures are not the aim for the people of Paradise. The real aim that is desired to be attained is the consent of Allah. To attain the consent of Allah for man is to turn the spirit that Allah granted him (al-Hijr 15/29) toward Allah, to observe Him and to talk to Him. The most sincere and common expression of prayer that expresses the feelings of thanks and gratitude among Muslims is, “May Allah be pleased with you.” The friends of Allah are those who are closest to Him, who attain His consent, pleasure and love and who attain the greatest happiness by loving Him heartily with consent and surrendering.

In a verse that expresses the relationship between Paradise and the consent (pleasure) of Allah, the following is stated, “Allah hath promised to Believers men and women Gardens under which rivers flow, to dwell therein, and beautiful mansions in Gardens of everlasting stay. but the greatest bliss in the Good Pleasure of Allah: that is the Supreme Felicity” (at-Tawbah 9/72), expressing that this spiritual element of the otherworldly bliss is more valuable than all of the other bounties described using material concepts. "O (thou) soul, in (complete) rest and satisfaction! "Come back thou to thy Lord well pleased (thyself), and well-pleasing unto Him! "Enter thou, then among my Devotees! "Yea, enter thou my Heaven"! (al-Fajr 89/27-30). As it is stated in sound hadiths, after all believers enter Paradise and are settled, God Almighty will address them and ask them if they are pleased with their situations and they will say that they are pleased to the utmost extent

Thereupon, Allah will say to them, “I will give you something better than it: I am sending (distributing) my consent and pleasure to you; my wrath will not touch you again. (Muslim Jannah 9)

Paradise (hence Hell and the hereafter life) will start and go on not only in the realm of spirits but also in the world of matter and realities that consists of the spirit and the body and that has, vineyards, gardens, rivers, etc. It is not possible to interpret material elements that the existent verses of the Quran contain as unworldly or spiritual narrations or symbols. Imam Ghazali accepts that the pleasures of Paradise are divided into three: emotional, imaginary and mental and that everyone will make use of all or some of them based on their abilities. When the pleasures become constant in the hereafter by the elimination of interruptions that are the deficiencies of the imaginary and mental pleasures in the world life, they will become very attractive.

How will privacy be in Paradise?

As it is understood from the hadiths, every person will be given a 500 hundred yearlong place in Paradise, roughly as large as the earth. Within that large place, a person will have a separate private place where he will be together with his friends

However, the bad traits have no place in Paradise. Therefore, there will be no jealousy; a person will not feel sexual desires toward people that are non-mahram. As a matter of fact, a person who has no eyes cannot see; a person who has no ears cannot hear. You will not be disturbed when a blind person sees you near someone. You will not feel disturbed and worried when you see a small boy whose sexual feelings have not developed with your mother or sister.

That is, bad thoughts and feelings have no place in Paradise. They were given in this world for trial and testing. Since there is no trial and testing in the hereafter, there is no need for them. The sexual desires of a person that are valid for one’s spouse are off for others. Therefore, nobody will be disturbed by others.

[randomnumbers751650]

So, I'm writing this because I'm trying to understand psychological horror, focusing on two animes from last year: Angels of Death and Happy Sugar Life. I wanted to write this because I got inspired by discussions on the Netflix's Ted Bundy show, Explanation Point's video on HSL (which made me watch it), and because I made the mistake of reading AoD's prequel manga Episode 0. Spoilers abound.

Due to way I was raised, I have difficulty in understanding stories that villains are the protagonists. Why would anyone cheer for them? Sure, there are many logical arguments, like the attempt to understand how his mind works and the cathartic feeling of being able to do feelings you know you'd be wrong. I have a RP blog and I once talked to with a friend on trying to understand how musing an utterly despicable muse could be so cathartic and she wondered if it's because it allows her to vent her stress and negative feelings on fictional characters, instead of real people. Logically, it makes sense, but I still feel odd about it.

I first watched Angels of Death because I really enjoyed the portrayal one of my best friends in the RPC had of the protagonist, Rachel Gardner. I honestly think it was a well-written anime, Rachel telling Zack that they weren't tools and the climax with the building on fire were my favorite moments. AoD also had a great advantage because it was self-aware, the banter between Rachel and Zack was pretty hilarious, and Cathy and Danny were also evilly funny. I always wondered how AoD managed to get to be an anime and Ib not...

Also, another thing that AoD makes sure to show is that every single named member of the cast is a murderer, and the man behind everything judges himself God for the sake of an experiment. It shows Zack murdering people in flashbacks and enjoying every single minute of it. In fact, the biggest plot twist is that the apparently innocent Rachel is probably the most dangerous murderer of them, the moment when she tries to kill Zack in her floor was a moment that actually got me on the edge of my seat (said event was properly foreshadowed).

When I say all characters of AoD are well-written, I say this in a "technical" sense - given their backstories, they act in a way consistent to what they are. Zack had a really crappy childhood and turned into a murderer; Danny was bullied and indirectly caused his mother's suicide; Cathy is subconsciously guided by a desire to punish sinners that caused her parents' death; Eddie was rejected so hard that he saw killing what he liked as the only way to preserve; and Rachel also had a crappy childhood, but parents who hated each other and killing her father in self-defense just broke her, her emotionless insanity is what guides her death wish (funnily enough, it doesn't seem that Gray has anything but a god complex). In other words, while they might be nearly a caricature, they still show to act on motives that make sense for them.

The question that guides the series is "what does it mean to be human?" In the end, we all want to avoid loneliness, as Gray says to Danny while the building explodes. Danny had a really pathetic death - he was a "love to hate" villain, even if he had a childhood excuse, nowhere implies that we should sympathize with him, on the contrary, he's one of the creepiest waste of air type of characters - if we showed his portrait in the game, one could put a sub "Most Likely to be a Pedophile").

But then I decided to read the prequel manga. I hated it. A lot. The characters are nothing but violent dicks to each other, in a grand scheme to get the role of "angel" in Gray's experiment (I used to muse Dr. Danny in my RP blog, it was fun to protray him as a pathetic peepermaniac, but I lost my drive after it). It doesn't try to be nuanced or anything else, but I guess if the objective was to remind us that the characters were murderous scum, it succeeded. The effect was so bad on me, that made me question the entire point of AoD itself.

I thought about this for a while. In Aod, we're basically siding with two murderers and Zack's popularity is immense, he's a Chad of murderers. The question is why?

It would be easy to dismiss his popularity as an example of the "bad boy fantasy", mostly associated with women who latches on a "bad boy" type in hopes of "fixing him", but that alone is insufficient to explain (and although it's usually recognized as a 'feminine fantasy', I want to avoid any implication of sexism, even though I don’t doubt this has been discussed in woman’s studies).

At point a friend of mine linked me Explanation Point's video on Happy Sugar Life. Why is Satou, a murderer and near pedophile (near pedophile because she doesn't engage in actual sexual activities with Shio, but it's not less disturbing), a sympathetic character? I won't recap the entire video here, but Satou is sympathetic because of many factors, such as the fact almost everyone around her is worse (arrogant rapist manager, sadomasochist actual ebebophile Danny's long lost brother, lolicon, an actual succubus in human form, obssessed copycat stalker, mad artist - the only developed characters that save themselves are Shoko and Asahi (and not 100% in his case, his determination was his downfall) - I honestly dislike Shio because she's annoying), had a crappy childhood, and that she seems sincere in her feelings for Shio.

The issue, in the end, it's about the way it's framed. Lindsay Ellis has a pretty good video on framing, on explaining how Mikaela actually had potential to be a well-written character in the first Michael Bay’s Transformers movie, but it was ruined by the way she was framed - as mere fanservice, instead of a strong character. The same principle applies to Happy Sugar Life, just pay attention to the way Satou is framed, as a strong character, in “pure” love, flowers appears on the screen when she’s thinking of Shio.

Framing is one reason why HSL failed or, at least, lost a part of its power as a cautionary tale. In the last episode, the way her imagination exploded with images of what her happy life with Shio could be, sprinkled by sappy imagery. Even if Satou killed herself to save Shio as a way to defy her aunt, it still gives a mixed message.

If we apply EP’s argument on Satou to Zack, I think we have even better “case” for Zack. Let’s count the reasons why one should sympathize with Zack:

Antagonists (Danny and Cathy) are worse people

Strong and powerful, to the point of turning into a shonen protagonist when cutting rocks in the last episode

Has a code of honor, only kills people who are laughing

Has standards, refuses to accept godhood from Rachel

Enjoys what he does, he’s probably the most sincere character of the cast

Has a twisted sense of humor

Has a sad backstory, that offered the chance of following another path (but the old man died)

Recognizes he’s messed up

Ridiculously loyal to Ray in the end

We never get to see the PoV of his victims and when we do, the frame actually makes Zack sympathetic - for example, the woman in his flashback, we see her lying to him and him killing her for it - it’s a bad thing, but the scene is framed in a way that Zack is the offended party (it was his PoV anyway)

He’s hot - granted this only works for the anime, because in the game he was some sort of tall mummy gremlin

As another friend of mine said, when I brought this to her, in the end you’re kind of cheering for them to escape police and continue murdering others. And, in the end, they do get away - Zack (and Ray, to some extent) is never punished for his crimes, even though the ending is ambiguous most people believe they escaped anyway.

In HSL we have a similar situation: even though Satou killed herself, Shio is still irreparably damaged, preferring to live her “happy sugar life” in her head than the real world. In fact, HSL’s ending is one of the most hopeless that I’ve ever seen recently, that the entire surviving cast is apparently beyond repair (as worse as Shio worse is Taiyo - it’s quite rare to portray female on male abuse on such a realistic way, any other anime would make a semi-hentai scenario on him, but here, I wouldn’t be surprise if he died starving himself to death in his room). HSL’s ending managed to be much more hopeless than AoD’s ending.

But, returning to Zack, the way his story is framed makes him a sympathetic character. However, while I argue that Zack is a well-written character, he’s not a very realistic one for one simple reason: he’s too conspicuous to be a successful serial killer, he’s too loud and messy; actual serial killers are methodic people, they plan a lot to not leave clues. Meanwhile, Zack is dumb as a rock, which might add him being an escapist character another trait of him.

And that’s where the comparison with Ted Bundy enters. It might be a stretch comparing a fictional character with a real person, but I still think it has some merit. While I haven’t seen the Netflix series, I read the debate on whether it glorifies Bundy or not. Basically the way the series frames Bundy is an argument for the glorification, but the interview with the victims who escaped him and loved ones of his victims is an argument against it. But the fact remains that both have their fans.

If we criticize Bundy’s fans for not noticing how much of a pathetic and deranged person he actually was, why can’t we do the same for Zack’s fans? Well the fact that one is real and the other fictional might be one reason, and being fictional he acts as an outlet for our own frustrations and tendencies just as I discussed with my friend above, but I feel that alone is insufficient, there must be a further reason... but I can’t think of anything else. Otherwise an argument has the danger of turning into the fallacy “videogames make kids violent” sort of thing.

One thing that has to consider is that both AoD and HSL are psychological thriller/horror series. If Zack, Ray and Satou got caught, the shows would be lesser works of art, because one function of psychological horror is to challenge our perceptions of justice.

Horror challenges our perceptions of safety and we are used to the bad guys being punished in the end, it’s a safe assumption. Instead, in horror, the bad guys get away and might be sympathetic, making us sympathetic to their getaway. It’s horror in the sense our own safe perceptions of morality and justice are twisted upside down.

I could go on and approach the thorny question of whether AoD glorifies murderers and HSL glorifies yanderes with children, but this essay is already getting too big, so I leave it for another occasion.

[drgreg]

Dr Gregory Images

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[stillness-in-green]

i realized mika's the only one of the tekkadan boys to have a specific thing he wants to do outside of fighting- farming- which is kinda ironic considering he's been called aimless. so do you have any ideas of what the other boys could/would like to do as a profession/career outside of fighting (not counting what they actually ended up doing in the epilogue)? doesn't have to be for everybody, just for whoever you can think of. thank you :)

I got this ask ages ago and have been periodically rolling it around in and around other things, but I put it in front of myself again today and finally typed out a response. Below the cut, some thoughts on what these boys would be doing if they had, not only all survived the series, but done so in a way that left them free to pursue whatever ambitions or talents they might desire or discover.  

Most of them.  

Lets start with the inner circle and work our way out.  

I think Biscuit (whose survival is probably the reason everyone else is alive in this hypothetical AU of ours, because he would have an aneurysm before he let Orga join hands with McGillis Fareed) could be good at practically anything he puts his mind to, and therefore, what I think he should probably do is go to school.  He obviously values education–he spent lord knows how much time endangering life and limb to earn the money to put Cookie and Cracker through school, and clearly admires how far Savarin’s schooling took him in life.  As to what he might study, there are a number of ways that could go–agricultural sciences to help his Granny Sakura with the farm, business to pick up where Savarin left off, possibly a social science so he can find a job in all the inevitable restructuring that Mars’ new government will be doing.  

Eugene, more than anyone else, strikes me as wanting to find someone to settle down with. Unlike Shino, who talks about women solely in the context of his sex drive, Eugene is interested in romance. And while he doesn’t seem to have had much luck with that in IBO’s canon epilogue, in a more peaceful time, it’s easy to imagine him devoting more energy to dating.  Without Tekkadan eating up his attention, whatever career he finds a way into–possibly bodyguard work still, or maybe an office job like Zack’s–would, I think, be just a way to help support a family.   

Akihiro, unlike most all of the boys, already has a girl who’s interested in him, and if he survived this show for this AU, I see no reason to not imagine the Turbines did also. Lafter plainly was never going to leave the Turbines to be with him, of course, but if there was no Tekkadan to protect…  I don’t think Naze would be very keen to break his girls-only rule, but every chick must leave the nest eventually–perhaps Lafter and Akihiro might be entrusted with protecting/leading another branch of the business?  Given the size of the organization*, there must be other battleships doing the transport business/transport protection thing.  Or they could just accompany whichever shipment Naze directed them towards.

   That is, though, probably kind of a longshot. Tekkadan Inc. or no, Akihiro has strong feelings about protecting his family, and where I think that’s most likely to leave him is actually in Dante’s place in the epilogue, helping run the orphanage and taking care of children.  While I don’t know that gentleness and empathy will ever come easily to him, he would be able to relate with the stories of the many ex-Debris children that orphanage is implied to be seeing post-outlawing-of-legal-child-trafficking, and it would be a way to both honor and grapple with the memory of Masahiro.

Derma would probably end up in about the same place he does in the show–assuming Akihiro doesn’t get adopted by the Turbines, I think Derma would follow him to the orphanage.  He had been more directly under Dante’s wing in the series, of course, but for a lot of reasons, I don’t think that the same things that would appeal to Dante in civilian life would hold much interest for Derma.  He doesn’t have Dante’s knack with computers; he doesn’t share Dante’s itch for fame.  But he does have a load of self-confidence issues that make him exactly as likely to relate to orphan ex-Debris kids as Akihiro’s losses make him.  (It’s also the case that Derma is the Tekkadan kid who’s the least explored outside of being a child soldier, so I’m inclined to err on the side of what the show points him to rather than make things up wildly, which is essentially what I’d be doing otherwise.)

Returning to the main group, Shino is easy; in a scenario in which he isn’t a paid civilian soldier, that guy has got “stunt show pilot” written all over him.  I doubt Mars’ entertainment industry is so well developed that they need or can afford to hire mobile suit pilots for TV/film work, but I bet the planet can support something more like the Post-Disaster equivalent of monster truck derbies.  They’d probably involve old/restored mobile workers, rather than the expensive military hardware that is a proper mobile suit, but I certainly don’t put it past Shino to showboat around in a decommissioned Flauros from time to time.

Dante, always grouped with Shino in combat, would probably follow him here.  In a peaceful epilogue, Dante easily could have an entirely lucrative (and possibly illicit) career with his computer skills, but I think he’d finding sitting at a computer all day to be unfathomably boring the more like an actual desk job it became.  Compared to the measure of fame Shino would be making for himself, it’s obvious which Dante would go for.  Also, with two people with mobile suits, they could possibly get some kind of MS boxing circuit going.  I think that would be a very longterm project, more suitable for when things calm back down and there are all these mobile suits around collecting dust.  

Yamagi is a mechanic–he’s one of the few characters with job experience other than “soldier,” and there’s no reason to expect him to change streams from the canon to this AU.  However, I think Yukinojo and Merribit would have encouraged him to go work with Shino’s pit crew/show team before too long, if he ever held a job down at Kassapa Factory to begin with.  He and Shino are, almost certainly, dating on the side.  Just, like, fill in Shino and Yamagi for the Special Feeling umbrella meme.

Ride is another gimme.  He has an obvious artistic streak, the evidence of which is painted all over the Isaribi, the Tekkadan complex, and the orphanage building.  If he didn’t need to fight (and while he was pretty gung-ho about it originally, I have to think the trauma from Hashmal and the agriculture plant is going to be long-lived), it’s very simple to imagine Ride getting nudged into pursuing art in a more professional way.  Especially if Kudelia’s new government is subsidizing such things.

Chad is another one that I’d like to see in school.  There are several instances in the series that impy he’s doing serious amounts of research/study on the side–he’s constantly shown asking pertinent questions or showcasing some skillset or bit of knowledge that he has no business having access to based simply on what we’re explicitly told about him.  Given that, it’d be interesting for the others to convince him to set aside the helper ant mentality and go learn something he thinks is interesting.  While Biscuit has family needs to guide his academic choices, Chad could really get into anything.  I would slot him into a field that involves research but also quantifiable knowledge–history, for example, or psychology, rather than e.g. theoretical physics.  I kind of love the idea of Chad getting access to a bunch of banned books via Kudelia or their Teiwaz connections. 

Takaki seems on-track to wind up in politics, if not as a politician himself, then as the sort of lobbyist or aide that any notionally democratic government runs on. Given that he bailed out of fighting by choice, this seems to be his chosen path in any case.  He’s also likely to make a hell of a diplomat when he gets older and picks up more confidence in himself.

Aston is so rooted in his self-image of “soldier” that it’s difficult to imagine what he might want to do outside of that field.  We do know a few things about him that could give us a direction, though: he’s observant (noticing more about Fuka’s schoolwork than her own brother), he’s relatively prudent and cautious (his teamwork with Vito, and his reluctance to wildly charge McGillis), and he’s a mediator (between his quartet back with the Brewers, and again between Takaki and the other Earth Branch boys).  So what kind of career could combine those traits with his gravitation towards military settings?  Personally, I think he’d do really well as a crisis negotiator–a specialist brought in by police to help with hostage situations and other threats of e.g. domestic violence, terrorism, suicide, and so on.  Of course, the trick there is less getting certified for that job than it is finding a group to work alongside–while I can see him joining an Arbrau/Edmonton police force, it’s much harder to imagine him being able to get a job with Gjallarhorn.  In any case, assuming he can manage to find an avenue for said work, he’d be great at it. 

This brings us to our Season 2 newbies.  

Hush I would mostly see following Mikazuki into farming.  Not just to be following Mika, mind, but because Hush’s motivation, beyond a big ol’ chip on his shoulder about the Alaya Vijnana system, is much the same as so many others–to protect and provide for his social circle.  If he’s provided an avenue for that that isn’t constant endangerment of life and limb, I think it’s what he’d go for. And farming is helping to provide for a great many people, some very directly–the fact that he can still be around to help Mikazuki is just a bonus.  

Zack joined Tekkadan because of their fame, rather than out of real necessity–so what exactly did he think was so cool about Tekkadan to begin with?  Given his reticence about actual combat when he comes face to face with it, perhaps it’s more the “spitting in Gjallarhorn’s eye” aspect than the feats of badassity?  Given that, what could he do that would scratch that itch? Well, he’s a hell of a programmer, and has Dante available to teach him anything about hacking he doesn’t already know. I think he’d be very happy being one of those whistle-blower internet Ariadne activist types, finding secret information, info on cover-ups, or details on corruption, and providing proof of such things to the world at large, particularly given how government-controlled the media is in the setting.  

Dane is already living a life free of fighting, so it’s possible that, absent Tekkadan being a bunch of criminals, he might end up working at Kassapa Factory anyway, or perhaps going with Yamagi to Shino and Dante’s venture.  He’s another big mystery as to things he might enjoy outside of work; for example, he evinces little patience with Hush until Hush starts showing some basic empathy/humility, which leads me to think that close work with people would probably not be his thing.  So sticking to work with his hands, I wonder if he, like Ride, would get any mileage out of art?  He could snap paintbrushes like twigs, of course, but I can see him being good at something like pottery, and if his pre-show history is as violent as we’re lead to believe, I can see it being relaxing–probably as a hobby, rather than a career, just something he can do on his own time and terms.  

So, that’s every–mm? A significant exclusion?  A deuteragonist undiscussed? 

Oh, right.  

So, Orga. What would Orga do in peacetime? Well, that’s difficult to even try to conceive.  Orga, like McGillis, is massively defined by both his ambition and his dissatisfaction with the status quo.  He’s never satisfied, never content; he interprets Mikazuki’s intense gaze as a challenge, and it never stops pushing him forward, no matter who else tries to tell him he’s going too fast.  What could Orga ever do in peacetime?  It’s tempting to say that every one of the hypothetical outcomes above was paid for in Orga’s blood, because less than a handful of these people would ever desert Orga if he lived, and while he lived and had people looking to him, he would never stop.  In that way, Tekkadan is in a feedback loop that they can’t get out of without a system-redefining change.  Looking at his skill set, we again find a bunch of things that suggest that Orga works best as a leader–he’s canny, highly charismatic, a quick thinker, and he has killer instincts, albeit with some Mikazuki-sized blind spots.  This is a kid practically fated to be a gang leader–and he’s also oathsworn to the mob, making getting out of that life safely a dicey prospect.

   So what is there for him, if not fighting?  Purely as an imaginary exercise, he’d be a scary effective community leader.  I mean, just imagine being a city representative showing up to a town hall meeting and this is waiting in the front row:

   But that’s still pretty mundane.  Lets try something really different on for size.  

   During the season break, Orga is attending some official function at Saisei, lurking around afterward and waiting for a chance to talk to Naze.  Out of nowhere, he gets jumped by the fashion equivalent of Saisei’s eccentric mechanic, who insists that Orga’s je ne sais quoi levels are off the charts, and he absolutely must grant her at least one modeling session.  Naze, walking in on this conversation, has a huge laugh about it and goads Orga into accepting.  And then the whole of the second season gets derailed because suddenly Orga is faced with the argument that sufficiently famous people are also rich and powerful, rich and powerful enough that he could relocate his entire gang to some private satellite around Jupiter if he were so inclined.  And maybe it feels immaterial, and maybe it wasn’t the method what he expected, but that doesn’t make the paycheck any less real.  The designer tells him in no uncertain terms that if he wants to continue, she will personally talk McMurdo Barriston’s ear off about how he is completely wasting this surly teenager’s God-given personal magnetism.

  Orga immediately has a huge crisis over it, because it feels terrifyingly unmasculine and he has no concept of the term “soft power.” Atra loves it, though, and Biscuit thinks it’s strange but effective.  Things almost fall through anyway when it comes out that Orga has a whisker implant, but the designer is insistent, so they end up just photo-editing it out and limiting his public appearances, which is just as well, because he finds crowds and fans alike to be extremely uncomfortable.  

  Tekkadan still do odd jobs for Teiwaz now and again, like protecting Kudelia from Dawn Horizon, but are mostly out of the line of fire when McGillis starts looking around for allies.   McGillis, deprived of a Tekkadan he can talk around on joining him, is left profoundly annoyed.  How things go from there is a whole new question.

*Allow me to quote from this post: 

In the interest of context for the number I’m about to lay on you, the Dawn Horizon group–a band of pirates who have ten ships and are considered sizeable enough that they fill a niche that’s important to Gjallarhorn, and would also be too much a pain to try to oust entirely, have around 2,500 members.  Wow!  That’s a lot!  

The Turbines have 50,000 members.

Like this post?  Consider throwing a few bucks in my coffee fund via the Ko-fi link on my About page!

[allinfoworldbd]

Advertising in Wikipedia

The advertising is a form of communication mass, whose goal is to fix the attention of a target sight ( consumer , user, user, voter,  etc. ) to encourage them to adopt a desired behavior: buying a product, election of a political figure, incentive to save energy,  etc.

Mentioning, for example, the name of a company, a store, or even a brand, does not automatically imply an act of advertising. But it becomes so from the moment the intentionally sought goal is to draw attention to the object evoked and / or to suggest going to such and such a place.

The "pub" (the apocope has become a synonym in its own right) is not limited to consumer goods or services . It can also promote men or women , praise a tourist spot, a government organization as well as sporting or cultural events . Advertising can aim to change behavior or promote values ​​considered to be positive or beneficial in society, warn against drugs, encourage respect for the environment, or even promote road safety.

"Neither science nor art", advertising is largely empirical technique that borrows from the economy , to sociology and psychology , which tests his insights via the panels and market research. Creativity is at the heart of it, but it is not an art. It lacks gratuitousness and objectivity . If it can become, it is not the primary goal of its sponsor who seeks, him, in the first place, to convey a message (sell, incite, act,  etc. ).

The issue of comparative advertising remains a hotly debated topic today: while the concept itself meets with real resonance with the public and consumer associations , the concrete implementation of the idea remains controversial.

The majority of authors compare or assimilate advertising to a phenomenon of propaganda specific to contemporary societies. Within society, it increases exchanges and accelerates the diffusion of new products or technical innovations and it represents a very important economic weight. Many national laws prevent its potential abuses. Products that are toxic or dangerous to health are prohibited from advertising in certain countries ( tobacco, for example) while at the same time the regulations protect certain categories of people, children in particular, by prohibiting pornographic advertising and by strictly regulating the advertising intended for them.

So-called “  antipub  ” movements, denouncing the invasion of advertising, fuel criticism and propose various actions to “protect themselves”.

Propaganda and public opinion

Edward Bernays , born on November 22 , 1891, is an American advertiser. Although unknown to the general public, he is the father of institutional political propaganda . Nephew of Sigmund Freud , he was inspired by the work of the psychoanalyst for the writing of his book Propaganda, How to manipulate opinion in a democracy . Edward Bernays is transforming what we call communication today. At the time, advertising messages boiled down to praising the characteristics of a product, but Bernays used and took advantage of authority figures, mainly doctors, in order to promote his product more effectively and make it unique and indispensable for the consumer. .

During the constitution of the US Committee on Public Information , better known under the name of the Creel commission , many communication actions, harmless today, are used against the German army. The massive distribution of press releases, the use of cinema or even the use of the influence of opinion leaders have the effect of mobilizing crowds and shifting public opinion.

At the end of the First World War, Bernays, then an advisor in "  public relations ��", a term he coined in order to banish the negative connotation that the word "propaganda" referred to, was inspired by the work of his uncle and worked for the famous brand of American cigarettes Lucky Strike . The March 31 , 1929, Bernays is responsible for getting women to smoke tobacco. During a procession, the New York City Easter Parade  (in) , it scrolls through a group of young models and their application to light "freedom torch" cigarettes, all in front of a large crowd of journalists and photographers . The event is a worldwide success.

From the advertiser to the "target"

In addition to advertisers, agencies and the “consumers” of advertising, various actors intervene, such as polling institutes, to refine, through market studies, the understanding of the market , to validate the positioning of the product and to test the effectiveness of advertising. in the finalization phase. The investment of sometimes colossal sums encourages ensuring the adequacy and perception of the advertising message before its broadcast.

Typically, the production of advertising spots is the work of production companies that make the films, the printing of posters or leaflets, the work of printers,  etc.

Advertisers

Advertiser, in advertising parlance, refers to the company that seeks to promote its product. The analysis of advertising expenditure by advertiser shows a very concentrated distribution. In France, in 1987 4 , one thousand advertisers represented 90% of total advertising expenditure and twenty advertisers only 15% of this same total, foremost among which were the car manufacturers Renault and Peugeot , followed by Procter & Gamble which was then the leading advertiser in the world. global level 4 .

The vast majority of advertisers are commercial enterprises seeking to increase brand awareness and the sale of their products, but advertising is also used to raise funds to finance the activities of charities , museums and other cultural institutions in order to promote '' increase their attendance.

It is also used by governments to promote difficult topics that the media speak little or little about, road protection , promotion of heritage, promotion of professional equality between men and women, etc. Less visible to the general public, industry and service companies that sell to third-party companies also need to promote themselves and make their customers aware of the competitive advantage they have. This is the object of so-called “ business to business  ” advertising .

read more, read more, read more, read more, read more, read more, read more,

read more, read more, read more

Agencies

An agency is a body made up of specialists responsible, on behalf of advertisers, for the design, execution and control of advertising actions.

The consulting agency sector is oligopolistic and dominated by five major players at the global level. In its 1993 edition, Le Publicitor noted: “the top five groups of agencies today have a market share that corresponds to 2/3 of the world market. The top twenty brands represent 90% of the world market 4 . ” Following the movement of concentration of the sector, in the years 1990 and 2000, the trend only strengthened, Saatchi and Saatchi , then world number two was bought by Publicis Groupe which also absorbed the number twelve d then, Leo Burnett Worldwide  ;Young and Rubicam , then seventh is now part of WPP Group , just like Gray Global Group , then number nine.

Omnicom Group is the leader with US $ 12.7 billion in sales margin 19 , followed by WPP Group at £ 6.2 billion 20 . These two leaders are followed at a distance by Interpublic Group which posts 6.55 billion dollars of margin 21 , Publicis Groupe which communicates 4.7 billion euros of margin 22 , Dentsu , little present internationally and nevertheless fifth in the world with 348 billion yen 23 and Havas with 1.5 billion euros of margin 22 .

The agency involves its various departments in the process of creating and executing an advertising campaign: the sales department, in contact with the client, the strategic planning, which seeks the best match between the brand and the targets targeted by the advertiser, the creative department, responsible for the graphic or audiovisual design of the ads, and the media department, in particular for the purchase of space.

The media department or the media agency, for its part, purchases either directly from the various media or through space purchasing centers or advertising agencies

Target audience

The ubiquity of advertising in modern civilization has aroused the interest of a growing audience. This attraction to cult "pubs" is due to the nostalgia caused by old advertisements, a reflection of an era (fans of advertisements prior to the 1960s have been known for a long time, but the phenomenon can now be observed for more recent advertisements. , those of the 1980s in particular); the participation of renowned artists ( Emir Kusturica , David Lynch , Blanca Li ...) in the production of advertisements; at the star system , celebrities from sport andshow posing for commercials; the advertising seduction through humor or the eroticism of certain advertisements ( Aubade , Pirelli, etc.); to a sociological interest, deciphering the functioning of advertisements being appreciated by some (in particular their detractors); interest in the informative nature of advertising. The development of computers and the Internet make it possible to store and upload digital advertisements. They can be viewed or downloaded by everyone on specialized sites.

Advertising on the walls of a house Television shows like Culture Pub and periodicals are devoted to advertising; their success was notable in the late 1990s and early 2000s . Collective events such as La Nuit des advertisers broadcast cult or unusual advertisements from all countries and from all periods.

The fascination of certain amateurs and collectors for advertisements (especially old ones) can be part of the public capture process, but sometimes also allow a certain distance from these techniques and practices of capturing by seduction

Advertising communication media

There are many advertising media, from the antique store sign to the internet banner , including television , fixed or mobile displays ( enamel signs have become collector's items), radio spots, leaflets, the direct mail , street furniture, the insert in the newspapers , classified ads, TV screens placed on the point of sale, a sandwich man in the street, the mobile advertising , the aerial advertising , the product placement in movies or TV series, spamby going so far as to slip into applications offered by socialization websites and finally; in the field of interactive POS and communication  ; next-generation intelligent interactive stations comprising an advanced human-machine interface system .

There are two main categories of advertising media: media and non-media. A campaign will typically mix different types of media and seek tactical support from the non-media.

Media

market share of advertising investments 32 media 2015 2016 TV advertising 37.7% 34.8% Online advertising 29.1% 36.6% Written press 19.3% 15.4% Display 6.8% 6.6% Radio 6.5% 5.9% Cinema 0.6% 0.7%

The television advertising is in the form of advertising, short films, sponsorship of programs or teleshopping , the Broadcasting  : advertising slogan or commercials, and movies in commercials before the meeting or product placements in movies. The written press is present through press announcements, fixed billboards through street furniture , bus shelters , mobile billboards through advertising trucks, self-service bicycle stations .

The online advertising using internet via banner ads, search engines , the viral marketing , the adware . The mobile advertising consists of commercials in the form of text messages or MMS.

The advertorial televised or published in the press, aims to promote a product, in the form of objective information while being paid by the advertiser. To multiply advertising revenue, new technologies are appearing, such as virtual advertising , the aim of which is to present advertisements adapted to the visual audience during the same event.

Media advertising covers forms of interactive communication using a paid advertising medium set up on behalf of an issuer as such. Advertising usually takes very little time to be perceived, understood and remembered. It must simultaneously capture attention, hold it, and get its message across. In this sense, advertising could be classified under the category of mind manipulation techniques .

In the world

In 2000 , a prosperous year due to the advent of new technological products, communication investments made by companies around the world had crossed the $ 300 billion mark. It is a rapidly growing sector with an average annual growth rate of 6.5%.

In 2006, in a report entitled 2006-2010 Forecast for the Entertainment and Media Sector PricewaterhouseCoopers , estimated global advertising spending at US $ 385 billion. This accounting firm estimates its weight for 2010 at 500 billion US dollars.

In 2006, the breakdown of advertising investments gives, in order of importance, 43% for the press (including 30% for newspapers and 13% for magazines), 38% for television, 8% for radio, 4 % for internet, less than 1% for cinema and 6% for display (excluding media). Media advertising now represents 1% of global GDP. For their part, direct marketing and promotional operations weigh 120 billion dollars [ref. necessary] .

In 2017, global ad spending is estimated to have reached US $ 559 billion

[marylovettpostgradblog]

10: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY                                                                 The process and where it has led.

The blog has afforded me a unique opportunity to explore a journey of enquiry. It has opened up unexpected avenues for research, particularly for someone studying a music technology-based masters degree. Although some blog posts have focused on technical audio practices, most of them have not been.  I have found myself drawn to looking back at the historical context of the ancestral line of my female electronic musician forbearers. This feels important to me and it was impossible to do this without reflecting on the patriarchal systems and institutions that exist within the music industry and beyond. This has made me think more widely about societal value systems, about who decides what is “good” art or music and what is not and how these decisions and values are made.  My own research has not adhered to a particular methodology, I have simply followed my interests related to my field, as per the assignment brief.  

Having freedom to do this has led me to look at music production through the lens of feminist writers and researchers as a result. This had bought me to feminist epistemology, which as Duran puts it, is a means of summarising, to some extent, and integrating women's knowledge and experiences. (Duran 1991). Central to this idea is the multiplicity of women’s voices, implying that feminist researchers are not searching for one truth, but the multiple truths that exist within women’s experience. (Ardovini-Brooker 2002). This may also link back to why a single statistic about the number of women in audio is not enough to collect the data on the more complex nature of women’s roles within the music industry. There is more than one answer, as there is more than one lived experience, numbers are not enough on their own. The nature of women's roles in the music industry is complex: the proportion of women working within it rose from 45.3% in 2016 to 49.1% in 2018. On face value this looks encouraging, but when the type of roles are closely examined, it shows a different and less positive picture. Approximately 21.7% of artists in the music industry are women, but only 12.3% of songwriters, 2.1% of music producers, and 3% of engineers/mixers in popular music are women, so women are excluded from crucial roles in the industry. (Smith et al. 2019 cited in Hepworth -Sawyer M et al. 2020)

Feminists argue that women are under-represented in audio production due to a previous implicit assumption that it was a male domain, due to undervaluing of the contribution of women in audio production and exclusion of women from studios historically. Tara Rogers expresses this in relation to women in electronic music by saying that ‘the terms technology and music are often marked as male domains, and the trenchancy of associated gendered stereotypes seems to gain force when these fields converge in electronic music’ (McCartney & Waterman 2006, Cited in Rogers T 2005). It is the same gendered associations about music that Pauline Oliveros referred to when she emphasized musical values of intuitive practice as being important yet undervalued as patriarchal culture has coded this as feminine. (Taylor T 1993).  

David Butler also refers to patriarchy in his paper that offers an alternative view of Delia Derbyshire’s post BBC life. He refers to well-intentioned masculinist narratives on the much reported tragic and uncreative years, casting her as a failed artist and alcoholic (Butler D 2020). He cited many examples of her creative work which were not acknowledged during this time. My own thoughts on this are that perhaps her work was not perceived as valuable or significant because they were not in the mainstream or presented through powerful structures like the BBC. This is another example of the masculinist hegemony, dictating what is viewed as valuable and important.

When writing my first blog post on why there are so few women in audio, I could see that this subject could be a huge distraction from me researching technically how to be a better music producer. Indeed, this cautionary comment is made in the recommendations for change in the book 'Gender and Music Production'. Women in production need proactive male allies because, ‘when women are given sole responsibility for inclusion agendas, their time is taken up on the gender agenda, which prohibits progression within their actual field.’ (Jude Brereton, et al cited in Hepworth -Sawyer M et al. 2020)

The direction and subjects of my research make me consider the Baader Mienhof phenomenon, also known as the frequency illusion, a term that Professor of linguistics Arnold Zwicky coined to describe it, He, said that ‘once you notice a phenomenon, you believe it happens a whole lot.’ (Zwicky A 2006) According to Zwicky the frequency illusion is the result of two psychological processes, selective attention and confirmation bias (Zwicky, A. 2006). This could have implications on my own objectivity. If I had only researched texts that were noteworthy to me and ignored others (selective attention) and looked for texts that supported, my position and overlooked counter evidence. (Confirmation bias) I’m not sure that I had a particular position to support, apart from the obvious fact that I am a woman in electronic music production. Judith Bell warns of dangers of bias especially when there is only one researcher who may have strong views about the topic they are researching, choosing texts that support your view point and using inappropriate language that could indicate bias in one direction. Bell, J. (2014). In my blog I have followed personal interests so there is inevitably an element of bias and my comments in blogs are not necessarily objective, but I am aware of the need to consider bias in research. I do acknowledge the challenge of remaining objective in potentially emotive gender issues, however I have tried to be balanced in my research.

Collaboration as opposed to single genius. Ideas that feed into my practice

None of us exist on a creative island where the muse comes, bypasses all other influences and we independently create a musical masterpiece.  Influences are an inherent part in what we do.  Brian Eno came up with the word “scenius” rather than genius, rejecting the idea that his creativity was an independent act. He chose to collaborate with other artists in unconventional ways. Eno describes scenius as ‘the power generated by a group of artists who gather in one place at one time, genius is individual, scenius is communal.’  (Jones A 2014) Pauline Oliveros described the experience of being with two other musicians in an underground cistern with a 45 second reverb. She described it as playing with the reverb, improvising and playing with it, respecting it’s sound and including it in their collective musical sensibility, as if it were another musician in the space. The musicians in the cistern had learn to listen and interact to the sound in a new way. (Ted X. 2015)   In his 1979 lecture, the studio as a compositional tool, Brian Eno described composition as now being ‘additive’ as a result of four track analogue tape recording, and something that is done in the studio, rather than having a fixed idea and then recording it, as was preciously the case. (Eno, B. 1979. cited in Cox, C. 2020) Composition in collaboration with technology which is how a vast number of people work in a DAW environment today. Like Oliveros improvising with the reverb and Eno composing with the studio, musicians and producers are in musical collaboration with the technology in the DAW. Listening and responding to the sounds that are generated rather than a fully formed idea being generated, at least this is how I work. The only difference from when Eno talked about four track additive composition is that now there is no limit to the number of tracks that can be used, which can be  a mixed blessing!

In this time of Covid 19 lockdowns and enforced isolation I am fortunate in being able to make music in my home studio. I still feel the lack of musical collaboration with people in the room and also profoundly miss my song writing partnership. I have been re thinking how I interact with my DAW and have begun thinking of it as something to improvise with. In a sense I was already doing this but had not thought of it in these terms.  I enjoy improvising musically with other humans and some of the spirit of that can be lost using a DAW in solitude. Error and serendipity have afforded me a different way of working with my DAW. I accidentally moved a drum loop into a software instrument piano track.  I really loved the sound of the piano as it interpreted the midi information of the drum loop.  I have made a piece of music based on this discovery. The lyrical content of the track is influenced by my research and blog on Melodyne. Further to this as part of my experimentation in working in different ways, I also utilised the voice from some assistive software designed for people with dyslexia.  The voice reads small sections of text from my blog. I will be using it as part of a four track EP assignment submission.

The blog posts relate to my practice directly in the case of technical audio software and recording. The other subjects all influence my work either by exploring the male dominated paradigm in which I work or concerning artists who inspire me.  Some of these subjects have featured in my production work for other modules. The idea of an electronic music ancestral mother line which was expressed by the DJ known as the Black Madonna hugely resonates with me. She said that she felt “Motherless” in terms of female role models in electronic music and then remembered Pauline Oliveros et al she was inspired to start the Daphne (Oram) festival celebrating the pioneering women of electronic music and highlighting contemporary female and nonbinary electronic musicians. Eoin M (2017)

This theme is used in another production for my EP submission for the Creative Music Production Module. I am encouraged by the achievement of past female audio electronic musicians but also by the discovery of organisations who promote their achievement and offer education to children to celebrate their work and to experiment in sound workshops. Writing these blogs have made me reflect on my interest in promoting women and young girls access into audio production as well as the changing technologies and approaches to the creative process which are influences on my work.    

References:

Feminist Epistemology https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/288331875.pdf Taylor, Timothy D. “The Gendered Construction of the Musical Self: The Music of Pauline Oliveros.” The Musical Quarterly, vol. 77, no. 3, 1993, pp. 385–396. JSTOR,

https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy.herts.ac.uk/stable/742386?pq-origsite=summon&seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.herts.ac.uk/docview/1545867803?accountid=14660&pq-origsite=summon

https://web.stanford.edu/~zwicky/LSA07illude.abst.pdf

Bell, Judith, and Stephen Waters. Doing Your Research Project : A Guide For First-Time Researchers, McGraw-Hill Education, 2014. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/herts/detail.action?docID=1910218. Created from herts on 2021-01-15 06:36:20.

https://herts-summon-serialssolutions-com.ezproxy.herts.ac.uk/search?s.q=Doing+Your+Research+Project+&s.fvf%5B%5D=ContentType%2CNewspaper+Article%2Ct%7CContentType%2CBook+Review%2Ct&keep_r=true&s.cmd=#!/search?ho=t&fvf=ContentType,Newspaper%20Article,t%7CContentType,Book%20Review,t&l=en-UK&q=Doing%20Your%20Research%20Project%20

https://library.herts.ac.uk/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=249618

https://thevinylfactory.com/features/pauline-oliveros-legacy-deep-listening/

Image:

https://www.pexels.com/search/magnifying%20glass/